He nodded. ‘That certainly explains the ring.’
‘The writer is breaking of her engagement and returning it to her fiancé,’ she explained to Will. ‘But it doesn’t give any names – just their initials. And it’s dated April nineteen twenty three.’
Will appeared satisfied. ‘Which fits with what I thought.’ He glanced down at the letter. ‘I wonder who they were.’
‘There’s mention of an excavation in Egypt,’ Hope mused. ‘You said there’d been a revival of interest in the Egyptian style during the twenties – isn’t nineteen twenty three around the time Tutankhamun was discovered?’
‘Nineteen twenty two, in an expedition led by Howard Carter,’ Mr Young replied. ‘There were a number of women involved with the excavations so there could be a connection. I’ll have to look up the paperwork regarding the house clearance, find out who the customer was.’
Hope blinked. ‘How long ago was it?’
Mr Young pursed his lips as he thought. ‘Six or seven years, I believe. But I’ll do my best to track them down. It would certainly be interesting to see if we can find out more about the provenance of the ring.’
‘And the woman who broke off her engagement,’ Hope added, with a curious glance at Will who was reading the letter. ‘What do you think – family pressure?’
‘It certainly sounds that way,’ he replied. ‘That line about breaking both their hearts makes it fairly clear that ending the relationship isn’t what she wants to do.’
Hope nodded. ‘And the part about hoping to meet again in the next life. I think it broke her heart to write the letter. I wonder what made her do it.’
Mr Young was eyeing her shrewdly. ‘Would you like to try and find out?’
‘Could I?’ Hope asked. ‘I mean, wouldn’t you rather do it?’
‘Why don’t we consider it part of your training? You can go over the paperwork and liaise with Will in case he uncovers who made the ring.’ He shrugged. ‘There’s only a small chance you’ll get anywhere but I think it would be good for you to try.’
Hope glanced at the puzzle box, still resting in Brodie’s hands. ‘A mystery within a mystery,’ she said, smiling. ‘I’d love to try and unravel it.’
Mr Young beamed. ‘Then it’s settled – Hope Henderson investigates. I think it’s got a bit of a ring to it, don’t you?’
It took Hope a moment to register the joke but she couldn’t help laughing when she did. ‘It’s got a lot of a ring to it,’ she answered, and smiled at the little girl beside Will. ‘Well done for opening the box, Brodie. I can’t wait to find out more.’
Chapter Five
‘How’s the job going, love?’
It was Wednesday evening and Hope was at her parents’ house in Upper Poppleton. What had begun as a one-off invitation when she’d first moved from London – dinner with her father while her mother was at choir practice – had developed into a weekly tradition, almost without her realizing it. But she enjoyed spending time with him, just the two of them. Sunday lunches in Upper Poppleton usually involved the whole family and were always chaotic and noisy. Wednesday night dinner was much less hectic and Hope found it a real comfort to relax amid the quiet familiarity of her childhood home.
She finished her mouthful of cottage pie and smiled at her dad across the battered oak dining table that had been at the heart of the kitchen for as long as she could recall. ‘Really well, thanks. Everyone is so friendly and I enjoy the work.’
‘You always did love that shop,’ he said fondly. ‘Do you remember the time you gave us the slip at the Minster? One minute you were behind us, squabbling with Harry and Charlotte, the next you’d vanished. We eventually found you with your nose pressed up against the windows of the Emporium, the way other kids stared into sweetshops.’
‘Really?’ Hope asked as a bubble of incredulity rose up inside her. ‘I don’t remember that at all.’
He raised his salt-and-pepper eyebrows. ‘You’d have been around seven or eight, I think. And you had no idea what the fuss was about – you seemed to think we’d know where you’d gone.’
Hope shook her head. ‘Wow. Sorry, Dad, you must have been frantic.’
‘Your mother was,’ he said. ‘Once the initial panic died down, I had an inkling where to find you. And it’s no real surprise you’ve ended up there as an adult but I’m glad it’s going well. You need something solid to lean against.’
It was an odd way of putting it but Hope thought she knew what he meant; to anyone looking in, working at the Emporium might seem like just a job, and a part-time job at that, but already it felt like more than just a workplace. Perhaps it had something to do with feeling useful again – she’d drifted along for months, just getting through each day. Now she had a purpose and it felt good to be connected to something again, to be part of a team. Meeting Iris had helped too; making a friend who hadn’t known Rob somehow helped cement the idea that Hope was starting again. But it was possible her dad was right – maybe it was the Emporium itself that was the steadying presence. She felt a sense of rightness when she was wandering along the aisles, admiring the everyday treasures that surrounded her, as though she was somehow exactly where she was meant to be.
‘There’s something very soothing about being around things that have lasted a lifetime or more,’ she said with a wistful smile, then paused. ‘I guess you don’t have to be Freud to unravel that one.’
‘No,’ her father conceded. ‘But I wouldn’t worry too much about unravelling things. Has Mr Young got you working on anything interesting?’
Hope leaned forward. ‘Funny you should ask that. The most amazing thing happened yesterday.’
She described how Brodie had solved the
