Mrs Parker, Carol's housekeeper, has taken in three orphan siblings, Roger, Susan and Benjy. The three children have been evacuated from London after they lost their mother and home. Mrs Parker does not ask permission from Carol, and when Carol hears the children's laughter on waking up, she is furious and tells Mrs Parker and Figgs, the butler, that she wants them out. The children hear her, and that is not the best start. It seems that children is a sore point for Carol. She and her husband Charles married, and it is not clear whether they were in love for real. Carol had the attentions of Charles and his best friend, Simon Dean, but she chose Charles because he appeared more confident and adventurous. However, when Carol failed to get pregnant, things deteriorated, and when he decided to go into action instead of training pilots, they had a terrible row, and they parted ways angrily. Now Charles is missing, and we know that he was shot down in France and captured by the Germans. He tried to escape, but he was recaptured.
Carol apologises to the children, telling them that she said some things that were not appropriate because she got news that her husband is missing. Roger, the eldest, is still wary of her, but Susan understands that Carol is very sad. And Benjy is just too young to have an opinion.
Then we are introduced to Herbert Williams, the bank manager in Exeter. He is a very stiff man, who sticks to routine. The relationship with his wife, Cynthia, and his children, Roderick and Mathilda, is not warm at all. That morning in December he leaves home for the bank at his usual time, and two men are watching him.. When he is gone, they grab cricket bats and walk to the house. Once in the bank William gets a call and wonders what Cynthia wants because she is the only one who has this number. Cynthia then tells him to listen and do what they want him to do.
Caro goes to the airfield to talk to the captain and Simon, and they tell her that she will be informed if they hear more about what has happened to Charles. On the way back she notices that the bank is surrounded by police cars, and she identifies Chief Inspector Clarence Hopcroft (Chops). The thing is that the nightwatchman, Fred Morrison, has been shot in the chest and all the money in the vault has been stolen. The strange thing is that the alarm was set after the money was stolen.
The children have been walking in the woods, and when they are on their way to the house, they come across a car speeding. When they get home, they tell Mrs Parker, and when Carol arrives, saying that there has been a robbery at the bank, the children tell her about the car, and the man driving him was dark-haired and had a moustache. Carol thinks that this man could be involved in the robbery, so she phones the police. I imagine that the thieves threatened Herbert, so he helped them to steal the money, but the nighwatchman may have walked in on them, and one of the thieves must have killed him.
No comments:
Post a Comment