Chapter Ten
Death Message
In common with most of his colleagues, Don hated delivering death messages.
One never knew what reaction to expect from someone being told of the demise of a member of the family; particularly when the message was accompanied by the unexpected arrival of a uniformed police officer on the doorstep. For this reason, in an attempt to look less imposing, officers frequently left their headgear back in the police car before calling at the house.
In his time, Don had delivered scores of such messages, and he had seen all sorts of reactions. People had screamed, shouted, or even fainted clean away. On one memorable occasion he had to dodge the fist of a young man who had lost control of himself when he received the news that his mother had been killed crossing the ro
