73. The Decoy
In which Gantry is given a job…
The stoat poured herself a second cup from the thermos while @Thehorticulturalhussie and @DauntlessDamson talked over their options in whispers.
“Getting in is no trouble,” said Hussie. “The gate lifts off and the door takes under a minute. But the moment the generator starts or an arc light goes on, the stoat will be at the door.”
“Explosion down...” said DauntlessDamson.
“No explosives.”
“Stone through...”
“Fenella Burnish has only just put them in.”
“Open gate, cows...”
“She’d shut the gate and sit down again,” said Hussie. “Whatever we do, even if it takes her some time to sort it out, she’ll be straight back in the Daimler. We need her gone for the night.”
“Hm,” said DauntlessDamson.
@JanesLittleGirl had been watching the Daimler through a gap in the hawthorn. “There’s only one thing she’ll leave for,” she said, “and that’s the fifth window. So we have to give it to her.”
“But Graphic needs to install it tonight,” said Griffin.
“Not the actual window,” said JanesLittleGirl. “The crate. If she sees the crate in the back of my car, with Griffin, Gimbal and Graphic sitting on it, she’ll come after us. Even better if @Hedgehogforshort is in the front with me. She’s hard to miss.”
“But we have to be here,” said Gimbal. “Graphic can’t be in your car as well.”
“In the dark, any three gerbils will look like you three,” said JanesLittleGirl, “we’ll take the ones we can spare.”
“Can we come?” asked Gumshoe. “I’m a very good detective.”
“And I’m very good at being somebody else,” said Guile.
“Yes,” said JanesLittleGirl. “You two are exactly the gerbils I want to take.”
“Do we go in the glove compartment again?” asked Gumshoe.
“Not this time. I need you to be where the chauffeur can see you.”
“But you need three gerbils,” said Guile. “Who else will you bring?”
JanesLittleGirl leaned down to them and whispered, “We’ll take Gantry, because we need all of the shouting. But nobody tell her yet, or she’ll shout about it. Hedgehog will let her know when it’s time.”
“How will you get the car away from here so she can see you?” asked Graphic.
“Don’t worry about that,” said JanesLittleGirl. “I have a plan.”
Moments later, @EdithStourton and @MarieDeGournay had the crate standing next to the car, and took the wool and straw packaging out, laying it in the long grass. Then they lifted the Winchester window out of the crate and placed it carefully on the wool. Graphic placed one paw on the glass the moment the packaging was removed and refused to take it off. When it was lying flat, she sat beside it, still touching the panel.
Edith and Marie then picked up the crate lid and placed it back on the crate.
“If they’re going to be gone all night, they will need some food,” said Gimbal, “but so will we.”
Griffin said, “Then let’s take all the hampers out of the car, and leave one for them.”
Gimbal agreed and counted them out until there was one left, then she read the list taped inside the lid of the remaining hamper. “This one is for Tuesday,” she said. “Marie de Gournay said we would have Tuesday’s tomorrow.”
“And they’ll be eating it tomorrow,” said Marie, “so it’s the right one to leave in the car.”
Gimbal considered this, nodded, then patted the lid of the hamper in satisfaction.
Hedgehog agreed she would sit in the front of the car, then she looked at Gantry and put her hand over Gantry’s mouth before Gantry could say anything.
“You have a very important job to do tonight, so you must come too,” said Hedgehog. “We need somebody loud and you are the loudest gerbil at the Bluestocking. So when I nod, you will put on the interior light above the crate so the stoat can see it. You will only shout when we say, and when we do say, you can shout as much as you like. But until I do that, you must say nothing.”
Gantry drew herself up to her full height and puffed out her chest.
Hedgehog paused then said, “I am now going to take my hand away, and you must be quiet. Can you do that?”
Gantry nodded and Hedgehog took her hand away. True to her word, Gantry said nothing, though everyone could see how much effort it took.
When the crate, Gumshoe, Guile and a very quiet Gantry, who had put both paws over her mouth, were settled into the estate, JanesLittleGirl took off its handbrake and began to steer it out of the field gateway and out to the back lane. Hussie, DauntlessDamson, Marie and Hedgehog pushed at the rear, while the stoat sat in the Daimler watching the lane in front of the chapter house.
Once they had pushed the car 250 metres, JanesLittleGirl stopped. “She won’t hear the engine from here,” she said, and climbed in behind the wheel. Hedgehog walked round and sat next to her, waving at Marie, Hussie and DauntlessDamson as they walked back the way they had pushed without a word.
JanesLittleGirl started the engine and drove the estate into the village. She turned into the chapter house lane with the headlights off, and drove at walking pace, exactly as she had driven in the night before. At the far end, they could see the Daimler facing them in front of the chapter house. JanesLittleGirl stopped twenty metres short of the other car.
Hedgehog nodded. Gantry reached up and switched on the light.
“Griffin, no!” hissed JanesLittleGirl. “Turn it off!”
“SORRY!” shouted Gantry, louder than Hedgehog had ever heard her say anything.
“I said be quiet,” said JanesLittleGirl.
Through the windscreen, Hedgehog saw the stoat put down her cup and pick up her cap. Then the full beams from the Daimler’s headlights flooded the estate with light.
JanesLittleGirl threw the car into reverse and drove back up the lane faster than Hedgehog had known an estate car could go backwards.
“Now, Gantry,” said Hedgehog.
Gantry stood up on the crate. “SHE’S SEEN US!” she shouted. “SHE’S SEEN THE WINDOW! MIND THE WINDOW!”
The Daimler pulled out after them. JanesLittleGirl swung round at the end of the lane and made for the main road with the inside light still on and the Daimler’s lights behind them, and Gantry kept shouting.
“That was terrific, Gantry,” said Hedgehog, “nobody else could have done that.”
“I KNOW,” shouted Gantry.
Hedgehog was about to say something else when a light moved in the wing mirror. She turned round in her seat, but the crate filled the back of the car, and she could see nothing past it.
“Gumshoe,” she said, “you’re the detective. Tell me what the stoat is doing.”
Gumshoe climbed to the top of the crate and pressed her nose against the rear window. “She’s driving with one hand,” she said, “and she’s holding a telephone to her ear with the other.”
“WHO IS SHE RINGING?” shouted Gantry.
“The Margrave,” said Hedgehog.
https://myrtlelion.substack.com/p/73-the-decoy