Day 3 – Part One
Alexander Pennington took a bite out of his toast and looked down on the copy of the old hand drawn map of the area that he'd obtained from the Crawley Local History Society. He smiled to himself, thinking his plans were working well, it seemed. He'd fitted well into the local community since moving into the village of Staplefield a few months ago. Now he was enjoying all the trappings of a successful businessman, fine clothes, an expensive car and a nice old rented stone-built house situated just where he needed it to be, near the ruins of Staplefield Castle. It was also conveniently close to the main A23 road with London Airport to the north and the coast to the south, where he had a small boat moored at Hove. These were both easy escape routes should someone discover that Alexander Pennington was not all that he appeared to be. His 'Pennington's Domestic Cleaning Agency' based in nearby Crawley was useful in covering his real activities that funded his lifestyle. It also had the added advantage of him being able to employ 'certain' people for his own advantage, one of them being his fiancée, Jane.
Yes, the money he'd spent on a recent 'business' trip to the United States had certainly paid off. Visiting Joe Selsdon in his present 'home' courtesy of the judicial system and offering him a large sum of money for information on how he came to be there had been easy. Selsdon had jumped at the chance because he was going to be released within the next few years and the money would be useful to him. In exchange he gave his potential benefactor as much information as he could. Selsdon had spent some time, much to his annoyance, elaborating on his last trip to England which resulted in him going to Foxleyheath Manor and ending up literally going round and round in circles all night long with his accomplice Harry Malloy.
All Pennington had to do after that was contact some of Selsdon's associates who were not behind bars and get them to do his manual work for a stake in the profits. They had done their work well. The trial run had been a success and tonight the real operation would begin. He had done his homework by talking to the right people, making certain investigations and taking his time. Now it all had to pay off.
He took another bite of toast and sipped his early morning cup of tea and thought how next day, if all went well, he would be in the United States again and, hopefully, just a little bit richer.
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Lady Penelope and Ruth were having breakfast together in their hotel suite. Outside the rain was coming down in grey sheets casting an early morning gloom over the city. "Oh dear, such frightful weather. Not very nice for sight-seeing today," her ladyship remarked to Ruth as she glanced at the window.
"To tell you the truth I'd much rather go back to your home," Ruth told her. "I enjoyed yesterday and now that I've finally made it here I can come back another time. I feel a little tired today."
They were interrupted in their conversation by a message from Parker via her make-up case. "Beg pardon, M'Lady, but H'i was wondring what time you want me to come for you with the car seeing 'ow h'its raining cats h'and dogs this morning?"
"Oh, Parker, what a coincidence! We were just discussing this. Just come for us now please and we will go straight home," she replied.
"Very good, M'Lady," Parker answered, then added, "H'i think we may 'ave a little bit h'of trouble coming, so h'it might be best h'if you was 'ere h'anyway."
Lady Penelope raised an eyebrow and asked her employee, "Really, Parker, what sort of trouble?"
"H'I 'eard in the pub last night that Bill Coates h'is h'out. 'E used to work for that same mob that h'our old friends, Harry Malloy h'and Joe Selsdon worked for," he told her. "Not h'only that, there's been some break-h'ins the h'area. The crooks seem to go for h'antiques h'and paintings. H'I thought h'I should warn you."
"Oh dear, how tiresome when I have friends visiting. Very good, Parker, I trust you have ensured that the alarms are working satisfactorily. I'll see you later. Goodbye."
"They seem to be working h'alright, but h'I'll check 'em again 'fore h'I leave 'ere. H'I'll be h'as quick h'as H'I can, Madam," Parker told her as they finished the conversation.
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John was also sitting down to breakfast with his host and hostess. He had gone over his notes again earlier and felt a little more prepared, but still slightly nervous about the forthcoming talk to the students. Steve was busy feeding egg soldiers to his youngest son, Paul. His elder brother, Darren, was still fascinated with his new 'uncle' and stayed close by John. Asking him all sorts of questions about where he lived now and how did he get here from there. Helen rescued John by bringing him his breakfast and made Darren sit down to eat his, too.
