JACK OF DIAMONDS

CHAPTER 11

From…CHAPTER 10

October, that ambiguous month

An update (or a recap) of what happened in the previous chapter. A new character was introduced even as the story expands. Nigel Bannister is young Constable in Chumley Grove. He harbours a dark secret that will come out soon enough. I can’t tell you what it is yet, that’d spoil it for everyone all around. Anyway, he served as a motorcycle messenger during the Great War. He has hopes and aspirations to be an artist one day. This police thing is just a job until he makes it as an artist. Here’s his introduction…

Nigel Bannister looked up briefly from the pencil drawing he was working on; he could hear the sharp echo of the door slamming downstairs as well as the sound of shoes on each step. He had the lights turned down, thinking there was no need to have all the lights on; he was using the desk lamp, taking advantage of everyone else being at the Fair. It was the reason he’d volunteered to stay behind in the first place. He was supposed to answer whatever calls might come in — except there weren’t any calls expected because of the Fair. He looked at it as a chance for him to work on his pencil drawings…

Nigel, a member of the Chumley Grove Constabulary, has no intentions of being a Police Constable for the rest of his life. He’s looking for fame and fortune. But he takes the call when Jenny Ashcroft phones to say that there’s been a break-in and her husband his been beaten.

He finds out that a Stradivarius violin has been stolen, as well as jewelry, and a horse.

Nigel goes out to Bedloe Manor to take a statement…

THIS IS WHERE THE PAYWALL STARTS. (Just so you know, right after this is a detailed account of what happened to the furnace and why it took so long to get it fixed...)