Lady Gold Investigates 2 by Lee Strauss

Author:Lee Strauss [Strauss, Lee]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781774090459
Publisher: La Plume Press
Published: 2019-09-29T16:00:00+00:00

2

“My wife tells me you are a private detective,” Mr. Hammond said with a shaky voice, after he had sat down in his office. The room was spacious and tastefully decorated, with two windows overlooking the manor grounds. In addition to Mr. Hammond’s large oak desk and leather chair, there were two rich leather wingback chairs and a sizeable sofa.

Yes, I am,” Ginger said as she and Felicia claimed seats. Ginger removed her coat, revealing an ivory day blouse matched with a pleated skirt. “But, Mr. Hammond, don’t you want to call the police?”

Mr. Hammond shook his head. “Not just yet, for reasons I will explain in a moment.” The poor man looked very distraught indeed and Ginger’s investigative curiosity was definitely piqued.

He locked his gaze with hers. “Will you help me?”

Ginger didn’t think it wise to keep the police out of it, but for the sake of her friendship with Mrs. Hammond she found herself agreeing. “The first thing you need to do is lock the outside doors to keep anyone from coming or going. Then we need to gather everyone; all the attendants, workers, and custodians together in one room. Make sure they are all accounted for. This must be done immediately if we want to catch this thief.”

Mr. Hammond quickly nodded, rose from his chair and walked to the door and called out across the hall. “Mr. Steadman!”

A fair-skinned man with blond hair turning to grey appeared. Ginger recognised him as the man who had arrived as a saviour with a torch earlier.

“Mr. Steadman, please lock all the doors and gather the staff in the upper lounge area immediately.”

“What’s going on, Mr. Hammond?”

“I will explain everything in the lounge. Please hurry.”

Mr. Hammond returned to his seat. “That was Mr. Steadman, the second curator.”

“I see,” Ginger paused for a moment, then asked, “What is the object that has been stolen?”

Mr. Hammond swallowed hard. “It’s a very valuable artefact, and it was scheduled for the Persian Jewellery exhibition which is set to open in three weeks’ time on the manor’s top floor. Renovations to that level are not quite done yet so all the jewellery is being stored in our cellar which I thought would be very secure.”

“Was there anything else stolen?”

“Not that I can tell, but a lot of the other jewellery is actually not that valuable in the grand scheme of things. The thief obviously knew exactly where to look within the vault for this object.”

“How did you know someone had been in the vault?”

“The padlock was turned backwards. The keyhole was facing the door. That means you have to reach down with your left hand to turn it while you put the key in with the other.” Mr. Hammond looked intently at the two ladies as if this explained everything.

“I see,” Ginger said.

“This takes more effort and is less efficient. I have got into the habit of always leaving the keyhole pointing outwards. I have been doing it that way every day for years. That’s how I knew someone had tampered with it.

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