Stabbing Set with Sapphires

by L. A. Nisula

  By the end of the two hours, we had seen nine mostly pearl and coral bracelets; sixteen cameos portraying everything from portraits to a full scene of the Judgment of Paris; twelve chokers, half with cameos half with artistically arranged gears; and I’d lost count of how many pairs of pearl earrings. Mr. Tolland closed his notebook and tapped the stack of handwritten pages on the table to straighten them. “That was a good morning’s work, I think. I will see you all tomorrow.” He gave us all a half bow.

  Mr. Kleinman stood up with him. “Thank you for coming. I will show you the way out.”

  Miss Kleinman gathered up the last items that had been looked at. “You may return to the office, Miss Crawford. Thank you for your assistance.”

  “Yes, ma’am.” Miss Crawford left the room as quickly as her shoes allowed.

  As Miss Kleinman brought the jewelry back to the vault, I set my typewriter up with another form and took the stack of completed ones from the table.

  “Did Daniel remember to leave the safe open?” Miss Kleinman knelt to check the small safe under the table. “When you’re ready to leave, just let someone on the floor know you’re going so they know the room is free. If I do not see you before you go, have a pleasant afternoon.”

  “You as well. Thank you.” I waited until she left, then began typing.

  Chapter 2

  THE NEXT MORNING, I made a special effort to be on time. If Miss Kleinman was going to be certain to be there to let me in, I didn’t want to be rude enough to turn up late. But the earlier time meant the Underground was less crowded and everything seemed to run more smoothly than I was used to, making me even earlier than I had intended. As I followed the crowd out of the station, I wondered what to do. I certainly didn’t want Miss Kleinman to think I’d been forced to wait again after she had been so particular about arriving to let me in. I was just considering whether or not I had enough time to get tea at one of the nearby shops when I heard my name being called, “Miss Pengear? Miss Pengear, is that you?”

  I turned and saw Mr. Morris weaving his way through the crowd pushing towards the exit. I waved and continued up the stairs until I could separate myself from the press and wait for him by the railing around the entrance.

  “As you can see, I’m early today. No waiting to be let in. Will you walk with me?”

  As we walked, he made small talk. “How is the job going?”

  I wasn’t sure how much he was supposed to know about it. “Very well.”

  “And I suppose you’re liking seeing all that jewelry. We may not be the biggest shop in town, but I like to think we have some of the best designed pieces.”

  I remembered that he was the designer. “It’s all beautiful.”

  “Here we are. Good morning, Miss Henderson. I hope you haven’t been waiting too long.”

  “Not at all, Mr. Morris. I just got here, in fact.”

  I saw her slip a cigarette case into her pocket. So maybe he was a bit too early for her tastes.

  Mr. Morris pulled out his keys and went to unlock the door. He hesitated as he slid his key into the lock.

  “Something wrong?” Miss Henderson asked.

  “I’m sure it’s nothing. It just feels like the lock isn’t, I don’t know, quite its normal self. Oh well.” He slid his hand into the slot and got the door open.

  As Mr. Morris passed into the small entranceway, he turned back. “Did you try the bell, Miss Henderson?”

  “First thing I did in case Miss Kleinman was here. No one answered.”

  “Stay behind me, girls.”

  “Why?” I asked. When he didn’t answer, I followed him inside. He had stopped part way down the hallway and was staring at a light coming from under one of the closed doors at the end of the hall.

  Miss Henderson looked over my shoulder. “That should have been put out when we left last night.”

  “It was,” Mr. Morris said. “I checked as I was leaving the shop.”

  “And Mr. Kleinman would have checked all the offices before he locked up.”

  Mr. Morris walked briskly down the hall and grabbed the knob. “Let’s see what it is. Maybe someone came back last night to get some paperwork or...”

  Miss Henderson and I crowded behind Mr. Morris to look through the door. It opened into a short hallway that led to the foyer outside of the vault. Everything in the hallway looked fine until I saw the door leading to the foyer was wide open.

