When the front counter bell rang, Alf looked up, saw no one, and then looked back down at his lunch again. "Hello, Sarah."
Walking around the counter, she strolled over to his desk. "Hello, Mr Ventress." She looked into his lunch box, too, then reached into her pocket and pulled out two wrapped boiled sweets. "I'll trade you half a sandwich for these?"
Alf considered his options. "Deal."
Sarah placed the sweets on the desk and reached in eagerly for half a sandwich. "Mrs Ventress is the best sandwich maker in the whole world, I think."
"I'll let her know you think so." Alf smiled, pleased. He thought so, too. "Ah, have you run away from school again?"
"No, it's my holiday. Mommy's at the shop and said I could come and say hello."
"Well. I'm sorry to tell you this, but your father is out at present, and I don't know when he will be back."
Sarah frowned and then shrugged, taking another bite of her sandwich. "Can I go and look at lost property again?"
"Go on, then." Ventress smiled indulgently.
Five minutes later the front door opened and Jenny immediately gave Alf an apologetic smile. "I got caught by Joyce. Apparently as a policeman's wife, I am duty bound to do something or other for the Christmas fete she's organising. I hope Sarah didn't get in the way."
"Oh, she's never a bother. The sergeant is out at the moment, so she's gone to look at lost property."
"Hopefully she doesn't come home with another pair of false teeth." Jenny groaned as she went to find her daughter. When she saw her, she held out a hand. "Come on! I've finished shopping, so we can go to the park now."
With a smile, Sarah jumped down from the chair she had been sat on and skipped after her mother.
Just as Jenny reached for the door handle, the door opened to reveal her husband whose troubled face lit up when Sarah jumped into his arms. "What are you two doing here?!"
"I have a story to tell you about-" Sarah began.
"If this is about that tortoise, your father doesn't have time. You can tell him over dinner." Jenny interrupted, seeing the DI coming towards them.
With a dramatic sigh, Sarah nodded and kissed her father's cheek before she wriggled back down to the floor.
"I'll see you later." Dennis offered his wife with a smile, kissing her cheek before holding open the door so they could exit as the DI and other officers came in.
As they passed her Uncle Mike, Sarah slipped a boiled sweet into his hand and gave him a cheeky smile, complete with missing two front teeth.