The Sleeping Salesman Enquiry Read Free Page A

yet?” he said, and James shook his head.
    “Late today. There’s quite a queue out there.”
    “Including the man at the bus stop!” said Gus quickly. “Must go, James. See you in the pub tonight?”
    There he was, a lumpy-looking man, with a few strands of hair slicked back and heavy, black-framed glasses with tinted lenses, all contributing to a sinister appearance.
    Gus was convinced this was his man, and approached with a friendly smile. “Good morning, sir,” he began. “Lovely morning!”
    “Get that so-and-so dog away from me!” said the man. “I don’t know you, whoever you are, and I don’t want to. Here comes the bus, so just get out of my way.”
    Gus recoiled, and stepped back onto the forecourt of the shop. He took a deep breath. Wow! So that was a complete disaster. He watched the queue disappear into the bus, and saw his man sit down at a window seat. The scowl on his face was particularly directed at Gus, and as the bus moved away Gus felt as if someone had taken a potshot at him from behind a tree.
    “Gus!” It was James calling from inside the shop. “Here a minute! I should have warned you,” he added, as Gus returned. “That charming character is well-known for his dyspeptic manner. Not just you, so don’t be upset. He’s like that to everyone.”
    “Does he live in the village? I don’t remember seeing him before.”
    “Do you know that tumbledown cottage up Cemetery Lane? Next to the old smithy. Paint all peeling off the woodwork. Well, that’s Alf Lowe’s place.”
    “Lowe by name and low by nature!” said Gus, reviving quickly. “A nasty piece of work, then? I don’t think he can be the man I was looking for.”
    “Didn’t know you were looking. Can I help?” James knew just about everybody who lived in the village, and was used to directing lost lorry-drivers to village addresses.
    Gus described Roy’s brief acquaintance with a man who had trouble with his wife, and James said that as far as he knew, Alfred Lowe was a bachelor. “He may have had a wife years ago,” he said, “before I came to the shop. But now I’m sure he lives alone up there. That’s what I’ve heard, anyway.”
    Gus made his way back home, thinking hard about what had happened. Alf Lowe had answered Roy’s description exactly, and yet could not have been further from a friendly chap having trouble with the wife. Ah well, perhaps Alf had a brother. More work needed on this, he decided, and headed for the pub and a lunchtime snack.
    • • •
    “GUS WAS THERE on time,” said Ivy to Roy, as they sat working their way through large portions of rabbit pie. “He was seen talking to someone outside the shop.”
    “Not necessarily our man,” said Roy, “but let’s hope he has something interesting to tell us this afternoon, then.”
    “If that was your man this morning, he’ll be here early to tell us, but if not, it will be more like teatime, when the afternoon bus has gone. Chances are, anyway, that he won’t find your man at first attempt.”
    Roy, who, along with the rest of Enquire Within, did not feel too much urgency on this new case, changed the subject and said that he had decided to call his nephew to ask if he would be best man, and had caught him just as he was leaving the house.
    “Sounded quite shocked when I told him about our marriage,” laughed Roy.
    “Why shocked?” Privately, Ivy thought she knew very well why his nephew was shocked, but, as she had previously decided, said nothing about Roy’s will.
    “He said he had thought I was a confirmed bachelor, and at my age wasn’t it a bit risky? I asked him to explain, and he huffed and puffed and said what about my weak heart. I said I had no such thing, and if he didn’t want to be best man, I could easily find someone else. But then he changed his tune and said he would be delighted, and looked forward to hearing details. Then he signed off, presumably in a hurry.”
    “Mm,” said Ivy, and frowned. “I