Turning to speak to the Honourable Delville, she said, ‘When the sergeant arrived and asked to speak to me I was about to take a break to have a sandwich for lunch. I took the opportunity to combine the two.’
‘Why was I not informed about this? Do you usually take it upon yourself to give details of what goes on at Laneglos to strangers?’ Delville addressed Flora, but it was Tom who replied.
‘I have been to the house before, so am not exactly a stranger.’ he said, ‘and I learned on my first visit that Lady Hogg does not wish the family to be troubled by inquiries that can be dealt with by her staff. That is the reason I asked for Miss Wicks when I came to the house. She has been able to satisfy me that the Cornwall constabulary has nothing to worry about, so I trust you will have a splendid ball, sir.’
Delville looked from one to the other of the two people facing him, before saying, ‘Of course there is nothing to concern you or your constabulary, so you may now leave the house - and I suggest you return to your duties, Flora. There is still much to be done before tonight.’
With this he turned and left the room as abruptly as he had entered. When he had gone, Tom apologized to Flora, I’m sorry I brought that on, but . . . is he always like that? If he is it must make working here very difficult for you.’
‘He hasn’t always been like that with me and, to be perfectly honest I prefer him this way.’ she said enigmatically, ‘Anyway, he is an infrequent visitor to Laneglos. He comes visiting if there is a particularly important function, but doesn’t usually involve himself with helping to organise things. I wish he had stayed out of this one, he has been more of a hindrance than a help . . . but you don’t want to listen to the gossip and complaints of household staff. Thank you for putting my mind to rest about what might have happened tonight, Sergeant Churchyard, I wish you success with catching the rest of the London criminals.’
‘Thank you for your help . . . and I would much prefer you to call me "Tom". As for tonight . . . Everything should be all right, but we will have two constables on the door and more patrolling the grounds. I will probably be here too. In addition, I believe the Chief Constable and a couple of our Superintendents will be guests at the ball. Should you have any problems we will all be on hand to help you.’
When Tom left Laneglos, he passed the Honourable Charles Delville who was standing in the entrance hall berating a footman. Tom had no doubt the irascible young man had seen him, but he gave no acknowledgement of the fact.
It was not until he was walking along the driveway from the house that he remembered what Flora had said about Delville not always having being so bad-tempered with her. He decided the young nobleman was most probably a womaniser who had been unsuccessful in charming the attractive young housekeeper.
He found the thought surprisingly pleasing.
CHAPTER 14
Conrad Shannon, alias Sir Richard Donahue appeared at the Bodmin magistrates’ court that afternoon and was remanded in custody to Bodmin gaol on a charge of forging a railway ticket and defrauding the Great Western Railway. There had been no time to prove whether or not the share certificates found in his possession were forgeries.
He protested his innocence and insisted he was Sir Richard Donahue of the government’s treasury department, but his pleas failed to impress the Cornish magistrate.
Meanwhile, Amos had briefed the Chief Constable on the events of the previous twenty-four hours and the police chief was well-satisfied with all that was being done to protect those attending that evening’s charity ball. Like Amos, he too was concerned that none of the Hoxton criminals had been among those found on the boat but even as the two were speaking news was received that an astute police inspector in Liskeard, a town approximately halfway between Looe and Bodmin, had discovered that some ‘London men’ had hired four vehicles there, namely two wagonettes; a light one-horse phaeton and a luggage van.
The information from the hirer of the vehicles was that the men had paid for their hire until Sunday evening, telling him the vehicles were to be used by a holidaying party who had ‘come to Cornwall by boat’ and wanted the vehicles to take them on a picnic to Bodmin moor. They had wanted a further vehicle, saying they were a party of ten and would be taking a great many picnic baskets and blankets, etc, but the hirer had no more spare vehicles and had referred them to the stables of Webb’s hotel in town, where they occasionally had a horse and wagonette for hire.
