A Stranger Death (Ch 13)

Previous Chapters: Ch 1 | Ch 2 | Ch 3 | Ch 4 | Ch 5 | Ch 6 | Ch 7 | Ch 8 | Ch 9 | Ch 10 | Ch 11 | Ch 12 |

Chapter 13

The next morning Sarah was feeling excited about their proposed visit to Roger Spikes that afternoon. The morning dragged by until they got busy then before she knew it, it was time for her to leave for her supposed visit to the dentist. Despite feeling a bit guilty about deceiving Pauline, after eating her lunch at home, Sarah went over to the farm to meet up with Darren, and they left to go and visit Spikes.

On the way there Darren related how he had spoken to Spikes that morning. "When I contacted him this morning to arrange for us to see him this afternoon, he sounded quite relieved to hear from me. I think perhaps he was starting to suspect that I had done a bunk with the boxes and that he may have seen the last of them."

Sarah looked horrified at the thought that they might have just kept them instead of handing them back. "Oh no, I couldn't do that. I would be forever imagining that Spikes was about to catch up with us and demand his diamonds back or else. No, I'll be quite happy to return the diamonds and collect whatever reward he may be offering."

Darren was of the same mind but still felt that a few questions needed answering. "It still seems suspicious to me that the diamonds got lost in the first place. How do you manage to lose two boxes like that and not take any action to get them back? And how on earth did they end up buried in your garden? There are far too many unanswered questions for my liking. This is why I had a change of heart about the boxes overnight. I've hidden them at the farm for the time being. It occurred to me that although we know the boxes belong to Spikes, we can't say the same about the diamonds. If he can satisfy me that the diamonds are his, then I'll happily return them to him. If not, then I'll take them to the police."

"I don't know," replied Sarah. "If he's expecting to get them back today he could turn nasty when we refuse to give them to him. Let's just hope that he is a reasonable man. After all, I suppose if the diamonds do belong to him he should be pleased that we are taking extra precautions to make sure they don't fall into the wrong hands. What I do know is that I'll be pleased to see the back of them. How much do you think the reward could be?"

"I believe the accepted figure in a case like this is 10% of the value so that it could amount to quite a tidy sum."

"Sounds great. Let's just concentrate on what we can do with the money when we get it."

As Sarah spoke, Darren slowed the car down and pulled into a wide driveway. "This is it. Let's go see Mr Spikes and get this mystery sorted out."

Follow me to make sure that you don't miss the next episode.