On the other hand, he admitted to himself that it was difficult to preserve one's reputation if rank outsiders were going to take a hand in the business.

Outsiders are the bane of the police as of other professions.

The tone of the Assistant Commissioner's remarks had been sour enough to set one's teeth on edge.
And since breakfast Chief Inspector Heat had not managed to get anything to eat.
Starting immediately to begin his investigation on the spot, he had swallowed a good deal of raw, unwholesome fog in the park.

Then he had walked over to the hospital; and when the investigation in Greenwich was concluded at last he had lost his inclination for food.

Not accustomed, as the doctors are, to examine closely the mangled remains of human beings, he had been shocked by the sight disclosed to his view when a waterproof sheet had been lifted off a table in a certain apartment of the hospital.
Another waterproof sheet was spread over that table in the manner of a table-cloth, with the corners turned up over a sort of mound--a heap of rags, scorched and bloodstained, half concealing what might have been an accumulation of raw material for a cannibal feast.