‘What do you take that to mean?’

  ‘I don’t know. I thought it might be because Browning was already married, but she said she was quite sure he was not.’

  ‘Do you think she knows where he has gone?’

  ‘That’s difficult to say, but I fancy she has an idea.’

  ‘Did you mention the photograph I found?’

  ‘No.’

  Lord Langdon paced up and down the room. ‘I’m wondering if it wouldn’t be better to let the whole thing drop,’ he muttered irritably.

  ‘And let Browning get away with it?’

  ‘Yes.’

  The Air Commodore stepped in. ‘I’m afraid you can’t do that.’

  ‘Why not?’

  ‘The matter is no longer entirely in your hands, my lord. A felony has been committed and the police are bound to take action.’

  ‘Even if I make no charge?’

  ‘That makes no difference.’

  ‘What action will you take?’

  ‘We shall continue to make inquiries in our own way and we shall rely on your co-operation. The first thing will be to ascertain if any more of your jewels have been sold. You have given me a list of the missing articles, so that should not be too difficult. Of course, if Browning has gone abroad, even if we find out where he is, it might be difficult to bring him home. Extradition is a long and involved process. But if Browning still has the jewels, it might be possible to recover them. That’s really what you want, isn’t it?’

  ‘Yes. I don’t care what happens to Browning.’

  ‘This is assuming he is the thief,’ put in Biggles. ‘We don’t know that for certain, so let’s not prejudge him. Guilty or not, in view of their association here, I think it more than likely that Lady Caroline and Browning will sooner or later find a way of getting in touch with each other. How do your letters reach you?’

  ‘They are delivered by the village postman.’

  ‘Who is the first person to see them?’

  ‘Whoever happens to answer the door bell. It might be one of the maids, or possibly my butler.’

  ‘What about Lady Caroline?’

  ‘It’s unlikely that she would be down when the letters arrive.’

  ‘Are you usually up and about at that time?’

  ‘Yes. But I don’t answer the door.’

  ‘It might be a good thing if you did, for a little while.’

  ‘You think Browning might try to correspond with Caroline through the post?’

  ‘It is a possibility.’

  ‘I see what you mean,’ said Lord Langdon slowly. ‘A letter addressed to her with a foreign stamp on the envelope...’

  ‘Exactly. On the other hand, if Caroline knows where the man is, she might write to him to keep him informed of what goes on here. For instance, she might warn him that you have called in the police. But this again is supposing that Caroline is, or was, a party to the robbery.’

  ‘The whole thing defeats me,’ stated Lord Langdon wearily. ‘Why on earth should Caroline help a thief to rob her own father, and in the long run, herself, as the jewels would one day have been hers? Very well, I will do as you suggest and keep an eye on the mail.’

  ‘It would be significant if you suddenly found Caroline doing the same thing; it would indicate she expected a letter which she would prefer not to be seen by anyone else. All the same, for a girl who obviously has her wits about her, I find it difficult to believe that she would be so indiscreet as to allow Browning to write to her at this address. However, that seems to be as far as we can go for the moment.’

  ‘Then you have no more questions to ask me?’

  ‘Just one detail I would like to be clear on. On the day you went to London, and saw what you thought was your ring in a shop window, as soon as you got home you went to the safe?’

  ‘That is correct.’

  ‘And the key was in its usual place, in the box?’

  ‘Yes. Otherwise I couldn’t have opened the safe.’

  ‘And you had no reason to suppose that it had been touched?’

  ‘None whatever.’

  ‘I see, sir. That settles that. May I keep this photograph of Browning for the time being? I will have a copy made and return the original to you.’

  ‘Yes, you may do that.’

  Biggles turned to the Air Commodore. ‘That’s all, sir, as far as I am concerned.’

  The Air Commodore stood up. ‘I have nothing more to say, so with your permission, Lord Langdon, we will be on our way. If there is any fresh development in this unfortunate affair no doubt you will inform me at once.’

  ‘Of course. If I can be of any further assistance you have only to let me know. But remember, I don’t want any mention of this in the newspapers.’

