Archer's Mystery At Mainswell

by Edward Fisher

  Chapter 11

  The evening of their third day on the farm passed quietly, with the three youngsters sitting outside their tents.

  ‘I wonder where those guys are meeting tonight?’ pondered Rebecca.

  ‘Yeah, and why, if they’re meeting tonight, are they meeting at the windmill tomorrow as well? It just doesn’t make sense.’ James added thoughtfully. There was a pause as each tried to come up with a suggestion that would make sense.

  ‘I have an idea,’ said Mark at last. ‘It’s not brilliant but at least it’s an idea.’

  ‘Go on then.’

  ‘Well, let’s suppose the guy in the van works for this bloke, Harry.’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘Look, James, just let me speak and then comment. The guy in the car is doing a job, or more probably a series of jobs, for Harry, and the bloke in the van is keeping an eye on him. That would explain why they meet so late at night. The guy in the car does a job - say he robs a house. Later on, at a prearranged time, he meets with the van driver and tells him everything went okay and he’s got the merchandise. The van driver then goes back to Harry and relates the information.’

  ‘Sounds plausible, but why the windmill tomorrow?’

  ‘Well, tonight I reckon the driver of the car is going to hand over some very valuable goods, and he’s expecting to get paid for them. What was it he asked for?’

  ‘Twenty grand.’ Rebecca beat James to the interruption.

  ‘Thanks. Twenty grand. Now, I guess the car driver has never met Harry and probably feels he can do better on his own. I also guess that the van driver knows a number of Harry’s contacts and reckons he can get better deals too. So, what if the two of them are planning a mega job that Harry knows nothing about? They simply have to arrange a different meeting place and time, just in case Harry’s watching their regular place, which is probably down on the road here.’

  ‘Could be, but that’s an awful lot of guesswork.’

  ‘I know, but do you have any better ideas?’

  ‘No.’ The girl’s face was suddenly filled with excitement at a new thought. ‘Mark,’ she continued with evident excitement, ‘what if these two have already done the job? They were talking about moving hideouts and something about a factory. What if they’re doing a series of jobs, and they’ve got stuff hidden in a barn, stuff Harry knows nothing about? And I’ll bet I know one of the jobs they’ve done.’

  ‘Go on, Bec, which one?’

  ‘The Manor House. Don’t you remember the girl in the shop - Mary? She told us yesterday that the Manor House had been burgled.’

  ‘You’re right,’ said James, enthused by his cousin’s deductions. ‘Let’s take it a step further. What if old Harry is setting up certain jobs and wants certain kinds of goods, say, silverware, for example. Well, these two drivers decide they can make a bit on the side by stealing other things as well and getting rid of them separately. That way Harry’s happy, and they can make more money and no one’s any the wiser. It’d also make the robbery much more general, and if there was a spate of them, it wouldn’t look like anyone was going after specific goods when they probably are.’

  ‘The master criminal mind at work! You’re a genius, James.’ His brother’s compliment was laced with enough sarcasm to be quite evident to even a genius criminal mind. ‘The sad truth is,’ he continued, ‘you may well be right. In which case these two have their own little hideout in a barn somewhere.’

  ‘And the factory is for something they do to the goods before they sell them on?’ suggested Bec, continuing the line of thought.

  ‘Could be. Look, these guys are probably going to meet down on the road again tonight, which we ought to be ready for, and that probably means some other property is going to get done this evening. And then tomorrow they’re meeting at the windmill to do something, and we’ve still got a barn to find.’

  ‘That barn, of course, may not be around here.’

  ‘Maybe not, but I have a hunch it’s not far away. Everything else is round here so why not the hideout?’

  ‘True, but where do we start?’ James was probing his brother’s thoughts.

  ‘Bec, tomorrow while we’re at the windmill, do you think you could find a bit of time to go into the village and do some hunting round for info? Find out anything you can about the Manor House robbery, and if there’s been another one. Also see if anyone knows of any disused barns in the local area.’

  ‘I’ll see what I can do.’

