The Donaldson Case Read Online Free PDF

because of
his, well, oddness.”
    “That’s a
shame,” Janet said.   “I didn’t mind
him being a bit peculiar.   He gave
me excellent advice about a cream for my dry skin.”
    “He’s very good
at his job,” Michael said.   “But
these days that isn’t enough for the big chain stores.   They want you to interact with your
customers, and persuade them to buy lots of extra things they don’t need.   It’s a very different job to what I did
when I had my little shop.”
    “Is there
anyone else who’s been filling in besides you and George?” Joan asked.
    “Ethan Bailey
did a week or two last month,” Michael replied.   “I don’t know if you were in the shop
while he was there or not.   If you
were, you might not have noticed him.”
    “But surely he
was the only one in there,” Janet said.   The tiny local shop didn’t get enough business to have a shop assistant
in addition to the chemist.   The
chemist was expected to handle all transactions, from filling prescriptions to
ringing up nappies and baby food.
    “Well, yes,
but I’ve always thought of Ethan as an almost invisible person,” Michael
said.   “He’s just the sort of man who
blends into the background wherever he is.   I’ve never heard him raise his voice or seen him get flustered or upset
about anything.   Every time I see
him I spend several minutes thinking he looks familiar before I finally work
out who he is, and that includes days where I know we’re going to be working
together.   He just has the most
unmemorable face and personality of anyone I’ve ever met.”
    Janet
laughed.   “Now I hope I get to meet
him at some point.   You must let me
know the next time he’s going to be working locally.”
    “I don’t know
that anyone will be working there for a while,” Michael said gloomily.   “The police have shut the whole place
while they do a more thorough inventory.”
    “That sounds a
lot more serious than I was thinking this was,” Joan said thoughtfully.
    “It could be
very serious,” Michael replied.
    “So could
George or Ethan have been the making all of the mistakes?” Janet asked.
    “The mistakes
don’t look genuine to me,” Michael told her.   “That’s why I’m so upset.”
    “What do you
mean?” Janet demanded.
    “From what the
police told me, it seems like the mistakes aren’t really mistakes,” Michael
explained.   “It looks more like
someone has worked very deliberately to make it appear like random mistakes
have been made.

 
    Chapter
Four
    “Who would do
that?   And why?” Janet asked.
    “For the
moment, the police have to question everyone who might have done it,” Michael
told her.   “That means I’m as much
of a suspect as Ethan, Owen and George.   As for why, there is a huge market on the street for controlled
substances.”
    “Someone in Doveby Dale has been stealing drugs from the local shop and
selling them on the street?”   Janet
took a deep breath when she realised she was almost shouting.   Joan glared at her.
    “Of course,
whatever is going on is nothing to do with you,” Joan said to Michael in a
soothing voice.
    “Unfortunately,
that isn’t true,” Michael said sadly.   “I’ve worked in that shop quite regularly lately.   It was my shop, after all, before I sold
it to the big chain.   Luckily, when
I sold it they did a very thorough inventory and everything came back exactly
right.”
    “Of course it
did,” Joan said stoutly.
    “The police
can’t seriously suspect you,” Janet said.
    “They have to
suspect everyone.   That’s their
job,” Michael replied.   “Oh, young
Robert Parsons has been very nice about the whole thing, but really, he has to
do his job.”
    “Robert is
very nice and he seems very good at what he does,” Janet said.
    “From what
I’ve seen, I’d agree,” Michael replied.   “He’s just awfully young, that’s all.”
    Joan
nodded.   “What about the other
people who were with Robert?” she