Chapter 16

“All right. How long will you be?”

“He said ten minutes, but who knows? Depends on where he is taking me. I hope it is not a dungeon and a cosh!”

He laughed, delightedly. “You should be so lucky!” He concluded, “Have fun.”

I went out the front door, and pulled the Yale lock shut behind me, then walked with the sergeant to the back door of the car. We both got in, and the driver took us back to the street.

As soon as we were on the road, the sergeant said, “If anyone asks later, I wanted you to look at mug shots of teenagers, to identify Jimmy’s friends. O.K?”

“Fine. What is it really about?”

“Your bosses want you to know that the Egyptian artefacts are items stolen from a museum in Egypt, twenty-five years ago. They intend to extract them soon, so act surprised when you hear about it.”

“Got you. Anything else?”

“Yes. Miss Frobisher is an undercover cop. I have just been told about that, so I could pass it on to you. Keep mum.”

“I already guessed. I am trying to get her to leave the household before her cover is blown. I think it should go through okay, if nothing else happens.”

“Right. That’s it. Can you look at the pics now?” The car drew up at the side of the road. He pulled over an album that was on the seat beside him, and flipped it open. “Speak when you recognise any of them.” He showed the first picture, then the second, and occasionally I would say “Him”, until we had gone through the album to the end.

“That’s it. You identified all five of them, and I have noted their numbers, with Jackson as witness.” I suddenly noticed that his driver was watching over the back of his seat, and nodded to him in recognition.

“Hello, Jackson.” I acknowledged.

“Sir,” he responded.

Blenkinsop announced, “Right. Back to the house for you, Jeeves.”

Five minutes later, we were at the gate, and Blenkinsop was announcing to the microphone, “Police with Mr. Jeeves being returned unharmed.” He smiled at his little joke.

We got to the front door, and I got out. Sergeant Blenkinsop called out to me, “Thanks for your help, sir.”

I responded, “Any time, sergeant,” and waved them away. I came to the front door and used my key to let myself in. This was one of the few times I had to let myself in. It felt strange.

I was no sooner inside than Jones came hurrying through.

“What did they want, Jeeves?”

I smiled nonchalantly at him. “No need to panic, Mr. Jones. The sergeant just wanted me to view photos of teenagers, to identify the other boys that were in the group that accosted me. I think they already knew who they were, but wanted me to pick them out without prompting. I was able to spot all of them, quite easily. It surprised me that I could, considering the event was short and it was some time back. My memory must be better than I thought it was.”

“It seemed to take quite a while.”

“It did. He insisted I look at every photo in the book, before he told me my score. There were hundreds of pics, and I had to look closely at every one of them. By the time I got to the end, I was bleary-eyed, I can tell you.”

He looked a little disconsolate as he said, “I have to report this to Mr. Dawes, Jeeves.”

I looked at him as if surprised at his concern. “Well, of course, Mr. Jones. That is your job, to report all unusual occurrences. Just as it should be. That saves me having to report it to him, boring as it was.”

I went off jauntily, to recheck my daily schedule against the current time.

It took another 24 hours or more before the latest action brought itself to my attention. I had been informed by Mr. Dawes that his enquiries had produced nothing definite about the Egyptian objects, except that his associate was not the original owner. The provenance was still not established, and was looking more dubious by the day.

As we spoke about it, his phone rang, and he took the message. It was from his vault owner. I listened to the conversation as it took place.

“Mr. John Dawes?”

“Yes.”

“This is the London Safe Depository. We regret to inform you that we had a break-in last night, and your lockers appear to have been opened.”

“What is missing, if anything?”

“We cannot tell, sir. Only you have knowledge of what these lockers contained. It is the way we operate. We offer these lockers for your use, and it is up to you how you use them. We offer a rental facility; that is all.”

“But what about the high value contents?”

“As I say, sir, the contents were, and are, up to you. If you value them, it is up to you to insure them. Do I take it you did not insure the contents?”

“I certainly did not. I thought they were safe with your company.”

“We feel the same way, sir. We take precautions against intrusion, but these measures failed to prevent the break-in last night.

