The Londum Omnibus Volume Two (The Londum Series Book 12) Read online

  ‘I see your point,’ conceded Lady Matilda. ‘But what I meant was more ... supposing that the police do discover it was you that stole the necklace and bring pressure to bear on you to inform on your accomplices?’

  ‘That is why we must all agree now to stand firm,’ Jim told her. ‘No matter what they might threaten us with. It is crucial to our success that you do not give in and admit the robbery was a fake. And for my part, if they catch me, it will gain me nothing to implicate you two, I doubt if it would even get me a reduction in sentence, so I will keep my mouth shut as to your involvement, I give you my word. Are we all in agreement?’

  Lady Matilda looked at Fiona who nodded. ‘We are in agreement,’ Lady Matilda concurred. ‘However, there is one small glitch in your clever plan I’m afraid, the problem is we can’t actually afford to throw a ball. If we had that sort of money we probably wouldn’t be in this mess.’

  ‘I’d considered that possibility. That’s why I took the trouble of writing you this.’ He took a folded piece of paper out of his breast pocket and handed it to her. ‘It’s a personal cheque from me to you. It should be enough to cover the cost of the ball, and perhaps a bit left over.’

  ‘But we can’t take your money, Jim,’ said Fiona.

  ‘Relax, consider it an investment on the costs of the robbery. You can pay me back from the insurance payout.’ (Not that he would ever bother to collect on that debt.) ‘Besides, like I said, I make money by robbing other criminals. Consider it as if they’re paying for this, not me. Well, do we have a deal?’

  ‘Fiona has a birthday next month. That will be a good excuse for a ball,’ said Lady Matilda. ‘You’ll have to come back to me with a complete, detailed plan before I can fully agree but as it stands at the moment, yes we have a deal.’ She poured them all a fresh cup of tea.

  ‘A ball, in my honour, that will be exciting. Will you come, Jim?’ Fiona asked cheekily.

  ‘Of course,’ he replied. ‘In fact, I was thinking of getting you a necklace for your birthday.’

  ***

  ‘Okay,’ said Jim. ‘I’ve studied the problem and this is how I think we should do it.’ He wandered around the drawing room as Fiona poured tea for him and Lady Matilda. They had gathered together for afternoon tea and once the servants had withdrawn he began to brief them on his plan.

  ‘The most important thing is to establish the alibis of all the leading players, we three. So, at a prearranged time, we must all be on view to everyone else who is attending the ball. Then we place false information to lead the police to think that the robbery took place at the time when dozens of witnesses can vouch for us not being involved in the robbery. Then the robbery actually takes place at a different time, but of course, we three are the only ones to know that.’

  ‘And how do we do that?’ asked Fiona.

  ‘Well, on the 25th, the day of the ball, I will enter the study and go to the sideboard that conceals the safe, I will take the clock that sits on top of it and wind it forward to nine o’clock. Then I will break it so that it stops at that time. Ergo, the police will assume that was the time of the robbery and it was broken by the clumsy thief. Then I will lock the study and give you the key. You will tell the staff it is to keep the party-goers out of the study.

  ‘During the ball, we will be downstairs at nine o’clock, Lady Matilda will give a speech wishing Fiona a happy birthday and giving her the presents that people have brought. I will be standing alongside her and all three of us will be the centre of attention, visible to all and sundry, thereby establishing our alibis.

  ‘Then sometime later, say around ten o’clock, Fiona will be overcome by all the excitement and develop a need for some fresh air. She and I will take a turn around the grounds, ending up by the lake. Then I will return to the house alone, climb up the ivy to the study balcony, enter the room and break into the safe. Once I’ve stolen the necklace, I’ll make my escape, return to Fiona and throw the fake necklace into the lake. Then we will return to the ball, all refreshed. So ... on paper the robbery took place at nine o’clock, when everyone saw us, and Fiona and I were only alone at ten o’clock, at which point we will be each other’s alibi. As Fiona is one of the victims, there is no reason why anyone should doubt her word. Any questions?’

  ‘Is it wise to throw the necklace into the lake,’ asked Lady Matilda. ‘Might it not be found?’

