Call for the Baron

by John Creasey

  Copyright & Information

  Call for the Baron

  First published in 1953

  © John Creasey Literary Management Ltd.; House of Stratus 1953-2014

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise), without the prior permission of the publisher. Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.

  The right of John Creasey to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted.

  This edition published in 2015 by House of Stratus, an imprint of

  Stratus Books Ltd., Lisandra House, Fore Street, Looe,

  Cornwall, PL13 1AD, UK.

  Typeset by House of Stratus.

  A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library and the Library of Congress.

  EAN ISBN Edition

  0755135318 9780755135318 Print

  0755138643 9780755138647 Kindle

  0755136977 9780755136971 Epub

  075514547X 9780755145478 Epdf

  This is a fictional work and all characters are drawn from the author’s imagination.

  Any resemblance or similarities to persons either living or dead are entirely coincidental.

  www.houseofstratus.com

  About the Author

  John Creasey – Master Storyteller - was born in Surrey, England in 1908 into a poor family in which there were nine children, John Creasey grew up to be a true master story teller and international sensation. His more than 600 crime, mystery and thriller titles have now sold 80 million copies in 25 languages. These include many popular series such as Gideon of Scotland Yard, The Toff, Dr Palfrey and The Baron.

  Creasey wrote under many pseudonyms, explaining that booksellers had complained he totally dominated the ‘C’ section in stores. They included:

  Gordon Ashe, M E Cooke, Norman Deane, Robert Caine Frazer, Patrick Gill, Michael Halliday, Charles Hogarth, Brian Hope, Colin Hughes, Kyle Hunt, Abel Mann, Peter Manton, J J Marric, Richard Martin, Rodney Mattheson, Anthony Morton and Jeremy York.

  Never one to sit still, Creasey had a strong social conscience, and stood for Parliament several times, along with founding the One Party Alliance which promoted the idea of government by a coalition of the best minds from across the political spectrum.

  He also founded the British Crime Writers’ Association, which to this day celebrates outstanding crime writing. The Mystery Writers of America bestowed upon him the Edgar Award for best novel and then in 1969 the ultimate Grand Master Award. John Creasey’s stories are as compelling today as ever.

  Chapter One

  Call for the Baron

  ‘It isn’t that we’ve lost anything of value,’ said Martin Vere. ‘It’s more irritating than worrying, but as it’s been going on for a fortnight or more we feel something ought to be done about it. Diana thought of asking you,’ he added. ‘She doesn’t like the idea of going to the police. If you would come down for a few days we’d appreciate it a lot, John. Why don’t you bring Lorna?’

  John Mannering, of a height with Vere, but dark and lean where the other was red-haired and heavily built, smiled.

  ‘I’ll be delighted to come, Martin. Lorna’s busy during the week, I know, but she could join me for the weekend.’

  ‘Excellent, excellent!’ said Martin Vere. He glanced at his wristwatch. ‘I don’t like rushing off, old man, but I really want to get back tonight and I’ll only just manage the seven-thirty from Waterloo.’ He stepped towards the door, adding as Mannering opened it: ‘Let me know what train you’re catching, and I’ll have you met.’

  They shook hands, and Vere went out quickly. Mannering smiled as he watched from the window of his flat, seeing Vere climb into a taxi waiting in Brook Street.

  In appearance Vere was no older than when Mannering had first known him, ten years before, and he remained as naively eager to get back to his Hampshire home, and Diana, his wife. He was a Professor of Economics whose theories, frequently scoffed at, were often remarkably sound. An unworldly man. Diana, his wife, guided him gently but firmly in all practical things.

  Mannering took a cold shower and dressed quickly. When the front door bell rang he was ready to greet Lorna Fauntley, the girl whom he had been in love with for five years.

  She stood smiling at him for a moment, her evening wrap throwing her tall figure into splendid relief. There were those who claimed that she was too heavy of feature to be called beautiful; they did not know her as Mannering did, had no idea of the radiance of a smile that was often transforming.

  ‘So you’re actually ready on time,’ Lorna said.

