Book - A Shot in the Dark - P16

After settling the matter with Twitten*, Inspector Steine now needed a bit of space for himself. He knew how to get those two out of sight. First, he handed Twitten his ticket to the theatre play. Thus, not only would he slow down Twitten, he would avoid seeing** that loathsome Crystal as well. To Steine’s bafflement, Twitten had heard of the play and was now thrilled to attend it. Besides, he would be sitting next to the sheer A.S. Crystal; what an honour! As for Brunswik, tonight he would be enquiring about the red-haired at the hippodrome. Steine could finally press on with his talk notes for the radio show. That was all he cared about.

In the afternoon, Sergeant Brunswik set out to the seaside Punch and Judy booth. There, Brunswik found Vince - the Punch and Judy man - setting up the booth and offered his help. Vince fixed him with such an angry gaze that settled the answer. Vince was quite a character. He was clearly not cut out for entertainment. He suffered from undiagnosed Tourette’s. Police received complaints almost every day about him, yet his license was inexplicably renewed every year. Anyway, Brunswid had not gone there for Vince, but for Masie, Vince’ helper. He wanted to invite Masie to the hippodrome show of tonight. True to form, Vince warned Brunwik not to lay a finger on her. Brunswik was utterly terrified of him, but did a good job at not giving the game away.

<p><strong>*EXPLANATION</strong>: Inspector Steine did not like new constable Twitten and had decided to relieve him of his job, but then he learnt from Twitten himself that he had already been transferred six times over the last three months. For that and other reasons, he changed his decision and conveyed it to Twitten. So, <strong>would that expression be correct?&nbsp;</strong></p>
<p><strong>**</strong>he would avoid seeing or he would be avoiding seeing.</p>