-- Better do it now , he thought , and popped his head round the florist's door .

-- Mrs Day , he called as he went in .

-- I'm in a bit of a hurry , but I want to order a small bunch of flowers .

Mrs Day looked surprised .

-- It's for my landlady , and I reckon I can trust you to choose something that would suit her tastes .

-- Certainly . I know the tastes of all the lady villagers . I have just the thing for Mrs George. Er-- you do mean Mrs George?

-- Too right , and if you could add a small box of chocolates to the gift , I'd be very grateful. I'll pick them up on the way home from work and pay you then. Would that be okay with you ?

Mrs Day signified her assent , and Peter gave her a happy salute and went on his way to work.

Once at the Manor , he was met by a smiling Helen , with a piece of notepaper in her hand .

-- Early post today, and see what the postie brought !

She handed over the note from Mrs Day , which Peter read .

-- Well , there's a turnup for the books , he said.

-- I just spoke to her and she never mentioned she had written to you . I suppose I didn't give her the time to do it . I was just rushing an order for some flowers for Mrs George . She was a bit miffed with me when she found out that you and I had eaten at The Jumping Bean .

-- Dear god .... village politics , sighed an exasperated Helen .

-- Now , I 'll send Mrs Day a note to come up here and pick up the photos . Will you take it down for me ?

-- Right , said Peter .

-- There's a couple of little jobs I can do here while I'm waiting .

And he went about them briskly .

It surprised him not a little that Helen took rather a long time to compose the note. She had screwed up several attempts before looking over one that satisfied her .

-- Have to be tactful , she told Peter .

-- Don't want to get Mrs D completely offside . I think she should be able to help with a lot of personal identifications .

-- Sure of it . said Peter as he took the note , walked out to the lane and covered the distance to Mrs Day's shop at a fair speed .

When he got there , she was at the door , peering down the street towards the Police Station .

--- Something wrong ? asked Peter as he handed over the note.

-- No , I don't think so , sniffed Mrs Day . She slipped the note into her apron pocket .

-- Just that young boy from Rose Cottage and his dog causing a ruckus .

She patted her pocket .

-- Thank you for this , I'll read it in a moment --- and I'll have the flowers ready this afternoon , as you requested .

She was obviously more interested in what was happening down the street , but Peter preferred to hurry back to the Manor ,

He had work to do .