Page 46 of Hook, Line and Single

‘Did you always want to be a policeman?’ I ask Cameron. Since winning Barry’s Bonanza, we’ve fallen into the habit of eating breakfast early and heading out to explore, before returning mid-afternoon to laze by the pool with a cold drink. Yesterday was Sardinia and we’re in Mallorca today.

‘God, no!’ He laughs. ‘I wanted to be a Formula One racing driver, obviously.’

‘Really? Why?’

‘Probably something to do with all the glamorous locations, the beautiful women and the money.’

‘Interesting. I didn’t have you down as that shallow.’

‘Oh, come on. Relaxing on my mega yacht in Monte Carlo before driving to an incredible win and celebrating with a supermodel? What’s shallow about that?’

‘I can’t think. Anyway, what stopped you?’

‘Tiny, frustrating little details. It turns out you need to be able to drive really fast, and you also need a killer instinct.’

‘And that’s not you?’

‘I’m not really the competitive type.’

‘I can see that might hold you back. What about Premier League football? I admit that Manchester can’t really compare with Monte Carlo, but there’s still plenty of money there, and most of the players have glamorous girlfriends.’

‘I do play football, actually.’

‘There you go then.’

‘I think it’s probably too big a leap from the Emergency Services Football League to the Premier division, but thank you for the careers advice. I’ll bear it in mind.’

‘So how did the police come about?’

‘Very boringly. They had a stand at a careers fair I went to, I got chatting to them and thought it sounded interesting. What about you? Did you always know you wanted to own a bookshop?’

‘No. I knew I wanted to work with books, but my initial plan was to become a librarian.’

‘What stopped you?’

‘I realised I’d have no control. I would have been totally at the mercy of the local authority and whatever spending priorities they had. Unsurprisingly, libraries are fairly low on the list and don’t get a lot of funding. Then I met Jono, my business partner. His big passion is rare and antique books, so we decided to combine the two things and open our business. I mean, it wasn’t quite as simple as that as we had to raise capital and persuade the bank that our business proposal was viable, but you get the picture.’

‘Aren’t you at risk from the big players though, like Amazon?’

‘There’s just enough room for us both to co-exist. Yes, Amazon has the lion’s share of the market, but there are still a surprising number of people who prefer to browse in a bricks-and-mortar bookshop. Do you know, I’ve got customers who come in just because they love the smell of the books? You can’t get that online. Plus, I like to think we offer exceptional customer service and a mean cup of coffee, as well as the opportunity to meet the handsomest cat in all of Margate.’

‘The famous Samson.’

‘Exactly. You’d be surprised how many people drop by just to see him and end up buying a book or two while they’re there. He’s a master of upselling. Thank goodness he doesn’t charge commission, or he’d cost us a fortune. Why guns?’

‘Sorry?’

‘Why become a firearms officer rather than, say, a detective?’

‘That’s easy.’ He smiles. ‘A lot of detective work is really, really dull. You’ve got to have a passion for the minutiae and get excited about forensics. Plus, most policing is irregular hours because criminals are selfish and don’t work a nine-to-five schedule. One of the things I love about my role is that I generally get to work fairly regular hours and most of the people I deal with are law-abiding citizens. As long as they stay in the right hands and are properly secured, guns don’t pose any risk to the public.’

‘Really? Every time I see a news article about another school shooting, I can’t help thinking they should be outlawed altogether.’

‘I agree that there’s no justification for members of the public to own assault rifles or weapons of that nature. But some of the shotguns, particularly the ones that have been handed down through the generations, they’re literally works of art, with beautiful engraving and exquisite workmanship. Guns like that tend not to pose a risk unless the owners fail to lock them up properly and they get stolen. We’re very strict with owners about how they store, transport and use their guns for that very reason.’

Our conversation is interrupted by a very flustered-looking Sam. I haven’t seen that much of her since I told her about Cameron and me. We did have dinner together as a four but, although Robin was perfectly charming and polite, I found the way that Sam kept simpering at him a little off-putting. She’s also not an early riser when she’s on holiday, so we’ve only really met up at the Marco Polo socials. If I’m brutally honest, I’m still a little annoyed with her for being so high-and-mighty when I told her about Cameron and me, so her opening remark gets my hackles up a little.

‘Ruby, I need you. Now,’ she barks.

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