by Anne Digby
'Well, it's going to be fine today all right,' said Tish, gazing up at the blue sky in surprise. 'D'you think. Mrs Barrington will let us go in the sea this afternoon?'
'Doubtful,' said Sue gloomily.
Surfing and sea-bathing had officially ended at half-term.
'Hey!' said Rebecca. She pointed her tennis racket as Court House came in sight. 'Look – a police car!'
They rushed back to the boarding house. There was a crush in the hall and girls were hanging over the banisters, all agog. A police officer was moving around, asking questions and taking notes.
'What's going on?' mouthed Tish.
'It's that flash car that was parked here!' whispered Elf.
'Mr Slade's?' asked Rebecca quickly. 'What about it?'
'It's gone!' said Margot. 'Somebody pinched it during the night! Mrs B found it gone when she looked outside this morning –'
'She rang the police straight away!' finished Mara.
Virginia Slade was talking to the police officer in a shrill voice and looking agitated.
'It can't have been any of the boys who were at the dance, sir!' she was saying. 'Daddy's car was still there very late – I saw it when I came in. The college boys had all gone by then! Besides they wouldn't – they just wouldn't – Daddy's a housemaster there and they all like him . . .'
'Could be one of 'em has a grudge against him,' said the policeman. 'Or just high spirits after the dance. The car'll be most likely found within a few hours. They usually are, once our lads get on the job.'
Tish and Rebecca looked at one another, uneasily.
'On the other hand it might be nothing to do with the dance at all,' the officer said stolidly. 'There's been a spate of joy-riding this year. There was a lot of it when the holiday-makers were down in the summer.' Rebecca felt a slight sense of relief. 'Of course, it's a bit late for tourists. But there's a few boys in the town I wouldn't trust an inch . . .'
'I'm sure you'll find it's one of them,' Virginia insisted. 'I was the last person around last night, and the car was still here.'
'Er – about what time would that be, miss?'
Some of the Fifth Years grinned and looked at each other. It was an open secret what time Virginia crept upstairs.
'Midnight,' she said, looking embarrassed.
'Dead on!' said Amanda Hancock. 'I heard the clock strike.'
Dutifully the officer wrote it down and shut his notebook.
'Taken some time after midnight,' he muttered. He'd found out enough for the present and was edging towards the front door. 'Right, I'll just have another word with Mrs Barrington. We'll soon find the car.'
'Do you think you'll find it by tea-time?' Virginia pleaded. 'That's when Daddy's due back from Oxford. It'll be a terrible shock for him.'
The officer grunted. He'd already discovered from several of the girls that the ignition keys had been left in the car.
'Careless of him to leave the keys in, then,' he said.
But Virginia looked so pretty and appealing that he immediately softened his attitude a little.
'I suppose he thought it would be safe enough, tucked away up here. Careless, all the same. Don't worry, miss, with luck we'll have recovered the car by the time your father gets back.'
The officer left and the girls dispersed in all directions. The six friends went into the kitchen and made tea with tea-bags and talked non-stop about the drama. But Tish and Rebecca were rather subdued. They had looked at each other once, but somehow they didn't dare look at each other again.
Rebecca spent most of Sunday playing singles, first with Pippa in the morning and then all afternoon with Joss Vining, who was in superb form. When Joss had gone and Rebecca was letting down the net, her friends came rushing over to the tennis court.
'We can swim in the sea!' Tish said excitedly. 'Just for half an hour. Mrs Barrington's been down there to look, it's as warm as anything and not at all rough. Come on, Rebeck!'
'Yippee!' said Rebecca. She felt hot and sticky all over. She rushed back to the boarding house to get her swimming things and grabbed her watch, which she very rarely wore, so that they could keep an eye on the time. Then all of them except Mara raced down to the beach and changed in the school beach huts.
It was a wonderful swim, cool and sweetly refreshing, with the sun just starting to go down. Rebecca enjoyed it very much.
Afterwards she and Tish changed in the extra large hut at the end. It was the first time they'd really been alone that day. Suddenly there was no avoiding the subject any longer.