  ‘My guess is that the house and the grounds will be searched for any sign of the necklace and we can’t risk it being found if we hide it somewhere, but I can’t imagine them going to all the trouble of dragging the lake. After all, as far as the police are concerned, the purpose of the robbery is to get away with the necklace. Why would any burglar then throw it in the lake? There’ll be no reason to assume that’s what might have happened to it.’

  Lady Matilda sipped her tea, lost in thought. Finally she put down her cup and declared, ‘Very well, Mr. Darby, we have an accord. I give you my word as a Lady that we will not disclose your involvement in this, no matter how strongly the police pressure us to.’ Then she said with a smile, ‘I thank you for your attempt to save this family, and I just hope my daughter’s ‘good graces’ are good enough to adequately recompense you for the risk you are taking on our behalf.’

  Jim, being too much of a gentleman to even hint to the mother that he had already sampled her daughter’s ‘good graces’ just smiled and said nothing.

  ***

  Jim stood in the ballroom of Hetheringham Manor along with Lady Matilda and the Honourable Fiona as they greeted the guests arriving at Fiona’s birthday ball. The guests were relieved of their coats and were then shown into the ballroom where they were announced to the room.

  Earlier that day, Jim had gone to the study, changed the time on the clock that sat on the sideboard that hid the safe, and then broken the glass cover. He then opened the back of the clock and using a small pair of pliers, dislodged one of the clockwork cogs so it stopped working and showed that it stopped at nine o’clock. Then he’d locked the study and given the key to Lady Matilda who had issued strict instructions to the staff that the room was to remain locked, so no roving guests might wander in there during the ball.

  Later as the wine flowed and the invited guests made merry, Jim checked his watch, it was approaching nine. He wound the hands back so it ran ten minutes slow and then sought out one of the footmen, standing in the foyer. ‘Excuse me,’ he asked him, pointing to a grandfather clock, ‘is that clock showing the correct time?’

  The footman looked at the clock and then his own watch and confirmed it was indeed showing the correct time, a couple of minutes to nine o’clock.

  ‘Ah,’ said Jim, showing him his own watch. ‘I see I’m running a bit slow. I’d better hurry, her Ladyship is giving a speech at nine. Can’t be late.’ That should firmly fix it in the footman’s mind that we spoke just before nine o’clock, thought Jim.

  He went into the ballroom and sought out Lady Matilda and Fiona. He gave them a nod to let them know he had spoken to the footman and it was now time to go ahead with the speeches.

  Lady Matilda gave a speech thanking all the guests who had attended the ball, and she wished Fiona a happy birthday. Jim, along with many others, gave her a present. A necklace actually as he had jokingly promised previously. And it was firmly established in everyone’s mind that all three of them were in the room, in front of dozens of witnesses, at a time that would later be established to be nine o’clock.

  There was an hour to go until he went into action so he and Fiona had something to eat but Jim lay off the alcohol as he had some tricky work to do later. With all the people here tonight in the manor house, he couldn’t risk blowing the safe so he had to ‘crack it’, open it by hand, so he needed to keep his wits about him.

  Finally the time came when his plan called for him to act. As the time approached ten o’clock, he and Fiona made their way to Lady Matilda, where she was talking with a group of people, and made the excuse that Fiona was somewhat
overcome with all the excitement and Jim had kindly offered to take her for a turn around the garden, to get some fresh air.

  They retrieved their coats from the footmen as there was a bit of chill in the night air and left the Manor House. Jim walked Fiona around the grounds until they came to the lake. There was a semi-circular, stone enclosure with a roof, which contained a bench, overlooking the lake.

  ‘Right,’ said Jim. ‘You wait here. Make yourself comfortable, I might be some time. No one can see into here unless they come right up to it and I don’t think they’ll do that, as they’ll think we are ‘celebrating your birthday’ so to speak. That should keep them away.’ He emptied his overcoat pockets, they were full of burglar’s tools, and then he slipped it off. Lastly, he put on a pair of leather gloves. ‘Okay, I’ll be off now. Wish me luck.’

