by Nigel Seed
“I did indeed. And I took the liberty of booking you a double room in case Helen wants to join us again. She was quite useful in Castleton. She could help with chatting up the staff if we need to.”
“Nice thought. I’ll give her a call and see if she’s free.”
As he stood and walked down the room to use his mobile phone he did not see the smiles his two men exchanged.
Chapter 56
Having met up with Helen at Kings Cross Railway Station in London, the four companions traveled north together and left the train at Brough. As they carried their bags across the lattice metal footbridge to the station exit they could see the waters of the wide, muddy Humber River reflecting the late afternoon sunlight between the village houses. A short taxi ride brought them to the village of South Cave and, in the center of the village, to the gothic gatehouse of Cave Castle. The driveway sloped up from the gatehouse, past manicured lawns and an attractive duck pond, before swinging round to the car park in front of the impressive main building.
Jim paid off the taxi as the other three retrieved their bags and walked into the hotel reception area. They were looking around as Jim joined them.
“Nice place for a government funded holiday,” said Helen. “Are you sure we are in the right place?”
“Not really, no. This is the place Ivan came up with based on the clues we had, including your granddad coming up with the white rose of Yorkshire painted on one of the vans. We’ll just have to have a sniff around and see what we come up with.”
With that, they wandered to the reception desk and checked in. Having dropped their meager luggage in their rooms they met up in the bar area for a coffee. They made their way to a table set in a bay window overlooking the grounds.
“Ivan, did your research indicate anywhere we should start looking?”
“I’ve got nothing, boss. All I came up with was this place as a likely location. After that we just have to start looking, as you said?”
“That’s what my understanding was, I just wanted to make sure we were all on the same page. My thinking is we might all split up tomorrow and follow various trails.”
“Works for me, boss,” said Geordie. “Do you want to divide up the jobs now? I don’t mind searching the wine cellar, if they have one.”
“That’s really big of you, but I have a slightly different idea. Helen, will you take the hotel? Chat up the staff and the management, see if they have heard any rumors or old stories. Try and get a guided tour of the non-public areas. Ivan and Geordie, I’ve got you down for some prowling around the grounds. This is quite a big property and there are various bits of woodland on it. It’s seventy years or more since the hides were built, the ground could have shifted or eroded and something might be visible if you’re alert for it. And before you ask, no I’m not going to lounge in the bar. I’m going to try and find out about the Home Guard they had around here, where they based themselves, et cetera. and see if there are any records. Now, how about dinner? We could also investigate to see if their wine cellar has anything nice in it.”
Ivan and Geordie headed straight for the dining room, leaving Jim and Helen to follow in their own time.
Helen looked at Jim. “So do you want me to start chatting up the staff tonight?”
“No, I thought we might have an early night.”
“I was hoping you might say that. Shall we eat later? I need to get changed first anyway.”
Without another word she stood up from the table and headed towards the wide staircase. Jim gulped the last of his wine and set off in pursuit. As they climbed the stairs he admired the shapely legs climbing in front of him and the way she held herself as she walked.
She stopped at the door of their room and as she fumbled the key into the lock he reached up and slowly started to unzip her dress. She turned the key, pushed the door open and turned to him with a secret smile.
“My, we are eager, aren’t we?”
He stepped into the room, gripped her shoulders and kissed her while kicking the door shut behind them.
Chapter 57
Breakfast the next morning was well up to the standard of the dinner the night before and they sat looking out across the golf course as the mist slowly cleared, sipping on the excellent coffee. Jim put down his empty cup and sighed.
“Well, I suppose I had better get you all started or we’ll be sitting here in the warm all day. You all happy with your assignments?”
“We’ll be fine as long as the rain holds off and Helen here can get us some recommendations about the wine for lunch during her chatting up,” Geordie said.
“I’ll see if I can find the local vicar and the local library, if they have one in a village this size.”
“It might be worth skimming through the Internet as well to see if there are any mentions of this village during the war,” said Helen. “Though I imagine it was a bit of a sleepy hollow back then.”
“Not as much as you might think, there is an aircraft factory in Brough, the village where we got off the train and it was here during the war. Hull got quite a pasting from the Luftwaffe, so I think they might have been waiting for the Germans to land around here.”
“That makes this sound a bit more promising,” said Helen, as they stood up to go their separate ways.
Four hours later, they met up in the reception area, ready to go in for lunch. Geordie and Ivan had muddy boots and wet trousers, so went up to their rooms to change while Jim and Helen went into the bar to wait for them. There were two pints of cold beer on the bar waiting for the two men as they returned. Both of them reached for the glasses and downed half of them before drawing a breath.
“Thanks for that, boss” said Ivan, “I was spitting feathers after all that blundering about in the woods.”
“Did you find anything?”
“Brambles, lots of bloody brambles and rabbit holes. I think I have stumbled on just about every rabbit hole in Yorkshire today. I may even have used a bad word or two.”