'Robbie was awful last night, wasn't he,' said Tish.
'Terrible,' said Rebecca.
'It wasn't much fun for you. When did he leave? He didn't get on the bus with the other boys.'
'He decided to walk back,' said Rebecca. 'I don't know what time he left. He saw me back to Court and then went back to the dance. He was in a very funny mood.'
'I expect he left very late. Maybe kept watch on them, until David had gone home. And that was midnight. Wonder what he did after that?'
Rebecca could tell she was worried.
'You think he might have taken the car, don't you, Tish?'
But Robbie phoned Rebecca that evening. It was the first phone call she'd ever received at Court House.
'Hi,' he said. 'I want to apologize.' He wasn't finding it easy. 'About last night. I behaved stupidly. After dragging you to the dance in the first place, I wanted you to have a good time. And I spoiled everything. I'm sorry, Rebeck.'
'That's all right, Robbie,' said Rebecca. The cloud that had been lurking around all day was beginning to move away. 'Forget it.'
'Have the police found old Slade's car, yet?' he asked. The news, it seemed, had travelled fast.
'No,' said Rebecca. 'He got back from Oxford at tea-time and they went straight down to the police station in Barry's car. But it hadn't turned up then.'
'I hope it's okay when it is found,' said Robbie, with some feeling. 'I hope the stupid blighters haven't damaged it.'
'Let's hope not.'
Rebecca suddenly felt positively happy.
After putting the phone down she went straight to find Tish. Whatever had she and Tish been worrying about?
The friendly match against Caxton High School the following Saturday was Rebecca's first real test. Unlike the mixed doubles at Trebizon when David Driscoll had been her partner, and she'd had very little to do, she was playing singles this time. She was on her own.
Only the girls in the squad played – the boys were playing somewhere else – and their opponents were four Sixth Form girls at Caxton High, all of them in their school tennis team.
Everything came together in Rebecca's game that day.
She won both her singles matches. 7–5, 6–4 and 7–5, 7–6.
Victoria and Lucy-Ann lost both their matches.
The fourth girl in the squad, Madeleine Marks, won both times, just like Rebecca. And her scores were almost identical.
At the last training session, on the day of the dance, David Driscoll had told them that there would be one vacant place for a girl in the D squad after Christmas – but no more.
It was beginning to look as though Rebecca and Madeleine might be rivals for that place.
Rebecca had the kind of mind that stored up useless bits of information. She'd read somewhere that the British police force recovered 99 per cent of all stolen cars. That within hours of a car being hi-jacked, police patrol cars throughout Britain were armed with its registration number and a full description.
Ninety-nine per cent were recovered – and usually within 48 hours.
On the other hand, if they weren't recovered within 48 hours, they were usually not recovered at all.
John Slade's car was not recovered within 48 hours. It had still not been recovered two weeks later, when Rebecca went for her next training session at the Exonford sports centre.
It was the most splendid car. But it looked as though it were one of the elusive 1 per cent that jus
t seem to vanish from the face of the earth.
EIGHT
A DRAMATIC TELEPHONE CALL
Something else had disappeared. Rebecca's watch. It was a nuisance because without it she nearly missed the train to Exonford on that second Saturday in November.
'I wonder where I left it?' she frowned to herself, as she watched the fields and hedges rushing by. 'It must have been at the sports centre, last time I was there.'
Rebecca didn't like wearing a watch, so only wore one when she really needed to. She usually left it lying around in their study bedroom. She had been vaguely conscious that she'd mislaid it for about a fortnight now, and had looked for it once or twice. Finally, because she always liked to wear it to Exonford, she ransacked the room on Friday and even asked Mrs Devenshire, the school secretary, about it. But no-one had found it.
It looked as though she must have left it at the Exonford centre, except she could have sworn that she was wearing it when she came away from there on the afternoon of the Hallowe'en Dance . . .
