Butterflies by K. J. Charles

Author:K. J. Charles
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Publisher: Smashwords
Published: 2013-10-28T00:00:00+00:00

***

The police sergeant was more welcoming than the butterfly collector. Many provincial policemen swell with pride at being interviewed by a real London journalist, and the greatest difficulty is to stop them talking. This one was much of that type, except that he evidently felt that the whole butterfly business was an embarrassing nuisance.

‘It’s peculiar, yes,’ he said. ‘Very peculiar. But peculiar ain’t my business. The Chief Constable’s brought a fellow down here to look into it, a Mr Feximal, I expect you know the name. Peculiar is his business. My business is law-breaking, and I’ve quite enough of that to be getting on with.’

I made noises of sympathy and he launched into a recital of his woes. I had covered many a crime in London and it seemed to me he had very little to complain about: a few burglaries, the usual cases of drunkenness and wife-beating, a nasty piece of vandalism in the Cathedral, involving the desecration of an ancient tomb. He cast no light on the butterfly killings, or much else, but his story of the tomb caught my attention and I considered it as I nodded along to his monologue.

I doubted Simon would be finished with whatever he was doing in the morgue yet. The Cathedral was no great distance. It would be worth a glance, and if the vandalism was as dramatic as the sergeant claimed, it might make either excellent local colour or even a short article of its own. I was paid by the word; these things count.

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