The Brooch

By David Hardham

After purchasing an old blackened brooch at a garage sale, Harriet discovers that it is a valuable piece of jewellery and was part of a collection that Henry VIII gave to each of his wives. Further intrigue mounts as she learns that the brooch was stolen from Lord Denham in 1840 by a houseboy, George Millard. He is convicted of theft and transported to Australia.

Harriet pursues her investigations until she has proof of who actually stole the brooch and travels to London to have the case re-opened by the British courts.

• Language: English
• Publisher: David Hardham
• Release date: Dec 23, 2014
• ISBN: 9781311112552

David Hardham

David Hardham was born and raised in Melbourne and has worked in the IT industry all his working life including stints in London, Singapore and South Africa. He has travelled extensively, both within Australia as well as many European and Asian countries. In his early twenties, David crossed the entire African continent by road from North to South.

Book preview

THE FINDER

THE BROOCH

By

David Hardham

* * * *

PUBLISHED BY:

David Hardham on Smashwords

The Finder Series

The Brooch

Copyright 2014 by David Hardham

* * * *

All characters and events in this publication are fictitious and any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental. The characters are productions of the author’s imagination and used fictitiously.

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

This eBook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This eBook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

* * * *

Acknowledgements

This is the second book in The Finder short story series where Harriet Morton delves into further investigations, more by accident than design. I have used the wonders of the internet to assist my research into the fictional events relating to this book for which I am grateful.

A special thank you to Deb who has had to put up with me disappearing into the writers cave so that I could put more words together and eventually complete these stories.

Please note that I use Australian spelling throughout. You will see doubled letters (e.g. focussed), ou’s (e.g. colour) and ‘re’ (centre) as well as a few other differences from American spelling.

****

THE FINDER SERIES

THE BROOCH

Chapter 1

I was tired, very tired, and taking in deep breaths as often as I could. Perspiration was dripping from my face and I was soaked in it all over my top and shorts. I had hit the wall. I called on every ounce of energy and somehow I managed to keep going. I thought back to the time I had run across the African plains and trying to outrun the kidnappers who were in pursuit with the intent of killing me. I had outlasted them and survived then and I needed to do it again. Not that I was going to be killed but the torture my body was experiencing certainly felt like it. As I had done back then, I pushed myself a little more.

It had seemed like an eternity ago but in reality it was only a few minutes since I had felt like giving up. Somehow I had pushed through the pain barrier and was back on my steady pace. I now had a second wind and all the struggles and exhaustion seemed like an eon ago. I had been running alongside a couple of others but they had dropped back and now I pushed for the finish line.

There it was. The Finish. My pace increased and it felt like I was sprinting. I probably was. At last. I crossed the line that marked the end of the marathon. I had done it. All 42 kilometres. I looked at the clock and noted my time. Three hours and twenty five minutes. Not bad I thought for a novice runner and for the fact it was my first time.

It took and hour or more for the adrenalin to dissipate and to come down from my high. I had actually done it. I had set out to run a marathon over six months ago and I had now achieved my ambition. Running a marathon was not the only thing I had accomplished lately. The other single significant item was that I was now working on my own.

I pushed all that aside as I basked in my personal glory of the run. After receiving a certificate that recorded my time, I drove home for a well deserved shower. As I neared home, I passed by a house that had a Garage Sale sign up. I usually didn’t bother with these as most of the items for sale were junk but the house was an old Edwardian brick establishment and if nothing else I could at least have a look and admire the old architecture.

I didn’t rush my shower, more a case of enjoying the warmth of the water and feeling the jets of the high pressure sprinkler head hitting my skin. I felt quite revitalised and after a quick bite to eat, I walked the short distance to the house