Churchyard and Hawke (12 page)

‘You mean you were taken on as a policeman by Superintendent Hawke even though you have a broken wrist?’ Flora expressed her surprise.

‘That’s right, but before then he needed my help to identify the London villains, and I got my wrist broken - and took a beating - from the Hoxton mob because I was asking too many questions about them on his behalf.’

Flora shuddered, ‘And on behalf of Laneglos too. The Honourable Charles should be thanking you, not complaining because you are here.’

‘I somehow don’t think he is in the habit of showing gratitude.’ Tom commented, ‘but Amos Hawke appreciate what I’ve done on his behalf and that’s the important thing - at least, as far as my career is concerned.’

‘I appreciate it too.’ Flora said, adding, ‘and when all this is over and what has happened is out in the open, I will make quite certain Lord and Lady Hogg are aware of everything you have done for them.’

Tom felt that whatever her employers might say about his part in preventing their ball from becoming a disaster could not equal the pleasure he felt at receiving such praise from Flora herself.

CHAPTER 17

It was a night of mixed fortunes for Amos and the Cornwall constabulary, but the general consensus was that the forces of law and order had prevailed.

In addition to the criminals arrested near Liskeard and at Astell manor, two more were taken when they returned to Looe expecting to embark on the Mermaid with goods stolen from a house farther along the coast. An overly ambitious attempt by another pair of Hoxton criminals to burgle Boconnoc, one of the most closely guarded mansions in Cornwall, ended abruptly when they were challenged in the grounds by a patrolling gamekeeper. One of the would-be burglars drew a pistol and fired at him, but the shot went wide. The gamekeeper promptly returned his fire with a sporting rifle, severely wounding the trespasser.

The wounded man’s companion bolted and was now being hunted down in thick woodland by police and Boconnoc employees. Coming from the city and unused to the type of country he was in, it was not expected the Londoner would be at large for very much longer.

Meanwhile, the younger of the two men captured near Liskeard earlier in the night and seen by Amos had proved so frightened of the fate forecast for him that he had broken down and told the Inspector questioning him all he knew - which included the names of all the men involved in the Cornish burgling spree.

When dawn arrived one of the hired wagonettes was found abandoned in a field by the side of the road about a mile from Looe, loaded with property stolen from a country mansion. There was no sign of the horse that had been hired to pull it, or the men who had been riding in it but Amos believed the vehicle might have been used by Alfie Banks and that he and an accomplice - most likely his nephew, Jimmy - had escaped together on the missing horse.

A more experienced criminal than many of those who had come from London with him, Alfie would have sent his companion on to Looe to check all was well before driving in to the small town with his stolen goods. The accomplice would have come back to report the presence of the police and the absence of the Mermaid from its mooring and the two London men would no doubt have made a hurried departure from the vicinity.

If the information of the frightened informer was to be believed, there were now only three London villains still unaccounted for, including the one being hunted on the Boconnoc estate but the hunt would be continued throughout the day, which meant there would be little sleep for Amos and his men.

The man who had fled in the Boconnoc woods was soon captured - by the same gamekeeper who had shot his companion - and the would-be burglar showed considerable relief when he was handed over to the custody of the police.

This left only two of the criminals unaccounted for . . . Alfie and Jimmy Banks. Amos was particularly keen to capture the man who was the leader of the Hoxton gang but by the end of the day he scaled down the search. His constables were exhausted as a result of their activities over the past twenty-four hours and he was reluctantly forced to the conclusion that the two men he was hunting had succeeded in finding their way out of Cornwall.

Chief Constable Gilbert did not share Amos’s disappointment. He was delighted with the success of his force. Although they had not prevented the houses of some of those attending the ball from being burgled, all the stolen property had been recovered.

Congratulating Amos in his office later that day, he dismissed the fact that Alfie and Jimmy Banks seemed to have made good their escape, saying, ‘I will have a warrant issued for their arrests and send details to the Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police. Cornwall’s magistrates are well-pleased with the results achieved by our force, Amos. We have even received praise from some of those who were most sceptical about Cornwall having an organised constabulary. You have done well. Extremely well.’

