They climbed over the fence into Larry’s garden. Buster squeezed through a hole.
“Gosh—I’d forgotten we were in the middle of tea,” said Fatty, pleased to see the remains of sandwiches and cakes on the grass. “What’s happened to some of these potted-meat sandwiches? Your cat’s been at them, Larry.”
“Buster—on guard!” said Larry at once, and Buster growled and looked round for the cat.
They finished their tea, talking about the two robberies. After a time Buster growled again and went to the fence. “Must be Goon over the other side, doing a spot of detecting,” said Fatty with a grin. “Let’s go and see his turnip-brains at work.”
Goon was busy looking for prints and clues. He was most irritated to see three heads looking over the wall at him. They watched him solemnly as he measured and marked.
“Look! He’s found a foot-print!” said Larry, in an admiring voice. The back of Mr. Goon’s neck went scarlet but he said nothing.
“Now he’s measuring it,” said Daisy. “Oooh, isn’t he careful?”
“Brains, Daisy, brains,” said Fatty. “What can we do against brains like that?”
Mr. Goon felt as if he was going to burst. Those children! Toads! Pests! Always in his way, buzzing round like a lot of mosquitoes. He made a very dignified retreat into the kitchen, rather hurried at the end when he discovered that Buster had squeezed through the hole in the fence and was after him.
“Clear-orf!” he shouted, slamming the door in Buster’s face. “You clear-orf!”
Fatty Makes Some Plans
Fatty called a meeting down in his shed the very next day. Larry and Daisy arrived punctually, and Pip and Bets soon after. Buster greeted them all exuberantly, as if he hadn’t seen them for years.
“This is a proper meeting,” announced Fatty. “An official one, I mean. We’ve got our mystery all right—and we’ve got just under four weeks to solve it. That ought to be plenty of time!”
“Yes, it ought—for old hands like us!” said Larry, grinning. “Did you tell Pip and Bets all about yesterday’s robbery next door to us? Do they know everything?”
“Yes. I went to tell them last night,” said Fatty. “We’ve got to make plans this morning.”
“What? Lists of Suspects and so on?” asked Bets eagerly.
“We haven’t got a single suspect,” said Fatty. “Not one! It’s about the only mystery we’ve ever had with two crimes and no suspects at all. Most extraordinary. It’s going to be difficult to get on with the case till we find a few suspects to enquire about.”
“We’ve got plenty of clues,” said Daisy. “Footprints—glove-prints—coughs—bits of paper. . . .”
“What’s your plan, Fatty?” asked Pip. “I bet you’ve got one.”
“Well, I have, as a matter of fact,” said Fatty modestly. “It’s like this—all we’ve got to go on at the moment is what we think the thief looks like—big-footed, heavy-handed, clumsy, with a deep, hollow cough—and we’ve got two bits of paper possibly dropped by him—and if they are addresses or names, which they probably are, we must watch those addresses or people.”
“Yes,” said Larry. “And what about asking the grocer, the baker and the postman if they saw any sign of a big-footed fellow yesterday afternoon, when they delivered their goods in our road?”
“I was coming to that,” said Fatty. “It seems to me we must split up a bit and each do a job, as we usually do.”
“Oh dear,” said Bets. “I’m really not much good by myself.”
“You’re one of the best of us,” said Fatty warmly, and Bets blushed with pleasure. “Who solved the mystery of the Pantomime Cat, I’d like to know? You did, Bets—oh yes you did—without your bright idea about it we’d never have solved it! So just you do your bit this time too.”
“Oh, I will, Fatty,” said Bets earnestly.
“Now you, Larry, go and interview the postman,” said Fatty. “And you, Pip, go to the baker. If he’s the same one that Jinny at Norton House called in to help her, the one who searched the upstairs rooms for her, all the better. He may have noticed something about the two cases that we haven’t.”
“Right,” said Pip. “I believe he is our baker too.”