  Mr. Morris rushed forward and through the other door. Miss Henderson and I followed him.

  “Don’t touch anything,” I called.

  Mr. Morris had already made it to the vault and had his hand on the open door. He pulled it away quickly. “Yes, yes. The police. They’ll want...” He stared blankly in front of him.

  Miss Henderson and I joined him at the vault door. Several of the small boxes had been pulled out of place and left open and empty on the floor. There were small jewelry boxes and bits of tissue paper scattered over the floor, but no real destruction. Mr. Morris started looking in the boxes.

  I put a hand on Miss Henderson’s arm to stop her from following him. “We’ll have to contact Scotland Yard. I’m sure they’ll want to see exactly what we found.”

  “Yes, yes, of course.” Mr. Morris stopped touching things and left the vault. He looked quite pale and his hand was shaking as he ran it through his hair. “There’s a telephone in Mr. Kleinman’s office. I will inform the Yard. If you girls would wait and let the others know what’s happened as they arrive?”

  “How about I make you a nice cup of tea,” Miss Henderson offered. “In fact, we could all use some. So will the others when they get here.”

  Mr. Morris nodded. “I suppose they will. Miss Pengear, if you’d wait for the others?”

  “Of course.”

  I watched Mr. Morris and Miss Henderson go back towards the office, then returned to the back door to wait for the rest of the staff. As I walked through the hallway, I glanced into each room I passed and behind any furniture I ran into. I was hoping our thief had left, but I didn’t want to be the one to discover that we’d interrupted him mid-crime.

  ~ * ~ * ~

  Miss Kleinman was the first to arrive. “Good morning, Miss Pengear. It seems everyone else was even earlier than me this morning. Is there something wrong with the display room?”

  I sighed so she would have a hint that something was indeed wrong. I could see from the way her eyebrows twitched that she’d caught my tone. “It appears someone broke into the vault,” I said as matter-of-factly as I could.

  “What?” She pushed past me and sprinted down the hallway to the open door. I followed her, ready to suggest she not touch anything, but she was more sensible than Mr. Morris and just stood there, staring at the mess.

  “Mr. Morris is calling Scotland Yard,” I said more to announce my presence than anything. “And Miss Henderson is making tea.”

  “Both very worthwhile tasks. And I take it you were waiting to soften the blow.”

  “Something like that.”

  “I suppose we won’t be able to see what was taken until Scotland Yard’s had a look. You said there was going to be tea? Why don’t you get a cup. I’ll wait for the others and send them back.”

  “If you’re certain you’d rather not...”

  “I need to think for a minute. There’s quite a lot to be done.” She wandered towards the employee entrance without really looking at me. I went to the employee lounge. Miss Kleinman clearly needed to be alone for a few minutes.

  Miss Henderson had tea set out and was digging through the cupboards for something to go with it. “Did I hear Miss Kleinman?”

  “You did. She’s watching the door.”

  “I’ll fix her a cup. Do you think chocolate biscuits are all right? They’re a little stuck together.”

  “I doubt anyone will notice today.”

  Miss Henderson nodded and left the packet on the table while she prepared a cup for Miss Kleinman. Mr. Morris came into the room and began unsti
cking the biscuits and stacking them on a plate without being asked. “They said they’re sending a man over. He should be here soon.”

  We both nodded.

  There were footsteps outside the door and another young woman came in. She was wearing the same navy skirt and shirt as the other shop girls only it seemed somehow neater on her, and she had her hair pulled back severely. I had the overall impression that she was trying very hard to be as precise as Miss Kleinman, but it wasn’t natural to her. Miss Henderson looked up. “Miss Eaton, did you see?”

  “The robbery? Yes, Miss Kleinman told me.”

  “And have you met Miss Pengear?”

  “The typist. No, yesterday was my day off. Hello.”