  ‘Good. Right, now where’s that paper we printed earlier?’ said Mark, his thoughts steering away from their adventure for a minute. ‘I’m sure I put it in the tent at lunchtime.’ He got up from the triangle they had been sitting in and disappeared into the boy’s tent. He came out a minute or so later clutching the sheets of paper in one hand.

  ‘Now let’s see what we have here.’

  For several minutes he stared at the papers as if trying to decipher the information they contained. He examined each sheet separately and then laid them out on the grass so he could see the whole thing together. The circuit diagrams on the first four pages were extremely complex and involved some large integrated circuits that Mark knew nothing about. The final pages were less cluttered and seemed to show wiring plans from the miniature circuit board to other devices. After about ten minutes Mark folded up the sheets carefully and put them back in the tent. While he had been engaged in this particular exercise, the others had cleared away the tea things and Rebecca had gone to get the water bottles refilled.

  ‘Well?’ James asked his brother when he came back out of the tent.

  ‘Well, it’s a strange device. It has a sound-detection unit, and a light sensor. Then there are some components that look like a small computer of some kind, and there’s a circuit that looks like a powerful oscillator. Other than that, I haven’t got much idea. The third page hasn’t been labelled and some of the boxes could be anything. My best guess right now is that it’s light and sound activated, and judging by the complexity of the circuitry I’d say that the activation is done by a very particular kind of light and by a pretty specific range of sound frequencies.’

  ‘So you’ve got no idea what it might be, then?’

  ‘No. It could be almost anything, but I guess you could put all of these components into something not much bigger than a large matchbox.’

  ‘So it was a bit of a waste of time really.’

  ‘Except that I will send it back to father tomorrow with a warning to tighten up security.’

  ‘Fine. I just hope he’s in a good mood when he gets the message.’

  ‘Bound to be. It’ll be four days since Archer’s annoyed him.’

  Rebecca returned to the two boys. ‘What are we going to do about tonight’s observations?’ she asked.

  ‘Same as last night, do you think?’ suggested James, though he was looking at Mark, not his cousin.

  ‘Yeah, okay.’ Rebecca sounded pensive as if unsure about something.

  ‘No,’ said Mark, sensing her lack of enthusiasm. ‘I don't think we need to worry about anything before midnight. After all, they’ve met at the same time both nights, give or take quarter of an hour. I suggest we sleep or at least rest till half twelve and then go up the embankment and wait.’

  ‘But if we do that,’ protested James, ‘we might miss them altogether.’

  ‘We might,’ said Mark, giving his brother a stern look, ‘but I doubt it. Anyway, we’re pretty sure all they’re going to do is exchange some goods and money.’

  ‘If that’s the case,’ continued James, apparently undeterred by his brother’s meaningful looks, ‘we might as well not bother staying up at all.’

  ‘You don't have to if you don’t want to, but I intend to be on the embankment shortly after half twelve. It’s ten o’clock now so that gives us a couple of hours to rest. I suggest we set some alarms for twelve twenty or thereabouts. Bec, have you got an alarm?’

  ‘Yes. Two actually. There’s one on my watch, an
d I’ve also got a little travel clock. Twelve twenty it is, then. Night for now, guys.’ Her more buoyant mood clearly revealed her satisfaction at the outcome of the conversation. She rose and disappeared into her tent. The evening sky was turning dark and the sun had disappeared below the horizon. In just a few minutes it would be necessary to use a torch to see, but Bec reckoned on being in bed by then.

  The boys rose also and went into their tent.

  ‘Shut the flap James and come over here.’ Mark was barely able to keep his voice at a harsh whisper. The tent flap was closed and although it offered no sound insulation it did at least stop any outsiders from seeing the expression on Mark’s face - not that anyone was looking anyway.

  James turned to look at his brother and was about to open his mouth to speak, but Mark got there first. The fierce whisper barely carried beyond the canvas.