Training went remarkably well for Rebecca that day. She spent a lot of time on court, serving again and again under David Driscoll's watchful eye. Only twice did she serve a double fault.
'You've really got it, Rebecca!' he said. For once, he showed some feeling. 'Tremendous!'
Afterwards, in the cafeteria, he gathered them all round him.
'Next Saturday, weather permitting, there's the friendly at King's Club in Clifford. Remember to write all your scores down on your record sheets. If it rains, it'll be called off. The big one is here, in a fortnight's time – the Exonford Indoor Junior Tournament. You're all entered. No training that day, of course.
'I spoke to Mrs Seabrook on the phone this morning. It's definite. Two players are leaving D squad after Christmas, one boy and one girl. That means two of you will be moving up. We know the boy's going to be Toby –'
He paused as they all cheered Toby and clapped him on the back, though it had been obvious for some weeks that the lanky fourteen-year-old was bound to be promoted.
'It's not so easy to decide who the girl will be. Except it'll be either Rebecca or Madeleine. I'll make my recommendations to the county officials after the Indoor Tournament. After that, there's one more training session before the Christmas break, then I'll be leaving county tennis. You'll have a new coach in January.'
Rebecca and Madeleine looked at each other. It was between the two of them! Definitely.
Rebecca's mind was in a turmoil when she left the sports centre and hurried to catch her train. It was in such a turmoil that she completely forgot to inquire about her lost watch! Oh, dash it, she thought, as the train went out. Now I'll have to wait another fortnight.
But she had much more important things on her mind. Once it had been only a day-dream – getting promoted to the county D squad after Christmas – now it was really within her grasp!
She had to play well at the King's Club next Saturday.
Then would come the Indoor Junior Tournament at Exonford. It would be played in a proper competition atmosphere. David would be certain to fix the draw so that Rebecca had to play against Madeleine. Whatever happened, she had to beat her!
The November skies were grey the following Saturday, but the rain held off and the friendly tournament took place at King's Club. Rebecca did very well indeed – rather better than Madeleine. She arrived back at Court House on Saturday evening feeling on top of the world.
'How did it go, Rebeck?' Tish asked eagerly.
'Fine! Lost one set and won three! How about the hockey match?'
'We won 3–2 and I scored!'
They grabbed hands and twisted round and round in the hall, exuberantly. Then suddenly Sue burst in through the front door, holding her violin case and looking full of news. Moyra Milton was just behind her, with her clarinet. The two girls had been in the Barringtons' part of Court House. This often happened on Saturdays. Mr Barrington would invite all the Music Scholars round for tea and some informal music making in his own home – Sue enjoyed these sessions very much.
'Guess what!' cried Sue.
'What?'
'Mr Slade's car has been found! He rang up Barry just now –'
'It hasn't!'
'Where – where?'
Their voices were loud and girls started to appear from all directions – out of the common room – out of the kitchen down the stairs, all asking questions!
'What happened?'
'Tell us!'
'It was near Trebizon all the time! Only three miles away! Hidden in the funniest place –'
'The British police are wonderful, yes?' grinned Aba, coming from her room round the corner. Aba was a brilliant runner and shared with Ann and Anne – so the friends called it the Three A's Room. 'They found the car?'
'They've taken their time!' said Rebecca. 'I read somewhere –'
'No, not the police!' exclaimed Sue. 'They'd more or less given up –'
'It was some old farmer called Bond who found it!' butted in Moyra Milton. 'He's got that big farm, up on the Clifford Road. He found it hidden in one of his barns!'
'He didn't!' Everyone was amazed, gathering round.
'He did!' Sue took up the story. 'It's a barn full of hay bales. He wouldn't normally have gone in there until after Christmas – till the winter gets hard. But one of his sheep escaped and got in amongst the hay bales. And, you'll never guess, the car was right in the middle of the hay! The person who pinched the car had moved a whole stack of bales to put it there, and then stacked them all back up again and put some over the top, so the car was completely hidden!'
'The poor chap nearly dropped dead with shock to see a car like that hidden in the middle of all his winter feed!' laughed Moyra.