  ‘To the minute,’ said Mannering. ‘Darling, I’ve news. The impossible has happened: I’ve a job.’

  There was a touch of bitterness in his voice, and the sombre expression in his hazel eyes sent the smile from Lorna’s lips.

  ‘A commission, John?’

  ‘Of sorts,’ said Mannering sardonically. He offered cigarettes, and she took one. ‘Martin Vere looked in,’ he went on as he struck a match and she lowered her head towards it. ‘There’s been a series of minor thefts at Vere House, and Diana seems to think I can handle the bother more discreetly than the police. Diana, in fact, calls for the Baron, little though she knows it.’

  ‘Oh,’ said Lorna, slowly, ‘I see.’

  Four times in the past two years John Mannering had figured in crime sensations, helping the police to trace jewel thieves who had grown desperate and resorted to murder to try to save themselves. The world knew about that, and the Press had helped to build for Mannering a reputation as an amateur detective whose methods differed from those of the police, but were at least as effective.

  But there were things that the world did not know.

  Lorna did, with some of the higher officials at Scotland Yard. That John Mannering, man-about-town, dilettante and social lion, had a soubriquet about which there had grown a legend. The exploits of the Baron, cracksman extraordinary, had captured the imagination of the people of two continents. There had been times when the Press had given voice to a scarcely veiled admiration, and when the Baron had been called a modern Robin Hood.

  Lorna knew more: of the bitterness which had turned Mannering amoral for a time, had set him pitting his wits against the police, perfecting cracksmanship and adding to it daring and resource which had enabled him to escape the consequences of his jewel robberies and maintain his separate social existence as John Mannering. The police had learned of his identity but had failed to find proof. Their efforts had slackened when it had grown obvious that the Baron had stopped working for gain and was concentrating his activities on the pursuit of criminals who had evaded the law.

  Yet whenever he was working he took risks, rendering himself vulnerable to the police as well as to the thieves. During those spells of intense activity Lorna had known suspense and fear; and yet had realised that danger held a fascination for Mannering he could rarely resist.

  Memory of the anxieties of the past was in her mind now. She had known a chase start as mildly as this call from Vere, yet grow within a few days into a life-and-death struggle with Mannering working entirely on his own, risking everything. It was as if he took those risks for others as a retribution for the days when he had worked for personal gain.

  That was not all that was in her mind.

  Since the outbreak of war Mannering had tried unsuccessfully to obtain a commission. His first application had been turned down with unnecessary brusqueness, and although he knew of a dozen others who had received the same kind of off-hand treatment, it had not pr
evented him from feeling bitter because of it. He accepted an insignificant post in a government department, but resigned when he found that there was little to do. He disliked doing nothing: he refused to be paid for it.

  Lorna had wondered how long it would be before he found idleness unbearable. Now she did not know whether to be pleased or sorry that Vere had asked him to inquire into the trouble at Vere House. It would provide an outlet for his restlessness, but would it go further?

  ‘You’re going, of course,’ she said.

  ‘On Monday or Tuesday,’ said Mannering, his expression gaining a certain animation. ‘There are points of interest, darling. Do you remember old Jonathan Vere?’

  ‘Martin’s father? Very vaguely,’ Lorna said.

  ‘The old man had the house modernised fifteen years or so ago, at a time when he had an obsession about burglars,’ Mannering told her. ‘He had a safe put in practically every room so that any valuables his guests brought remained their responsibility. It seemed to work. Vere told me that there’s never been a burglary since. Until now. He doesn’t know whether things are being taken by an outsider or someone on the premises. Small things, usually left on a dressing table or in a drawer.’

  ‘It could be a servant,’ Lorna said.

  ‘Ye-es. But Vere is pretty confident of his staff. He’s anxious to get to the bottom of it, I gather, because his brother-in-law will be there next weekend. He told me in the strictest confidence, of course.’

  ‘You mean Victor Morency,’ Lorna said, and her expression altered. ‘So he’ll be there! But I thought he was going straight back to the States.’