  She kissed him fiercely, as it was for her sake he was risking his neck and imprisonment tonight. ‘Good luck.’

  Jim quickly and quietly made his way back to the rear of the house, where the study was situated. He made sure that he was not seen by anyone that might be loitering around, having a smoke or getting some fresh air. When he was certain he would not be seen, he dashed to the house and climbed the ivy up to the first floor balcony, outside the study.

  He pulled a chisel from his inside pocket and broke through the lock on the French doors. Swinging the doors open, he quickly slipped inside. (He could have just picked the lock but as he would be leading the local constabulary along by the nose, he didn’t want to lose them by being too subtle.)

  The safe was hidden inside a sideboard facing the study door, leading into the rest of the house, which he knew was locked. He quickly picked the lock on the sideboard and opened the doors, revealing the safe, and got to work. (The difference being, the French doors could be easily fixed but the sideboard was an antique, so he didn’t want to damage that.)

  He quickly opened the safe (using the combination provided by Lady Matilda). The door swung open to reveal the interior. Apart from family papers there was just the Hetheringham Necklace in its case. Jim had asked Lady Matilda and Fiona to wear as much of the other jewellery or put them into their own jewel boxes in their bedrooms, as they could. If they left them in the safe he would have to steal them, to keep up the pretence, and that would mean they would also end up at the bottom of the lake, with the fake necklace.

  He opened the necklace case, took out the Hetheringham Necklace and put it into his pocket, discarding the case. He messed up the papers and strewed them on the floor but took care not to rip them. Finished with the safe Jim stood up and took the broken clock from on top of the sideboard. He carefully placed it on the floor before the safe and spread the broken glass from the face, around on the carpet. Hopefully, to the police it would look like it had got broken during the robbery.

  Jim crossed to the French doors and opening them slowly, listened for sounds of anyone roaming around below the balcony. Hearing no one, he swung his legs over the balcony and grabbed the ivy to climb down. Unfortunately the strand of ivy he was holding wasn’t as firmly attached as the others and it pulled away from the wall. Jim felt himself falling backwards and had to make a split second decision whether to hang on to the ivy or jump for it. He chose to jump. He twisted round, let go of the ivy and landed heavily, sinking into the soft earth. He bent his knees to take the impact but he daren’t break his fall by rolling to absorb the shock, as he couldn’t risk going back into the ball, covered in grass stains.

  He stood up and sank back into the shadow of the balcony, while he looked around to see if anyone was watching but the coast was clear. He quickly made his way back to the lake without running into any other party-goers.

  Fiona was sitting on the bench nervously twisting her fan as he returned. ‘Jim!’ she exclaimed as he strode into view. ‘You’re here. Did it go all right?’

  ‘Went like a dream,’ he assured her. ‘Now we have to get rid of the evidence.’ Taking out the Hetheringham Necklace he handed it to her for one last look as he emptied out his pockets.

  She looked at it with regret as it was about to leave the Hetheringham family forever. Even though it was a fake, it was beautiful and had been a part of her family history for many years. Now it would be gone and she wouldn’t be able to look at it ever again.

  Jim took a canvas sack from his overcoat and put the chisel, his lock picks and his gloves into the sack and then threw in a few stones to weight it down. He held it out to her and reluctantly she dropped the necklace into it and he tied the neck. After checking once more that no one was about, he swung the sack around his head and then lobbed it into the centre of the lake.

  ‘The insurance money from this isn’t going to keep us forever though,’ she said to him.

  ‘No but hopefully it will keep you going long enough for you to find yourself a rich husband, which shouldn’t be too hard for a beauty like you.’

  ‘Which isn’t going to be you, is it?’ she said ruefully.

  ‘I’m sorry, no.’

  They returned to the manor house and entering the ballroom, Jim caught Lady Matilda’s eye and nodded to assure her it had gone well. She smiled with relief and gulped down her glass of champagne in one go. Jim laughed and went to get him and Fiona a drink.

  Lady Matilda approached them and told Jim, ‘I can never thank you enough for what you’ve done for us, tonight. Even if it goes wrong and we are all caught out, I won’t hold you to blame for any of it.’

