From the Charred Remains Read Online Free PDF Page A

the law!”
    Lucy rubbed her chin, unconsciously adopting the magistrate’s gesture when he was puzzling over an idea. “Are you saying, Sid, that you found this pouch with the dead body? When did you take it?”
    Sid grinned wanly. “I’m quick, ain’t I?” He looked from one to the other, clearly expecting to be turned out any moment. “It was at the edge of the barrel, just beside the poor fool. No one noticed when I nicked it.”
    “You know you can’t keep it,” Lucy warned. “We’ll take it to the constable first thing in the morning.” She ignored Sid’s dour look.
    “We can still see what’s inside the bag,” Annie pleaded, curiosity getting the better of her. “No harm in looking, right?” Without waiting for Lucy to agree, she shook the little leather bag, dumping an odd assortment onto the wooden table.
    Against her better judgment, Lucy leaned closer, peering at the hodgepodge of objects. Some playing cards, an elephant elegantly carved in translucent green stone, a ring, a few coins which Sid immediately snatched up, a fluff of wool, and a small oilskin packet that seemed to have been once sealed with wax. Lucy turned the packet over in her fingers, while Annie pulled at the fluff.
    “There’s something in here,” Annie squealed. From beneath the layer of wool, Annie extracted a woman’s brooch made of a smooth white wood. Three roses interlocking with a heart had been carefully carved from a single piece. An iron pin in back had been attached, so that one could hold a cloak together with the piece.
    “Oh! How beautiful!” Anne breathed. She traced the delicate lines. “So smooth! What kind of wood is this, do you suppose?”
    Peering over her shoulder, Sid looked at the brooch. “Not oak, cherry, or ash, I’d say. Ivory?”
    “It does look like the pianoforte keys,” Lucy said, reaching for the brooch. She certainly owned no jewelry as fine as this. Like Annie, she could not resist running her fingers along the heart and flower petals. “What an odd jumble this all is. It’s amazing this pouch survived with the miscellany intact. I suppose the leather protected it.”
    “Or it was divine providence,” Annie ventured. “The body should have been burnt up too, but the flames skirted the barrels.”
    “I suppose you’re right,” Lucy said, wrapping the brooch carefully back in the wool. She was always uncomfortable with the notion of providence. Why should some people have lost everything, while others lost nothing? She shook her head; twas not the time to question the way of the world. “We must take this to the constable in the morning,” she declared. “Someone must be missing these things.”
    Sid’s face dropped. “Everything?” he asked, disgruntled.
    “Everything,” she said. “I mean it, Sid.” She looked at him meaningfully.
    Reluctantly, he put two coins back on the table, near the pouch.
    “And the rest?” She drummed her fingers on the table.
    Sid laid out the other coins. Altogether, there was a gold sovereign, two shillings, and four coins of a type she’d never before seen. Lucy fingered them. “I wonder where they’re from.”
    “These two are French,” Sid said, with surprising authority. Seeing Lucy raise her eyebrows, he defended himself. “What? I know a gent who collects coins. I, er, come across French coins from time to time.”
    “But these two.” He tapped the coins on the table. “I’ve never seen the likes. I know they’re not German or Dutch, or even Spanish.”
    “Look at this,” Annie said, examining the ring. “Look, it flips, see?” she put the ring on her finger where it easily slid around. It fit a little better on Sid’s hand when he tried it. Clearly, it was intended for a man’s hand.
    Sid passed the ring to Lucy. She studied it carefully. The ring was unusual, completely unlike anything Lucy had ever seen. The surface swiveled so that the ring’s wearer could choose to display either side. One side seemed to be