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 16: Some Things Become Clear

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Larry turned to Pip and Eunice.

'Something's happened to Fatty,' he said. 'I'm going in after him.'

Pip grabbed hold of his shoulder. 'Wait,' he whispered. 'You don't know what's in there, Larry. It may be dangerous.'

'I don't care,' Larry said shaking off Pip's hand. 'Fatty needs help.'

'What's going on?' Eunice said shoving Pip out of the way. 'What's happened to Frederick?'

'I don't know,' Larry said. 'I heard a crash and Fatty's torch went out and there was a struggle.'

'Frederick,' Eunice shouted. 'Frederick, what's happened?'

And what exactly had happened to Fatty?

He had begun to make his way across the loft, squeezing between the crates and boxes, when suddenly his torch was knocked from his hand and someone grabbed him from behind and pushed him forward onto a large trunk, knocking the wind out of him. Now in the dark, Fatty tried to struggle, but he felt an iron grip around his neck and the weight of a man bearing down on him.

Suddenly, he heard the others calling his name. The man pulled Fatty to his feet and shone a torch in his face. 'You're just a boy,' he said sharply. 'What are you doing here?'

'We're looking for Constable Goon,' Fatty managed to say, although that was not the whole truth. 'He's missing,' he added struggling against the grip of the man's strong arms.

'Who's with you?' the man snapped.

'Just some friends,' Fatty replied. 'Just kids, like me.'

'Tell them you're all right,' the man said quickly.

'But who are you?' Fatty asked.

'Tell them you're all right,' the man repeated.

'I'm all right, Larry,' Fatty shouted. 'I dropped my torch and banged my head on a crate as I bent down to pick it up, that's all.'

'I'm coming in,' Larry shouted back and began to squeeze through the hole with Eunice pushing him from behind.

'No, it's all right,' Fatty shouted back, desperately trying to stop him. 'Really, Larry, I'm fine.'

But it was too late, Larry had got through the hole.

The man holding Fatty turned him round and, still holding him by the collar of his coat, pushed him towards the hole in the wall. Larry's torch lit up Fatty first. 'Oh, there you are,' he said. 'I thought something had...' Suddenly he saw the man behind him and stopped in mid-sentence.

'You kids,' the man shouted across the loft. 'We're all going back to the cottage at the end.'

'But...' Larry began.

'No buts, just do as I say,' the man said.

Eunice had managed to get through the hole now and stood up. She immediately saw Fatty, and the man holding him, in the light from Larry's torch.

'What on Earth do you think you're doing,' she shouted. 'Let go of him this instant.'

The man holding on to Fatty laughed. 'I've just told your friend here, Miss, to turn round and go back to the end cottage which is where I assume you came in.'

'I'm going nowhere until you let go of Frederick,' Eunice retorted stubbornly.

'Do as he says, Eunice,' Fatty said. 'You too Larry.'

Eunice gave a loud huff and crouching down squeezed back through the hole, followed by Larry.

'You're next,' the man said shoving Fatty down. 'And don't think about acting the goat,' he added.

Fatty did as he was ordered and struggled his way through the hole, followed by the man. Eunice, Larry and Pip were on the other side looking concerned.

'I'm all right,' Fatty said once he was through. 'But I think it would be a good idea to do as we're told.'

'The cheek of it!' Eunice said.

'Do as your friend says and make your way back to the loft hatch of the end cottage,' the man said giving Fatty a push in the back.

They made their way back to the open loft hatch. Pip was the first to reach it. He called down to Bets and Daisy: 'There's trouble, I'm afraid. We're all coming down and we have someone with us.'

He climbed down the ladder, followed by Eunice and Larry. 'What's going on?' Daisy asked, 'and who's with you?'

'Ask Fatty,' Larry said. 'I've no idea who it is.'

Fatty climbed down the ladder. 'Keep calm,' he said, 'I'm sure he's not going to hurt us.' Fatty was not at all sure the man intended them no harm, but he hoped to reassure the others, especially Bets.

They all gathered on the landing as the man climbed down the ladder. On reaching the bottom, he turned and Larry, Daisy and Fatty immediately recognised him.

'Mr Digby,' Fatty exclaimed.

The man frowned. 'You know me?' he asked sharply.

'Yes,' Fatty said, 'you came to my house looking for my uncle and then you came again a couple of days ago, don't you remember?'