"Pity you have to go back this afternoon, John," Helen told him as she placed a plate of bacon and eggs down in front of for him. "You must come back sometime and stay a little longer, Darren would love that, too, wouldn't you?"
"Yes, Uncle John," the small boy answered. "Come back after you go back up in the stars again."
"Uncle John doesn't go up into the stars anymore," his father told him. "He just flies in an airplane like you do when we go on holiday."
John looked at the disappointed face of the child and wished once again that he could tell him and his father the truth. "I'd love to come back here sometime," he replied. Then he cheered the little boy up by adding, "When I do I'll collect some star dust and bring it back with me."
When breakfast was over, Steve went to his study to collect some papers he needed to take with him to work. John offered to help with the dishes but Helen said it would be a bigger help if he kept her sons out of mischief while she did them. This arrangement suited Darren very well as it was a chance to ask a few more questions about space to John. "Looks like you made a fan for life there," Helen said with amusement, "You're definitely going to have to come back now."
"Yes, you certainly will, star boy," Steve agreed. "Come on you've got another captive audience waiting to hear you."
John thanked Helen for her hospitality and said he hoped to be back sometime. Then he picked the boys up one at a time and gave them a hug. He said to Darren, "You keep looking at those stars and tell me what you've seen next time I come back here."
"I want to see the horse with wings on," he replied and went with his mother and baby brother to the door to wave them off as they left in Steve's car.
"You know, you might be responsible for turning my son into a future astronaut," Steve said as he drove them both back to his place of work. "In fact both of them might be."
John laughed, "Or they may just take after you and talk about stars instead of getting up amongst them." His expression became serious and continued. "Whatever they do though, Steve, let them follow their own dream and not someone else's."
"Strange thing to say, John, what do you mean?" Steve asked.
"It happens sometimes that way, men and women become influenced by other people and their ideas and then end up changing their careers to suit them." John replied and changed the subject. "Are you going to be lecturing as soon as we get there? If so, where will I go?"
"I've got one or two people to see first and so I thought you might be happy looking at some of the photographs from the telescope to pass the time. I'll show you where the photo lab is. It was being used yesterday, but I'm sure it's free this morning."
"That sounds okay by me," John said, "I'll look forward to that, though one thing I have to insist on, Steve, is no photographs of me. It's on account of who I am and my father often has worries about us being kidnapped and held hostage. There are a lot of ruthless people about in this world, who want to get rich quick and easy without doing any work."
"Okay, John, I'll make a note to tell the students." Steve reassured him. .……………………………………………………………………………………..
Parker drove the Rolls up to London as fast as he dared in the torrential rain. He was a little apprehensive about leaving the house empty apart from Lily the cook. To be on the safe side he'd told her only to answer the door to regular callers once they had established their identity through the intercom.
Fortunately there was not much traffic about so the journey was quick and after parking outside the entrance and taking two umbrellas from the rear of the car, he made his way up to the suite where Lady Penelope and Ruth were staying. He found them just finishing morning coffee when he knocked and entered the room.
"Ah, Parker, I'm pleased you got here so quickly. Our bags are ready to take down," his employer told him. "I'm glad you brought the umbrellas up with you. Such frightful weather and it shows no signs of improving."
"I've heard it rains a lot in England," Ruth answered. "At least I've seen that first hand."
"Best h'if we do get back, Madam," Parker said as he collected the overnight bags. "H'in view h'of what I told you about h'earlier. I think somebody 'as been doin a little poking around and come across one h'of your little secrets so's to speak, h'if my suspicions h'ar right."
"You can tell me all about it on the way home, Parker, let's get back as quickly as possible. We don't want to miss out on any of the action do we?" she replied and said to Ruth, "We might be in for a few surprises. Such a nuisance when I wanted to have a few days off from that sort of thing."