Geordie smiled. “I could hear him across the greens. Good job there weren’t any golfers about this morning, you’d have quite put them off their stroke.”
“What about you Geordie, anything?”
“Sorry, boss, no. But there’s a lot more to look at yet. This place has about 150 acres or more, plus the farmland around it. Going slowly, it could take a couple of days just to walk it thoroughly:”
“Helen, any joy?”
“Some, but I’m not sure it takes us anywhere. The house was built in 1787 and has had a number of owners. It was pretty run down during the war and just after but, as you can see, it has been improved. It was built on the site of the original castle which dates back to Norman times, though there are very few traces left. One piece that might be interesting though, in 1866 they found an underground passage that led from the site of the old buildings direct to the Parish Church which you can just see behind the trees at the back of here.”
“Nothing else? No rumors, ghost stories, anything like that?”
“Not that I have been able to find so far. How about you?”
“Not bad, as it happens. It turns out there was activity around here from the Auxiliary Units. The local group had three of what they called patrols. One here in South Cave, one in North Cave and another in Brough. Not long ago, a cache of improvised explosives was found in a wood, on the far side of this village, called the Little Wold Plantation and there is a statement in the records that the Auxiliary Units had their Operational Base there, although the OB itself has yet to be found. The one in North Cave has been found and there are photographs of it on the internet.”
“So, are we looking in the wrong place?”
“I don’t think so. We know that the gold was entrusted to special groups who would have been separate to the operational patrols. This still seems like a good location to search.”
“What’s the plan after lunch?”
“More of the same, I’m afraid. Although I’m going to spend some time t
ramping the woods with you two. Looks like Helen is going to be the only one staying dry.”
Chapter 58
Jim was slogging through a dripping wood looking for any signs of a base that had been exposed by weather, erosion or landslip and finding nothing. With no leads, finding a small base that had gone undetected for over seventy years was starting to look like a wild goose chase. The clues were thin and the weather miserable. He was ready to give up on this thankless search when he felt the vibration of his mobile phone in the damp pocket of his trousers. He took it out and flipped it open, checking the caller ID, as he did so.
“Yes, Helen? I really hope you have found something.”
“Sorry, I just thought I would call to see how you are doing. I’ve spoken to all the staff now and I have had the grand tour of all the non-public rooms and there is nothing obvious here. Unless you have any better clues we could be searching here for a year and still find nothing.”
“I know. I’ll talk to you when we get back in.”
He wiped a raindrop from the end of his nose and felt a cold trickle of rain that had found its way inside the back of his jacket. This was a waste of time and effort. He lifted his phone, to call Ivan and Geordie to stand them down, when it vibrated in his hand and that annoying tune played again. He really must get round to changing that ring tone. He pressed the green button and took the call.
“Yes, Ivan. Are you as fed up as me?”
“Maybe not, boss. Do you remember that book you showed us, on the train, about the Auxiliary Units? There was a picture in there of an outside latrine that was used to cover the entrance to one of the hides. Well, I’ve found a disused latrine covered in vegetation deep in one of the woods. Fancy a look round? Geordie is already on his way.”
“Where are you?”
Ivan described his location and Jim set off across the empty fairway towards the piece of woodland that Ivan was searching. He blundered through the brambles to find Geordie and Ivan standing next to a small, dilapidated, three-sided hut with a roof that was long gone and a rotten wooden door that lay in front of it.
“Having fun, boss? I think this just might brighten your day.”
Ivan turned and reached down to lift the remains of a wooden seat that had once served the earth closet toilet. He looked at Jim and Geordie like a magician about to produce a startled rabbit.
“I think this might have been intended for the farm hands who worked these fields before the golf course was built. If you look down in here with the flashlight you can just see a metal ring set into the wall of the shaft. Don’t worry, all the dung has long rotted away. At least, I hope so.”
Jim and Geordie looked into the dank, dark and dismal hole. Just peeping out of the forward wall was a small, rusty metal ring.
“Have you tried it, Ivan?”
“Not yet. I thought you might like to have first go at shoving your hand into the toilet?”
“Thanks. Very thoughtful of you. Well, I suppose it must be my turn.”
Jim leaned in to the damp hole and reached down to the ring. It was rusty and slimy in his hand. He took a grip and pulled it outwards towards the center of the shaft. There was definitely something attached to it. He pulled harder and felt something give way with a small clunk. He pulled again and the edge of a horizontal door became visible. He forced his thumbs into the small opening that had appeared and pushed out and down. The door gave way and fell across the latrine shaft. The three men stood and looked down at the slimy, muddy and heavily rusted metal plate below them.
“Well, I don’t fancy trusting my weight to that. Not with what is probably down at the bottom of the hole. Even if it is seventy years old.”
“Ivan, how could fossilized poo hurt you? You must have been in worse holes over the years?”
“I probably have, but not voluntarily.”
