A Hundred Thousand Dragons by Dolores Gordon-Smith Read Free Book Online Page A

his tongue. ‘AP? I wonder if the driver was a local man.’ He turned to the two policemen who were standing placidly by. ‘Do you know who has a Rolls-Royce in this area?’
    Constable Marsh and Constable Hulme looked at each other. ‘Well, there’s not a lot of them about, sir,’ said Constable Marsh. ‘I can’t say I know them all, like, but there’s Mr Wintergreen over at Lower Haverly. He has one, that I do know. Major Warren of Handcross has one and there’s Sir Philip Rivers of Stanmore Parry, if you’d call that local.’
    â€˜It’s not Uncle Philip’s,’ put in Jack.
    â€˜And then there’s Mr Vaughan of Chavermere, not that that’s so very close by. Those are the only ones I can think of off the top of my head, like.’
    â€˜It’s not Mr Vaughan’s,’ said Jack. ‘He was talking to me last night when the crash happened. His chauffeur could have been driving the car, I suppose. Not that I know he has a chauffeur, of course, but surely Mr Vaughan would have reported it if his car had gone missing.’
    The two policemen looked at each other. ‘But Mr Vaughan’s car has gone missing, sir,’ said Constable Hulme slowly. ‘That was before this car crash, of course. About eight o’clock in the evening, it was. We had a report that Mr Vaughan’s Rolls-Royce had been stolen.’
    Ashley stared at him. ‘And you haven’t thought fit to mention it until now, man?’
    â€˜Well,’ said Constable Hulme, aggrieved, ‘we weren’t investigating the theft this morning, sir, we were investigating this here car crash. No one said anything about investigating the theft.’
    Constable Marsh coughed. ‘Excuse me, sir, I don’t know if it’s anything to do with the theft, but I stopped a Rolls-Royce yesterday evening.’
    â€˜What happened?’ asked Ashley.
    Constable Marsh took out his notebook and thumbed through it. ‘I’ve got a note of it here, sir. It was only a minor infringement of the regulations, though. Nothing to make a fuss about. I didn’t know about the theft, then, of course.’
    â€˜Could this have been the car you stopped?’
    Constable Marsh stared at the car doubtfully. ‘It could have been, I suppose, but it’s hard to say with it being in such a state.’ He found the place in his notebook. ‘Here’s my record of the incident, sir. It was quarter to six p.m. on the 27th instant—’
    â€˜Yesterday,’ put in Ashley.
    â€˜Yes, sir, yesterday. As I say, on the 27th instant, I stopped a motorist in a Rolls-Royce on the Haverly Road. Just coming out of Lower Haverly, he was. I apprised him that his front nearside headlight wasn’t working. It looked like he’d banged it on something. Just coming on for dusk, it were. He thanked me and said that he’d have it seen to at the nearest garage. I told him where that was and he drove on. The registration of the vehicle was –’ he glanced at his book again – ‘AP 6168, sir.’
    â€˜Was it, by jingo? It sounds as if we might be on to something. Constable Hulme, what’s the registration number of Mr Vaughan’s car?’
    â€˜I don’t rightly know, sir,’ said Constable Hulme stiffly. ‘Being as how I wasn’t asked to investigate the theft. There’s a note of it at the station.’
    â€˜Could it have been Mr Vaughan you saw in the car?’ Ashley asked Marsh in a restrained way.
    Constable Marsh shook his head. ‘No, sir. I’d have recognized Mr Vaughan.’
    â€˜Can you describe the man you saw? Was he, for instance,’ said Ashley glancing at the homburg in his hand, ‘wearing a grey hat?’
    Constable Marsh thought for a moment. ‘I don’t rightly know, sir. He was certainly wearing a hat but I couldn’t swear to what colour it was. As I say, it was coming