The School of English Murder by Ruth Dudley Edwards

Author:Ruth Dudley Edwards [Edwards, Ruth Dudley]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Suspense, Fiction, General, Mystery & Detective, Large Type Books
ISBN: 9780708927656
Google: H2hgPwAACAAJ
Amazon: 0708927653
Goodreads: 11377487
Publisher: Ulverscroft Large Print
Published: 1990-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

* * *

19

« ^ »

‘The Super’s in. Dunno what’s going on. He wasn’t supposed to be back for several weeks, was he?’ Pooley found Pardeep’s gorgeous eyes so distracting that he almost missed the astonishing news she bore.

‘No, he wasn’t. Maybe there’s a crisis.’

‘Don’t think they get called back from Bramshill unless there’s a world war. See you.’

Pooley sat at his desk longing to be sufficiently senior to be able to stroll into Milton’s room and casually enquire what had happened.

‘Ellis.’ It was Milton. ‘Will you come in for a moment?’

Pooley’s heart leaped.

‘Coming, sir.’

‘Inspector Romford not in yet?’

‘No, sir.’

‘Well, perhaps you can help me. Do you know of anything going on on your patch that you think I might be gainfully employed on for a couple of days? No one else has anything that fits the bill.’

‘Sorry, sir?’ Milton tended to be a bit unorthodox, but this approach really floored Pooley.

‘Oh, sorry, Ellis. Bramshill’s had an outbreak of salmonella, so the course is suspended until Monday. I was one of the lucky ones; I refused the Scotch eggs. So I’m really extra to strength here and am looking for a specific job to do.’

Pooley looked over his shoulder. ‘We badly need you at the Knightsbridge School of English, sir.’

‘Is Robert all right?’ Milton sounded so seriously alarmed that Pooley had one of his occasional stabs of envy about their friendship.

‘Oh, he’s fine, but Ned Nurse is dead and was probably murdered.’

Romford came crashing in, wreathed in profuse apologies about late trains. ‘Don’t worry, don’t worry. Sit down and bring me up to date. Thanks, Ellis.’ He gave Pooley a distant nod of dismissal. Pooley trailed out dejectedly, anathematising whoever had finally got Romford to his destination. Had the Super got the message? If he had, how could he squeeze out Romford? Moodily, he got down to typing out statements from his own shorthand.

He had been at the job for only ten minutes when he was called into Milton’s office again. ‘Ellis, Inspector Romford suggests I might take over from him on this English school business. He has a great deal to clear up before leaving us, so I think the least I can do is give him time to do it. You’ll be able to brief me, won’t you? I don’t want to waste any of the inspector’s time.’ Pooley nodded: he felt unable to speak.

Romford was silently extolling the power of prayer. What else could have sent the Super out of the blue to release him from another day with these awful people? He congratulated himself on the skill with which he had manipulated him into taking it on.

‘I feel as if I’m having a half holiday from school,’ remarked Milton. ‘Of course I’m terribly sorry for my stricken colleagues, but it’s an ill wind…’

‘It certainly is, sir,’ said Pooley fervently.

They were taking a detour through St James’s Park. ‘Now, Ellis, I’ve told the school that we won’t be along for about an hour, so just to increase my holiday feeling, we’ll have a cup of coffee somewhere near by and you can tell me the full story.

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.