As per our contract regulations, our insurers place a value of one hundred pounds per locker, for any break-in or similar theft. You have eleven lockers, so you should be in line for an eleven-hundred-pound compensation pay-out.”

“That is rubbish! My ancient art collection is worth thousands!”

“Then I hope you have adequately insured it sir, for your lockers are empty.”

“Someone is going to pay for this. What exactly happened? Explain to me about this theft. How did they break in? I was assured it was impossible.”

The other voice became hesitant. “Sir, it appears someone had access to the keys for entering the vault area. They appear to have come in through the front door, with keys. Then they passed the next door, with OUR key. That gave them access to the locker area. And they accessed your lockers.”

“I thought you had the place wired for all sorts of things – sound, pressure pads, alarms set off by any sort of unauthorised entry. Is that not so?”

“You are correct, sir, but all of these alarms were negated, and we do not understand how. Even the CCTV pictures fail to show the intruders. It is as if the CCTV system was switched off, which is impossible.”

“Impossible? Yet it happened?”

“Umm ... yes, sir. The impossible happened.”

“So you are wiping your hands of this, and showing no desire to help your clients?”

“Client, singular, sir.” The voice sounded apologetic.

“What? Your supposedly impregnable vault was walked into, and all that was taken was MY eleven locker contents? I suppose they had keys to that as well?”

“No, sir. Your lockers had the locks drilled out. It seems that they didn’t have keys to these.”

“But how did they know which lockers to target?” He was furious. “The lockers are simply numbered, aren’t they?”

“Yes, sir. We don’t understand that. It is puzzling.”

“I think someone is targeting me and my possessions. I shall have my lawyer sue you for failure of your duty of care with my property.”

“I should warn you sir, that your contract with the vault includes a limited liability clause, which your lawyer will make himself familiar with, before he does anything else. This restricts what you might try to claim from us.”

“Be sure of it!”

“You should also be aware that you will have to prove what the contents were, and their true value.”

“Got you there! My butler and I photographed the contents very recently, so I have pictures of the whole collection, and a witness to their presence.”

“Good for you, sir. You would of course have to agree with our insurers on the value of the items in question. We cannot simply take your word for it.”

“Don’t worry. I am already embarking on a valuation exercise; I can assure you.” Dawes sounded triumphant.

The other man was unconcerned. “Very well, Mr. Dawes. I shall send you a claim form for your lawyer to complete, and we can take it from there.”

“Right. Goodbye.” Dawes slammed his phone closed.

He turned to me. “You heard that, Jeeves?”

“Indeed, sir. Most distressing. It sounded as if the entire break-in was aimed at your assets.”

“That was my impression too. Someone has it in for me.”

“Do you know anyone who has access to the kind of knowledge and technology to perform such a sophisticated break-in? One presumes Miss Frobisher does not possess such skills, nor suitable connections.”

“Frobisher? No, she hasn’t a chance. Incidentally, I have spoken to her and she is amenable to a suitable settlement on departure.”

“That sounds satisfactory, Mr. Dawes. One less problem to contend with. Do you wish to consult with my company, to ensure that I was also unable to be involved with the vault break-in?”

“You, Jeeves? No, I know you had no connection with it. You never even saw the key I was using to enter the vault, never mind access to the vault company’s key.”

“Oh, thank you, sir. I was not expecting such approbation.”

“No, you have been an excellent helper to me since you arrived, Jeeves. Getting you was one of my better decisions.”

I backed off, bowed slightly, and left him to his deliberations.

My routine returned to normal, and I also returned to the shops. This time I made no contact with my bosses in London, so that I was not establishing a pattern. I purchased a few items for my personal pleasure, and walked back to the mansion. I had no encounters in either direction, for which I was grateful. I did encounter a heavy shower, so that on my return, I was pretty wet despite my overcoat.

I took the opportunity to have a shower in my quarters, and dress in clean clothes before taking my wet togs to the laundry for washing and drying. There I met Jennifer, who looked decidedly unhappy.

I asked her what was wrong. “Is there a problem with chef, Jennifer?”

“No, Mr. Jeeves. My boyfriend got hurt. He was attacked in the street by a bunch of thugs.”

“Interesting,” I commented. “Did any of them have names?”