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Language:
English
Series:
Part 59 of Sussex Retirement
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Published:
2025-04-13
Completed:
2025-04-15
Words:
1,427
Chapters:
3/3
Comments:
30
Kudos:
23
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205

Sussex in April

Summary:

In spring a retired consulting detective is quite happy to accept a new case...

Chapter 1: A Case in Spring

Chapter Text

Our old friend and now neighbour, Inspector Hopkins, had called round one evening after supper.  He had clearly been making use of the lighter evenings digging in his garden, for I recognised the signs of in-grained dirt which mirrored my own hands from earlier in the day.  However, his first words indicated he hadn’t come on gardening matters, as he began, “It’s probably a trivial matter.”

Holmes looked at him and said, “There is nothing which can be safely described as trivial until it has been established as such, and you should know that by now.”

Hopkins quirked a smile.  “Perhaps I should have worded it slightly better: some of my colleagues consider it a trivial matter.”

“But you do not.  Please continue.”

“An elderly gentleman has been found dead at home, slumped in his chair.  The doctor who examined him is certain it was caused by a heart attack.  However, the man’s hands were bound together.”

Hopkins paused, so I continued for him, “Although death was by natural causes, there were aggravated circumstances and you wish to catch the perpetrator or perpetrators.”

“Precisely.  He was found by his wife on her return from shopping and she is unable to provide any information as to who it might have been.”

“Even if the wife was out,” Holmes said, “did no-one else notice someone enter the house?”

“Unfortunately not.  They live on the edges of the town and there is a back gate which leads off a narrow passageway, shared only with a neighbour.  The neighbour himself was at work, the children at school, and the wife had gone shopping with our victim’s wife.”

“You mentioned something trivial, so far none of these details appear so.”

“The only strange thing is that the wife insists that the jars on one of her shelves have been rearranged.  Unfortunately she cannot say how, just that she is sure they have.”

“The shock of the event may have clouded her mind temporarily,” I said.  “It’s possible that she will become clearer about it in a day or two.”

“That is true,” Holmes agreed.  “But in the meantime, do you think you could arrange for Watson and myself to visit her tomorrow.  I may be able to shed some light on the matter.”

Hopkins smiled.  “I was hoping you might offer to do so.  Would tomorrow afternoon suit you?”

We agreed and Hopkins departed looking very satisfied.

Chapter 2: In The Garden

Chapter Text

Since we had now agreed to go out in the afternoon, I decided I would spend my morning working in the garden.  I began by taking various trays of seedlings out of the greenhouse and laying them on the grass in order to start the process of hardening them off.  Having brought out all those I thought were ready, I covered the trays with some netting.  Not, as might be expected, to prevent the birds from enjoying a mid-morning snack, but stopping Wordsworth, our cat, from lying on them.

I could hear Holmes moving around further up the garden.  With spring his bees were hard at work, visiting the flowers and trees which were already blossoming.  He was speaking quietly, not talking to himself, but communicating with the bees and no doubt updating them on Hopkins’ visit.

I had planned to continue preparing the soil close to one of our fruit trees, but the bees were busy there, and one bee appeared to have been appointed guard and grew agitated every time I came too close.  I abandoned that idea and moved round to the front of the house, to begin digging over the bed by the front door.

With increasing age I find that digging soon tires me out, which is why I prefer to concentrate on a small bed, or a small area of one of the larger beds.  This way I can be satisfied I have made progress, even though I am not working for long.  Seth has promised to bring a couple of his great-nephews up to do some of the heavy digging at the weekend, by which time I’m hoping some of the seedlings will be ready to plant out.

At that point, Mrs Maiden called out to say our dinner was nearly ready, and to let Holmes know.  I said I would, and hurried off to find him and pass the message on, before carefully returning my seedlings, which had enjoyed the sunny morning, back into the greenhouse.

Chapter 3: The Clue in the Honey

Chapter Text

Hopkins had arranged for us to be conveyed to the widow’s house in the afternoon.  She arrived, accompanied by her daughter-in-law, shortly after we did.

“We thought it better if Mother stayed with us last night,” the daughter-in-law explained.

“I’m sure I would have been all right,” the widow protested, looking crossly at her daughter-in-law, who returned the look.

“A very sensible arrangement,” I said, before an argument could develop.

“I understand you told Inspector Hopkins that the jars on one of your shelves had been rearranged,” Holmes said.

“Yes,” the widow agreed, “it looks wrong, but I can’t work out why.”

“Best thing to do would be take a look,” the daughter-in-law said.

“May we do so?” Holmes asked.

The two women led the way into the kitchen and the widow pointed out the shelf in question, while the daughter-in-law put the kettle on.

Holmes began methodically picking up each jar and looking at it, before replacing it where he had found it.  Finally, having worked his way along the whole of the shelf he held one up and asked, “Is this your normal honey?”

The widow squinted, so I, realising it was possible she couldn’t read very well, said, “What does it say on the label, Holmes?”

“Best Kent honey from Rochester.”

“What?” both women exclaimed. 

“It can’t be,” the widow added.  “We always buy local honey.”

“That’s what I thought,” Holmes said.  “Can you remember where you bought your latest honey from?”

The widow thought and then said, “I got it at the market two weeks ago.  I can’t remember his name, he comes every two or three weeks and normally has a stall near to the church.”

The daughter-in-law nodded.  “Mr Grisom from Upper Leighton.  He’s a bit irregular, but the honey’s good.”

“Thank you very much, ladies,” Holmes said.  “Would you mind if I took this jar of honey?”  I gave him a look and he hastily added, “I’ll buy it off you.”

“Take it,” the widow said.  “If it helps find the man who caused my Herbert’s death, you’re very welcome to it.”

We went to leave, but the daughter-in-law called after us, “Mr Holmes, is it safe for Mother to stay here tonight, only we wouldn’t want to think the man was going to return.”

Holmes looked at me and I said, “Maybe if she could stay one more night with you, by then we should know more.”

I noticed the relief in the widow’s eyes.  She had no intention of becoming dependent on her daughter-in-law, but one more night away would help ease the shock a little more.

As we walked towards the police house, where Hopkins had arranged to meet us, I said, “You’ve an idea, haven’t you?”

“You remember the case of the Six Napoleons,” he said.  I nodded.  “I suspect this may turn out to be something similar.  I shall suggest to Hopkins he find out if anyone else has lost a jar of honey and then go and speak to Grisom.”

In the evening Hopkins called round to thank us for our help.  They had found two other people who had been approached by a man who had asked if they would be prepared to swap their jar of honey for another jar, as, apparently, his elderly mother didn’t have long to live and had been sad they had finished their jar.  Both had willingly handed over their jars, although neither had been impressed by the replacement.

Hopkins and some of his constables had then gone to see Mr Grisom and on searching his premises found a box of jars of honey with maps and times on the labels.  The map showed how to reach one of the nearby manor houses, and since the time said 10 o’clock at night, Hopkins realised this was probably the next target of a gang who had recently undertaken a spate of burglaries in the neighbourhood.

“And it would appear,” Hopkins said, “that their instructions were conveyed by the labels on jars of honey.  I can only assume that some of the jars were accidentally sold in mistake for the genuine honey jars.”

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