  I smiled, but she was already in the cloakroom putting away her things.

  Miss Henderson finished pouring out and picked up one of the cups. “I’ll just bring...” but her hand was shaking and she sloshed tea onto the saucer. “I suppose I’ll drink this one.” She put the cup down and spooned some more sugar into another cup. “Would you mind?”

  “Of course.” I didn’t think Miss Kleinman was the type to take sugar in her tea, but I had been told countless times it was good for a shock. I picked up the cup and decided against bringing her any of the half-melted cookies. The last thing she needed was chocolate fingerprints when she spoke to whoever Scotland Yard sent over.

  On my way to the door, I passed Miss Fairfield just coming in. “Is it true?”

  I nodded. “If you’re careful, you can glance through and see the crime scene; just don’t touch anything.”

  She peered around the edge of the door, taking my warning very seriously. “What a mess. Miss Kleinman will have fits when she sees what they’ve done to her system.”

  I thought she’d be having fits about quite a bit more, but I held my tongue. No point in panicking anyone. “There’s tea in the lounge.”

  Miss Fairfield nodded and gave the crime scene a last look before tearing herself away and continuing across the hall.

  As I approached the back entryway, I could hear Miss Kleinman’s voice, a steady irritated whisper that occasionally flared up into audible anger.

  “Douglas, surely you see, in light of...”

  “No, I don’t see. If the piece is still there, then why worry?” I could hear a slight note of, not nerves, more too much bravado to be believable, but he didn’t seem exactly worried either.

  “Douglas, we don’t even know what the insurance company will say about this. You know what they're like; they’ll both try to pawn us off on the other. And if something happens to the Heart of Night...”

  “Deborah, in my work with the company, I have...”

  “What about my work with the company? Doesn’t that count?”

  “Well, I handle...”

  “The creative. I handle the business. The money. The creditors, if something should happen to...”

  They both stopped speaking abruptly. At first I thought they’d realized I was listening in, but then I heard Miss Kleinman say, “Good morning, Mr. Garver,” in something very close to her normal voice. “There’s been a problem, I’m afraid. A break-in.”

  I heard Mr. Garver whisper, “Good God.”

  “The police have been summoned. We won’t know the extent of the trouble until they’ve had a look around. I believe there’s some tea in the lounge.”

  Mr. Garver hurried past me, still looking like he was in shock. I pretended I had just been coming down the hall. “Miss Kleinman, we thought you might like some– Mr. Kleinman, I didn’t realize you were here or I would have brought you something as well.”

  “Just arriving, Miss Pengear. Don’t trouble yourself. I have some things to attend to.”

  Miss Kleinman took the cup from me gingerly, expecting to be burned, I realized. When she noticed the cup was lukewarm at best, she gave me a wry smile. “You heard?”

  “A little, I couldn’t help it. I didn’t want to interrupt...” You’d think with the amount of eavesdropping I managed to do, I’d have learned a more graceful way of admitting to it.

  She nodded. “Well, maybe the police will tell him he’s being a fool. He certainly doesn’t listen to me. But of course I’ll get to fix the mess.” She leaned against the wall. “Did you manage to get any tea? I’m going to stay here and wait for everyone else to arrive.”

  I had the feeling she wanted to be alone, so I returned to the lounge.

  Chapter 3

  WE HAD JUST FOUND a second box of biscuits, this one some crumbly shortbread, when Miss Kleinman came into the room. “Everyone, the police have arrived. I’m sure they will want to talk to you, so please give them your full cooperation. Would you like some tea before you begin?”

  “No.”

  I recognized that abrupt voice and looked up from the biscuits to see the lean, dark-haired figure I was expecting. His gaze darted across the room and landed right on me. “Miss Pengear.” It was somewhere between a sigh and a groan.

  “Inspector Wainwright. How nice to see you."

  “There's no need to lie. I know you're slightly more pleased than I am. Is there a body?"

