Mouse Trap

Gotcha!

Harry hovered in the hallway outside the study, pacing in a short circle as she listened to the men talking to Constable Higgins, the local policeman. She had the earring clutched in the palm of her hand and her mind was reeling with the consequences of her find. The study was James' domain, no one entered unless with him and Mariam had not been invited inside. Mariam had been wearing the earring when she left the drawing room, Harry had been admiring the curve of her neck again and she was certain, but that meant the earring had to have found its way into the study during the night, at the same time as the thief.

Yet Harry could not accept that Mariam had taken the emeralds. She had seen something in Mariam, something that had drawn her in and she did not want to believe that she had been so mistaken. There was innocence in her nymph and a genuineness that was tearing her heart apart to think she had been deceived.

Yet, Mariam had not appeared from her room since the commotion had started. She was remaining remote from it all, maybe because she was afraid the guilt would be in her eyes. Harry didn't like that thought, didn't like to think of those brown depths tainted by slyness. Yet, she couldn't help it. Lost in her quandary, she could only distract herself in the eavesdropping.

"Well, the burglar came in through the windows, My Lord," Higgins observed lamely.

"Yes, we know that," Tubby snapped.

"And all that was taken was the emerald necklace, Sir?" the constable checked.

"Yes," James tutted and Harry felt the man's pique of impatience.

Higgins was discrete, reliable and could deal with the occasional poacher the game warden handed to him, but he was not known for his brains.

"I'll need to speak with the servants, My Lord," Higgins continued.

"Yes, yes, I'll have Grayson arrange that," James agreed, but led the way with, "but it looks like the man broke in from the outside, Constable. Have you any reports of similar thefts in the area?"

"None that I know of, My Lord," Higgins was not being very helpful, "and no known criminals in the area, either."

"This thief has to be a professional, Constable: he can pick locks, there is no sign of force on the safe," Tubby added his own thoughts.

'Then why did he break the window to get in?' Harry wondered as the thought occurred.

Her dissatisfactory conclusion was that it was to make it look like an outside job. Harry looked down at the earring in her hand and had to face the possibility that Mariam was that good at thievery and deception. Harry closed her hand back around the earring, tight enough that she felt it digging into her palm and then she turned her back on the inept investigation that was happening in the study.Instead, she strodepurposefully down the hall and then up the stairs. Mariam was not so innocent as she had seemed and that she could have been so wrong peeved Harry. This was no longer a game, she had to find out the truth, one way or the other and so, dashing up to Mariam's bedroom door, she paused, took a deep breath and, preparing to deceive as she had been deceived, she set her face to a bright smile and knocked.

"Come in," that gentle voice called from within and, with one more steadying breath, Harry grabbed the door handle and went in.

Inside, what she found rather brought her up short, because Mariam was sitting on the edge of the bed, dabbing hastily at her eyes and trying not to look up.Her quickly laid plans crumbled in the face of obvious grief and Harry's heart went out to the girl without her permission. She crossed the few paces to the bed in seconds, sat down and, arm going round Mariam, asked, "What's the matter?"

"I'm sorry," the girl began, clearly trying to hold back tears that had already made her eyes red.

She failed and, with a sob, she confessed, "You'll think me awfully silly, but I just have to find it, I can't go home without it."