"Oh dear, it's not going to be dangerous is it?" Ruth asked. "I have enough excitement at home without having it here as well."
They stepped out of the hotel suite and Parker closed the door behind them and followed them down to the waiting car. They got in quickly to avoid getting too wet and were soon on their way back to Foxleyheath.
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John was spending an enjoyable morning looking at photographs of far distant galaxies in the collection housed in the photograph laboratory. He was so engrossed he did not see or hear a young woman enter with a cup of coffee for him.
"You must be Mr. John Tracy. I've been asked to bring you this and tell you that Mr. Sanders will meet you in the Lecture Theatre at 10.45, ready for your lecture at 11," she informed him.
"Thanks, you must work in Steve's department I assume," he answered whilst getting up and taking his coffee away to drink away from where the photographs were stored.
"Me?" she laughed, "No, he knew I was on my way here so he just asked to me to pass the message on. I work in here as photo-technician. Did you enjoy looking at them?" she nodded her head in the direction of the photographs.
"Yes, quite good images, I like the very early ones. Technology certainly moved on a pace after they were taken and we've learned so much since."
They spent the time musing over aspects of space exploration while John drank his coffee and then it was time to leave to meet Steve. "What shall I do with my cup?" he asked her.
"Just leave it here and I'll take it back when I go for lunch," she answered, "Nice to meet you, Mr. Tracy, I hope you have a good discussion. I've heard the students are quite looking forward to it."
"Thanks, I never caught your name by the way," he said as prepared to leave.
"Heather Thompson," she told him.
"Bye, Ms Thompson, and thanks for the coffee and the photographs. I'd better go now Steve will be waiting," he replied as he went to the door and left for the lecture theatre.
The discussion with the students proved to be a resounding success. He managed to answer the questions put to him about pulsars and quasars, black holes and galaxies. Then the subject changed to life at NASA and working on their space satellite. After the lecture he was given a standing ovation and signed a few copies of his books that some students had bought.
Afterwards they broke up for lunch; Steve shook hands with John. "That was terrific, pal, I knew it would be. I'm going to have to invite you back here after this. Come on let's go for lunch in Goostry. I know a great pub beside the station so it will leave plenty of time for you to catch your train."
Having done that, afterwards John collected his overnight bag from Steve's car and went to board the monorail for the return journey to London.
"You will come back again, John, won't you?" Steve asked him, "Not only have you been a big hit here, but my family enjoyed your company, too. I certainly have, it's been far too long."
"I've enjoyed it, too, Steve, it's made a change from Tracy Aerospace. I'll contact you when I get back and we can make arrangements," John told him.
The two friends shook hands and John boarded the train. Steve waved him off as it began to move out of the station. John sat back in his seat and reflected on his visit and how much he had enjoyed himself and thought 'Yes I would certainly like to come back. Not only for Steve and his students and family. I've got another reason, a certain photo-technician that I would like to get to know a little better.' He noticed it was beginning to rain now and he wondered how his grandmother had enjoyed herself in London with Lady Penelope. He looked forward to seeing them both again for the remainder of their short stay.
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Parker drew the Rolls up as near as possible to the entrance porch at Lady Penelope's home. The rain had not abated much and the two women alighted and went into the house as quickly as they could once Parker unlocked the door.
"Thank you, Parker. You can tell Lily we'll both be ready for lunch soon but you may serve us some tea in the library first, please," Lady Penelope told him.
"Very well, M'Lady. H'I'll just put the car h'away first," he told her and went back outside again.
After putting FAB 1 in the nearby garage, he put his umbrella up and walked the short distance to the door that led into what used to be the servants quarters. There he placed his umbrella to drain and went into the kitchen. Lily was finishing off preparing the lunch. "'Allo, Lil, any callers been?" he asked.
