The Wall Lake Mystery

Chapter 39: A Long-Awaited Discovery

I decided to start toward the Kelly's, in case Holmes took longer searching Anderson's things than I had with Fr. Albright. When I arrived at the little home, Holmes was already there, but had only just arrived.

"No luck with Fr. Albright?" said Holmes.

I shook my head. "Nothing I could tell, anyway. You might see something I did not."

"Perhaps," Holmes replied. "I had as much luck with young Anderson. I've explained the situation to Mrs. Kelly, and the children are fetching all the little things he has given them. I intended to look through their room myself, but it would not do to turn down such eager help."

Mrs. Kelly chuckled. "The little ones are just excited you're here."

I stood at an angle where I could not see down the hall, but I could hear young voices whispering, raised a little as if in argument. Light footsteps followed a moment later, followed by a crash.

Gasps were audible down the hall. Mrs. Kelly swore under her breath and bustled toward them. Holmes and I followed more slowly. The sight that met my eyes caused me to gasp as the children had.

Broken glass and small stones littered the hall, and among them were a number of much more beautiful objects: a diamond necklace and earrings, and two bracelets.

The moment of shocked silence gave way to argument.

"Dang it, Frank!"

"I didn't mean to."

"It's Jack's fault, anyway."

"Frank's the one who dropped it!"

"But Jack told him he could carry it!"

"I didn't mean to!"

"But I could've carried it instead."

"Dad's gonna be so angry 'bout this mess!"

"I didn't mean to at all!

"Children, quiet down!" hollered Mrs. Kelly. "We'll get this cleaned up."

"Mr. Detective," said Frank, the youngest child. "There's some shiny things in here that aren't mine."

"Ours," corrected Will.

"Ours," repeated Frank. "Is it what you were detective-ing to find?"

I looked to Holmes, grins spreading quickly across both our faces.

"Yes," said Holmes. "It was."

Jack and I assisted Mrs. Kelly in cleaning up all the broken bits of glass while Holmes examined the contents of the second jar in a more methodical and less messy way. It proved to contain several others of Mrs. Blomberg's collection, though nothing as fine as the diamond necklace, the most expensive piece of the lot. At last the pieces were beginning to fall together. I could scarcely believe our luck.

"I can't believe they were there this whole time," said Jack. "I mean, we could've found them a couple days after he died. We were all just too sad to go through them, I suppose."

"Perhaps it is fortunate that you did not," Holmes replied. "Rumours of his guilt in regard to the Blomberg theft would have been far more severe."

Jack frowned. "But how did he end up with these in the first place?"

"In his process of attempting to uphold the law," I replied.

"Should have known," replied Jack.

Mrs. Kelly sighed. "That mess is cleaned up now. I'm happy we managed to help you, in a roundabout fashion."

Holmes turned to her. "You and your family have been most helpful. Now we must prepare to set a trap for our thief with this jewellery."