02 - Mrs. Jeffries Dusts for Clues Read Online Free Page B

it was difficult. Not that she condoned murder, naturally. But she couldn’t help but be elated by the fact that she and the rest of the household would now have two cases to work on. Not only would they find the missing Mary Sparks, but they could help their dear inspector as well. “Why do you think this one’s going to be difficult?”
    “Because the body was only found today.” Witherspoon paused and took a deep breath. “And the murder was committed several months ago.”
    “Several months ago!” Mrs. Jeffries was scandalized. The trail would be colder than a February frost.
    “Perhaps even more. The police surgeon was only guessing when he made that estimate.” The inspector drained the rest of his drink. “I tell you, Mrs. Jeffries, the world has become an evil place. Imagine, this poor girl dead, stabbed right through the heart and buried in the bottom of some cellar and no one even notices she’s missing. You’d think that when a person didn’t appear as usual, that someone would take the time and trouble to notify the police.”
    Mrs. Jeffries refused to jump to a conclusion. Just because Inspector Witherspoon had found the body of a woman didn’t mean that the body was Mary Sparks. Despite what the good inspector said, she knew dozens of people disappeared all the time in the city and no one bothered to tell the police. “That’s appalling. I take it the deceased is a young woman?”
    “Yes. Dreadful, isn’t it.”
    “How old was the victim?”
    “We’re not absolutely sure. The best the police surgeon could do is give us an estimate. He thinks she couldn’t have been more than twenty-five, but naturally, we’ll know more after the postmortem.”
    Mrs. Jeffries asked, “Do you know who she is?”
    “No, I’m afraid not.” Remembering the state of the body, he shuddered. “Unfortunately, she’d been in the ground so long her face is unrecognizable. But she was smallish, only an inch or so over five feet tall and she had blond hair.”
    Mrs. Jeffries didn’t like the sound of that. “Oh dear, however are you going to find out who the poor girl was?” She reminded herself that there were hundreds of women who had blond hair.
    “We’re comparing her description to those we have of missing women. Hopefully, we’ll turn up something soon. It’ll be very hard to find out who murdered her if we don’t know who she is, er, was.” He shook his head. “But we don’t really have much to go on.”
    “Not to worry, Inspector,” Mrs. Jeffries said briskly. “I’m sure you’ll find out everything you need to know and solve this case just as you’ve solved all the others. Was there anything unusual about the way she was dressed? Anything which would give you a clue?”
    “Not really. She was wearing a good-quality blue dress and she had several pieces of jewelry on her person. But it’s the sort of dress one sees everywhere. You know, very much like the one that Betsy wears on her day out.” He shrugged. “I don’t see that her clothing will be of much use, more’s the pity.”
    “Perhaps you’ll have better luck with the jewelry. What kind was it?” Mrs. Jeffries asked cautiously. “A wedding ring, perhaps.”
    She sincerely hoped it was. If the victim had been married, it almost definitely wasn’t Mary Sparks who had been found. But Mrs. Jeffries’s hopes were quickly dashed.
    “Oh no,” the inspector said. “Not quite. I believe the object we found is more properly called a ‘betrothal ring,’” Witherspoon explained. “But the odd thing was she didn’t have the ring on her finger, as one would expect. She wore it round her neck on a small gold chain. There was a silver broach on the lapel of her dress as well. Both pieces looked quite valuable.”
    “That should help you determine her identity,” Mrs. Jeffries replied slowly. Her mind was working frantically. She wished she’d asked Luty Belle if the broach Mary Sparks had been accused of stealing had ever