True Love Ways Read Online Free

worry,” said Drew. “I'm sure he'll be tucked away
in a corner somewhere, reliving his glory days with all those who got on the
train at Midchester.”
     
    “Yes, of course. And he doesn't get out till
Hereford, does he? So he’s got plenty of time to go through it all again. I'd
better be going. Thank you again for your help.”
     
    She was just about to pick up her case and leave the
station, when the Hereford train drew to a screeching halt just beyond the
station. A guard jumped off and ran back up the track, speaking to one of the
porters. “Get the ambulance and the police!” he shouted. “There's a man injured
in the toilet! He’s been stabbed!”
     
    ***
     
    The constable's cottage was much as Meredith
remembered it, with roses around the door, and a well-stocked country garden.
Not that it had been a constable's cottage for a long time. A purpose built
police station had been built at the turn of the century. But as with all small
towns, the old names of buildings endured. The cottage had once been a two up
two down, not counting the old jail cell at the back, which now served as a
larder. It had been built onto over the years, adding a new section with an
extra room downstairs, which served as the drawing room, and an extra bedroom
upstairs.
     
    “Nice place,” Drew had said, after he'd insisted on
carrying her suitcase for her anyway.
     
    “It's my favourite place in the whole world,” said
Meredith, tears stinging her eyes. She was home at last. “It’s been too long
since I’ve seen it. Thank you for helping me again. I'd invite you in but...”
She didn’t want him to go. She wished he would put his arm around her and tell
her that everything would be alright. Which was silly. She hardly knew him. But
she was shaken by what had happened to the old policeman, even though if she
were honest, she had been expecting it.
     
    “No, you go and see your aunt. You’ll both have lots
to talk about. I'll call on you tomorrow perhaps, to see how you are?”
     
    “I'd like that, Drew.”
     
    Meredith let herself in through the front door,
which was never locked in the daytime “Aunty Peg,” she called.
     
    “Meredith! It’s my darling girl, in here! In here!”
     
    Meredith heard a chastening voice say, 'Now, now,
dear, we don't want to get over-excited.”
     
    “You might not want to, Nurse Chalmers, but I
certainly do. I haven’t seen her for fourteen years!”
    Meredith found her aunt in the drawing room. Aunty
Peg sat on a chair near to the fireplace. “Oh darling, come here!” She ran to
kneel by her aunt, and was engulfed in lavendar scented arms. Immediately she
was fourteen years younger, and ready for the type of adventure only Aunty Peg
could offer.
     
    “Oh Aunt Peg, I’ve missed you so much.” The tears
that Meredith held back in front of Drew began to fall.
     
    “Let me look at you.” Peg held Meredith at arm’s
length, and wiped a stray tear from her niece’s cheek. “You are so beautiful.
Just like Mary.”
     
    “Now,” said Nurse Chalmers, who was an efficient
looking woman in her fifties, “I'll leave you both alone for a while, but
promise me Miss Bradbourne that you won't talk to your aunt about murders and
things. We don't want her getting upset.”
     
    Aunty Peg waited until Chalmers had gone from the
room before saying to Meredith. “Ignore here and tell me exactly why I've just
heard the Hereford train stop outside the station.”
     
    Chapter Three
     
    “He'd been stabbed in the back with the teddy boy's
flick knife,” Meredith told Aunty Peg over a cup of tea and a slice of hot,
buttered toast. Her joy at returning to her aunt's was somewhat subdued by the
awful events at the station. She had since learned that the old policeman's
name was Alfred Turner. “He’d bled to death. But Jimmy – that's the teddy boy –
had gone from the station by the time they realised. I knew something would
happen to Mr Turner, as soon as he started spouting