'Your uncle is Harold Trotteville?' Mr Digby asked.

'That's right,' Fatty replied, 'he's staying with us in Peterswood.'

'Then I assume you're Frederick Trotteville,' Mr Digby said.

'Yes,' Fatty said puzzled by the man's sudden change of tone.

Mr Digby pointed down the stairs. 'I think we should all go down to the sitting room,' he said. 'I want to ask you some questions.'

With Bets and Daisy leading, the children slowly walked down the stairs and into the sitting room. Mr Digby stood in the doorway and looked around at them with a stern expression on his face.

'Quite a gang,' he said and then smiled. He looked at Fatty. 'Your uncle told me about you.'

'But you met me,' Fatty said, 'when you came to the house last week.'

'So you say,' Mr Digby said. 'Now, Frederick, suppose you tell me exactly what you and your friends are doing nosing around in empty cottages and dangerous lofts.'

'We'll do no such thing,' Eunice said putting her hands on her hips. 'We've just as much right to be here as you. Suppose you tell us what you're doing here.'

'You don't have any right to be here, young lady,' Mr Digby said, 'and I'll answer your questions in good time.' Mr Digby lit a cigarette. 'You might be surprised to learn that I know quite a bit about you, and if I'm not mistaken you call yourselves the Five Find-Outers and Dog.' He frowned. 'But you seem to have added another to your number.' He looked directly at Eunice. 'And I think you must be the addition.'

'Eunice is a friend of mine who happens to be staying with me for a couple of days,' Fatty said. 'But I'm intrigued that you know about us.'

'I make it my job to know who's who,' Mr Digby said. He looked at Larry and Pip. 'There are some chairs in the other room, suppose you bring them in here.'

Larry and Pip went to the door.

'I'll help them,' Fatty said.

'No, I'd like you to stay here,' Mr Digby said. 'They can manage perfectly well on their own.'

When Larry and Pip had returned with the chairs, Mr Digby told the children to sit down. 'The girls can sit on the chairs and you boys on the sofa,' he said. 'Sorry if they're a bit dusty.'

When the children were all seated, Mr Digby addressed them. 'I have it on good authority that you kids are trustworthy and so I am going to give you some information that is confidential.'

The children looked at each other. It was strange to be sitting in this dark cold room in the light of a torch. Occasionally, they could hear people walking past outside the window, but it seemed to the children that the world outside was suddenly miles away from the one they now found themselves in.

'My name isn't Digby, it's Johns,' the man said. 'The real Mr Digby is at this moment on holiday in a nice warm country, paid for by the British government. I work for the police, you might say, and I am here to discover the whereabouts of two scientists who have disappeared and whom we fear have gone over to the enemy.'

'Defected,' Bets said and then put her hand over her mouth as Pip nudged her.

'You're quite right, young lady,' Johns said, 'they probably have defected and intend to give away some of our country's most vital secrets.' He looked at Fatty. 'You say we've met, but the person you met was the real Mr Digby. He's rather absent minded and surprised us by coming to Peterswood early by mistake before we had a chance to talk to him. When we did catch up with him, he agreed that I could take his identity and in return we packed him off abroad for a short spell in the sun. I'm somewhat younger than he is, so I've had to disguise myself to look older.'

'I noticed that you had a limp, whereas the real Mr Digby didn't,' Fatty said.

'Yes, I'm afraid that's an old wound of mine,' Johns said with a smile. 'Very observant of you.' He paused for a moment and then continued. 'Frederick, as you know, your uncle works for our embassy in Borovia, but what you don't know is that at present he is also working as an agent on behalf of our government. He discovered that two scientists working on sensitive projects in Britain had connections with Borovia, but before he could warn us about them, they went into hiding with the intention of escaping to Borovia and taking our secrets with them. We brought him over to Britain because he can recognise one of the enemy agents.'

'Where is my uncle?' Fatty asked.

'To be honest with you,' Johns said, 'I don't know. I received a message from him two days ago to tell me he was going up to London to follow up a lead.'

'My uncle told me that he was going up to London, too,' Fatty said. 'Then we received a telegram to say he was staying over for a couple of days. I thought it was strange that he should have sent a telegram rather than telephone.'

'Perhaps he didn't send the telegram,' Johns said.

