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Miss Jane Marple solves her first murder
Jane Marple
by tweiser
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| Category: | Mystery and Crime Fiction |
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Posted: | March 1, 2012 Views: 145 |
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"Mattie!" called Jane, pinning her hat carefully on her tidily arranged bun of blonde curls.
"Oops, yes, Miss," answered Mathilda. The 'oops' was in answer to the almost broken vase which she had knocked over with her elbow as she hurried into the otherwise orderly sitting room of her mistresses small London flat.
"My dear," said Miss Jane, "you must discourage yourself from scurry. It isn't becoming."
"Sorry, Miss."
"You may have the afternoon off. I will be at the lawyers this morning and the sales this afternoon. I will not require luncheon or tea. You may leave me a light supper."
"Yes, Miss," curtsied Mattie.
Arriving at Callum & Smith, KC, Jane mounted the stairs gracefully, albeit slowly. The recent 'flu' outbreak in Britain*, which had taken her parents, had left her still somewhat weak.
She arrived promptly at eleven o'clock to find the outer office of Mr. Callum empty of his secretary and full of Mr. Callum surrounded by two Inspectors.
"Mr. Callum," boomed the senior member, "Your secretary was found dead in her flat this morning. Can or can you not account for your whereabouts last evening?"
"But, Inspector Scott," he stuttered, "How could she possibly be dead? She is always so punctual. I am sure there must be some mistake."
"She was found murdered, killed by a heavy blow to the head. These glasses were found next to her body." He held out a pair of spectacles, bent in the middle and missing a left lens.
"My spectacles! I gave them to Edna Friday. She was to take them for repair and return them to me this morning."
"How did your eyeglasses come to this state, sir?"
"It's rather embarrassing."
The two inspectors were silent.
"I was over here, getting one of my encyclopedias from the shelf. It was jammed in there quite tightly, you see. I put my spectacles down on the edge of the desk, like so," he demonstrated.
"I had to pull rather strenuously. The volume, it was 'S', popped out and went to the floor. I fell backward onto the desk and,,, curious. It seems to be missing."
"Missing?" interrupted Inspector Scott.
"I can't imagine where it would have got off to. Edna was quite zealous about things being out of place."
At that moment, he looked toward the door. "Good morning Miss Marple. I must apologize for this unseemly behavior. I do believe these gentlemen were just leaving."
"I am sorry, sir, but you are under arrest for the murder of your secretary, Edna Hartness."
******************************************************************************
"Oh, Miss, it's just horrible!" Mattie's swollen, red eyes and nose gave witness to her inner turmoil. "It's my Edna, miss, she's been killed!"
Jane carefully placed her hat on the stand. "Your Edna?"
"Well, you see, she's my aunt on my Da's side. They say it was her boss who done her in." Mattie's voice wavered on a fresh sea of tears.
"I did meet him the once, Miss. He looked such a gentleman. Not the kind who'd kill my aunt."
"Nonsense, Mattie," reproved Jane. "There is no set rule for what a murderer looks like. I do agree that he does not have the constitution consistent with murder. He reminds me of old Mr. Dugglesbury back home. Honest as the day is long, but quite uncoordinated. He took a fancy to his young cashier once, as I remember."
"Why no Miss! It couldna' of been like that! He courted Edna so beautifully, what with flowers and chocolates and even a new hat! Why, Edna'd never be one to allow herself to be courted by someone who was already,,,"
"I assure you, Mr. Callum is quite married. "
"Oh Miss, what am I to do? That Inspector said he'd be to see me. I told him he couldn't talk to me without my mistress giving the okay to him."
"What have you to do with Inspectors? Have you a history that you held back from me?"
"It's because I was there, you see. We were to take tea this afternoon and when I got to her flat, there was ever so much commotion going on and I ran up to see if she was alright and there she was on the carpet with her head bashed in, and the key in her hand, and the book on the table right where she'd left it and I screamed and tried to run out, but he stopped me and said he'd be wanting to talk to me and I told that I couldn't say anything without you being there and,,,"
"They have already arrested a suspect," interjected Jane.
As if on cue, the knocker sounded briskly. "Now dry that nose, answer the door and bid them come in. You'll stand right behind my chair and answer their questions truthfully."
*****************************************************************************
Entering they found Jane knitting, Mattie trembling behind her.
"What do you know about the key in her hand?"
"I don't know about any key, sir. I'd never seen it a'fore."
"What about the book on the table? Was your aunt fond of education?"
"Why, no sir. I'd never seen it either. That book anyway. Sometimes she brought books home to catch up on her work, so she said."
"The flowers and chocolates?"
"She told me once that her boss had sent her flowers and chocolates, but I'm sure that he'd never, ,,,I mean, it wouldn't be right."
"Murder is never right Mattie," said Jane quietly. "Did you have a chance to read her diary gentlemen?"
"Diary?" asked Inspector Scott.
"I'm sure she kept one. These types of women usually do."
"If you must know, it was found with two pages missing. Page 235 ended with the words, 'my employer'. Page 238 began with 'I must go to see him as soon as I can.'"
"And, the hat?"
"There was no hat."
"Hmmmm, missed a stitch," Jane murmured. "I was given to understand that she had recently received a new hat from her admirer. I was just wondering if possibly the hat had been sent to the wrong 'lady of the house'. "
"May I ask why you have settled upon Mr. Callum as the murderer?" she asked.
"She was killed by a blow to her head from the 'S' volume of the same encyclopedia set found in Mr. Callums office. The broken spectacles. The flowers and chocolates sent with the card ~ 'I can't wait to see you'. The diary entries. It all adds up to a solid case. When we find out who ordered the hat, we will have all the evidence we need for a proper conviction. "
"However, you have misinterpreted one strikingly obvious clue," announced Jane.
*****************************************************************************
On a brisk October afternoon, Jane answered the door to the well-kept house in St. Mary Mead, now hers by inheritance.
"Inspector Scott, do come in. How have you been?"
"Quite well, thank-you, Miss Marple. I thought I would bring you this."
He held that days London Times. Blazoned across the front page - 'Local Optometrist Convicted of Murder'.
"It was the spectacles," she said quietly. "If Edna was to return them on Monday morning, then she had to have sent them by Friday afternoon. If the spectacles were still broken in her apartment, then she had not sent them for repair. Which means he would have come to her apartment."
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Author Notes
Jane Marple/Agatha Christie written as from her late thirties or early forties.
Word count - 1500
*Refers to the 1918 influenza outbreak which killed many thousands of people world-wide.
Red Herring clue - the hat. Edna bought it herself and pretended to her niece that it was a present.
Flowers and chocolates - from the optometrist, who had been introduced to Mattie as her boss.
A strange key- No one knows what it opens.
A broken pair of glasses not belonging to the secretary.
A diary with two missing pages
The volume S missing from a set of encyclopedias.
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© Copyright 2013.
tweiser
All rights reserved.
tweiser
has granted FanStory.com, its affiliates and its syndicates non-exclusive rights to display this work. |
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