16th June
Woke up and got hit on the head. Something hard had struck me. Discovered it was the cricket ball belonging to that little squirt Clare Flynn, which had flown through my open bedroom window. Reluctantly, knowing the consequences after the cricket bat incident, threw it back at her. Luckily for my part I missed, although her fathers' greenhouse now had a smashed window. Decided I would blame his daughter if I bumped into him again. It was time to get up and continue looking for clues and whilst walking out of the house I noticed a small shiny object lying in the grass. On picking it up, and half the grass with it, it turned out to be a golden ring. Wow..a clue. I needed to get an experts opinion to help shed some light on whose it might be, when it was made and if it might have any remnants of pig dung on it. That way I could link it to the case.
I ran back to the house, jumped on my bike; and missed. Picking myself up and dusting myself down I cautiously mounted the bike and rode towards the nearby town of Chesham. My journey was long and perilous, they had been re-tarmacking the road and I hadn't noticed. I did wonder why it was especially bumpy and having to mend four punctures wasn't exactly normal for a 2 mile journey to the town. Chesham had one jeweler's shop, KP Crips and Son, so with no other options available other than a pawn brokers, a high end diamond shop, a second hand craft store, a watch repair shop, a butchers and a vegetable store I went there. On entering I found Mr KP Crips and Son discussing business with an old gentleman, a certain Mr Van Winddycke-Schmidt (a local crime lord of Dutch / German decent it transpired). They seemed to be talking about a heist they were about to commit on a train that was coming to London. I wasn't particularly interested and as time was ticking I decided to push Mr Van Winddycke-Schmidt aside. I had pushed him a little too hard and he careered into the window display, there was a bit of a commotion, although with him being quite old it wasn't very quick in either the fall or the getting up and the attempt to attack me. This would allow me time to ask for the information I needed. I explained my situation and reluctantly Mr KP (his son was attending to the slightly shocked and increasingly angry Mr Van Winddycke-Schmidt) examined the ring. Eventually Mr KP stood up, straightened his tie and then his shirt and trousers. He lent forward and said softly:
"It belongs to Mrs Wilcox, sir!" "Gordon Bennett" I replied. "No sir, Mrs Wilcox". "Yeah I know you have already told me that" I stated matter of factually. "How do you know" I continued. "Well her name is engraved on the inside of the ring if you had bothered to look. That'll be £5, please". Slightly surprised at the consultation cost I thanked Mr KP, reluctantly giving him all my pocket money.
Making haste I picked my way through the mess on the shop floor and was confronted by Mr Van Winddycke-Schmidt. It must have taken him 5 minutes to get up? I smiled, he frowned back. I then decided to scarper just as he was about to bring his forearm towards my face. Luckily he missed me but not both Mr KP and his Son. I'm not sure what happened next as I had already retrieved my bike, having again missed the saddle when attempting my escape. But I'm sure I heard Mr Van Winddycke-Schmidt cursing and Mr KP Crips and his Son stating they would be seeing their lawyers. I wasn't going to hang about to find out and I wasn't entirely sure if it was aimed at me or not. So Mrs Wilcox had dropped her ring outside our house, well that was at least something to go on, especially as I had forgotten to ask if the ring had any pigs dung on it. I had to confront her as to why she had dropped it outside the house, the case was clearly progressing.
to be continued....
to be continued....
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