3104. Jewellery heist © Bruce Goodman 2 February 2025

It was very strange. Not impossibly strange, but strange nonetheless. I passed old Mrs Pottinger in the street yesterday morning. She’s eighty-nine. We exchanged greetings and went on our way. This morning, Daphne Faith walked by. Daphne is about twenty-five. She works in the local lawyer’s office. We exchanged brief pleasantries. She was wearing identical clothes as Mrs. Pottinger had been wearing yesterday. Same colour, same design. In fact I couldn’t help but think that neither the colour nor the design suited a twenty-five year old. It was more suited to the style of an octogenarian. It was a dowdy maroon. Mrs. Pottinger was renowned for being rich, so I guess what she was wearing was both relatively fashionable and expensive. On the other hand, if Daphne Faith was wearing an identical garment it can’t have been too expensive because Daphne is a mere office clerk and I would imagine the pay wouldn’t be much. Later today I heard that Mrs. Pottinger had died rather suddenly yesterday afternoon. It can’t have been long after I had spoken to her. And then it struck me: Daphne Faith was wearing an identical brooch that Mrs. Pottinger had worn. Two identical brooches is an unlikely scenario. Daphne’s stupidity was looking dangerous. As I said to her this morning as she passed, “I told you to get rid of the jewellery fast before word gets out that old Mrs. Pottinger had been done in. The last thing you do is wear it in public. You’re putting both of us at risk.” Contact Author Back to Index Next Story Previous Story