The Mystery of the Stolen Secrets

©2017 Richard Humphreys

It's going to be a white Christmas and Fatty's Uncle Harold comes to stay. However, before long Fatty begins to notice that his uncle is acting suspiciously. Why did he go out secretly in the middle of the night? Did he steal some keys from a local house agents' office? Who is the man with a limp? The Find Outers get on the case and are soon embroiled in a mystery that involves spies, stolen secrets and a dangerous chase along the river in the dead of night...

Chapter 15: What Happened in the Loft?

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Next morning, Fatty sat eating his breakfast and listening to Eunice's tales about her exciting Autumn term at school. She had telephoned her father to explain about the trains and Mrs Trotteville had put her up for the night in the little bedroom she had used on two previous occasions.

'So you see, all in all, it was a jolly successful term,' she said finishing her cup of tea. 'Now, come on Frederick, you're been rather too quiet since I arrived. What's wrong?'

Fatty stood and closed the dining room door, then sat down again and explained to Eunice what had been happening and his concerns about his uncle.

'But you're not to breathe a word of this,' he said. 'Mother and Dad haven't got a clue, and apart from the other Find Outers, neither does anybody else.'

'And you want to go back to this run down cottage and have another look round in the loft?' Eunice asked.

'Well, that's the idea, yes,' Fatty said. 'I'll get on the phone to Larry shortly and hopefully we can all meet up at Artisan Passage.'

At that moment, the telephone in the hall began to ring and Jane poked her head round the door. 'It's Superintendent Jenks for you, Master Frederick,' she said.

Superintendent Jenks was a very senior policeman and a good friend of the Find Outers. They had assisted the Superintendent in solving a number of mysteries in the past and he had an especially high regard for Fatty's skills as a detective.

Fatty rushed to the telephone. 'Good morning, Sir,' he said, 'what can I do for you?'

'Hello Frederick,' the Superintendent said in his usual friendly voice. 'I'm phoning to ask whether you know if Constable Goon is working on anything at the moment. I know he wouldn't confide in you, but you may have noticed something going on.'

'I'm afraid I really don't know,' Fatty said. 'Why do you ask?'

'Can't get hold of him and no one seems to know where he is,' the Superintendent said. 'I can't get hold of his housekeeper either.'

'Would you like me to go over to his house and see if I can find out anything?' Fatty asked.

'It's kind of you to offer, Frederick,' the Superintendent said, 'but I think, we'll leave it for the present and see if he turns up later in the day, he's not always punctilious at keeping us informed of his movements.'

'You seem worried, Sir, if you don't mind my saying,' Fatty said. 'Is there something going on in Peterswood?'

'No, nothing for you to concern yourself with, Frederick,' the Superintendent said evasively. 'Let me know if you see Goon, and we'll keep calling him.'

'Yes, of course I will, I'll have a scout around,' Fatty said. 'Goodbye, Sir.'

'Goodbye Frederick, and remember to give my regards to the others,' the Superintendent said and rang off.

Fatty went back into the dining room. 'That was Superintendent Jenks,' he said to Eunice. 'Apparently Goon's missing.'

'Goon, he's that awful policeman, isn't he?' Eunice said.

'Yes,' Fatty said sitting down at the table. 'The Super seemed worried and when I asked if something was going on in Peterswood, he said there was nothing for me to be concerned about. Now that seems to me like there is something going on and he doesn't want me to get involved.'

'Do you think that whatever it is also involves your Uncle Harold?' Eunice asked.

'I don't know yet if Uncle Harold is involved in anything ,' Fatty said standing up. 'I must phone Larry.'

He went back into the hall with Eunice following him.

'Hello Larry,' he said when he got through. 'Did you enjoy seeing the Christmas lights last night?'

'Hello Fatty,' Larry said. 'Yes it was lovely and afterwards Mum and Dad surprised us by taking us to see the Pantomime at The Palladium.'

'Look, Larry,' Fatty said. 'I've just been speaking to Superintendent Jenks on the phone and apparently Goon is missing. I think something's going on and I think Uncle Harold might be involved in it.'

'Is Uncle Harold back yet, only I remember you saying he'd gone away for a couple of days?' Larry asked.

'No, he's not,' Fatty said, 'and there's something odd about that. He sent a telegram rather than phoned. And listen,' Fatty continued, 'I went back to that cottage and used the ladder that was in the bedroom to go up in the loft and it's quite plain to me that someone's been up there recently. Unfortunately, the batteries in my torch packed up so I couldn't investigate it properly. I meant to go back after changing the batteries, but when I got back here I found Eunice waiting for me.'

'Eunice?' Larry exclaimed. 'Have you told her about it?'

'Well, yes, I have,' Fatty said. 'But the point is, could Goon's disappearance have anything to do with my suspicions about Uncle Harold?'

'I think that's called adding two and two together and coming up with five,' Larry said.

'That may be,' Fatty said, 'and I hope it is. But I've got this nagging doubt. Larry, we must go back up into that loft and see what's what.'

'Daisy and I are free this morning,' Larry said. 'When did you have in mind?'

'Straight away,' Fatty said. 'If Goon is mixed up in something and is missing, then there's no time to lose. Can you get hold of Pip and Bets and tell them to meet us in Artisan Passage in half an hour? Oh, and remember to bring a torch.'

'All right, Fatty,' Larry said, 'see you there.'

'I'm coming too,' Eunice said. 'You can't keep me out of this, Frederick, after telling me all about it. It wouldn't be fair.'

'I suppose not,' Fatty said. 'But I was going to ask you to look after Buster.'

