Excerpt from the book called The Frisby Waterless Murders
“Absolutely, lead on Gerald. You can keep your hat off if you want”
“I am still on duty, Inspector Knowles, so I will stay in uniform. Let’s sit in Seats 1 and 3.”
“Right, so how many people were on this trip?”
“There were 25 people, sitting in Seats 1 through 25, with Seat number 26 vacant because Mavis Trimble’s sister couldn’t come at the last moment due to her dog being sick.”
“Is Mavis Trimble an actress or a Round Table person?”
“She’s the wife of Harold Trimble who is a Round Table person. Harold fancies himself as an amateur sleuth, so he thinks he knows who did it already.”
“Can you provide Mavis Trimble’s sister’s address for me, please?”
Gerald Kennedy pushed an A4 piece of paper towards Knowles – “these are the addresses of all the people on that train including mine own and those of the stewards.”
Knowles thanked him and scanned the addresses all of which were local.
“So Mavis Trimble’s sister is called Maudie – Maudie and Mavis, nice,” said Knowles with a hint of sarcasm, “well, when did you find out Maudie wasn’t coming?”
“I received a phone call from her at 9am this morning about half-an-hour before we left Little Flixton – too late to get anyone else – we don’t have standby, but The Round Table paid a certain amount for the whole morning and so we aren’t out of pocket.”
“We being?”
“The Little Flixton Preservation Society and Trust.”
“And you’re insured for deaths on the murder/mystery trips?”
“We are covered for all eventualities, thankfully, although I don’t believe Major Harkness died due to the negligence of our trust.”
“Which seat was Major Harkness sitting in?”
“He was sitting in Seat 22 although he was scheduled to be in Seat 26 and he swapped with the Trimbles because he needed more legroom due to a war wound that flared up when he sat in too confined a space.”
“He swapped with the Trimbles, so who was originally going to be in Seat 22?” Knowles was looking thoughtful.
“Well, Mavis Trimble was going to be in Seat 21 with Maudie in 22, and then Harold Trimble in Seat 23 with his daughter in 24.”
Julian Worker Fiction Writing 