By Stealth tac-9 Read online

  `Put them on! Girls wear dark glasses any time. They think it makes them look sexy. Get after those people, Lee. I want to know what they're up to. Quick march.'

  Lee moved fast. She twisted her long blonde hair and tied it with a bow at the back. Taking a silk scarf out of her capacious hold-all, she wrapped it round her head so it totally concealed her hair. She put on the dark glasses, ran down to the water's edge, and climbed into the small dinghy. A minute later she was purring across the water in pursuit.

  ***

  As soon as their large dinghy had left the landing stage the sun went in and a sold grey mass of low clouds dimmed the light. Despite his dislike of the motion, Tweed was looking all round and not happy about what he saw.

  There was not a straight stretch of water resembling a river in sight. From east bank to west the water was cluttered with grassy islands and it was not apparent where the main channel led its devious way south towards the open sea. Paula shivered.

  `Creepy atmosphere,' she whispered.

  'It could be more stimulating,' Tweed agreed.

  Mordaunt seemed to know what he was doing as he guided the dinghy among the islands and out into a clearer channel. But as they moved south down what was obviously the Beaulieu River the brooding sensation increased.

  Round a bend, they left Buckler's Hard behind, and when Paula glanced back the anchorage had vanished. They had left all relics of civilization behind. On both sides mushy green flats, an almost sinister acid-green colour, spread out towards the main channel as though trying to strangle it. The flats were interlaced with murky-looking creeks. Even the main river was a sullen green colour.

  `This is getting claustrophobic,' Paula said. 'I feel it's all closing in on us.'

  There was something in what she'd said, Tweed thought. Beyond the treacherous-looking fiats rose the dense jungle of the forest, a tangle of firs and oaks crammed on top of each other. They passed a landing stage and beyond it he caught sight of a Tudor house, buried in the foliage, smoke rising vertically from one chimney. Here and there on the river a lonely yacht was tied up to a buoy. No one aboard. They began to sweep round a wide bend. The sun came out through a hole in the grey overcast, a brief shaft. Tweed looked quickly to his right. The sun had flashed off something in the undergrowth. Were they being watched through field glasses? And this was the point where he'd calculated the chopper had descended. Then the sun went in. Paula glanced back, stiffened.

  `There's another dinghy – a smaller one – coming up behind us. I think there's a woman aboard it.'

  `Out for a spot of fresh air, I expect. And it's arctic fresh.'

  They passed several other landing stages, some of which looked derelict. Then Mordaunt called out: 'There we are. That landing stage ahead of us. That's the one for Moor's Landing. Are you sure you want to go ashore? Private property.'

  `A whole village?' Newman snorted. 'Ridiculous.' `Don't say I didn't warn you…'

  He steered the dinghy away from the main channel to a very long landing stage. Freshly painted, railed, the planks seemed to have been renewed. A prominent notice carried the message: INTRUDERS TRESPASS HERE AT THEIR PERIL. PRIVATE. Mordaunt steered the dinghy to the steps. Nield was the first to jump out. As he climbed the steps he appeared to slip, grabbed at the notice board, wrenched it savagely. It came loose and Nield shrugged as he watched it floating off and vanishing inside a creek amid the acid-green marsh.

  `Accidents will happen,' Nield remarked, brushing off his gloved hands.

  Accident my foot, Paula thought. You destroyed the board deliberately. And then made your flip remark for the benefit of Mordaunt. She was about to disembark nimbly when someone gripped her arm to steady her balance.

  `Easy does it,' Mordaunt assured her with his broad smile.

  `Thank you,' Paula said.

  Tweed appeared to lose his balance making his way towards the stern from the prow. He grabbed at the end of the landing stage. The board Nield had wrenched free had been held by only two screws. Tweed was holding on to solid timber where a larger ship would disembark passengers. He looked at the smooth area of fresh wood, unpainted. Something very strong and sharp had sliced a piece out of the timber, neater than if a chainsaw had been used. He made the comment as he joined the others without referring to what he'd observed.

  `I think we've come to the right place.'