"Just a bloke in a van from an arntiques shop, left a couple of parcels an 'is bill. He put 'em in you room," she told him. "I don't know why you're so worried, 'taint as if I've never been left 'ere on me own afore, with you an 'er going off all over the place."
"Yes well, h'I've got good reason to now," he told her whilst getting the tea things ready. "Bill Coates h'is one of the best h'in the business for burglaries, h'alarms are 'is speciality, 'e can master 'em just h'as good h'as Light Fingered Fred can manage a safe. What's more h'I 'eard last night 'es h'out again and there 'as been some burglaries h'already. The police h'ar on to 'im but 'e's 'iding h'out somewhere."
"Oh I nearly forgot there was another bloke called, said 'e was the boss from that cleaning agency. 'E wanted to 'ave a word with you or 'er. Seemed disappointed when I told 'im to come back later," she remembered to tell him. "Take their tea through an I'll pour us both a cup, for when you come back."
"H'Oh well 'e can come back later h'if h'it's money 'e's h'arfter for the work done, 'e's new to the h'area h'and doesn't know 'er Ladyship settles h'all that through 'er bank," Parker replied as he pushed the tea trolley out through the kitchen doorway.
As he served the tea to Lady Penelope and Ruth he informed them, "Your parcels from the h'antiques shop in London 'ave h'arrived h'along with 'is h'invoice. Shall I fetch 'em h'in 'ere for you now or do you want 'em later?"
"Oh, very good, Parker, you may bring them when you come to collect the tea things please and we will take them upstairs when we get ready for lunch," she replied.
"Very well, M'Lady," Parker bowed slightly and proceeded to leave the room.
"That was a nice and quick service," Ruth said, "We could have brought them back with us and saved him the trip. I must leave the money with you for Jeff's gift."
"Julian likes to make sure everything he sells is carefully packaged and delivered safely to his customers," Lady Penelope informed her. "That's why I like dealing with him."
The rain was still pouring down outside, and after lunch Ruth and Lady Penelope occupied themselves in the library again by reading some magazines. While things were relatively quiet and she was able to relax from her busy line of work for a few days, plus the weather being so poor, she took the opportunity to catch up with some of them.
She glanced up to notice her elderly guest had dozed off to sleep. The magazine she had been reading had fallen from her grasp on to her lap and her spectacles had slipped to the end of her nose as her head nodded downwards.
"Oh dear, it looks like all this traveling about has been a bit much for you," she whispered, "Never mind, Jeff wanted you to have a rest so I'll see you get one and not disturb you until afternoon tea is served."
There was a slight tap on the door and Parker entered the room. On seeing Lady Penelope's finger go to her lips and her pointing to the sleeping figure opposite her, he whispered, "Beg pardon, M'Lady, there's a Mr. H'Alexander Pennington to see you from the Cleaners h'agency. Says 'e wants a word with you h'about 'is new cleaners contract. I tried to tell 'im that h'I deal with that sort h'of thing but 'e h'insists h'on speakin to you. H'Ive put 'im h'in the Reception Room."
"Oh very well, Parker, I'll come and deal with him now," she told him and they left the room leaving Ruth still fast asleep on the sofa.
"Lil said 'e called h'earlier while we were h'out," Parker informed her. "She said 'e was disappointed that 'e couldn't see you then."
Alexander Pennington was getting a little anxious while sitting waiting for Lady Penelope to come into the room. He kept glancing at his watch and hoped everything he'd planned over the last few months was going to come to fruition. True, the removal of certain objects from homes in the area had proved to be relatively easy with only basic alarm systems to overcome. Bill had managed that quite simply, but this was the big one. Pull this one off and he and his team would be in France before midnight and then on to the States. Once he'd sold off the goods they'd acquired he and Jane could lie low until the heat died off. It had been so easy getting Jane to case the joints for the best items and to check what sort alarms systems were installed, while doing a spot of dusting in the rooms. Now once the owner of this house was occupied with his little distraction, the rest should be easy. Only her and two other staff to worry about, yes it should be a pushover, quite simple really. Thanks going to two greedy medieval landowners and a few corrupt monks who liked to earn a quick buck in the smuggling business in the past. Now he was going to make a few quick bucks for himself.
