The Mystery at Harrowdale Manor: Chapter 3

Niles scooped the dirty pin from the ground, brushing away bits of rotten leaves and mud.

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"So Elena was right," he mused to himself. "Hmm, I feel like I've seen this pin somewhere before, but I...I can't remember where. Maybe Elena will know. She has a better memory about these things than I do."

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Shortly Elena and her husband's old colleague convened in the garden to talk in private. "Do you recognize this pin?" Niles asked, extracting the bizarre object from his pocket.

"Why, yes!" Elena gasped in dismay. "It's Clementine's dragonfly hairpin. Mason brought it back for her from one of his travels. But what was it doing in the garden? And why wouldn't she tell me she'd been back here?"
 
"I don't know," Niles shrugged. "Perhaps you'd be better off asking her."

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Deciding he was probably right, Elena took the pin and sought out her husband's two cousins. Sisters, Rose and Clementine were practically inseparable and Elena knew she'd be unable to confront the one without including the other.

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"Lose something?" Elena held the sparkling pin out to Clementine while the sisters gasped in unison.

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"That's mine!" Clementine leapt to her feet and snatched the pin away. "What are you doing with it?"

Elena frowned. "Niles found it out in the garden. What were you doing out there?"

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Clementine secured the jewel to her hair before answering, relieved to have it back.

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"I was missing my cousin so I went for a stroll in the garden alone," Clementine explained simply. "We used to play out there all the time when we were children, and it reminds me of him. I guess my pin must've fallen off when I tripped on an uneven cobblestone I couldn't see beneath the leaves."

"I see," outwardly, Elena accepted the explanation, but inwardly she wondered if Clementine were telling the whole truth.

Elena was very familiar with the rumors of her husband's "buried treasure." Captain Mason Harrowdale had been a merchant trader and he'd often brought back amazing things from his travels. If he had indeed hid great wealth on his grounds, it would be worth stealing. But would his greedy cousins go that far?

To be continued...


~SilverStar-Burst

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