A Shot in the Dark - 50

Part no. 50.

This summary was deliberately written in the present tense (analyse it as if it’s taking place* as you read it).

It’s early morning and Sergeant Brunswick is heading over to Mrs. Thorpe’s house. The dinner room is now back to its intended purpose** after the forensic team scoured it through the night. Brunswick believes that Mrs Thorpe may well turn out a valuable witness, her position almost at the forefront of the whole situation. On his arrival there he finds, of course, a distressed Mrs. Thorpe. When she seems to have braced herself, he starts to interview her. He first raises her encounter with the female con artist posing as a poll lady. Mrs Thorpe gives a vague description of this woman and some interesting details as well. For example, this poll lady had kept a perfect posh accent throughout the conversation. However, when she was ready to leave, her Cockeny rhyming slang got the better of her, giving the game away. Another interesting detail is that she had a list of questions and she stuck to it, asking nothing else. Brunswick reasons it’s likely that she cunningly made a point of looking interested only in that list, while discreetly assessing if Mrs. Thorpe’s house was a worth target. One thing seemed to stand out more than others. The poll lady offered Mrs Thorpe a ticket to the hippodrome show for last night. She has done it with other victims as well. When he feels satisfied with what he’s learnt, Brunswick turns the subject to the late Braithwaite. Mrs Thorpe explains that Braithwaite was livid when he heard of the poll lady’s visit. Braithwaite was adamant that the poll lady was a con artist and that the police should be alerted at once.

*Can I use “unfolding” instead of “taking place”?

**I meant that a murder had occured in the dining room and, therefore, the police had closed it off (as a crime scene).