The news gave Amos no clues about the houses that were to be targeted by the criminals, but it would seem to indicate there were ten men involved, and the number of vehicles they were trying to hire probably meant they intended burgling at least five premises.
Briefing his inspectors and sergeants later that afternoon, Amos said, ‘Send all the constables you have out in pairs to examine as many of the houses as is possible, concentrating on those singled out as being particularly vulnerable, or which are known to contain items of great value. Initially, try to check out the houses without being observed. Remember we are dealing with professional criminals who would shift their attention to another house if they believe their intended target is being watched. They are also no strangers to violence, so take no chances, I want none of my constables to suffer serious injury at their hands.’
Later, speaking to Tom, he said, ‘You and Harvey will be at Laneglos, I want you to keep a low profile but have men watching the nearby roads, as well as observing those entering the house. I think we’ve effectively scotched their plans for operating at the ball, but we can’t afford to take any chances. I intend to detail armed and mounted men to follow any coach that leaves before the ball is over. By all accounts it won’t end until after dawn - and Lord and Lady Hogg will be providing breakfast, so by the time the bulk of the guests leave it will be well after daybreak and people will be abroad, so I don’t think anything is likely to happen then, but it’s going to be a long night for all of us.’
‘Where are you going to be?’ Tom asked.
‘Here, there . . . and everywhere.’ came the reply. ‘I shall initially base myself in Looe. I am hoping the missing Hoxton roughs won’t have returned there after hiring their various vehicles for fear of attracting undue attention, so they will expect the boat to be still alongside when they arrive with whatever they’ve taken from any house they’ve burgled. I’d like to think we might actually catch them in the act but that’s being too optimistic, so we need to be ready for them when they return to Looe.’
Tom gave Amos a wistful smile, ‘It sounds as though you’re in for an exciting night, sir. I’d like to be with you, but . . .!’ He held up his broken wrist in a gesture of unspoken explanation.
‘Never mind,’ Amos returned the smile, ‘No doubt you’ll find something - or someone - to add interest to the hours you spend at Laneglos.’
Amos waited until the ball was underway before setting off on horseback for Looe. The system at Laneglos was working well, guests being warmly greeted by Flora Wicks while Tom stood discreetly nearby. She asked only to see the tickets of those she did not know by sight and did it in such a way that they were unaware it was anything other than the norm.
She had found no forged tickets by the time Amos left Laneglos and it seemed the ball might pass off without incident. It meant he could concentrate his attention on the missing London criminals - and he did not have long to wait for events to unfold.
Calling at Liskeard, he found the officers at the police station in a state of high excitement. Carrying out an inspection of a nearby manor house where the owners had gone to the Laneglos ball they had come across a horse drawing a hired wagonette tied to a tree in the grounds. Investigating further they surprised two London men at the rear of the house, apparently checking the security of the windows.
Both men had been armed with bludgeons but only one attempted to use his weapon and it proved no match for the truncheons wielded with excited enthusiasm by the two constables. The other London man offered no resistance and both he and his companion had j
ust been brought to the Liskeard police station.
Amos immediately recognized the older of the two who was heavily bruised and bleeding from a cut on the side of his head. Addressing him jovially, he said, ‘Hello, Stan! It’s nice to meet old acquaintances - especially in such circumstances as these. What are you doing so far from home? Not that I really need to ask, you’ll no doubt be following your usual occupation?’
Startled, the battered prisoner, said, "Mr Hawke! What you doing ‘ere, I thought you’d left the job?’
‘No, I left London but I’m still very much a working copper.’ Turning to one of the constables who had arrested the man he had referred to as "Stan", he asked, ‘What name did he give to you, Constable?’
‘He said he was Frederick Smith, a merchant seaman who’d left London for the good of his health and come here looking for work. It was when I went to search him that he pulled out a bludgeon and laid about him with it.’
