The Case of The Lost Ring
“Ouch!” The detective put a hand on his left shoulder where the napkin landed and looked at the landlady with a face of a surprised mouse. His surprise was not real, though. He knew what enraged the older woman but didn’t feel guilty at all. Why feel guilt when he was merely doing something in the name of Science? “My dear Dawson,” he turned to face his friend looking completely innocent. “Mrs Judson accuses me of melting her favourite teacup. This is ridiculous. I wanted to prove that the combination of acid, coffee and china can be destructive and I succeed in it. The collateral damages should be expected.”
The sound of the bell covered the screams of the landlady and saved the taller mouse from her angry nagging as he threw his robe on him and headed to the door. Opening the door he saw a young couple was standing, the female mouse was somewhere around twenty to twenty one years old and the male mouse at his late twenties. The woman was astonishingly beautiful even if her huge brown eyes were red probably from crying all night and her rich clothes relieved her financial state. The man was wore with a simple tweed costume and a tired face probably because he spent the night comforting his beloved one. Basil’s eyes fixed on the trembling hand which was holding his stick. Whatever was their problem seemed to be far more serious than they wanted.
The detective welcomed them with a smile. “Please come in. You had a long trip and you surely need some rest. Mousefield is so far away from London”.
He laughed at the scene in front of him. Mrs. Judson looked as angry as she’s ever been and the melted china on the floor was clearly going to leave a very ugly stain that was probably going to be impossible to clean. The simple idea of having to replace the rag bothered him, as Mrs. Judson wasn’t as young as she used to be and Basil will simply say no if one of them ask him to do the job, but that was the price to pay when living with a genius.
The bell rang and he walked to the entrance behind the detective. A troubled young couple was standing by the door, the girl seemed to have stopped crying only a couple of minutes ago and Basil immediately deduced they weren’t from there. He asked Mrs. Judson to prepare a cup of tea of them, to help them calm down a bit.
“Thank you”, the young woman said, hands shaking while taking the cup in her hands and redirecting his eyes to it. She sobbed quietly and Dawson knew she was about to start crying again.
When the woman started crying again the man immediately hugged her shoulders letting her hide her face in his embrace. Basil moved in his armchair and looked at his friend not sure of what to say. He wasn’t good in comforting others, that was one of his drawbacks. He cleared his throat and the other mouse looked at him and smiled apologetically. “I so very sorry, Mr Basil. My fiancée is still upset. The truth is that I am upset too. That’s why we want your help. Our problem is complicated, indeed”.A smile drew on Basil’s face as well and he sat up on his armchair. “You have said the right words, my good fellow.” Finally a complicated case after countless days of sulking and boredom. How much he missed action. Ever since Ratigan died the tittles of the newspapers seem to have lost their interest. He lit his pipe and brought it to his mouth. “I would be extremely grateful if you would tell me everything from the start. And I believe it would be better to listen to both of you in order to form an opinion”. The man opened his mouth but the woman interrupted him.
“Let me talk, Edward. It was taken from my room.” Her eyes were still wet from her tears but her voice was steady and she gazed the detective with a firm look, probably inspecting him and forming her own opinion about him. “Mr Basil, as you have understand something was stolen. My engagement ring. It belonged to my fiancée’s family for over a century. He gave it to me a week ago asking me to marry him. Of course I said yes, I love him dearly. However, someone is against our love as the ring was lost yesterday. I had placed it in my drawer where I keep all of my jewels but when I checked it last morning, it was gone. All of our servants are loyal to my family, no one would do that. Besides, the room was locked from the inside and I was sleeping there. But I refuse to believe that it was magically disappeared.” The young woman ended her story with a sob and buried her face in the Edward’s embrace and the second stroked her back. “I cannot marry her without the ring, detective. I was my mother’s last wish and I intent to keep it as much as that hurts me.”
Basil said nothing for a moment exhaling the smoke and processing the information in his head and thinking of possible solutions. “Have you got anything else to add, sir?” He turned to the man. “If I am to help you with this case I need to know every detail, as meaningless as it may seem to you. Do you suspect anyone?”
“Suspect someone?” the young mouse said. “No, I could never suspect anyone. As she said, her family’s servants are very loyal and I doubt one of them would be able to steal the ring, especially because it isn’t as expensive as half the jewel her family has”. He nervously scratched the back of his head and sighed. “You’ll see, I don’t come from a rich family, we met just by pure destiny a beautiful summer evening during a festival. If it wasn’t because I was working there, I’d have never know her… That ring is the most expensive piece of jewelry my family possess and it’s tradition for the eldest son to give it to his future wife”. Edward stroke the back of his fiancée’s hand and with his other arm held her closer to himself.
The doctor was keeping notes of everything the couple said, trying not to forget any detail. He knew he wasn’t as smart as his friend, but he would do anything to help him, even if it was something similar to office work. “And what do her family think about your engagement?” he asked, curiously. Dawson knew that most families wouldn’t agree on the union of a couple from different classes and it wouldn’t surprise him if a jealous cousin, who couldn’t marry the poor man of her dreams, was behind the thievery.
