The Case of the Sapphire Brooch by Christopher Bush

Author:Christopher Bush
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Dean Street Press
Published: 2022-03-12T16:00:00+00:00

SACRED TO THE MEMORY

OF

LAURA MANN

Born March 14, 1930

Died April 13, 1957

Aged 27 years

R.I.P.

I took the path again. Twenty yards on I moved to the grass again and halted at a grave. I took off my hat as I guessed a sorrowing relative would do. A minute or two of that and I began an inspection, and all the time I was watching that woman at that other grave. The whole thing had so startled me that it had been at least a good minute before I could really think. Laura Mann had claimed to be alone in the world. No relative or friend had answered those press appeals or those sent out by the police. Who, then, was the woman at the grave?

I wondered if I should speak to her. Conversation should be easy enough to make: the weather, the condition of the graves, even what she was doing. And then I remembered something. The balance of Laura Mann’s money was in the registrar’s hands, and maybe he was spending small sums from time to time to keep that grave in order. The woman at the grave was an employee or a friend.

And then, before I could make up my mind what to do, she got to her feet and I could see her more clearly. Her hair was greyer than the felt hat. Her neat costume was grey. She was tall for a woman and slimly, even bonily, built. And she’d come well equipped. She brushed her hands across the skirt of the costume, then put the small trowel and her gardening gloves into the basket. She picked something up and rolled it tightly. It must have been something on which to kneel. I turned quickly away, and when I caught sight of her again, she was walking with long, mannish strides towards the main entrance.

I followed her and held the gap at fifty yards. I needn’t have worried for she never once turned round. At the gate I was nearer, but I halted for a minute after she was through. When I looked cautiously out, she was only fifty yards away, and waiting at that bus stop where I’d got off. I waited, too, inside the gates. Now and again I had another look, and all the time I sat listening for the sound of a bus. And then I saw one, coming from the left. As it slowly passed I took a chance. I let the bus mask me as I crossed the road, and as it drew to a halt I saw two women get in, and one was the woman in grey. I quickened my steps, and as I went up the stairs I saw her settling herself half-way along.

I took a seat at the head of the stairs where I’d only to swivel my head at each stop to see where she got off. I was to have a long ride. It didn’t come as a surprise.

The conductor came up for my fare.

“That lady in grey downstairs,” I said.

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