  ‘I understand.’

  Lord Langdon saw his visitors to the door and in a few minutes the police car was on its way back down the avenue to the main road. Out in the park some men were at work cutting down an oak tree. Biggles called attention to it.

  ‘What about it?’ said the Air Commodore.

  ‘Nothing much, although it suggests his lordship hasn’t as much money as one might suppose. A man in his position doesn’t start selling his timber before he has to.’

  ‘Hm. That’s true,’ agreed the Air Commodore. ‘What do you make of it all?’

  ‘Not very much, except that I have a feeling that someone isn’t telling the truth, or, at all events, not the whole truth and nothing but the truth.’

  The Air Commodore looked surprised. ‘Why do you think that? I can understand the girl being difficult if she’s infatuated with this fellow Browning, but surely there can be no reason why her father should withhold any relevant facts. He wants his jewels back.’

  ‘Of course he does; but he seems desperately anxious for the whole thing to be kept under the hat. Why?’

  ‘You tell me.’

  ‘It’s a guess, but I’d say there’s something he hasn’t told us, something he doesn’t want to come out if some dirty linen has to be washed in public.’

  ‘He gave us the reason.’

  ‘Say one reason. He would have to provide one. There may be others. I’m keeping an open mind about that. I got the impression that if Caroline is trying to hide something, so is his lordship.’

  ‘Naturally, he doesn’t want a scandal over his daughter having a clandestine association with one of the male servants in the house.’

  ‘That would be understandable,’ conceded Biggles.

  ‘What do you intend to do next?’

  ‘Stop somewhere for lunch, I hope. Something inside me reminds me it’s a long time since breakfast. There are two or three places in Dorking. After that, if it’s all right with you, I shall go on to the airfield where Browning did his flying and have a chat with whoever is in charge. It used to be Bunny Hale. I met him in the war when he was with 104 Squadron, but he may have left. There’s no need for you to come with me if you’d rather get back to the office. While we’re having lunch, I could ring Bertie and ask him to bring down a spare car to take you back to the Yard.’

  ‘Yes. We’ll do that,’ the Air Commodore decided.

  ‘The next move will be to go to this jeweller in Bond Street, Forniers, and ask him how that ruby ring came into his hands. I can do that later.’

  ‘We shall also have to check if any more of the missing pieces of jewellery have been sold; but that can be done through the usual routine channels. Lord Langdon gave me the complete list while you were talking to his daughter. What did you really think of her?’

  Biggles shrugged a shoulder. ‘A nice enough kid. I don’t think she gets on too well with her father at the best of times. He strikes me as a hard, dominating character, and as she takes after him they’re often in collision. I’d hate to work for him. You wouldn’t get much mercy from him if anything went wrong. It’s that streak in him, I imagine, that has caused him to spend most of his life going round the world killing things. I have never been able to understand the mentality of a man who delights in decorating his house with the heads of dead animals. It’s a form of vanity, I suppose. It’s as good as saying, I’m tough; look what I’ve done.’

  ‘That’s not our concern,’ the Air Commodore said. ‘We shall have to try to recover the stolen property.’

  ‘That isn’t going to be easy. First we have to find Browning and he might be anywhere. If he’s gone abroad how are we going to bring him home?’

  ‘We’ll talk about that when you’ve found him. What are you going to do now?’ continued the Air Commodore, looking surprised as Biggles brought the car to a stop in the village outside the shop-cum-post-office.

  ‘I’m going to have a word with whoever runs the post-office here,’ answered Biggles. ‘I shan’t keep you long.’ He got out of the car and went into the shop. He was back in five minutes, a faint smile on his face. ‘If there’s any communication between Caroline and Browning it’s through here it should come,’ he explained. ‘I’ve organized a double check in case the fair Caroline is too smart for her father. Now we’ll press on and find a tavern to keep our strength up.’

  CHAPTER 4

  BIGGLES MAKES SOME CALLS

  STOPPING at the first convenient restaurant, Biggles and the Air Commodore went in to lunch, Biggles first putting through a call to the office for a spare car to be brought down.

