“Splendid to see what good pals you fellows are in the C.I.D.,” he said. “One of you moves because of the rent he owes and won’t pay, and the rest of you hurry along to help with the family heirlooms. Touching, I call it,” declared Mr. Mullins enthusiastically, “even if some careless bloke has knocked over great-grandma’s own pet plant pot.”
He shook his head sadly at the overturned aspidistra pot that had scattered plant and mould into the gutter. He began to busy himself gathering up plant and pot, and pushing them into the van. The police officers stood round in a circle, big men all, the least of them a head taller than he was, all regarding him with a nice mingling of reluctant admiration and intense yearning to slay him on the spot. And the smile with which he regarded them would have done credit to an angel at the gate welcoming a lost sinner home at last.
From the man leaning on the gate at the entrance to The Towers drive came a loud, sudden laugh, harsh, less elegant than might have been expected from such a very elegant exterior. As abruptly as it had been uttered it ceased, and, turning quickly, the laughter disappeared up the drive towards the house, walking with a long, swift, easy stride that took him out of sight almost immediately.
“Getting wet, most likely,” observed T.T. Mullins, watching him go. “Something amused him though. I wonder what? Business friend of mine – Augustus Percy Wynne. Augustus Percy because such is his nature, as his loving parents knew; Wynne for the same reason. Nice chap. Wanted me to go in with him on some South African deal – De Beers and diamonds and that sort of thing. Too risky for me. I prefer local loans to – er – diamonds. Getting old, I suppose.”
He shook his head again with an air of deep self-pity, and his remarks seemed somehow to increase the general depression. Superintendent Ulyett glared at his companions as if selecting one or all of them for instant dismissal. What he was really thinking of was the interview due to take place next morning between himself and an Assistant Commissioner known to possess a caustic tongue.
“I suppose,” said Mr. Mullins timidly, “I couldn’t persuade you gentlemen to come in and have a glass of something comforting? Do you good after standing about in this horrid damp mist. November fog before its time. Of course, if you can spare a minute, I mean?”
“We can,” said Ulyett briefly; “and, if you want to know, T.T., and would like to see it, I’ve a search-warrant in my pocket.”
“Now, isn’t that just too wonderful?” cried T.T., beaming with apparent delight. “Extraordinary how things turn out. Wouldn’t happen once in a million years, your search-warrant and my invitation coming together. Talk about coincidences,” said T.T., lost in admiration.
Ulyett grunted, and made a move in the direction of the house. T.T. trotted ahead to open for him the gate of the drive. Pausing in the opening, he turned to murmur once again his pleasure over the unexpected arrival of his visitors.
“You shan’t one of you go out of the house,” he declared firmly, “till you’ve tasted my cocoa – the best in London, if I say it myself.”
Ulyett grunted again. His appetite for cocoa was limited. Some of the others, overhearing what T.T. said, looked more depressed than ever. T.T. continued to survey them with gentle, coy benevolence. The man in the green baize apron he had not had time to discard, though his eyes had lost their dull, lack-lustre expression – had grown, indeed, keen and alert instead – said to Bobby:
“Do you know what it’s all about? I got pulled in the moment I came on duty, and they’ve had me sitting on that blessed tail-board ever since, without a chance to say a word to anyone.”
“Swagger diamond necklace,” Bobby explained. “Quite No. 1 in diamond necklaces – runs to a hundred thousand or so. Belongs to Miss Fay Fellows, the film star. She’s not such a favourite as she was, and, as her income has dropped to something under a million a week, she’s been trying to sell. Jessop & Jacks, the Mayfair Square jewellers, had it in hand, and they rang up in an awful sweat this afternoon to say they were afraid it had been pinched. But they wouldn’t give any details, so our people said they couldn’t do anything, and Jessop said they must avoid scandal, and big people were implicated, but would we stand by and be ready? Of course, we said we were always ready, but they must tell us more if they wanted us to take action, and then they rang off. Next thing was what seemed a sure-fire tip that T.T. was going to be offered the biggest ever in sparklers this evening somewhere round eight or nine o’clock. Looked like a chance to score – to ring up Jessop & Jacks and say, “Oh, by the way, we’ve got that necklace of yours,” and have them eating out of our hand ever after. Jewellers get to know a lot that’s going on, and can give useful tips at times if they want to. So we were packed off to see what we could do, and Ulyett came along himself because he’s jolly keen on roping in T.T. if possible. The idea was to surround the house and rush it before there was time to spot us, and get the thing away or hidden. But a furniture van is too old a stunt for a wary bird like T.T.”
The other nodded agreement, and from the direction of the house came suddenly, sharp and loud and ominous on the still night air, the sound of two pistol shots in quick succession.
Published by Dean Street Press 2015
Copyright © 1936 E.R. Punshon
All Rights Reserved
This ebook is published by licence, issued under the UK Orphan Works Licensing Scheme.
First published in 1936 by Victor Gollancz
Cover by DSP
ISBN 978 1 910570 37 1
www.deanstreetpress.co.uk
The Bath Mysteries Page 26