  Mannering shrugged. ‘The movements of statesmen get more uncertain every day. Vere was pretty cagey about this visit, but I gathered that he’s particularly anxious not to have any petty thieving while Morency’s there. It wouldn’t surprise me to find other distinguished guests for the weekend.’ Mannering glanced at his watch. ‘But it’s nearly a quarter to eight, we’ll miss that show if we don’t hurry.’ They did not miss it, but Lorna found it difficult to keep her mind on the stage and players. She felt a presentiment of trouble, as if she knew that before the week was out Mannering would be plunged into a maelstrom of danger. Had she been asked to explain why, she would have said that she had felt the same before, and that in the past her intuition had not been wrong.

  From a kiosk in the village of Vere, in Hampshire, a man telephoned to a hotel in London, about the time that Mannering and Lorna took their seats at the theatre. Both he, and the man to whom he was speaking, spoke quietly.

  ‘I can’t guarantee anything,’ he said, ‘but I think it’ll be all right. Everything’s watched, you needn’t worry about that.’

  ‘I don’t like the sound of it,’ said the man in London, ‘What are the people like?’

  ‘A fair crowd,’ replied the first speaker. ‘About average, I’d say.’

  The other’s voice grew hard and metallic. ‘Keep your attention well on everything, and don’t take chances. It must not go wrong.’

  He rang off, frowning. His eyes were hard with an expression not far removed from hatred.

  Chapter Two

  The Unpopularity of Lady Usk

  ‘If someone doesn’t murder that woman,’ said Tommy Armitage heatedly, ‘I think I’ll have a shot at it myself!’ He sat back in a chair opposite John Mannering, easing his collar from his red neck. His fair hair was ruffled, as if he had run an impatient hand through it. ‘Well, why don’t you say something?’

  Mannering smiled as he leaned backwards to reach a bell push. ‘You’re not in a fit state to listen to anything reasonable,’ he said. ‘When you’ve had a drink you’ll feel better.’

  ‘Oh, no, I won’t,’ said Tommy. ‘I cool down too quickly, and I want to keep at a fine white heat of temper. Blast the woman,’ he added, with feeling, ‘but you’re always such a cool beggar, Mannering. Nothing seems to put you out. I saw you talking to her for ten minutes this morning, and when you weren’t smiling you were laughing. Oh, well,’ he added more mildly, ‘I suppose it could be worse, and a drink won’t be out of place.’

  ‘I fancied not,’ said Mannering drily.

  ‘That’s another thing,’ said Armitage, determined to air as many wrongs as possible. ‘You just say whisky and the soda and water come along automatically. I say whisky and have to send back for the water. Not that I mind much about that,’ he added. ‘There are those born to command, they say, and thank the Lord I’m not one of them. But seriously, I can’t stand Lady Usk much longer. I’ll be driven crazy. Do you think she was born like that?’

  Mannering smiled. ‘Conditioned by life, I should say. She grew up in a London tenement with three brothers and two sisters, and her first job was being a kitchenmaid at an East End cafe. Ten years later she was married to a millionaire, three years later still the millionaire died, and then she married Usk. Poor devil,’ added Mannering dispassionately, but he stopped when Ransome, the portly and middle-aged butler, entered with a tray carrying whisky, soda-syphon, and water. ‘A mild one for both, Ransome, please.’

  ‘Very good, sir.’

  Armitage chuckled as he raised his glass.

  ‘Well, here’s to the death of her,’ he said, and drank deeply. ‘You know, Mannering, you’re a queer customer, if you don’t mind me saying so.’ He settled down further in his chair, crossing one leg over the other. ‘You get mixed up in all manner of odd shows, and you know so much about people. I don’t suppose there’s anyone else in the house who knows what her first job was.’

  ‘Probably others have heard,’ said Mannering. He found Armitage amusing in many ways, but considered it likely that he might prove tiresome on long acquaintance.

  Armitage took another drink. ‘Well it doesn’t matter a tinker’s cuss anyway. If she’d been born a duchess I wouldn’t have liked her any better. “My dear Tommy”! Drat and confound the woman, she’s an impertinent baggage. How old is she?’