  ‘What exactly did you do at the post-office in Ferndale?’ asked the Air Commodore when they were at the table. ‘You’d better tell me to keep me in the picture.’

  ‘My chief reason for going in was to ask if any letters with foreign stamps had been noticed when the mail was being sorted for delivery. It’s only a sub-post-office with a woman in charge. She handles all the mail. I didn’t mention Lady Caroline, of course, or anyone at the manor, but as I see it, if his lordship is right about the relationship between his daughter and Browning, they’ll try to keep in touch; and the only way would be through the post. Browning would hardly dare to come here, or use the telephone, not knowing who might answer the call. Contact will be made somehow. I can’t see Caroline and Browning saying goodbye for ever and ever.’

  ‘Why not?’

  ‘Her behaviour would be different. She’d be upset. As it is she seems content with things as they are.’

  ‘Had the postmistress noticed any foreign stamps? You’re assuming Browning has gone abroad.’

  ‘It seems more than likely, although we’ve no proof of it. A letter for Caroline with a foreign stamp on it would be an indication. The post-woman could only remember one foreign stamp in recent weeks and that was for someone in the village named Smith. She didn’t look closely at the stamp; she had no reason to; so she’d no idea of where it came from.’

  ‘Did you make any arrangement with her to keep watch?’

  ‘No. I merely said I’d call again.’

  ‘Didn’t she want to know the purpose of your questions?’

  ‘Naturally. I had to tell her I was a police officer, but I couldn’t say why I was making inquiries without bringing Lord Langdon into it; and that I fancy would not have pleased his lordship had he got to hear of it. In any case, the postmistress has no right to interfere with the mail, so I wouldn’t ask her to.’

  ‘You’re working on the assumption that Caroline and Browning will sooner or later get in touch through the post?’

  ‘How else are we going to find out where he’s gone? They may not be in correspondence at this moment, but Caroline will be anxious to tell Browning what’s going on here. To do that she will have to know his address. She’s on his side, there’s no doubt about that, otherwise she’d talk instead of closing up like an oyster.’

  Later, while they were still discussing the case Bertie arrived with a spare car. The Air Commodore, having paid the bill, took it over and departed, leaving the original car for Biggles’ use.

  ‘Where are we going?’ asked Bertie, as they got in.

  ‘Mealing aerodrome. It isn’t far.’

  ‘What’s all the fuss about, anyway?’

  On their way to the aerodrome Biggles gave Bertie a broad idea of what had taken him into the country.

  ‘Seems all clear and straightforward,’ observed Bertie, when he had finished. ‘This bright lad Browning didn’t like being ticked off by the old man, so he hoofed it, taking a few trinkets with him to settle the score. All we have to do when we get home is check on all the jewel thieves in the records.’

  ‘It looks a bit too straightforward,’ returned Biggles. ‘These apparently simple cases have a trick of coming unstuck. I can see snags sticking out already. If Browning took those rubies he must have known the police would soon be after him, and sooner or later catch up with him. Why did he do it? If he had a crush on Caroline one would have expected him to stay around. Alternatively, why didn’t Caroline go with him? There’s something queer about the whole business. We shan’t get any more out of Caroline, or his lordship, if, as I suspect, they’re holding something back. I’m pretty sure Caroline knows the answers, but she’s a shrewd young woman and she’s decided to play it cool.’

  ‘So what we have to do is find Browning.’

  ‘That’s it.’

  ‘Do you expect to find him at Mealing?’

  ‘No. But we may learn something about him. He has been doing some flying there; in fact, got his ticket; so there’s just a chance he may have skipped in an aircraft.’

  ‘But hold hard, old boy. If a plane had been pinched we’d have heard about it.’

  ‘I’d have thought so. Of course, I may be on the wrong track altogether. But here we are. We shall soon know.’

  Biggles turned into a lane which presently ended in a wide expanse of open country on which there were some buildings which included two hangars and a club house. Two men were working on a Tiger Moth. One of them was a small, dark young man with an outsize moustache. He looked round, staring, when Biggles hailed him with: ‘Hello, Bunny. Still at it?’

