CONSTABLE OVER THE BRIDGE a perfect feel-good read from one of Britain’s best-loved authors by NICHOLAS RHEA

Author:NICHOLAS RHEA [RHEA, NICHOLAS]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Publisher: Joffe Books crime thriller and cozy mystery suspense
Published: 2021-06-06T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 7

I was in Aidensfield post office one Tuesday morning, off duty and in civilian clothes, and was trying to select a birthday card from the modest display. As I studied the range on offer, a tall, smartly dressed man in his late forties hurried in and began to examine the selection of magazines and newspapers on the rack next to me. As we tried to concentrate on our efforts, Claude Jeremiah Greengrass then burst in and began to rummage through the selection of fruit and vegetables which were displayed in boxes on the floor just below the magazine rack.

In a post office-cum-shop that had, moments ago, been a haven of rustic tranquillity, there was now considerable turmoil due to the lack of space while the three of us each tried to avoid the others as we made our selections. It was inevitable we would bump into one another and get in one another’s way, but it seemed none of us was willing to stand back to permit a more orderly gathering. It seemed that each of us was in a hurry to complete our purchases.

Standing behind the counter and watching events with a bemused expression on his face, was the owner of the premises, my former sergeant Oscar Blaketon. Towards the end of his police service at Ashfordly, he had expressed a desire to own a small business of this kind, but even so I found it difficult to know what was going through his mind now that he was a postmaster and small-time shop-keeper. It was a complete contrast to his earlier responsibilities as the man in charge of a moderately sized but very busy police station. Now, his busiest day was when the village pensioners came to collect their dues.

Certainly, in a civilian capacity, he had had to curb his capacity for organization and telling others what to do, and I wondered if he felt he should take control of this little incident in his post office-cum-shop. Perhaps he would have shouted for us all to stand back a moment, to allow the first customer — me, in fact — to make his selection, then the second and finally Greengrass. But he didn’t; he stood back with a broad smile on his face as each of us jockeyed for position among his tightly packed displays. As I hunted through the cards, I could see him watching us with more than a hint of amusement, and then I found one which appealed to me. It was for my brother-in-law and so I picked it up, found a matching envelope and headed for the counter.

But at that very same instant, so did Greengrass, and the tall, smart stranger. Greengrass was clutching one brown paper-bag full of carrots and another containing mushrooms, while the stranger had a copy of The Times, the Gamekeeper and Countryside, and Country Fair. It was almost inevitable that we all arrived together at the counter — and then I noticed a change of expression on Blaketon’s face.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.