Cowley knew instinctively which battles to try for and which to withdraw from; which cases to take and which to hand over to others. While Bozo was one of their (casual) informers, Cowley had too much on his plate at the moment to deal with his death, so he handed the case over to the police on condition that he be kept informed of any developments.
Bodie and Doyle were assigned a case up north involving arms smuggling and, if rumour were true, people smuggling. They'd done well there and reported back with vital information on movements, strength of the opposition, even some names. It was enough for Cowley to mount an operation. With only one operative injured and only two gangsters killed, it was classed as a resounding success – not that Cowley would put it into so many words, of course!
Bodie and Doyle had had two days off following Operation Teapot (don't ask!) and, rested, they were now eagerly sitting in front of the Cow for their next assignment.
"You'll remember the death of one of our informants, gentlemen, a week ago," Cowley started off.
"Bozo," Doyle suggested.
Cowley nodded, shuffling some papers. "The second body has been identified as Mr Ralf Cuthbertson, an estate agent. Married with two children. In debt, drank heavily and had a string of affairs." Cowley tutted at the vagaries of the human soul. His agents weren't going to start a moral argument and so waited. "The police can't find any connection between Bozo – real name Mr Thomas White – "
Doyle whistled through his teeth. "All the years I've known him, I never knew his name." The thought saddened him even though his contact with Bozo had been very infrequent.
Cowley frowned at being interrupted. "… between Bozo and Mr Cuthbertson. What they have found is that Cuthbertson had been in the back of the car, but Bozo hadn't. The pathologist puts the time of death as between 8pm and midnight when you found them. He believes that they were both killed at around the same time – one strangled, the other knifed. Despite the heavy rain, forensics were able to ascertain that the men were killed by the same hand."
"Despite a different MO?" Doyle queried. His second interruption didn't go down well either.
"You may be interested to know," Cowley rumbled, "that these deaths are also being connected with three other murders within a 20 mile radius – all on waste ground and all – except Bozo – knifed. And, before you interrupt, Doyle, different knives."
Bodie smirked and Doyle's mind went into overdrive. After a few moments cogitation, he conjectured, "Bozo may have seen Mr Cuthbertson being killed and was killed because of it."
"Why not knife him, too?" Bodie countered.
"Perhaps because," Cowley interjected, "the knife was found some distance from either body. The theory is that the knifeman dropped the knife when he went after Bozo and couldn't find it in the dark, so used some rope lying about."
The men nodded. There was certainly a lot of debris out there – rubble, burnt-out cars, rope, mangled metal, etc. Yes, they could see it happening. That it had occurred just as they were arriving at the scene was chilling. Doyle couldn't help but think that he may have been able to save Bozo if they'd been a little earlier.
Cowley shrugged, as though putting a line under the matter. "So, to your assignment for today. A stake out –"
It was Bodie who interrupted this time - with a groan. Cowley chose to ignore him – as well as Doyle's smirk.