  Ex-flying officer Hale grinned broadly. ‘Biggles, you old perisher. Long time no see. What brings you here? Lost something?’

  ‘No. Have you?’ Biggles got out of the car.

  ‘Not that I know of.’

  ‘Good. That’s really all I want to know. But as we’re here we’ll have a word. By the way, this is Bertie Lissie.’

  ‘Come in and have a drink. What did you think I might have lost?’

  ‘An aeroplane.’

  ‘Nothing like that, thank goodness. Times are hard and we only have two, so if one had gone I’d have missed it. Take a pew. What’ll you drink?’

  ‘Nothing, thanks. We’ve only just had lunch. Tell me this. One of your members is a chap named Browning.’

  ‘Say was. He isn’t here now.’

  ‘Do you know where he is?’

  ‘Haven’t a clue.’

  ‘You taught him to fly and got him his ticket, I believe.’

  ‘That’s right.’

  ‘What sort of pilot did he make?’

  ‘Very good. Excellent. Never had a brighter pupil. Nice chap. Keen as mustard. I hope he’s all right.’

  ‘Any reason why he shouldn’t be?’

  ‘Well, you know how it is. He took off on a long-distance show and I haven’t heard a word from him since.’

  Biggles raised his eyebrows. ‘But you said you hadn’t lost a machine.’

  ‘We haven’t.’

  ‘Then what machine did he take?’

  ‘His own.’

  Biggles frowned. ‘His own. I don’t get it. Do you mean he owned his own aircraft?’

  ‘Sure. Why not? What’s wrong with that?’

  ‘Er—nothing, I suppose.’ Biggles was still looking shaken. ‘How did this happen?’

  ‘Perfectly simple. A little while ago we bought a brand new Martin; twin-engined job; hoping to do some charter work. Browning flew it quite a bit. He seemed to have taken a fancy to it. Finally he took off in it for a long-distance trip.’

  ‘What do you call long distance?’

  ‘South Africa. He said he had a yen to beat the light plane record to Cape Town. When he started to get his papers together I offered to help him, but he said he could manage. It was all good practice. Said he’d have to learn how to get these things fixed up because he hoped to do quite a lot of flying. He had an extra tank fitted in the Martin. That’s all. One morning he arrived here, as usual on his motor-bike, and away he went. That’s all. I expected to have a line from him, but I haven’t heard a word. He didn’t tell me what I was to do with his motor-bike, so I half-expected him to come back here.’

  ‘Did he take any luggage?’

  ‘Only one of those light canvas bags handed out by the big air travel people.’

  ‘Does he owe you any money?’

  ‘Not a penny. He settled everything up to date before he left. He seemed to have plenty of money.’

  ‘How did he pay for the Martin? By cheque?’

  ‘No. In cash.’

  ‘Didn’t that strike you as odd?’

  ‘Not particularly. Anyway, when I asked him why pay in cash, he laughed and said if he gave me a cheque it might bounce.’

  ‘How much did he pay for the Martin?’

  ‘Two thousand five hundred. That included fitting the extra tank, oil and fuel. Would you mind telling me what this is all about?’

  ‘We’re interested in him. That’s all at the moment. Do you know where he lived?’

  ‘Of course. He had to give us his address when he joined. He told me it was a temporary address. He was staying as a guest at Ferndale Manor.’

  ‘Do you know anything about Ferndale Manor?’

  ‘Not a thing.’ Hale smiled. ‘It seemed a good enough address. Don’t tell me he’s been a naughty boy.’

  ‘We’ve no proof that he’s been up to anything improper. I can only tell you that he left Ferndale Manor rather suddenly and unexpectedly; naturally, the people there are wondering what has become of him.’

  Hale nodded. ‘And no doubt his girl friend is thinking he may have had an accident.’

  ‘Girl friend? What girl friend?’

  ‘The girl he used to bring here occasionally on the back of his motor-bike.’

 

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