'You mean someone else sent it?' Larry asked. 'But why, unless...' He looked at Fatty.

'That's just what I was thinking,' Fatty said. 'Perhaps he's being held prisoner.'

Johns nodded slowly and frowned. 'That could be the reason, yes.'

'And what about Goon, then?' Eunice said. 'Is he a prisoner too?'

'Well, I learnt this morning that the local Bobby has gone missing and someone has crashed through the floor in the loft and made a large hole in the ceiling of the cottage next door,' Johns said. 'That must have happened in the night because it wasn't there yesterday. I've been in that cottage to look around and there's no evidence of anyone having been injured in a fall, so that doesn't account for his disappearance.' He lit another cigarette. 'The cottage at the other end of the terrace was the one in which a couple of Borovian agents were holed up. They used the loft to send secret radio messages to their contacts in Borovia. I discovered that that cottage had recently been let and I managed to get into this one, which was conveniently empty. I made my way through the loft space and began to listen in on their communications. The scientists, however, were not there, but were in another hiding place in Peterswood, but we couldn't find out where. We didn't want to move in and arrest the agents without being able to get hold of the scientists as well, so we had to wait.' He looked at Fatty. 'Your uncle was asked to keep an eye on this terrace whilst I had to go to another part of the country to follow up on a lead that, sadly, amounted to nothing. He got into this cottage one night and went to the far end of the loft where he was able to listen in to the conversation on the other side of the wall. What he overheard, I don't know,' Johns said, 'because I never saw him when I returned and now he's disappeared.'

'Did my uncle steal the keys from the house agents?' Fatty asked, 'only I thought he did.'

'No,' Johns said, 'he didn't need to steal any keys. I had a key to this cottage and I gave that to him when I went away. I also left the rear window slightly open. As far as I'm aware, no keys were stolen from the house agents in the village, or at least not by your uncle or me.'

'So Goon was right, they were just mislaid,' Fatty said. 'And are the scientists in the end cottage or not?' he asked.

Johns gave a rye smile. 'No, they were never there. The cottage was just used by the Borovian agents. But I think your uncle may have heard where the scientists were and that's why he disappeared, because he may have traced them and got caught in the process. The cottage was abandoned in a hurry last night. I've been through it with a fine-tooth comb, but there are no clues to tell us where they've gone. They installed an old lady so that no one would be suspicious. She's very deaf, poor thing, and is now being cared for.'

'And no-one knows where Goon is, either,' Fatty said.

'No, and something else is worrying me,' Johns said. 'PC Goon was looking after the ten year old grandson of his daily help who had to go into hospital after a fall in the snow, and now he's missing too.'

'Crumbs, Fatty,' Larry said, 'you were right to be concerned, this is awful.'

Fatty frowned. 'What can we do?' he asked.

'Look,' Johns said, 'what I have just told you is confidential, and if what I've been told about you is true, then I can rely on you not to discuss it with anyone. Your uncle, the policeman and the boy may be in serious danger. They must have been panicked when they found the local Bobby sniffing round, which is why they've abandoned their hideout in the end cottage. The best thing any of you can do is to keep your mouths firmly shut and let the professionals sort this out.'

He took a small notepad from his pocket and wrote something down which he then handed to Fatty. 'This is a telephone number where you can leave me a message,' he said. 'If you have any contact from your uncle, let me know.'

'I will,' Fatty said taking the paper and putting it carefully into his pocket.

'And now, I think you'd all better leave,' Johns said and stepped back into the hall.

'But there are so many things I still want to ask you,' Fatty said standing up.

'Leave it to the professionals,' Johns said ending the conversation.

The others stood up also and following Fatty, made their way in silence to the front door.

Outside, the bright light hurt their eyes.

'We need to go straight back to the shed and discuss this properly,' Fatty said. 'I know this is serious and quite possibly dangerous, but we made no promises except that we wouldn't discuss it with anyone and I'm not happy to just sit on my hands and do nothing, not whilst Uncle Harold, Goon and that boy are in danger.' He looked at the others. 'Come on, Find-outers,' he said, 'we've got work to do.'

As they walked along the frozen street, Pip turned to Larry. 'I wonder what's happened to Goon?' he said.

'I don't know, Pip,' Larry replied grimly. 'But I've got a very bad feeling about all this, very bad indeed.'

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