'Is the car all right?' Rebecca wanted to know.
'It's been crashed – the wing's all bashed in,' said Sue. 'But perfectly driveable. It looks as though the thief hit a tree or something up on the Clifford Road and then drove it across a couple of fields to get it to the barn and hide it. All in the middle of the night presumably.'
'What a peculiar business,' said Elf. 'They usually just dump them! But thank goodness it's been found! I wonder how much the damage will cost?'
'I wonder who took it?' mused Tish.
'They'll never catch them now!' said Margaret Exton scornfully. She'd been listening from the top of the first flight of stairs.
'I should think Mr Slade's only too relieved to get the car back,' said Moyra. 'I should think that's the end of the story.'
But Moyra was wrong. It wasn't the end of the story.
Robbie Anderson telephoned Court House half-an-hour later and asked to speak to Rebecca. Anxiously wondering what he had to say, she went and took the call at the coinbox phone by the stairs.
'Rebecca!' He sounded rather distressed. 'Slade got his car back this afternoon. You should see it! A beautiful car like that and it looks a real mess!'
'It's only a car!' said Rebecca, startled. She was on the verge of nervous laughter. Robbie sounded so emotional about it, almost as though the car were alive and had been injured and disfigured for life! 'He'll get it fixed.'
'I've got to find out who took it!' said Robbie. 'I want to know if you saw or heard anything that night – ask Tish – ask everybody –'
'We have an Action Committee sometimes,' said Rebecca, humouring him, 'and we're quite good at solving mysteries, us six. But I don't think we're going to be able to solve this one –'
'You don't understand! It's not funny. Slade thinks I did it.'
'You?' Rebecca's smile vanished.
'Yes, me. Look, I know it's pretty hopeless, but you lot try and find out anything suspicious that happened that night – anything at all. Will you, Rebeck?'
'Yes. But – but Robbie –'
'Yes?'
'Why have you rung me and not – well, not Tish?'
'She mightn't believe I didn't do it. Sisters can be pretty horrible at times. Try and convince everybody, won't you?
'
Rebecca found Tish and the others in the common room and told them.
Tish at once looked grimly worried.
'I don't like the sound of it,' she said, just as Robbie had predicted she would. 'Mr Slade must have something to go on –'
'Of course Daddy's got some thing to go on!' exclaimed a voice from the doorway.
They all looked round. Virginia Slade stood there, angry, high colour in her cheeks. She'd just got back from Garth College where she'd been helping her mother with teas for a house rugby match.
'What?' asked Rebecca coldly. 'What's he got to go on?'
'For one thing, Robbie Anderson was hanging around after the dance, I saw him –'
'Oh, it's Robbie Anderson now, is it?' snapped Tish, getting edgy.
'For another,' said Virginia, ignoring her, 'he didn't get back to College until two in the morning, because a prefect caught him coming in and it's in the detention book –'
'So what!' said Rebecca. 'He had to walk back after the dance!'
'Three miles?' said Virginia. 'The dance finished at eleven! Anyway, even if you ignore all that, Daddy's found his handkerchief in the car! It's got his name tape on it – R. J. Anderson. So that's that!'
Tish groaned. So did Sue. Margot and Mara and Elf just kept quiet. Rebecca caught her breath. Robbie's handkerchief, found in the car! He hadn't even bothered to mention it.
'Oh, the fool!' Tish groaned again and covered her face with her hands.
'He hasn't even got the courage to own up!' said Virginia scornfully. 'He doesn't know how lucky he is! Daddy's notified the police that the car's turned up, but he hasn't told them anything about Robbie! He likes Robbie. He'll punish him, of course, and your parents will have to foot the bill, but he won't hand him over to the police. All he's asking Robbie to do is to have the guts to own up and say he's sorry and Robbie won't!'
'Maybe he can't,' said Rebecca. 'Maybe he didn't do it.'
'Of course he did it! He's just a raving idiot!' exclaimed Virginia. 'To think I liked him once!'