The Snape Ring by John Broughton

Author:John Broughton [Broughton, John]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Gumshoe - A Next Chapter Imprint
Published: 2020-04-14T16:00:00+00:00

14

London, 2021 AD

Conscious of the ironic smirk behind his back as he feebly hauled on Double-A’s padded door, Jake slipped outside into the sanctuary of the quiet corridor. Gripped tightly in his left hand, he bore the sheet of notepaper on which his boss had obligingly written a name and contact number. As with other unusual entreaties he had made to his employer, Sir Clive had fielded this one with familiar aplomb.

An appeal for ‘a competent psychic medium, not one of those charlatans,’ had to rank high on a hypothetical chart of quirky requests. Nonetheless, he had emerged from his chief’s office with what he wanted and without having to account for why he needed to contact Abigail Phoenix-Mace. That a spymaster should refrain from being inquisitive struck Jake as an honourable display of faith in his subordinate. It made the mandarin a gram more likeable, yes one gram, no more! He thought this as he stepped into the lift where he decided against telling the receptionist, who happened to be his girlfriend, that he was going to consult a psychic medium. You never know what such an admission might lead to! He shuddered to think what questions Alice Harrop would be eager to put into his mouth about their romantic future.

That, of course, had nothing whatsoever to do with why he wished to speak with the mystic Abigail, who vaunted an excellent serious reputation with the Metropolitan Police thanks to her several crucial interventions in intractable murder cases.

When he arrived at the address she had given him and entered the elegant mews house, he didn’t find the esoteric symbols he’d half-expected, but rather a fine print of a Breughel winter scene. Lost in a winged leather swivel chair of comfortable aspect, the medium gazed with evident perplexity at Jake through a curling wisp of incense smoke.

“Now, why would one like you wish to consult me?” she asked.

“What do you mean?” he was equally puzzled by her confused tone.

She stared at him for several long seconds, “You have a vibrant aura but most of all, with a white corona, which means you are a highly spiritual person endowed with considerable gifts.”

“It’s true that I have psychic gifts. But that doesn’t mean that I’m not ignorant about such matters. Consider me an infant prodigy.”

She laughed gaily, “A somewhat large infant, Mr Conley.”

He pulled the crystal ball from his jacket pocket and handed it to her, relieved to adjust the shoulder of the garment that had slipped down uncomfortably under the weight of the object.

She tut-tutted, “It’s a disgrace! This is in need of cleaning. Why did you allow it to get into this state?”

“I didn’t. It’s lain in the ground for nearly a millennium and a half. What do you make of it?”

“Who’s to say until it’s cleaned up? Will you permit me?”

“Please.”

She placed it on her desk and rose with the loose-limbed grace of a yogi and returned with a basin of sudsy water. Once she had gently bathed the

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