Mrs Payne

Mrs Payne was the first customer at Fred Elliott’s Butcher’s Shop after the news broke that he was the grandson of Bernard Cartwright who years before had committed a murder in the vicinity of Victoria Street. With the discovery of a dead body within the precincts of the buildings works for the new Health Centre (soon to be identified as being that of Tony Horrocks), Fred had gloomy thoughts that people would stay away in droves from his shop. What he didn’t reckon with was the need for salacious gossip inbred in the great British public. When he realised this, he combined his natural sales technique with all the gory details he could muster or embellish about his grandfather with the result that Mrs Payne bought many more items from him than she usually would. At the end of the day, and after many repeats occurances of this event, Fred had enjoyed one of the most profitable days in his career.