  Miss Kleinman looked from one of us to the other.

  Mr. Morris broke the silence. “I'm certain I told your receptionist it was a robbery."

  “Which is what she told me. However, Miss Pengear has an uncanny curse for finding dead bodies. Never mind. Show me the scene of the crime."

  Miss Kleinman looked back at me. I shrugged. I had told her I knew people at Scotland Yard. She gave me a sort of half nod that seemed to say she had enough trouble to deal with already and led Inspector Wainwright back into the hallway. I wanted to follow and hear what Inspector Wainwright thought of the crime scene, but of all the Scotland Yard inspectors I knew, he appreciated my help the least, and that was saying something.

  Miss Henderson looked up from the tea kettle. “Should someone let Mr. Kleinman know he’s here?”

  My chance, or at least my excuse. “I’ll get him.”

  ~ * ~ * ~

  Mr. Kleinman was in his office, sitting behind his desk. He looked up when he heard me open the door and slipped the paper he was reading under the blotter. I walked to his desk as I said, “The man from Scotland Yard is here. Inspector Wainwright.”

  “Excellent. Lead the way.”

  I turned back towards the door, but not before I caught a glimpse of the paper he’d been trying to hide. Only two words had been visible, but they were “Lady Suffolk.” I supposed it was natural that she would be the first person he’d want to contact, but why was he so insistent on not insuring her necklace? Maybe he was going to ask her to take it back in light of the morning’s events, I speculated as I led the way to the crime scene.

  We found Miss Kleinman in the short hallway outside of the crime scene. Inspector Wainwright was walking through the foyer, studying the floor as he made his way around. There were two constables standing near the table in the corner of the foyer. I recognized Constable Edwards as the one standing nearer the door waiting for orders and Constable Kittering as the one taking notes.

  Mr. Kleinman went to stand by his sister. I leaned against the door to the main hallway, which meant I could hear everything that was said and see most of it while not being readily noticeable myself. Not that it would fool Inspector Wainwright for long, but he was engrossed in his crime scene and wouldn’t be looking for anything but clues for a little while yet. He was still walking around the foyer, firing off questions without looking up. “I take it the missing pieces were insured?”

  Miss Kleinman gave Mr. Kleinman a look of controlled panic.

  “They were insured, correct?”

  “Well,” Mr. Kleinman answered, “there might be some grey area with that.”

  Inspector Wainwright straightened up and looked directly at them, slapping his notebook cover against the backing. “Some grey area? You own a jewelry store with thousands of pounds worth of jewelry inside, and you don’t know if it’s insured?�
�

  Miss Kleinman fixed Inspector Wainwright with her best schoolmarm look. “It’s not that simple, Inspector. We are in the process of switching the company who carries our policy. As I am sure you are aware, companies do not like to pay claims like this. The uncertainty is simply over which policy was in force when the theft occurred and how we will get the company to pay us what we’re due.”

  Inspector Wainwright tapped his pencil against the page. “Who knew about the change?”

  “All of our employees had at least some idea. We were here before the shop opened to talk with the new representative, and that was why we hired Miss Pengear. She was the only person outside of the company whom we told. However, her references are excellent.” She turned to me. “You would not have told anyone, correct?”

  I used the question as an excuse to join her by the door so I could see into the foyer and the vault. “My landlady knows where I am, no one else.”

  Miss Kleinman nodded. “You will have to ask the insurance companies directly whom they told.”

  “And your employees. And whoever they told.” Inspector Wainwright scribbled something in his notebook that I suspected was nonsense since nothing worth writing about had occurred. “Now your staff will need to be questioned to see if they have anything helpful to add.”

  “Of course. You can use one of the offices.”

  Mr. Morris peered around the edge of the door and I realized he had been eavesdropping as well. “I’m sorry to interrupt, Miss Kleinman.”

  “That’s all right, Mr. Morris.”