‘Well he seems to have come off worse but he can still be charged with being found by night armed with an offensive weapon and assault on a constable - but charge him under his real name of Stanley Finch and have him remanded in custody, he has a long record and is officially registered as an "incorrigible rogue". As for being a seaman, the only ship he’s spent time on was a prison hulk moored at Woolwich. . . at least, it was until he came to Cornwall on the Mermaid, isn’t that right, Stan?’
‘Why bother asking me stupid questions?’ was Finch’s surly reply, ‘You seem to have all the answers.’
‘More than you realize,’ Amos replied, ‘For instance, I know that even if you’d managed to burgle that house you’d have been stuck with all the stuff you took. You’d have gone back to Looe, only to learn that the Mermaid is now anchored under guard a mile out to sea - with most of those who came here with you still on board.’
Heartened by the London thief’s expression of stunned disbelief, Amos said, easily, ‘That’s the trouble with your line of work, Stan, you just can’t trust anyone not to talk about what you’re up to . . . especially when you’re working with someone like Alfie Banks.’
‘Alfie won’t have told you anything,’ the criminal retorted, ‘He knows how to hold his tongue, same as I do.’
Delighted that Stanley Finch had unwittingly confirmed beyond doubt Alfie Banks’s part in the criminals’ activities in Cornwall, Amos said, ‘Unfortunately, staying silent isn’t going to help anyone this time, Stan. As well as the charges you’re facing at the moment I intend bringing conspiracy charges against you and the rest of the Hoxton gang. As far as I know you’ve never been charged with conspiracy before, so I’ll explain what it means. Basically, I know that you, and all those who’ve come to Cornwall with you, have conspired together to commit all sorts of crimes . . . so many that I’m impressed . . . I really am. The problem you and your companions are facing is that you’ll all be charged with whatever crimes are committed here in Cornwall tonight, and you’ll suffer the same punishment as those who carry them out - even if you’re in custody when they happen - because you’ve all conspired together to commit them. In other words, if someone succeeds in burgling a house you’ll be charged with it too. A highway robbery . . . and that will also go on the charge sheet. You’d better hope that no one gets carried away and kills one of his victims or the hangman will go home a rich man!’
Stanley Finch was a hardened criminal and well versed in the ways of policemen. His young companion was not. While Amos was explaining the offence of conspiracy his eyes had widened and his expression became one of sheer terror when murder was mentioned. Amos had seen this and he said to the constables who had arrested the two Hoxton men, ‘Take them away and lodge them in the cells . . . separate cells. Let them have a few quiet hours on their own to think over what I’ve said.’
When they had been led away, Amos spoke to the Inspector in charge of the Liskeard police station. ‘Your two constables did very well, but I think we might do better yet. Am I right in thinking you were once in the Hampshire police?’
When the inspector nodded, Amos said, ‘Then you’ll have had some experience in dealing with villains. Give the young one a couple of hours to stew over what I’ve said, before going down to have a word with him. Make certain he appreciates the seriousness of his situation . . . then try to find out if he knows what other houses are being targeted tonight . . . and what Alfie Banks is up to and where he might be arrested. If Alfie is the ringleader in all this I have a great many questions I would like to put to him. Now, I’ll leave you to enjoy what little peace and quiet you’re likely to have tonight and head for Looe. On the way I intend calling in on Astell manor, which I believe is a likely target for our villains. I would like to take a couple of your constables with me, preferably men who know the manor in question.’
‘I have one who is just the man you need.’ the inspector replied, ‘He used to be a gardener at Astell manor. He knows the house and grounds as well as anyone you could hope to find.’
CHAPTER 15
A three-quarter moon hanging high in the sky over the sea to the south of Cornwall was reflected in the sluggish waters of the East Looe river as Amos rode his horse along the river bank. Ahead of him were two Liskeard constables, using a pony and trap borrowed from a local magistrate who had been apprised of the events of the night.
When the small party reached the entrance to Astell manor, the ex-gardener guided them to a copse just inside the grounds of the ancient house. Here they secured the two horses before quietly making their way to the manor via extensive shrub-embroidered lawns.