“And you, Daisy and Bets, go and interview the grocer’s girl,” said Fatty. “Apparently it’s a girl who delivers Harris’s goods—that’s the grocer. Go and get her to talk—listen to all she says—remember it, and we’ll piece together everything when we meet again.”
There was a silence. Everyone wondered what little job Fatty had kept for himself.
“What are you going to do?” asked Bets.
“I’m going to disguise myself,” said Fatty, and Bets gave a squeal of joy. “And I’m going to go and watch Frinton Lea, just to see if any big-footed fellow lives there! If I watch the house all day long I may see something.”
“But, Fatty—you’ll be noticed if you stand outside all day long,” said Daisy. “Besides—what about meals?”
“I’ve thought of all that,” said Fatty. “Leave it all to me! I shan’t tell you my disguise. When you’ve done your jobs you can come along and see if you recognize me. I’ll be within fifty yards of the house all day long—visible to everyone—but I bet you anything you like that nobody will pay a moment’s attention to me!”
They all stared at him. He stared back, his eyes twinkling. “We shall spot you at once,” said Daisy.
“All right. Spot me, then,” said Fatty. “Now, come on—let’s get going. Clear-orf, all of you—and let me disguise myself!”
They all went off, laughing, wondering what Fatty was going to do. They were absolutely certain that they would spot Fatty at once. So would everyone else notice him, surely. How could anyone loiter outside a house all day long without being noticed? And what about meals? There was nowhere down by Frinton Lea where he could have even a snack. There were fields behind and the river ran just in front.
“I’m going back home to wait for the baker,” said Pip. “He comes to us about twelve o’clock, I think.”
“Oh, that’s an awfully good idea,” said Larry. “I’ll come with you, and wait for the parcel postman to come to your house too. Then we can keep each other company.”
“He may not come,” said Pip. “We don’t always have parcels.”
“I’ll have to chance that,” said Larry. “I don’t feel like going to the post office and asking to interview the parcel postman there, in front of everyone! I half thought I’d have to do that at first!”
“What about the grocer’s girl?” said Daisy. “Do you have Harris for your grocer, Pip? If you do, Bets and I can be with you and Larry, and we can all be together.”
“No, we don’t have Harris,” said Pip. “Let me see now—what roads does the girl deliver to in the mornings? I’ve seen her somewhere. I know she only goes to your part of the town in the afternoon.”
“I know! She delivers down at the other end of the town,” said Bets suddenly. “I was at Mrs. Kendal’s once, with a message for Mother—and the grocer’s girl came then. We could go and wait about for her there, Daisy.”
“Right. Come on,” said Daisy. “Good-bye, boys—don’t start playing a game and forget all about your job!”
“Don’t be silly, Daisy,” said Larry, quite annoyed. The boys went off to Pip’s and the girls went off to the other end of the town.
They were lucky because they didn’t have to wait very long. They sat in the small dairy near Mrs. Kendal’s, eating ice-creams, keeping a watch for the grocer’s van.
“There it is!” said Bets suddenly, and Daisy looked up, to see Harris’s yellow van coming round the corner. It came to a stop nearby.
Daisy and Bets paid quickly for their ice-creams and hurried out. They were just in time to see the grocer’s girl jump from the van, hurry to the back, undo the door, and drag out a big box piled with groceries.
“Let her go in with it first, and then we’ll speak to her when she comes out,” said Daisy. They walked slowly to the back of the van. Then Bets saw that a little packet of soap powder had fallen out and was lying in the road.
“It must have fallen out of the girl’s box,” she said to Daisy, and bent to pick it up just as the grocer’s girl came out again, this time with her box empty.
“I say—you dropped this,” said Bets, holding it out.
“Oh, thanks very much,” said the girl gratefully. “I missed it when I took the things in just now. I’m in an awful hurry this morning—had an interview with the police, you know. About the robbery at Mrs. Williams.”
This was just the opening the other two wanted. Daisy seized on it eagerly. “Oh, did you really? Did you know that I and my brother lived next door to Mrs. Williams, and we rushed in to help her?”