  ‘Just what is it with you James? Don't you know what time of year it is? Don’t you understand that Bec needs more than anything to be included right now, not excluded? Can’t you see how much it means to her to be with us right now, involved, part of the team? Don’t you see how hurt she gets every time you try to exclude her from something? She needs us more than anything right now. She’s only just holding it together. You know she’s not really a camper. Do you remember how awful it was a couple of years ago? And yet, right now, she needs to be here with us. This means so much to her, so will you give it a break, and just be a bit more thoughtful?’

  ‘Whoa! I’m sorry bro. I just wasn’t thinking. I guess I have been a bit rough on her. Look, do you want me to go and apologise, or something? You know I love Bec just as much as you do and I wouldn’t want to hurt her. I’m just not as thoughtful as you are.’

  ‘No, James, you don’t need to apologise. Just make her feel part of the team. Make it a threesome not a duo, and that’ll be fine. But don’t overdo it or she’ll suss you a mile off.’

  ‘Okay. Look, next time I’ll know what the strange looks are for. I had wondered what you were doing - thought you had a bad tooth or something.’

  ‘No, you idiot.’ Mark’s voice rose slightly and he began to laugh, glad that the tension of the situation had been relieved. ‘Now shut up and let’s get some rest. Have you set your alarm by any chance?’

  ‘Yeah, twelve twenty.’

  ‘Well, with all these alarms going off, let’s hope they aren’t in the road at twelve twenty or they might just hear us.’ Mark laughed again, softly so as not to disturb Rebecca in the other tent.

  ‘Night Mark, night James.’ Her voice carried clearly over the few yards between the tents.

  ‘Night Bec,’ the boys called back in unison. The torch light in the boys’ tent was switched off and all went quiet.

  The night sky was dark and overcast when the cacophony of alarms all triggered within a few seconds of each other at twenty past midnight. There were no stars in the sky and the moon was hidden by grey clouds. The alarms were silenced one by one and in a couple of minutes the three children were standing in the field, a couple of torches pointing down at their feet.

  ‘Gosh,’ said James, ‘it’s gone awful grey since we went to bed. Do you think we’re in for some rain?’

  ‘It’s not very likely. That cloud’s not very dark really. We might get rain later tomorrow, but I should think we’re okay for now.’ Rebecca was used to the grey skies at night and the colour of these clouds did not bother her. ‘Shall we go up to the top?’ she asked, looking in the direction of the embankment.

  ‘Yeah, I haven’t heard anything, so I guess they haven’t arrived yet.’ Mark, as usual, was answering the question that the others were thinking. ‘And I’m sure they haven’t been and gone either. I’ve not slept at all yet.’

  ‘Me neither,’ the girl confessed. ‘Must be a bad night for insomniacs.’ She stifled a mixture of laughter and yawn and led the way up the hill.

  ‘Where’s Archer?’ asked James when they’d walked about four steps.

  ‘Fast asleep in my tent,’ the girl replied. ‘He’s worn out from whatever he’s been doing today.’

  ‘Well,’ said James, ‘I guess it’s a matter of letting sleeping dog’s lie.’

  It was not surprising that he instantly found himself sprawling on the ground.

  ‘That was awful,’ his brother remarked. ‘One more like that and you’ll have to go back to the tent.’

  ‘Sorry, just couldn’t resist it.’

  ‘Okay, but don't do it again.’

  Both boys seemed quite relaxed and this enabled the girl to join in the spirit of the adventure. She laughed at James’s pathetic quip and then helped him up off the ground. ‘Last one up the hill has to get breakfast,’ she laughed, already three strides ahead of the boys. James, still picking himself up, was the last to start the brief ascent, and he had no chance to catch the others up.

  ‘Looks like you’re doing breakfast tomorrow,’ said Mark when they were sitting on the hill. ‘Serves you right for such a bad joke.’

  The rug was spread out and the three youngsters lay down, waiting. The waiting lasted what seemed like a long time but was, in fact, only twenty minutes. What happened was an almost exact replay of the night before. The van arrived and the driver got out, leaving the radio on. After a few minutes the car also arrived. The car engine was turned off and the driver came out, though tonight he had a roll of something under his arm.

  ‘You got the bread?’ he called to the driver of the van.

