EDENVILLE

The Eden Grand Hotel

By @lyttlejoe

Constable Breem watched through his office window as Porter Dobbs wheeled his broken bicycle down the road. Satisfied his message had been delivered, he turned to his other work, a series of messages to do with rodent sightings.
One message stuck out and made him sit up abruptly. A dead rat was discovered in the kitchen of the Eden Grand Hotel and the doc had been called to revive old Jethro, the owner, who has fainted dead away. Breem donned the custodian helmet, checked his whistle and did a finger groom of his military moustache then marched smartly out the door to the hotel.
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Jethro sat on a stool in the hotel kitchen while one of the young woman servers fanned him with plastic cutting board. Doc was nearby making notes in his book and in a box by the outside door resided the cause of Jethro's plight.
"Right, please state the circumstances that activated this incident. Who discovered the rodent?"
"I did, Mr. Breem."
"Constable Breem, Miss and you are?"
"Billie Butler, I wait tables in the dining room."
Breem stroked his chin. "And just why were you in the kitchen then?"
"I heard Mr. Woodnick shriek."
"Shriek. Hmm, not shout or scream then?"
"Excuse me?"
"And where was the rodent?" Breem turned to a new page in his note book.
"On the floor just inside the door."
"Anything suspicious?"
"Well a rat in the Eden Grand Hotel kitchen is bloody suspicious, I'd say!"
"Was there any exchange between you and the trespasser?"
"Exchange? The flamin' thing was dead!"
Breem nodded as he made his entries. "Very good, don't leave the village I may need to ask you more questions."
"Before you ask anything else, Constable," Doc said after the woman left, "I put the rat in that box because Jethro was having fits so my fingerprints will be on the tip of the tail." He winked, packed up his case and left.
Breem filled another page.
***********************
Porter had leaned his wrecked bicycle against the wall in front of the garden and walked to door rapping politely. The smiling woman that had answered the door, confirmed his name and then invited him inside.

Sherry, some wafers and the creamers which looked promising, just didn't make up for the unaccountable assault on his misconstrued remark about the bust of Caesar.

In a state of confused panic, he regained the street and hurriedly wheeled his bicycle as fast as possible toward the bicycle repair shop - he needed to have transportation.