Rosie didn’t like Ethel and the feeling was mutual, even though they’d had little to do with one another. Rosie suspected Ethel was jealous of her – though goodness only knew why – and she considered Ethel to be coarse and uncouth, and not nearly good enough for darling Stan, who’d been a mainstay of this town for most of his life.

Rosie clutched her letter and wondered if she could trust the woman to deliver it without steaming it open to read the contents. It would be a gamble, but one it seemed she couldn’t avoid, for Ethel had spotted her and was eyeing her and the car with curiosity.

And then, to her relief, Rosie saw Peggy’s snooty sister Doris emerging from behind the WVS tea and sandwich wagon to close the shutters. Rosie didn’t like her either, for she was a complete cow to Ron and Peggy with her hoity-toity ways, but she suspected Doris was more reliable than Ethel, and not half as nosy.

‘Would you mind delivering this to Beach View?’ she asked pleasantly. ‘It’s rather urgent, so I’d be very grateful if you could do it today.’

Doris eyed the letter that was being held out to her and then glared coolly down her nose at Rosie. ‘This town has a perfectly good postal service. The letter box is over there.’

Rosie bit back a retort and managed to keep her tone reasonable. ‘I’m very aware of that, but this needs to be delivered today.’

Doris raised a severely plucked brow. ‘Then I suggest you do it yourself. I’m far too busy, and certainly don’t have time to go out of my way to Beach View.’

Rosie shoved the letter at her, making Doris automatically clutch it to her chest. ‘Please deliver it for me,’ she said anxiously. ‘I have to go away for a while, and it’s really important Ron gets this today.’

Doris held her gaze for a long, cool minute and then pocketed the letter. ‘I’ll do my best,’ she said, ‘but I have a great many important tasks ahead of me today, so it might not be until later.’

‘That’s very kind of you,’ breathed Rosie. ‘Thank you, thank you.’

She turned and hurried back to the car, unaware that Ethel had joined Doris on the platform and they were watching her departure with great interest – and that within minutes of her departure, Rosie’s letter had changed hands again and was now buried deep in Ethel’s trouser pocket.

Ron was just emerging from the outside lav after his morning constitutional, and a lengthy peruse of yesterday’s newspaper, when he heard heavy footsteps approaching along the alleyway, so went to investigate.

‘Hello, Bert, you’re out and about early. What can I do you for?’

‘I’m returning lost property, Ron.’ Bert hefted the cat basket aloft.