Off beat

"Now then, Constable Crawford, what news of the world, then?" the desk sergeant called in greeting as Nick Crawford stood trying to readjust to the gloom of the small police station.

"Well sarge," he replied, "it's quiet enough, I suppose. Nothing much happening, so I thought I'd come and have my break a bit early."

"Ah, I see you're displaying your near-legendary powers of observation again, young feller," scoffed the sergeant, otherwise knows as Ron. "They'll make a detective of you yet. I mean, surely there must be more to report about this town of ours than that there's nothing much happening?"

Nick was used to the fake pomposity of the older man - but the gibe about being a detective rankled; still, he thought, that was probably the price you paid for not making a secret of your ambitions.

"Well," he said, "it did seem a bit odd on the High Street this morning. Maybe it was my imagination, but it seemed pretty busy, considering. I mean, you know how quiet it's been since the new supermarket opened. Funny thing is, it was busy, but sort of quiet at the same time - not a lot of noise, people not stopping to chat much."

"Hah," said Ron. "Maybe all the people in the town have been replaced by zombies from out of space, eh!"

Nick sighed. "Outer space, sarge. No, 'cause that'd be weird. This wasn't weird as such, just a bit...odd."



Part Two begins here.