12
Elsie Fogg put the bracelet back in the cabinet and let out a small sigh. It had been another quiet day. They were all quiet, these days.
As the proprietor of a mid-market jewellery shop, she felt as if she’d been squeezed from all angles for years. The fashion for cheap costume jewellery had pinched hard, as had the rise of online shopping. And with two major mid-market jewellery chains already in the centre of Mildenheath, she’d relied on locals preferring to buy from her independent shop, but it was almost impossible to compete.
The truth was she should have given up long ago. She’d wanted to. In any other situation she probably would have done, but this shop had been her mother’s before her, and she felt a sense of duty to stick it out to the last. The captain must go down with h
