Dialogues of the Dead

'They were still - how shall I put it? - coupled when we got there,' said Peter Pascoe. 'Fused together,' growled Dalziel. 'Don't be mealy-mouthed.' 'Coupled,' repeated Pascoe. 'The maintenance man claims that he disconnected the soldering iron from the extension lead and disconnected the extension lead from the socket on the floor above, which was where he'd had to plug it in because of course all the electrics in the basement had cut out when the fault down there developed. He admits, because he can hardly deny it, that after going upstairs to check the repaired circuits at the main power box, he omitted to return to collect the iron. He says he left it in situ because he intended doing another check on the basement circuitry first thing this morning to make sure all was well for the official opening. A conscientious worker.' 'A lying bastard,' said Dalziel. 'He switched the iron off at the switch on the extension plug, went upstairs, checked the power box, then one of his mates yelled, "Coming for a pint, Joe?" and he forgot all about it.' Pascoe gave him a tightly weary smile and wondered why, as they'd both had the same sleep-curtailed night, the Fat Man looked so alert and vigorous while he felt ready to keel over? But keeling over wasn't an option when he was giving a briefing to his CID team, plus the Chief Constable who'd decided that in view of the seriousness of the situation, he himself would monitor the next conference, plus the Doctors Pottle and Urquhart, whose presence had also been Trimble's idea as soon as he heard that the Seventh Dialogue had been found next morning in one of the Centre mailboxes - not the library box which the police were monitoring, but the unmonitored Heritage box on the far side of the building.