The Wellington Bureau: A Quartermain Mystery

by Daphne Coleridge

gloves – which is hardly surprising. One of my lads has been asking questions, but so far no one has admitted to seeing any suspicious characters heading for Lady Furnival’s room. On the other hand, the house was swarming with people, any one of whom could have come up here.”

  “What are the chances of catching the thief?”

  “Not very high, unless the stolen objects turn up and we can trace him that way. He has been quite careful. There is no evidence. The fact that the crime was not noticed until this morning has not helped. Things have been moved and touched. Frankly, sir, it could have been any one of your guests.”

  “And nothing was taken but Lady Furnival’s jewels?”

  “According to the lady, the objects missing are a diamond and opal ring: an oval stone flanked by two square diamonds,” the Inspector was reading from his notes, “which she does not consider to be of particular value. A necklace made up of two strands of I8 carat gold with diamonds worth, approximately, £100,000 which, she tells me, would have been in the safe had she not contemplated wearing it last night. She rejected it in favour of a more elaborate, but considerably less expensive piece which better suited the simple style of her dress. It was therefore left on her dressing table. Also taken was a half-eternity ring set with two cabochon, or un-faceted, emeralds, and diamonds. This, she suggests, is worth £2,000.”

  “Was there nothing else in her jewellery box?” Anna asked.

  “Oh, yes. Have a look.” Anna did so, and was convinced that the thief had left several thousand pounds behind.

  “The rings were in the jewellery box?”

  Sir Angus answered. “She keeps some of her less expensive pieces in there, and things like the eternity ring, which she wears quite frequently. All the really valuable jewels are kept in the safe. A couple of items are in the bank.”

  “Why do you think that the thief left half the things behind?”

  “Perhaps someone surprised them,” suggested the Inspector.

  “Might not that someone have said something about it to Lady Furnival? Or at least told the thief to put the stuff back.”

  “He heard a noise and panicked, but no one actually caught him,” was the next suggestion.

  “It still seems strange to me. Why didn’t he take it all?” Anna was thinking out loud. “And if he was just after a couple of valuables, why come all the way up here? He walked past several snuff boxes which would have fitted nicely in his pockets and saved him having to take the risk of entering a room he had no right to be in.”

  “Maybe he didn’t know the snuffboxes were valuable.”

  “Or maybe he just didn’t like them,” said Anna.

  After the police had gone, Anna had tea with the Furnivals.

  “Ah, well,” sighed Lady Furnival. “They don’t sound too confident about catching our thief.”

  “There weren’t really any clues,” said Sir Angus. “We must find a picture of you wearing that necklace for the Inspector in case it turns up somewhere. Anyway, Lady Quartermain, what do you make of it all?”

  “Well,” said Anna, thoughtfully, “I wouldn’t say that there were no clues. Certainly the thief left no dirty thumb-print or muddy footmark. Incidentally, the only muddy mark came from the constable, I saw him put it there – but we have a lot of clues to his personality. I thought at first that the only person who would shamelessly rob a friend was someone who was desperate for money, in debt, perhaps.” Anna did not mention that she had at first thought of Warren Parry, knowing what she did about his recent borrowings. “But whoever he was doesn’t seem to have behaved like a desperate man. He – or she, by the way; we can’t rule out a female thief – was calm, calculating and efficient. A person who needed money might have grabbed the first valuable object that came to hand – and there are plenty of those on offer, even pocket-sized ones like the snuff boxes and like the gold cigarette lighter in your room, Sir Angus, which the thief would have walked through to get to Susan’s room. And if the person was so desperate for money, why leave behind all those other pieces of jewellery? And why take probably the most easily identified and least valuable piece – the opal ring? The only explanation I can think of, is that the person is a bit of a connoisseur. He, or she, doesn’t particularly like snuffboxes. Nor do they smoke. They picked out two of your favourite jewels, and the most expensive for good measure. But whoever it was must have amazing sangfroid. To stroll in, select what he wanted, all without leaving a single clue. He has both the confidence and skill of a professional.” Anna paused. “Well, all that is sheer supposition, but it does rather suggest that you boast a jewel thief amongst your extended circle of friends. But, if you did, this would not be the first example of his work. Have any of you friends been robbed recently?”