The door opened and Lady Penelope walked in. Pennington immediately stood up and bowed graciously, "Good afternoon, you must be Lady Penelope Creighton-Ward, I'm sorry for the intrusion, my name is Alexander Pennington from Pennington's Domestic Cleaning Agency and I would like to thank you for signing up with my firm and ask how you like the services my cleaners have provided?"
"Good afternoon, Mr. Pennington, please sit down," Lady Penelope replied. "I'm sure the weather is quite frightful today and I'm sorry you have had to drive out all this way just to talk about this. My Butler deals with this kind of thing as I believe he mentioned to you. Now how may I help you?"
While Pennington was keeping Lady Penelope occupied in the Reception Room, deep below the house four figures were riding on electric tricycles in a tunnel that had been made hundreds of years ago to link Foxleyheath Castle to Staplefield Castle and beyond that to Slaugham Priory. The tunnel ended under what used to be the central Keep of the castle and on which the present library of Foxleyheath Manor was now built. The tricycles were fast and silent. They also had large baskets at the front and were designed for people with mobility problems. Alexander Pennington had found another good use for them and had considered the money spent on buying them to be a good investment.
Bill Coates and Jane Harrison led the way, their bright lights shining through the well constructed brick lined tunnel. Two other men followed. They reached a set of ancient stone steps and left the tricycles parked at the bottom, climbing the steps to reach their final destination. To gain entrance was simple, the first owner of the house had been a Jacobite sympathizer and he kept the tunnel system intact in case he needed to make a good escape from potential enemies. For this, a secret doorway had been made behind one of the bookcases. This had all been carefully checked out two days ago by the thieves and found to be working perfectly. A little oil on the lever and hinges had helped the old metal that had not succumbed to too much dampness and rust due to the warmth of the present building.
A quick pull of a lever and they were in the room, Bill Coates looked at the paintings and whispered, "Too risky, the alarms are linked up to the local police, best get the smaller antiques and the clocks, they're worth a fortune."
They suddenly saw Ruth on the sofa; unfortunately she just happened to wake up at the wrong time. One of the men put his hands across her mouth to silence her.
"Get rid of 'er, take er downstairs quick," Bill Coates informed his accomplice, "She's seen us!" Turning to the others he said, "Just grab what you can and let's get out of 'ere."
Ruth was swooped up into the strongly built man's arms and despite a few struggles her frail body was no match for him. He quickly carried her back down to the tunnels where he waited for the others to join him. "Just keep still and be quiet and you won't get hurt," he told her. Knowing it was useless to struggle anyway; she did just that and tried to remain calm.
She knew somehow that the best way to help Lady Penelope find these people who were robbing her home was to cooperate with them. She was pleased that she took Jeff's advice and kept her edible transmitter with her at all times. Right now it was in her cardigan pocket if she could just get her hands free from this brute that was holding her hands together with one hand, while the other was still across her mouth.
Soon they were joined by the others with their illicit booty, "Come on let's move," Jane half yelled after closing the secret panel.
"What about Granny here?" the man who was holding her asked.
"Just take 'er with us and we'll dump her somewhere. Don't hurt her though, I don't want no killins on me conscience," Bill answered. "Let Alex decide when we get to the coast."
With that they all sped off on the tricycles with Ruth sitting ungraciously on her captor's knee. He was strong enough to hold her tightly with one arm while steering the tricycle with the other. She felt indignant at sitting on this strange person's knee and was also very fearful for her safety. What was more, she realized that her spectacles had fallen off in the struggle and she just hoped the gang were true to their word and did not hurt her. She remained silent but managed to reach into the top pocket of her cardigan and get the small device shaped like a lozenge and put it in her mouth. There was no time to remove the paper wrapping so she had to break the seal as best as she could with her teeth, then hope her youngest grandson way up in Thunderbird Five would quickly notice the signal had been activated.