  `I'm staying with the dinghy,' Mordaunt called out. 'It needs guarding. Even on the river you get yobbos who make off with any vessel they can lay their hands on. I will wait, of course…'

  With Newman in the lead they began walking down the long bridge to the distant shore. Paula paced herself alongside Tweed.

  `That small dinghy has stopped in midstream. I think the girl aboard is watching us through binoculars.'

  `Idle curiosity, I expect.'

  `I still think I know her. Something about her movements. And why did you say we've come to the right place? I don't see anything that suggests that.'

  `Call it sixth sense,' Tweed replied off-handedly.

  `All right, be enigmatic,' she snapped, and quickened her stride towards the invisible village of Moor's Landing.

  8

  On the surface Moor's Landing appeared to be the kind of village you occasionally see on picture postcards. Stepping off the long railed catwalk they had walked on down a short country lane which ended at the beginning of the main street.

  `It's so picturesque,' Paula said.

  `It doesn't look real to me,' Tweed said in a neutral tone, registering his first impression. He'd found in the past initial impressions were correct.

  They stood close to an old stone well in the middle of a straight cobbled street. On either side were detached cottages with thatched roofs and small walled gardens in front. Tweed counted fourteen cottages, seven on each side. Then the village ended as abruptly as it had started where they stood.

  `No sign of shops, not even a general store,' Nield remarked. 'Just an estate agent half-way down on the right. Strange sort of village. And not a soul anywhere.'

  He had caught something of the atmosphere which had attracted Tweed's attention. All the windows of the cottages facing each other were curtained. They appeared inhabited except there were no inhabitants.

  `Not too keen on this place,' Newman commented. 'It is like a facade carefully presented but hiding something.'

  He was right about the presentation, Paula thought. All the cottages had their white walls freshly whitewashed. The thatch was in perfect condition. Each door was painted a different bright colour. And beside each door was a coach-lamp, gleaming even under the grey overcast which made everything seem more unreal.

  `I don't believe this place,' Paula said. 'What do we do next?'

  `The barman at the Ship Inn did tell us a developer had bought up the place and renovated it,' Tweed reminded her. 'Our next move is to call on the estate agent, pretend we're house-hunting.'

  `So you and I are now Mr and Mrs Gulliver,' Paula decided.

  She switched the two rings she wore on to the third finger of her left hand. Newman loosened his trench coat to hide the bulge of his Smith amp; Wesson.

  `I'm coming with you. Just in case. I'm your adviser.'

  `And I'll keep my eyes open here,' Nield suggested. 'I want to make sure Mordaunt doesn't take off and leave us stranded…'

  There was still no sign of life as they strolled down to the fourth cottage on the right. Even the cobbles seemed freshly laid to Tweed. They paused outside the cottage. A board attached to the wall, its paint peeling, carried the legend 'A. Barton. Estate Agent'.

  Tweed opened the wrought-iron gate, let Paula walk up the path first. She was about to press the bell when the door was opened and a six-foot-tall, heavily built man with remote eyes and no warmth in his manner spoke to her.

  `Yes? What is it? What do you want?'

  `Are you Mr Barton?' she enquired.

  `That's me.'

  `You are an estate agent?'

  `Say
s so on the board up there.'

  `Mr and Mrs Gulliver. We are looking for somewhere to live. This village seems ideal. This is our adviser. May we come in?'

  `Yes, if you want to, but you're wasting your time.'

  She entered a front room sparsely furnished with a trestle table, a fold-up chair behind it on bare floorboards, and several photos, curling up at the edges, displayed in a frame on the wall. Pictures of various properties, some of them clearly cottages at Moor's Landing, all with a red SOLD sticker on them – except for one. She wandered over to the framed board as Tweed and Newman followed her inside.

  A burly man, Barton wore an expensive smart grey suit and a striped shirt with a silk tie, and handmade shoes, which contrasted oddly with his stark surroundings. He stood silently as Paula turned round.

  `It's really one of the cottages here we'd like to see. I suppose someone is thinking of moving if the price is right? And may we sit down?'