That evening Amos and Talwyn held a small celebratory party at their home to thank Tom Churchyard and Harvey Halloran for their part in ensuring the fledgling constabulary’s success against the London criminals.

The small party broke up early because all three men were tired as a result of their activities during the previous night and, as Talwyn was preparing for bed, she said, ‘You must be very well pleased with your policemen, Amos, they did all that was expected of them.’

‘They did far more.’ Amos said, proudly, ‘There will be a number of promotions as a result. I am particularly pleased with Tom. Even Chief Constable Gilbert agreed that I was right to insist we take him into the force - even though he is suffering from a fractured wrist.’

‘He seems to get along well with Flora Hicks at Laneglos,’ Talwyn commented, ‘Did you notice how he was singing her praises during the course of the evening?’

‘It’s been obvious to me since their very first meeting that they are mutually attracted to each other. I sincerely hope something comes from it, they are well suited to each other and Tom deserves to have someone like Flora in his life. He has never known what it is to have a happy and settled home life.’

Talwyn was aware that Amos’s own early life had been very similar to Tom’s. After an unhappy and unsettled childhood he too had joined the Royal Marines as a drummer boy at the age of thirteen and served as a fighting man during the Crimean War. Leaving the Royal Marines when he was still a young man, he had become a detective at London’s Scotland Yard but it was not until he and Talwyn had met that he had learned what it was to enjoy a happy and settled home life.

Smiling at him, she said, ‘You are just an old romantic, Amos.’

‘If I am, it’s what you and marriage have made of me. I like both Tom and Harvey very much and would like them to enjoy as happy a life as you and I have together but, as you said, today I should be very proud of all the men under my command. My only disappointment is that we have not caught Alfie and learned where the idea came from to put together such an ambitious plan to rob the rich people of Cornwall.’

‘The fact that you haven’t caught him means he is cleverer than you gave him credit for,’ Talwyn said, ‘Perhaps there was no one else involved and that he thought up the whole idea himself?’

Amos shook his head, ‘No, Alfie is a crafty and wily criminal, but he lacks the intelligence and ability to plan something on this scale. Besides, he needed to have an accomplice here who is familiar with Cornwall and its great houses. There has to be someone else involved.’

‘You already know that his nephew worked at Laneglos and Edith told you that when she last met him, the man he referred to as his "uncle" was with him, so neither are complete strangers to the area.’

‘That’s quite true . . . but I still believe there is an accomplice we haven’t yet identified.’

‘Well, you have played your part - and played it well, but you look the way you must feel . . . dog tired. Come to bed now and have a good night’s sleep. You have earned it.’

CHAPTER 18

Talwyn’s hope that her husband would enjoy a long night’s sleep was not fulfilled. At 6.30 the next morning they were awakened by a constable from the Bodmin police headquarters hammering heavily upon the door of their cottage. He brought Amos some very disturbing news. Laneglos House had been burgled during the night and much of the family silver and a quantity of other valuables stolen.

The constable was unable to provide any more details, but the incident was considered of sufficient importance for the duty inspector to send him to inform Amos right away.

‘Do you think it’s a coincidence that Laneglos has been burgled so soon after the other mansions?’ Tom put the question to Amos as they rode together to Laneglos in the pony and trap. The young Londoner had been woken with some difficulty, having been in a very deep sleep and he still looked bleary-eyed, his face having not yet caught up with the remainder of his body.

‘I don’t know. It might be a part of the original plan and would explain why Alfie lay low yesterday. Or it could be a determination on his part to rescue something from what has been a disastrous trip to Cornwall for him. Either way, I should have anticipated that something like this might happen. Alfie would have known that the servants and the family at Laneglos would be very tired after the ball and he’s taken advantage of it . . . but hopefully we’ll learn more when we reach the house and find out exactly what has happened.’

