Murdersdale 17

Morning had reached. They had barely 17 hours to get ready for whatever 'Bucky' and his goons had in store for them. The fact that the maids knew a thing or two about protecting themselves was a bonus, but it wasn't enough to ensure victory.

That was up until the messenger, Angelo, stopped by. Smiling at Martha who opened the door, he was ushered into the sitting room as Martha ran up to call Jedidiah and Miranda.

"Oh, you're here? That was fast," Jedidiah smiled.

Angelo just nodded, handing him a letter. It was obvious he wasn't a man of many words.

"It helped that he was wanted in seven different counties in this area, including Pembrokeshire. His arrest will be silent, but in broad day light. This afternoon. We won't give them a chance to rethink or change strategies," Angelo said.

'This whole diamond business is done, now it's the murder that needs to be settled. You got my letter about the man in the manor, so what did you think? Any ideas?"

Angelo brought out a big envelope. "I had to do a little sleuthing for myself concerning that, and I'll say that the fellow is a sneaky bastard. House was bought anonymously, which means even my best contacts could only get redacted documentation. You'd have to be damn close to any of the higher ups in that government office to get any information..."

For the first time, a smile crept on Angelo's lips.

"I trust you man, there's no way you'd have left there empty handed."

"Nope. I went to the past owner for a clue on who bought the house, but instead I told him I was a government official looking for details on most old manors and estates in the area. Official duties and all that. Luckily, he kept an invoice of all that came to find the house, and the last person was one well known lawyer..."

"John Maguire esq?" Jedidiah asked. It was a well known name in these parts.

"Yes, that's the one."

Jedidiah looked up skeptically. "The Maguire I know is a shrewd, stuck-up fellow with a nasty character. He's only as clean as his clientele, and personally I'm happy none of my cased have ever led to him. How did you get that information?"

Angelo's smile became very conspiratorial. "In a strange turn of events, part of his office was razed in a fire, and some of his documents were lost. Most were burned, but maybe some were recovered by a detective who happened to be passing by..." he said, whipping out a folded sheet of paper.

"Angelo, you didn't?"

"No, for Christ's sake! Well, I didn't burn down the place -someone left a lamp on. But I was going to break in there anyway so that's that."

They all laughed at this point.

Jedidiah grabbed the paper and opened it. "Cornelius... Cornelius Finnegan?!"

Angelo raised his eyebrow. "The name means something to you?"

"Huh, yeah. There was the case of an illegal arms deal I was on. Someone was selling tons of gunpowder and weapons to the some anarchists in London, and I was supposed to bust the operation that day. I don't know how it happened, but neither party is aware of what happened to that hoard. It was there for two days, and at some time it was replaced with tons of rice and wheat and other foodstuff..."

"What does that have to do with Cornelius?"

"He was one of the port guards on duty those two days, and they say he loaded a few ships, including one that wasn't familiar at that port. Coincidentally, he also disappeared with the arms shipment."

"What a suspicious coincidence," Martha murmured.

"So he took it all for himself, made some money and came back as a wealthy man, acquiring expensive property and all that?" Angelo reasoned.

"And still neck deep in crime. He's the perfect specimen."

Angelo stood. "Well, that's the information I have, and I'd like to think that it's been of great help in this investigation. I'll be on my way now to Pembrokeshire, I have to supervise the arrest and make sure everything goes as planned. We'll have them back here by tomorrow, ready to testify against the Sheriff and all his cohorts."

Then he handed Jedidiah a briefcase. "You will be needing that for the mission you have later tonight.

"Thanks a lot Angelo," Jedidiah said, shaking his hand.

When the man left, Jedidi ah opened the briefcase and smiled.

"There are three guns here, so Martha, which one you guys had any experience shooting?'

*****

The Sheriff watched the boy shut the door, and had to hold back the string of swear words he wanted to utter.

Walking back to the carriage, he entered it and instructed the chauffeur to go to Carlisle Manor.

For the last two days, Marcel hadn't been at his home. The boy there said he had traveled, and while the Sheriff knew that it was possible, since he was much of a loner, a strange thought that something was wrong kept nagging at the back of his mind.

Of course there was no way he was going to tell the Boss this, not now. They could get the diadem first. Anything else would be cleaned up after.

*****

This one was extra long because I needed to finish the build-up quickly. I promise there'll be some action in the next part, which I'll upload tomorrow hopefully.

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