The Uncovered Policeman: Caribbean Blues

Hot onto the presses the latest instalment in my Rags to Riches series the Uncovered Policeman: Caribbean Blues!

“Hot on the presses”? You mean “off the presses”!

No I mean “on” … publication is February 14th so it is not off yet! But you can pre order now!

Here are the fist few page to whet your appetite!!

Caribbean Blues, Chapter 1

The knock on the door was a surprise. Visitors turning up unannounced were a rarity at L’Abeille Nue. Most of the local people knew to call in advance. Fewer people called after dark, in early November.

After a quick exchange of glances and gestures, Rags was nominated to answer the door. He pulled on a dressing gown as he closed the door on the lounge where Bea and the children were watching TV in front of the log fire.

He unlatched the door and froze. He did a double take. If Bea was in front of the TV in the lounge, who was here looking back at him, illuminated by porch lights and the light streaming through the doorway?

The person standing in front of him would certainly pass the mother of his children. In fact, the young lady was a dead ringer for the Bea he had first met nearly ten years earlier.

“Hi, Mr. Adiscombe?” The voice was not Bea’s. She had a strange version of an American accent. “I am Elodie, I suppose I am to be your niece, no, your cousin.” The grammar was if anything French. In the light of the doorway, Rags thought he could see her brown eyes dancing at his confusion.

Yes, Rags was confused. For a start, it had been years since anybody, apart from the bank manager, had called him Mr. Adiscombe. He had been Seaman Adiscombe in the navy. PC Adiscombe in the police force. Addy to his mates in both. His mother had just switched from calling him Sabbath to calling him by the name Bea had given him years ago. She had decided to name him, indirectly, after the rabbit in ‘Rag, Tag and Cotton Tail’. The rabbit in the BBC Children’s programme was Cotton Tail, and, at the time, so was Rags.

“If you are my cousin, best you come in and meet your other cousin, or may be your sister.” Now Elodie looked surprised. “Wait until you meet her!” Rags responded to her confusion. “Shall I take your coat? Your backpack? Anything else?”

Rags lead Elodie across the hallway, opened the door to the lounge. Bea looked up “Who was at the door?”

Rags ushered Elodie into the room, “Our cousin, Elodie”

The two women looked at each other. Elodie suddenly understood why Rags had accepted her claim to be family so easily. The naked woman looking up at her from the floor looked like her reflection. Bea saw herself, a dozen years younger, standing next to the man she loved. There was a pause.

“I’ve never met my Uncle Dave, is he well?”

“Dad is good. He told me a lot about my European family. He said he hoped I would have a chance to meet with some of you. Then he phoned last week and told me where to come to find you. He wants to speak to you both urgently.”