‘They’re George’s, which is a good thing as Neil will want his tomorrow.’
With both of them working the task was soon completed. She cleaned her boots and then did the same for him. Everything was ready for when the cows came in for milking that evening.
‘Dad and Jack are doing the pigs – we got off lightly today.’
She and Greg had washed their hands and arms and when they’d stepped out of their overalls and wellingtons were clean enough to go inside for breakfast.
‘Good morning, I hope you’re all hungry, there were a dozen cracked eggs today that need to be eaten,’ Mrs B said as they sat down.
‘I’m starving; all that hard work gives a chap an appetite,’ Greg replied.
There was a definite whiff of pig when her dad and Jack joined them. She was used to it but she wondered if Greg would wrinkle his nose. Instead he stood up and shook hands with both of them. ‘Thank you for inviting me, Fred. It’s good to see you Jack. I must say that both of you look tickety-boo.’
‘There’s no need to stand up for us, lad, you get on with your breakfast before it gets cold.’
Three chairs scraped against the flagstones as they sat down. Everyone was too hungry to chat and it wasn’t until they were all on their third cup of tea that conversation started.
Ellie was about to ask what a Spitfire was like to fly when a car pulled up outside. She jumped to her feet. ‘I’ll go. Are we expecting anyone, Dad?’
‘No, love, no one.’
She rushed outside and skidded to a halt. It was a police car. Two men in plain clothes emerged. Before she had time to take in what was happening a second car pulled up and the yard was full of uniformed constables.
*
Jack dropped his cutlery and surged to his feet. ‘Another car’s arrived. Something’s up.’ Ellie was still standing in the doorway which was a bad sign.
‘Two police cars, Jack, what do they want here?’
‘We’re about to find out. One of the detectives is brandishing a paper – it could be a search warrant.’
Greg arrived beside them. ‘I should leave this to us, Ellie, make yourself scarce.’
She remained exactly where she was.
The man with the paper strode up to them. He flashed his warrant card. ‘Chief Inspector Dutton. I have a warrant to search these premises.’
‘Why?’ Ellie stepped forward and held out her hand but he ignored this gesture and just waved the document in front of her.
‘Stand aside, miss, we intend to search these premises.’
The three of them stepped to one side and the detectives and uniformed men poured into the house. She waited until they’d gone before speaking again.
‘Joe has told them about the envelope. They must have gone to the airfield and discovered it’s no longer there.’
‘It seems a bit odd they already had a warrant to search here.’
‘I just got a glimpse and could see it was genuine but I didn’t have time to see anything else.’
‘I’m going to demand to read it,’ Jack said, ‘I think they’re trying to pull a fast one. The warrant will be for the airfield not here.’
‘I’ll stop them searching, you get hold of the warrant and see if you’re right,’ Greg replied.
She glanced towards the kitchen where her dad and Mrs B were waiting. ‘I’ll take care of Dad, I don’t want him involved so soon after his stroke.’
Dutton was about to go into the office. ‘Hey, hang on a minute. You’re not going anywhere until I’ve read that warrant,’ Jack said loudly.
The policeman tried to bluster his way out of it but Jack insisted. He was right – the paper referred to the airfield not Glebe Farm. ‘This is an illegal search, Chief Inspector, I demand that you and your henchmen leave this house immediately. I can assure you there will be a complaint made to the Chief Constable about this. There might be a war on but that doesn’t mean you can break the law yourselves.’
‘This is a matter of state security, sir, that overrides common law.’
‘Quite possibly, but you barged in here under false pretences. Until you come back with the correct paperwork you can sod off.’ Up to that point he’d been rather proud of his self-control, but now his anger had made him less polite.
The detective and his entourage slunk out and the three of them went outside and watched them drive away. He turned to Greg.
‘Thank goodness Ellie kept Fred out of this. The shock might have given him another funny turn.’
Greg nodded. ‘Mrs B will have seen everything. What are you going to tell her?’
‘That it was a mistake?’
‘That won’t wash. She will have heard you throw them out. Remember she was here when Sir Reginald kicked up a stink a few weeks ago – perhaps we can say it was something to do with him.’
‘That’s a good idea. I’ll tell her that fascist said we are communists or something and they were looking for evidence.’
‘As Russia is now allied to Germany, that would make sense.
Ellie joined them and had been listening to the conversation. ‘I told Dad to go outside until the police had gone. Jack, do you mind speaking to Mrs B? Greg and I have so much to catch up on.’
‘Right. You go off. I’ll take care of this.’
Greg put his arm around her shoulders. ‘Shall we go for a walk, Ellie?’
They wandered off hand in hand leaving Jack to sort things out. As the whole bloody mess was caused by his uncle this was only fair. Mrs B accepted his explanation with a shrug. Fred had vanished somewhere.
‘He might be someone important but he was a nasty bit of work, if you want my opinion.’
‘I’ve got to go down to the airfield for a bit, but I’ll be back in time for lunch.’
The other two had obviously forgotten that the office had been searched. The lock was probably smashed and the place ransacked. Good
