Secrets in the Stones 4 (Chapters 11 – 22)

SPOILERS!!!

Lydia gets another shock when she is strolling on her property. She decides to visit her late husband’s grave, and then she sees a mound of land. On top she sees the hacked arm of Michael, and three fingers are missing, one of which had a ring with a big diamond from his time in India. Thomas analyses the area, and at first he thinks that Sir Montagu’s death and the desecration of Michael’s body are connected, but because of the condition of the soil he can tell that the theft of the ring took place several days before. Then Bill and Jacob Lovelock find a shovel in the grave, and they recognise the marks as those of Mr Peabody, the bury man.

In Oxford Thomas learns that the villagers have been released except for Peabody, who has confessed to helping steal the diamond. He has told the magistrate that a gentleman hired him to dig out the grave, and the magistrate, Sir Arthur, concludes that he also murdered Sir Montagu. Thomas protests, saying that both crimes may not be related, but he is sent away with a flea in his ear. Then he receives the visit of Nicholas Lupton, who has some information. Lupton tells him that some weeks ago there was a visit from a man called Captain Patrick Flynn, asking after Lavington, Michael O’Farrell’s friend, not knowing that he had died. Lupton also has some letters from Captain Flynn to Lavington, demanding his part in the proceeds of the sale of the diamond that they stole in India.

Patrick Flynn is in London, and he has the diamond, but when he tried to sell it, he discovered that it wasn’t as valuable as he thought it was because of the way it was cut in India. Then when in his room he is reading the newspaper, he discovers that someone called Sir Montagu is dead, and he is shocked to realise that he is wanted for murder. This shows that Flynn didn’t kill Sir Montagu, so if not him, who? The evidence Thomas has links Sir Montagu’s death to India. There is the material which was used to tie Sir Montagu’s hands, which is cuir, the material from coconut shell. Also the footprint Thomas found is from the kind of slippers used in India, and the smell that he noticed in the room is of opium.