The journey came to an abrupt end. The thieves grabbed the baskets from the tricycles and emerged from the tunnel, beside the ruins of an old castle. Ruth was bundled into the rear seat of a car, the man that had been holding her sat down beside her while the other three thieves carefully placed the stolen items in the boot. Then they climbed in, one of the other men started the engine and the car sped away from the scene.
Lady Penelope was getting a little bored with her unwelcome caller telling her all about his business empire and what other services he had to offer so she decided to call the interview to an end, "Well thank you for your call, Mr. Pennington," she told him, "I am sure we will let you know if we need the other services you provide, my carpets have all been recently cleaned by my own regular firm and so have my curtains and upholstery. Some of the fabrics are very delicate and require specialist cleaning."
She stood up to let him know the interview was at an end and rang for Parker to show him out, "Good afternoon, Mr. Pennington."
Pennington put on a false smile that hid his annoyance. He wanted to keep her talking a lot longer but knew he would have to get far away in case the others were discovered. Admitting defeat, he bowed graciously and said, "Thank you for your time, Madam, and if ever you need any more of our services do not hesitate to call."
Parker arrived and showed Pennington out of the mansion. The unwelcome visitor quickly got into his car and drove out of the estate. If this plan did go wrong at least he had the other stolen items from the previous robberies. They had been carefully stored under the ruins of Slaugham Priory and then taken down to his boat at Hove. This was his destination now and from there across to France where an aircraft should be waiting to fly him and the gang to the States, that is, if the rest of the gang had managed to get away.
Pleased to be finished with what she considered a waste of her precious time, Lady Penelope made her way back into the library. She opened the door and was surprised at the sight, not only had her antique ornaments and clocks gone but so had Ruth. What was more alarming was that her guest's spectacles were lying on the floor in front of the sofa where they had fallen when she was picked up by the thief. Filled with shock and worry for her guest she quickly summoned Parker to the room.
"Looks like they 'ave struck already, M'lady," Parker stated. "H'I thought they might 'ave done h'it during the night. They probably thought the bad weather would keep h'everybody h'indoors and wouldn't notice 'em much."
"Switch on the tracking device, Parker, they won't get far away. My antiques will lead us to them." Lady Penelope told him as she went to pick up her missing guest's dropped spectacles.
"Shall h'I h'inform the police now h'or do we do this h'on h'our h'own?" Parker asked.
"Yes, call the police, Parker. I'm more concerned about Mrs Tracy. I hope she comes to no harm," Lady Penelope replied. Then she continued, "Oh dear, John will be due back here shortly and Jeff and the others are going to have to be informed. That man Pennington kept me distracted. It was all a plot, Parker, he's part of it I'm sure."
"Somehow they found h'out h'about the tunnel. That h'is the h'only way they could 'ave got h'into the house," Parker remarked as he went over to where the secret panel was.
"It's no use trying to follow them that way, Parker, they will be long gone now," Lady Penelope told him. "I think they must have been worried after seeing Mrs Tracy and took what they could from this room and escaped with her. Get the Rolls, Parker, and let the police know what's happened. We need them to stay here with Lily in case the thieves come back. It looks like we are not going to have a little rest and relaxation after all. I'll contact John and see where he is, then I'm going to have to let Jeff and the others know."
"Yes, M'Lady," Parker answered and left to go to his room to make the call before going to the garage.
Parker switched on the tracking device that was fitted discreetly to all of Lady Penelope's antiques and paintings. Luckily her paintings had not been touched by the thieves and the new delivery from the antiques dealer had been taken upstairs out of the way.
If only Pennington had taken more notice of Joe Selsdon when he told him that attempting a robbery at the home of Lady Penelope Creighton-Ward would end in a few surprises as it had done for him and Harry Malloy.
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