  ‘Yeah, it’s all here. You got the merchandise?’

  ‘Yeah.’ The car driver patted the rolled-up bundle under his arm.

  ‘Okay then, bring it here.’

  ‘No way, I want to see the money first!’

  ‘It’s right here. Look.’ The van driver swung a slim briefcase into view and opened it, showing the contents to the car driver.

  ‘Right. I guess that looks about right and I know you wouldn’t do me, or it’s finale time.’

  ‘Exactly, and now the merchandise.’

  ‘Here,’ said the car driver as he handed over the rolled up material. The van driver partly unwrapped it and let out a low whistle.

  ‘Right, let’s split. You all right from tonight?’

  ‘Yeah, everything’s fine.’

  ‘Till tomorrow then.’

  ‘Till tomorrow.’

  The drivers returned to their respective vehicles and in a matter of a few minutes of the transaction having been completed they had left – it was as if they had never been there.

  The youngsters waited some moments after the second vehicle had disappeared from view.

  ‘Well,’ breathed the girl at last, ‘it didn’t look much like silverware to me. Looked more like a carpet, the way he was carrying it.’

  ‘What sort of carpet would be worth twenty grand though?’ James’s question was valid and he was clearly puzzled.

  ‘Not a carpet, not judging from it’s size and the way it was being carried.’ Mark was still working it out and he was getting close to an answer.

  ‘Well then, what was it?’ The girl framed the question they were all trying to resolve.

  ‘Got it, or at least I think I have.’ Mark suddenly sounded bright - if a light could have been turned on in his eyes, then it had just been turned on. ‘It’s not a carpet, but a picture, or a number of pictures.’

  ‘A picture! But they come in a frame, not rolled up.’ James opposed the ingenuity of his brother’s deliberations.

  ‘I know, but what if the picture was a big one? It would probably have had a very large, heavy frame, and that would have made it very awkward to carry around. I’ll bet this is what happened -’ and Mark continued to reveal his thoughts to the other two.

  ‘In which case,’ commented Rebecca after he had finished, ‘I should be able to confirm most of it tomorrow when I go into the village. One way or the other we’ll know if you’re right.’

  ‘Certainly seems plausible.’ James’s matter-of-fact statement concluded the disc
ussion and the three weary teenagers once again descended the embankment. In a few minutes they had closed the tent flaps and settled down for what remained of the night.

  Chapter 12

  The first rays of dawn light struck the field at almost precisely the same time as the local wildlife started to rise. Archer, much refreshed from his undisturbed night of sleep, decided at six o’clock that the day had begun. He stretched himself out in the tent and rolled over twice until he had barged into the sleeping girl. He stretched again, let out a mighty yawn and stood up. Once standing on all four legs he shook himself vigorously. The girl slept on, oblivious to his antics. Archer prodded her with his head a couple of times but Bec’s only reaction was to turn away from him and curl up into an even tighter ball within her sleeping bag.

  ‘Woof,’ Archer began, playfully at first.

  The girl continued to ignore him and so he barked again, a little louder than the first time. ‘Woooff!’ This time he got a response. The girl turned over in her sleeping bag and forced one sleepy eye open.

  ‘Oh, God, what is it,’ she moaned, still half asleep.

  ‘Woooff, wooooffff!’ the dog continued, pleased that he now had her attention. As if to make his own position quite clear, he took a step towards the flap of the tent and barked again.

  ‘Oh, no. You can’t want to go out, not yet.’

  ‘Woof,’ he replied, as if affirming her thoughts.

  ‘That means I’ve got to get out of this nice warm bed and into the cold air, just so you can go for a walk.’ All the time she talked she lay still, hoping the dog would change it’s mind.

  ‘Woof!’ he barked again in confirmation of her statement.

  ‘Damn you, Archer! Tomorrow you can stay outside all night long.’

  ‘Woof?’

  Slowly, and wrapping the sleeping bag around her, she knelt up and reached for the tent flap zip. She raised it about a foot and pushed the flap back.

  ‘Go on then, and I’ll leave it up so you can come back without waking me up again.’