  ‘About forty,’ said Mannering.

  ‘Hmm. She’s well-preserved, I will say that.’ Armitage cocked a contemplative eye at his glass. ‘But there you go again, you see, you even know her age. Is there any truth in the rumour that you’re a practising crimin-what-d’you-callit-ologist? I mean, do you go around looking at people and finding all about them from the way they shake hands? I noticed you eyeing me the other day, and I had a nasty feeling that you knew what I was thinking about.’

  ‘I was probably thinking that your tie was crooked again,’ said Mannering drily. ‘No, I don’t practise criminology and as far as I know I don’t serve any useful purpose. Lady Usk does. She’s on this committee and that, and—’

  ‘To hear her talk you wouldn’t think a soldier or sailor could boast a pair of socks if it wasn’t for her,’ said Tommy with feeling, ‘and apparently every cigarette smoked in the Forces is distributed through her confounded organisation. And what do you mean,’ Tommy went on, ‘by saying you don’t serve a useful purpose?’

  Mannering shrugged his shoulders.

  ‘Hang it, you oughtn’t to have any trouble getting a job somewhere,’ said Armitage. His glance strayed to the open French window, and the lawns and rose gardens beyond. ‘Who’s this coming?’ He looked apprehensively at Mannering as footsteps neared the window. Mannering smiled.

  ‘It’s your bete noire, old man. If you want to avoid a meeting you’ll have to run.’

  ‘Then I’m running,’ said Tommy Armitage promptly. He swallowed the last of his drink and walked swiftly across the drawing room.

  As the door closed a shadow fell across Mannering’s head and shoulders, and a woman’s high-pitched voice grated on his ears.

  ‘Why, Mr Mannering, all alone? How ungallant of you, with my poor sex so heavily outnumbered! Cecilie, dear, hold the door open for me in case it bangs my foot. That’s right, dear, but do give me room to get through.’

  It was not hard to see what there was in the present Lady Usk to attract first a millionaire and then on
e of Ireland’s peers. On that warm September afternoon it would have been easy to think her thirty-two or three. She was tall and full-figured, and she had been beautiful. Her eyes were fine, a velvety violet fringed with long, natural lashes – the only part of her face which had not been heavily made-up, but she was a woman on whom make-up seemed natural. As she stepped through the open windows, passing a slim, fair-haired girl whose reserved face held an expression of disdain or weariness, Lady Usk held her left hand in front of her, fingers widespread. It was a pose that had grown natural, but it also drew attention to the brilliance and size of the diamond rings she was wearing.

  As Mannering stood up she nodded majestically. ‘I’ll sit here, I think, thank you. Cecilie, there’s plenty of room on the settee.’ She waved her hands, and the sun caught the facets of the diamonds, sending a hundred fires about the room. Until she spoke, she had looked beautiful, eager and youthful. Her voice destroyed the illusion, turning her into the arrogant, domineering creature that her reputation claimed.

  ‘You look cool enough,’ Mannering said dutifully.

  ‘Do I?’ Lady Usk beamed on him. ‘It’s nice of you to say so, but I’m afraid you’re exaggerating, Mr Mannering. I really do feel the heat something dreadful. Cecilie don’t—doesn’t—seem to notice it, do you, Cecilie?’

  The sun touched the top of the girl’s wavy, corn-coloured hair, as she answered.

  ‘It doesn’t worry me, no.’

  ‘I’ve been for a walk,’ Lady Usk said quickly. ‘Cecilie came with me, she’s such a good girl. I can’t walk very last, with my foot so bad – I sprained it, did you know?’ She pushed forward a shapely leg, regarding it with no little pride. ‘Cecilie didn’t mind coming with me, thank goodness, she isn’t one of these modern daughters who think that their only interest in life is gadding about. I really don’t know what I should do without her, what with this committee and the other, I work my fingers to the bone as it is.’ She looked down at the rings, and then deliberately challenged Mannering.