  ‘Take it easy, everything will be fine,’ he told her. Just then the band struck up another tune, The Blue Danube. ‘Fancy a waltz, Matilda?’ And he whisked her off onto the dance floor.

  ***

  Next morning as Jim came down to breakfast he saw Fiona standing by the study door, looking concerned.

  ‘Whatever’s the matter?’ he asked her, as they began the charade.

  ‘It looks like there’s been a burglary. The safe has been broken into sometime last night, while we were all at the ball.’

  ‘Let me see.’ He brushed past her into the study. Lady Matilda was in there with a couple of footmen. ‘Lady Matilda, my condolences. Has anything been stolen?’

  She looked at him and gave the carefully rehearsed response that Jim had painstakingly briefed them both on. He had gone to great lengths to talk them through all the steps of the police investigation, including all the correct responses to questions. ‘I’m afraid the Hetheringham Necklace is missing.’

  ‘No! Not the Hetheringham Necklace!’ he exclaimed. ‘But that’s priceless!’

  ‘Alas, yes.’

  He walked over to the French doors and looked at the broken lock. ‘It looks they broke in here.’ He moved over to the sideboard. ‘And while they were carrying out the robbery they appear to have broken the clock. What time did they break it?’

  One of the footmen bent down and peered at the clock. ‘Looks like nine o’clock, sir.’

  ‘Well that’s obviously the time of the robbery then,’ said Jim. ‘Nine o’clock you say? We were all down at the ball then. In fact, isn’t that when you were giving the speeches, Lady Matilda?’ He made sure to highlight these things so that all these points would be firmly planted in the footmen’s heads and be quoted as fact by them, when interviewed by the police.

  ‘Why yes, I do believe it was,’ Lady Matilda confirmed.

  ‘I trust you’ve sent for the police?’

  ‘Yes, it was the first thing I told the butler to do.’

  ‘Jolly good show. Well, in that case, if you don’t mind, I’ll take Fiona down and get some breakfast inside her, steady her nerves.’

  ‘Yes, yes. Good idea. You go ahead,’ Lady Matilda told him.

  ***

  The police arrived later and spent the day poring over the house for clues and searching the grounds for evidence of the getaway. They even instigated a full scale search of the sleeping quarters of the servants as well as Jim’s room. As an outsider they were mighty interested in Jim but when a search of h
is bedroom turned up nothing and all evidence pointed to the robbery occurring at nine o’clock, when everyone’s alibi was established, they couldn’t really go beyond questioning him intensely.

  Jim could hold his own against these country bumpkins. His only fear was that Fiona or Lady Matilda would crack while being questioned, but as they were the apparent victims and the local gentry, no real pressure was brought to bear on them.

  So after a couple of days of inconvenience, the police left assuring Lady Matilda that they would continue the investigation from the other end, namely looking out for the Hetheringham Necklace to turn up at a fence, somewhere.

  Jim explained to Fiona that it would be best if he stayed out of the way for a while and so he returned to Londum.

  ***

  Jim climbed down from the carriage and waved to the driver, Bob Carpenter. ‘Won’t be long, Bob.’

  ‘Righto, Mr. Darby. I’ll be here when you’re ready.’ Bob Carpenter was a cab driver who was an old friend of Jim’s and he used him whenever he needed to travel around town discreetly. It also gave him the advantage of having someone he could trust to watch his back while he was on one of those trips. Jim had hired him today to ferry him around.

  Jim looked up at the sign above the door of the building he was standing outside of.

  Doctor Barnato’s Home for Orphaned Children

  He ran up the steps and rapped on the door with his cane. Shortly the door opened and a nurse stood there. ‘Good morning,’ said Jim. ‘I’ve come to take Sarah Bowen out for the day ... and Nurse Phipps too.’

  ‘Of course, Mr. Darby, they’re expecting you. Please come in.’

  Jim accepted the invite and passed through into the foyer of the building.

  ‘Please wait here, I’ll just tell them that you’ve arrived.’