5.4: The casket

Masongill, pTravis and Lottie crowd round the casket. 

Lottie starts to ask: “Is that…?” 

“Yes” says pTravis. “It’s the casket in which Juggins kept the stolen savings.” 

Ever since the events of The Curious Case of Juggins the False, everyone has found it easiest, if a little strange to begin with, to speak of Masongill’s other personality ‘Juggins’ as though he were a wholly separate, somewhat mysterious, person. Even Masongill has no more knowledge of Juggins than anyone else. 

“It went missing after Alcock found the money and we later found it hidden near Juggins’ hideout in the Big Old House. But look what it had inside!” 

He shows Lottie some antique yellow scarves each with the emblem of a sponge pinned to it. There’s also the red scarf that pTravis had worn on their last adventure in the fells. 

“We don’t know why that one is different,” he admits. 

And there is also an ancient picture of what looks like a saint holding a sponge and a newer one, though still perhaps decades old, of a saint with both a sponge and an iron. 

“Isn’t it a bit of a coincidence…?” Lottie begins. 

“Yes, that Juggins’ chosen profession used both the implements represented here. But look, the casket also contains a sort of explanation. Look what this piece of parchment says:…” 

Pour les chevaliers de l’Ordre de l’Éponge