The body in the bench

Carter glanced over at a long built-in bench, its padded seat removed.  A technician leaned forward and snapped a couple of pictures.

‘What made you lift it up?’ he asked the pub’s cleaner.

‘It was broken … out of line.’

‘But it wasn’t broken yesterday?’

‘No.’

Carter shook his head.  In the last twenty four hours someone had ripped open the sealed bench and stuffed a dead body in the gap.

‘Sir?’ the technician said.


‘Yes?’

‘I think it’s that actress.  From Downton Abbey.’

‘Actress?’ Carter muttered aware that an already odd case was about to become a soap opera.



A drabble is a story of exactly 100 words.