CHAPTER VIII
"There is much in this police business," said "the Captain," with
his slow, deliberate enunciation, "that must lead to a blank wall.
Out of ten cases to investigate it is quite possible nine will
result in nothing. This percentage could not of course be true of
a thousand cases and a man's services still be considered
satisfactory. But of ten it is quite possible. As for knowing HOW
to do detective work, all I bring to the department myself is some
ordinary common sense and a little knowledge of human nature, and
with these I try to work things out as best I can. This peeping-
through-the-key-hole police work I know nothing whatever about,
and don't want to. Nor do I expect a man to."
I had been discussing with "the Captain" my dissatisfaction at my
failure to "get results" in an important case. A few weeks on the
force had changed many a preconceived notion of police life. It
had gradually become evident, for instance, that the profession of
detective is adventurous, absorbing, heart-stopping chiefly
between the covers of popular fiction; that real detective work,
like almost any other vocation, is made up largely of the little
unimportant every-day details, with only a rare assignment bulking
above the mass. As "the Captain" said, it was just plain every-day
work carried on by the application of ordinary common sense.
Pages:
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190