'Buster can come with us,' Eunice said. 'He'll need his walk anyway and that girl Daisy can look after him.' She began putting on her coat and scarf. 'The others will certainly be surprised to see me.'

'I'm sure they will,' Fatty said with a sigh abd put his coat on.

'I called Father last night after you'd gone to bed and told him I'd be staying on here for a day or so,' Eunice said. 'It's a good job I brought one or two things with me.'

Fatty looked at her surprised. 'Did you?' he asked.

'Yes. Well, you see, I was concerned about the weather and I thought I might not be able to get back to Maidenhead for a day or two,' she said with a beaming smile. 'You know me Frederick, practical to the last. Always prepared for any eventuality.'

Fatty shook his head. 'If you say so,' he said. He checked his torch was working and slipped it into his pocket. 'Come on, then, Eunice,' he said opening the front door. 'Once more unto the breach.'

They hurried along as fast as they could, and in ten minutes turned into Artisan Passage to find the others waiting for them by the end cottage.

'You could all make it, then,' Fatty said. 'As you can see, Eunice has paid us another visit.'

Eunice smiled enthusiastically at the other children who in response gave her watery grins and nods.

'Has Larry filled you in?' Fatty said quickly. 'According to the Super, Goon's missing. Now, I don't know if that's got anything to do with Uncle Harold, but I came back here yesterday and found a hole in the wall at the far end of the loft and wanted to explore it further but my torch let me down. So today, I thought we could do that. I also found the last piece of the envelope, and it had the name Digby on it.'

'That's the man your uncle knows,' Daisy said. 'The one Larry and I saw him talking to in the car.'

'That's right,' said Fatty. 'Well it seems he's been using this cottage to receive letters from Borovia.'

'Good heavens, whatever for?' Pip asked. 'He didn't live here, surely.'

'No, he was just using it as an accommodation address, I think,' Fatty said. 'That's an address that's just used for receiving letters,' he explained.

'And what do you expect to find in the loft?' Larry asked.

'Mr Goon perhaps,' suggested Bets with a giggle.

'Not a pleasant thought,' Fatty said with a grin. 'To be perfectly honest, I don't know what we might find,' he added and looked around at the others. 'Right, now I'll go round the back and climb through the window and then I'll open the front door for the rest of you.'

He disappeared and a couple of minutes later opened the front door allowing everyone to troop into the narrow hall.

'I'm not sure all six of us should climb up into the loft as it's dangerous and you can easily miss your footing and crash through the floor,' Fatty said. 'And I need someone to take care of old Buster.

'I'll look after Buster,' Daisy said. 'And, anyway, I don't want to go up in the loft as it's probably full of cobwebs and spiders.'

Bets agreed. 'Yes, and I don't think Mother would be very pleased if I got my new overcoat all grubby.'

'Well I don't mind,' Eunice said in a rather superior voice. 'Spiders don't frighten me , I'm used to creepy crawlies. We've got lots of them at home because of my father's work.'

'All right then,' Fatty said. 'Daisy and Bets, you wait at the bottom of the ladder with Buster whilst the rest of us go up into the loft.' He climbed up the ladder and cautiously shone his torch into the dark interior of the loft. 'And for heaven's sake be careful,' he said over his shoulder. 'You must keep to the wooden joists.'

He pulled himself up and then helped Larry up, who in turn helped Pip and finally Eunice. Fatty shone his torch across the loft. 'You can see the hole in the wall, look,' he said. 'We need to squeeze through that.'

They all made their way across the loft being careful to keep to the wooden joists. Suddenly, Fatty stopped in his tracks and shone his torch down at the floor. 'Crumbs,' he said, 'look at that.' He had found the hole that Goon had made the night before.

Larry shone his torch through the hole. 'It's a bedroom, look. Someone must have fallen straight through the floor.'

'That wasn't there yesterday,' Fatty said, 'otherwise I'd have noticed it. So someone came up here after I left and fell through the floor.'

'I wonder who?' Pip said shining his torch around. 'Perhaps it was your uncle, Fatty?'

'Maybe it was that fat policeman,' Eunice said. 'You did say he was missing, so perhaps he fell through the floor and is lying down there badly injured.'

'Goon was here in the garden yesterday because he spoke to me, although he didn't realise it was me because I was disguised as a tramp,' Fatty said getting down on his hands and knees and shining his torch through the hole. 'I can't see anyone. There's a bed right under the hole so if someone had fallen through they would have landed on that.'

'If he had fallen through into that cottage, surely the people who live there would have dealt with him, wouldn't they?' Larry said. 'So he couldn't have fallen through otherwise he wouldn't be missing. Come on, let's explore the rest of this loft.'

'You're probably right,' Fatty said, although he had severe doubts. He stood up and led them to the hole in the wall. 'This is as far as I got yesterday,' he said, 'before my torch packed up. Look, I'll go through first and have a look see.'

Fatty squeezed through the hole and shone his torch around. Crates and packing cases were stacked up everywhere, but there was a meandering path through to the next wall. He crouched down and spoke to Larry whose head was now poking through the hole. 'I'll just go along to the other wall,' he said. 'There's no point everyone crowding in here, there's not much room.'

'All right,' Larry said. 'I'll watch from here.'

Fatty nodded and disappeared among the crates. Larry turned to Pip who was immediately behind him, but before he could say anything there was an almighty crash and a startled cry from Fatty. Larry looked back through the hole. Fatty's torch had gone out and he could only see in the beam of light cast by his own. He could hear the sound of struggling and then silence. He called Fatty's name and waited, but there was no reply.

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