A Stranger Death (Ch 7)

Previous Chapters: Ch 1 | Ch 2 | Ch 3 | Ch 4 | Ch 5 | Ch 6

Chapter 7

Sarah stayed in bed late the next morning in an attempt to avoid her mother as much as possible. She enjoyed reading in bed when she got the chance, and her days off were the ideal opportunity. It was while she was in bed reading that she suddenly recalled her mother going into the shed when she walked back up the garden path the day the body was found. Her mother hadn't mentioned anything since, and Sarah was the only one who had witnessed it, so no-one else had spoken of it either. Sarah was determined to find out exactly what her mother had done in the shed but decided she'd have to wait for her to go to work before she could do so. Time dragged, but eventually Sarah judged it to be around fifteen minutes before her mother was due to leave.

When she got up and went downstairs, her mother smiled at her. Yes, actually smiled! That smile immediately put Sarah on her guard. The only time her mother was ever nice to her normally coincided with her wanting something.

"Good morning, Sarah. Did you sleep well?"

"Better than I did last night, thank you. Finding that body still occupies my mind a lot, but I did manage to get to sleep eventually," replied Sarah.

"Did you get a lot of questions at work yesterday from the nosy villagers? Everybody wanted to hear the complete story although, truth be told, there's not an awful lot to tell. I don't mind telling you I was fed up with it by the time I finished my shift at the hotel last night. I'm hoping it won't be quite so bad today."

"Yes," agreed Sarah "loads of questions from those who know me and whispers from those who don't. Thankfully I've got today and tomorrow off so I should escape it, for a while at least."

Sarah thought it would never be time for her mum to go to work. She seemed to fuss around for evermore, but finally it was time for her to leave. Giving her ten minutes in case she had forgotten something and came back for it, Sarah was finally able to search in the shed.
She felt quite nervous as she approached the shed as if she was about to do something wrong. Looking around to make sure that she wasn't being watched, Sarah entered the shed. Luckily, being chiefly her father's domain, it was reasonably tidy, which made her job a little bit easier.

She felt as if she was intruding, but this was the only way to find out what her mother had been up to. She opened all the drawers below the bench, but nothing looked out of place. Next for inspection were the two cupboards on the wall, but she still couldn't see anything suspicious. Thinking perhaps she had got it wrong after all, she was about to leave when she noticed a box on a shelf that looked too clean to belong in the shed. Taking it down and opening it, Sarah discovered several items of men's jewellery, including a pocket watch, a gold pendant and a pair of earrings. The only possible explanation for them being there was that her mother had taken them off the body while Robert was telephoning the police. How she could bear to do that, Sarah had no idea, but the evidence was right there in front of her. She had no idea of their value but suspected that her mother intended to take them to a pawnbroker after a reasonable lapse of time.

Sarah debated with herself what to do with them, but in the end she put the lid back on the box and took it up to her room. Her mother would be mad when she discovered that it was gone, but what could she do? She wasn't supposed to have them in the first place so she could hardly complain to anyone. It was only by chance that Sarah happened to look out of her bedroom window at the right moment and saw her go into the shed with them. Otherwise no-one would have been any the wiser.

However, having taken the box up to her room, Sarah wasn't quite sure what to do with it. It ought to be handed in to the police, but doing so would mean she'd have to tell them where she had found it and how it had got there. Although her mother might not be her favourite person, Sarah still couldn't even think about ratting on her to the police. Having deliberated for a while, she eventually decided to discuss the problem with Darren before she reached any decision. He was sure to know the best thing to do.

Chapter 8 will be posted tomorrow. Follow me to make sure that you don't miss an episode.