They were met at Laneglos by Flora who had been up for a couple of hours and looked tired, but she had already set the staff to work tidying rooms that had been ransacked. She told Amos and Tom that the robbery had been discovered by a junior housemaid whose early morning task was to clean out the fireplaces and lay those that would be lit before the family came down to breakfast. She had found Downton, the under-butler, bound, gagged and bleeding in the pantry - where he slept in order to protect the household silver kept here!

‘Mr Norris - he’s the butler - is furious with Downton. His instructions were to always keep the pantry door locked so that no one can get to the silver.’

‘Did he not do that?’

‘No. . . but I can’t say I blame him. There is no window in the pantry. If he stayed inside with the door locked the chances are he would suffocate. I have suggested more than once that a small grille should be cut into the door, but Mr Norris always dismisses the idea. He slept in a locked pantry when he was an under-butler and sees no reason why Downton should not do the same.’

Accompanied by Flora and a silently disapproving butler, Amos and Tom interviewed Downton. The under-butler had a bandage that went over his head and around his chin with a pad placed on a scalp wound. Another linen strip about his forehead held the first bandage in place, and he was feeling extremely sorry for himself.

When Amos asked whether he had recognized either of his assailants, Downton replied, ‘Oh yes, one of them was that young footman from London who worked here for a while . . . Jeremy Smith.’

Amos and Tom exchanged glances and Tom asked, ‘Are you quite sure? Were you able to get a look at the other one?’

‘I got a good look at both of them,’ the injured man replied, ‘They weren’t shy about showing themselves, probably because I was unconscious for half the time they were in the pantry, but they were using a lantern and I saw them all right.’ He went on to describe a man who Tom said matched the description of Alfie Banks.

When Amos asked how the burglars had managed to get into the house, Flora looked grim, ‘I think young Enid Merryn, the scullery-maid, might be able to give you the answer to that. She should have been the first up this morning, to light the kitchen fires, but they were not lit. Someone had drawn the bolts on the inside of the kitchen door at some time during the night - and now Enid cannot be found.’

Her reply took Amos by surprise, ‘Are you quite certain she is involved? I realized when I spoke to her that she is a somewhat simple girl, but she struck me as being honest and very happy to be working at Laneglos.’

‘She is . . . or used to be. I noticed a change in her attitude at about the time she became involved with the footman we knew as "Jeremy", She was more secretive and less eager to please than before. I am afraid everything points to her involvement in this sorry affair.’

Speaking for the first time, the disapproving butler said, ‘There is something else. Whoever broke in had a knowledge of where everything is kept at Laneglos - and not just in the house. A groom has discovered a pony missing from the stables and it has just been reported that a small wagonette has gone too. The burglars must have made off with them.’

‘Did the coachman hear nothing?’ This from Flora, who explained, ‘He sleeps over the stables and should have heard anything that went on there.’

‘The coachman was not in his rooms last night.’ said the butler, ‘Lady Hogg sent him to Bude to take the Dowager Lady Peruppa home. He stayed there overnight to rest the horses. The burglars must have known that too. It seems everything fell into place for them, had the coachman been there he would certainly have heard them, I believe he is a very light sleeper.’

While the butler was speaking, Amos had been thinking and now he asked to inspect the kitchen door that had been found open. He and Tom were taken to the kitchen by Flora where Amos inspected the two bolts that should have been securing the door when the robbery took place. There were two, one at the top of the door, the other at the bottom. He checked them without saying anything, keeping his thoughts to himself.

On the way back from the kitchen they were in the main hallway when they met with Lady Hogg who was accompanied by her youngest son. The Honourable Charles Delville immediately launched into a scornful verbal attack upon the two policemen.

‘It seems the burglary at Laneglos has taken the county constabulary by surprise, Superintendent. It is a great pity the policemen who were available in such great numbers harassing family friends at the summer ball were not on hand to take action when there was a need for them.’

Amos had not been told what had occurred between Tom and the Honourable Charles on the night in question but before he could reply Tom spoke up, ‘Oh, I don’t think your friends felt in the least harassed, sir. I felt the two gentlemen you were expecting took the routine questioning in good part . . . and I hope it did nothing to spoil your game of cards and that they never made good their promise to win all your money.’