Jim knelt down and leaned into the hole. Where the metal plate had been he could now see an opening that led down into the earth. Without the metal plate to stand on first, it would be impossible to scramble down without a serious risk of falling to the bottom of the shaft, however far that might be. He stood and looked around.
“With ropes slung from that tree,” he said, “we should be able to belay down and into the entrance shaft fairly safely. That should also make it safer and easier getting back out if we can’t find the secondary access.”
Ivan and Geordie contemplated the tree Jim had pointed at and nodded slowly.
“It’s going to take a while to set that up and we don’t have any rope with us this time. I doubt we could be ready to try it until well after dark.”
“You’re right, Geordie. Let’s get this closed up again and make sure there is no sign we have been here. Then let’s head back to the hotel. I’m ready to get out of these wet clothes and into a cold beer about now anyway.”
Chapter 59
The next morning found the three soldiers back at their latrine, with climbing ropes borrowed from the South Cave Scout Troop. Geordie scrambled up the overhanging tree and fixed the ropes in place, then dropped them down to Ivan who fed them into the latrine opening through the space where the roof had once been. Geordie slid down the rope hand over hand and landed next to Jim.
“Alright, so who gets the joy of climbing down into a disused toilet?”
“Since you two don’t seem too enthusiastic I guess it’s my turn. Unless you object, Ivan?”
“No, I think I’m with Geordie on this one. I would hate you to feel you hadn’t been a full part of the search.”
“Thanks, that’s really big of you both.”
Jim stepped up onto the lip of the latrine pit and slowly lowered himself down to the access opening. Had he been able to stand on the lowered door it would have been far easier, but, with that rotted away by metal corrosion, he had no choice but to use the rope to swing in. His feet struck the far side of the access passage and he slowly walked himself down the damp wall. Once fully inside he could lower himself down to the floor below. He stood and looked back into the latrine pit. The lip of the access opening was level with the middle of his chest. With the drop down door useable it would have been a simple climb back out.
Crouching down and turning on the lamp on his caving helmet, he found a narrow horizontal passage, leading away from the pit. He checked carefully for booby traps and then moved slowly into the low passage. After three steps he came to a right angled turn to the left, then he could see another turn, to the right this time. He recalled that when he was shown the hide at Coleshill a blast wall had been built to protect the base from grenades that might be tossed in. The turns in the passage would have served the same purpose.
He shuffled forward and reached the right turn. As his head lamp swept the area he saw a boot lying on the concrete floor. He moved his head to sweep the beam of his light and found the other boot, then the trouser legs of the body that was lying there with its grinning skull up against the wall of the room he was about to enter. He swept the headlight beam backwards and forwards picking up the shapes of the grenade fragments that lay around.
He shone the light back onto the crumpled remains. The skull had a few remnants of skin and hair still attached, but most of the bone shone a dull white. The finger bones jutted out from the remains of the jacket sleeves and he could see ribs where the shirt had rotted away. Very clearly, this had happened quite some time ago.
He moved back to the entrance and was about to shout when he heard Helen talking to his two men. He would have to keep her out of here. He did not want her to see the grisly remains in this dark, mournful place.
“Ivan! Geordie!”
The entry way darkened as the big Welshman leaned in. “Yes, boss? Have you made it round the ‘U Bend’ yet?”
“Ivan, you need to keep Helen from coming down here. I’ve found a body and it’s in pretty poor state. Once we have completed the search we are going to have to notify the police about this. Somebody is missing a relative.”
“Can you
tell what happened?”
“Pretty sure it was a grenade and in that enclosed space, with all the ricochets, I think it was damned effective.”
“Do you need me to come down?”
“Not yet. I’ll complete the search and then we can decide what to do next.”
Jim moved back along the passage and stepped carefully over the remains. He moved further into the bunker until he reached the remains of a wooden door at the other end of the room. The wood was rotten and crumbled into a soggy brown pile of fragments, as he pushed it. He leaned through the doorway and swept his headlight around the chamber beyond. It was empty. Only a few paper and wood fragments were scattered on the concrete floor.
He checked again for further booby traps and entered the chamber. Examining the paper, he found that anything written on it had long gone in the damp conditions. The wood was different though. He could still read the markings. He picked a piece up to examine it and, like the door, it crumbled to nothing recognizable. Moving to the next piece he shone his light on it without touching it. With a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach he moved to the next piece and the next. These were the remains of the boxes the gold had been stored in. Somebody had beaten them to it and nearly four tons of Treasury owned gold was gone.
He carried on exploring the underground base and found a wider and taller tunnel leading away from the room where the gold had been stored. He followed it carefully, checking all the time for traps that might yet be lethal. Eventually he reached the end, to find a stout looking wooden door standing open, leading to a cross tunnel. Judging by the distance he had come he guessed this was the old tunnel that led to the church, which had been found way back in the 1860s. The Auxiliary Unit people must have known about it and exploited it when constructing their base. This would have made removing the gold a lot easier for the thieves, with the parish church nestled up a quiet back lane, away from the village main street.