  “Not that I can think of,” said Lady Furnival. “Oh, yes! John and Penelope Bennett, in February. The whole place was cleared out whilst they were away one weekend.”

  Anna wrinkled her nose, “That’s no help. I think we are looking for something smaller scale – a ring or necklace missed. Something like that.”

  “Yes!” Susan Furnival was quite excited. “Amanda Parry lost that ring. She was frantic about it. She phoned up everyone thinking she might have taken it off when she was washing her hands and left it somewhere. But it was never found. She was in tears when I went round to see her. It was her engagement ring.”

  The Parrys! The connection wasn’t lost on Anna. A son behaving oddly. But to take his own mother’s engagement ring...

  “When was that?”

  “Just before Christmas.”

  When had Warren Parry started to behave oddly? Last autumn. Would he have been driven to stealing his mother’s ring by Christmas? She obviously didn’t suspect him or she would have mentioned the incident when she had come to see Anna. But if he had taken more of her things, she would have been alerted. So he turned to other people. Anna thought of his doleful eyes. He simply didn’t fit with her image of the calm, calculating thief. She was looking for someone with more self confidence, someone sharper. Someone quite unscrupulous.

  Toby came in to join them.

  “Hallo! All the tea cakes gone? Have you caught our thief?”

  “Toby, who do you know who has been burgled or lost anything valuable in the last year?” asked his mother.

  “Just about everyone, I should imagine.” He bit into a slice of fruit cake.

  “Apply your brain to the matter for a minute.”

  Toby assumed a serious expression as he chewed. “Do you want big burglaries, like the Bennett’s and the one at Nick Chester’s place in Wales – they even took the dirty laundry he’d left there by mistake. Or just petty larceny?”

  “Petty larceny will do,” said Anna.

  Toby seemed to concentrate on eating for a moment or two whilst his family watched in anticipation. “Got one!” he said triumphantly, his mouth still full of cake.

  “Finish your mouthful first! Did I never tell my children not to speak with their mouth full?” Susan said to Anna in mock consternation.

  “The Gurneys!”

  Warren’s aunt and uncle! Anna was struck by the coincidence. But it might be just that, coincidence.

  “What was taken?” she asked.

  “Oh, just money. In fact, it probably doesn’t count. Elizabeth had about five hundred pounds in French francs taken from her handbag. She put it down in a shop or something silly and someone just helped themselves. I only remember because it was such a blasted nuisance. We were setting off for France the next morning and she was getting the cash for all of us. In fact, it was a disastrous holiday from beginning to end, but we all enjoyed it!”

  “Who went?” asked Anna.

  “Oh, the usual mob. Philip, Warren, Percy; and Julia and Caroline to start with, but they disappeared off on their own when we got to Switzerland for some reason.”

  “But the money was taken from her whilst she was shopping?”

  “Well, it must have been. She had no idea what had happened to
it and swore that she had kept an eye on her bag, but we were pretty unimpressed at the time.”

  “Nothing else was taken from the bag apart from the money?”

  “I’ve no idea. I don’t think so. It all happened last September. I think I’ve done rather well to remember it at all. Anyway, why do you ask? Do you think we have a phantom thief?”

  “I don’t know. There doesn’t seem to be much evidence of his past crimes. Perhaps he’ll strike again. I’ll remember to keep my doors locked at night.”

  As Anna was leaving the Furnival’s house, she met Amanda Parry on the doorstep. The lady looked startled.

  “Oh! I didn’t expect to see you here. I just popped round to sympathise with Susan. About the burglary, you know.”

  “News travels fast,” commented Anna, a little taken aback to find her first client on the doorstep of her second client, although she knew that the two of them were friends.

  “Oh, well, it didn’t have very far to travel. Toby told Julia this morning. He came round before any of us were properly awake.”

  “You live close by?”

  “Goodness, yes. Next door, in fact.”

  Anna was glad to know this, although it might make the course of action she had in mind fractionally more difficult than it might have been. Anna had decided that she was going to follow Warren Parry. It seemed like a good idea as she knew, or thought she knew, that he was getting up to something peculiar. If she made a note of his actions; the places he went, the people he