There were lamps burning beyond drawn curtains in two of the downstairs rooms even though it was now past midnight and the house’s elderly residents were away, attending the Laneglos ball. Suddenly, all three policemen came to a halt as the front door of the small mansion opened. In the shaft of yellow light escaping from the doorway a man emerged carrying a number of items bundled inside what appeared to be a sheet, or perhaps a tablecloth. He carried his burden to a luggage van parked in the shadows beside the house and, placing it inside, returned to the house once more.
‘That must be one of the men we’re after - and we’ve caught them red-handed!’ One of the constables whispered, excitedly.
‘We have,’ Amos agreed, ‘but we don’t want to lose them. Is there another door through which they might be able to escape?’
‘There’s a door leading to the kitchen garden, at the back of the house.’ This from the ex-Astell gardener.
‘Then make your way there quietly and, if it’s open slip inside the house . . . but do nothing until you hear us inside.’
‘. . . And if it’s closed?’ The constable sounded disappointed at not taking a more positive part in the capture of the burglars.
‘Stay there and ensure nobody escapes that way . . . remember we are dealing with professionals. The fact that the lamps are on means they will have dealt with whoever is in the house and will almost certainly have given themselves a means of escape should someone surprise them, although they won’t be expecting us. Do you know how many staff are likely to be in the house?’
‘Probably only two,’ was the reply. ‘Their groom-cum-gardener will have taken Sir Nicholas and Lady Trethewy to Laneglos and neither of the maids live in. That leaves only the footman and the housekeeper who are both almost as old as Sir Nicholas and Lady Trethewy themselves.’
‘Let’s hope they didn’t try to put up a fight.’ Amos said, grimly, ‘They wouldn’t have stood much of a chance against two healthy and determined burglars, but get on your way to the back of the house. We’ll stay here until one of the burglars brings something else out to the van, then follow him when he goes back inside.’
Amos and the constable remaining with him needed to wait for only a couple of minutes before a second burglar came out with a bundle similar in size to the first one, but this time it jangled as though it contained metallic objects and Amos thought they would probably be of silver.
When t
he burglar re-entered the manor-house Amos nudged his companion and, quickly covering the thirty or so paces to the partly-opened door, they went inside. It was unfortunate that as they entered the hall, one of the burglars was coming down the stairs carrying a pillow-case full of objects slung over one shoulder.
Startled to see them, he recovered quickly, shouting, ‘Coppers . . . Get out quick!’ to his unseen accomplice. Then, swinging the laden pillow-case from his shoulder he hurled it at Amos and the constable before leaping down the remaining three stairs to the hall and bolting through an inner doorway, heading away from the hallway.
The pillow-case caught the constable on the shoulder and knocked him off-balance, but Amos succeeded in dodging it and sprinted in pursuit of the burglar who was apparently heading for the back door. He fervently hoped the second constable had followed the instructions that had been given to him.
He had. What was more, after entering the house he had sensibly closed the kitchen door behind him and slipped the bolt into place. He was now standing before the door, baton in hand.
The burglar who had seen Amos and the other constable ran into the kitchen expecting the door to be already open and was halfway across the room before realizing his mistake. There were a number of kitchen knives hanging on hooks from a shelf on a huge kitchen dresser and the burglar snatched at a wide-bladed chopping knife but the constable was ahead of him in both thought and deed. Even as the loop attached to the handle of the sharp-bladed knife cleared the hook, the constable’s truncheon struck the burglar violently across the back of his hand, causing him to cry out in pain and drop the would-be weapon.
Staggering back, the burglar collided with Amos who had rushed into the kitchen behind him and both fell to the floor. Before the intruder could rise to his feet the resourceful constable had dropped down on top of him and with a knee in his back twisted his arms behind him. Ignoring the burglar’s cries that the truncheon blow had broken bones in his hand, he deftly handcuffed him.
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