  Barton, hands shoved in his trouser pockets, shook his large head. Without any show of enthusiasm he fetched two fold-up canvas chairs leaning against a wall, opened them on the clients' side of the trestle table. As Tweed sat down with Paula, Barton lowered himself carefully into his own canvas seat. Tweed had the impression he hadn't sat in it much and didn't trust it with his bulk. Newman walked over to study the photos.

  `You won't get a cottage here for love or money,' Barton informed Paula in his abrasive manner.

  `Why not?' Tweed asked quietly.

  `Because none are for sale.' Barton glared at Tweed. `That clear enough for you?'

  `No, it isn't. My wife has decided she wants to live here. Money is no object. Your job is to sell houses to earn your commission. You seem to have a funny way of going about it.'

  I told you,' Barton snapped. 'I know all the owners. Not one will sell. Not for any price.'

  `They're all millionaires?' Tweed enquired politely. `They're just settled. Settled! Get it?'

  `Then how do you stay in business?' Newman asked as he swung round to stare at the man behind the trestle.

  `I do have other properties in other areas. But if it's Moor's Landing you're set on, forget it.'

  Paula intervened quickly. She sensed Newman's temper was on a short fuse.

  `In that case what about the Brockenhurst property you've got on your board? It looks like a nice house. Belongs to a Mrs Goshawk, I see. Perhaps you could phone her?'

  `Not at this time of day. She's always out.'

  `Then the best thing is for us to go over there and take a look at it,' Paula persisted. 'I've memorized her address. How do we find Cray's Road?'

  `I'll draw you a map. But she'll be out. Is most of the time. Doesn't help to sell a property…'

  Two minutes later Paula had folded the sheet of paper Barton had used to draw a map on, stood up, smiled, thanked him for his help, and left. Newman was close behind her as she strolled back down the path and looked at the far end of the village.

  An old woman dressed in black was scrubbing her doorstep. It was the only cottage with a badly weathered door and no bright colour on it. She whispered to Newman.

  `Bob, detain that awful boor for me. I want to go and have a chat with that woman cleaning her doorstep – with Tweed…'

  Newman reacted instantly. He turned back, let Tweed pass him, and buttonholed Barton, standing in his way so he couldn't reach the street.

  `Barton, just how long has Mrs Goshawk's house out at Brockenhurst been on the market? We're going to look at it but from the state of your photo that property has been sticking for months…'

  Tweed agreed it was a good idea to talk to the old lady since she was the one person who might know something about Moor's Landing. She looked up suspiciously as they walked up her path and used her hand-brush to scrub the stone even more vigorously. Her first words revealed the reason for her suspicion.

  `If you've come 'ere to try and get me to sell you can turn round and walk straight back where youse come from. This is my 'ome and they'll carry me out when my time comes.'

  `We're nothing to do with that uncouth brute,' Paula reassured her. 'We're trying to find out what's going on here.'

  `Dark doin's, no mistake about that. Who are you, then?'

  `I'm a Chief Investigator for phoney insurance claims,' Tweed said quickly. 'And this lady is my assistant. I don't quite understand, What dark doin's?'

  `I'm Mrs Garnett,' the old lady went on. Her grey hair was tied back in a bun and she continued scrubbing as she talked. 'Know how they got the folk who once owned these cottages out?'

  `No, I don't,' said Tweed. 'But I'm interested.'

  `That developer offers them all double the price they'd get from an ordinary buyer. Greed took all my friends away.'

  `What happened next?' Paula asked.

  `Funny business. Every cottage – except mine – done up posh. Spent a fortune they did. Then sold the lot in three days.' She paused in her work to look up with alert eyes. 'I ask you – houses going in three days – all of them. Except mine. I wouldn't sell.'

  `What sort of people bought them?' Tweed enquired.

  `That's a funny business, too. Professional folk, so I heard. Supposed to work in Southampton. Nearly all men.'

  `You mean several men to a cottage?' Tweed coaxed.

  `That's right. Two or three in a cottage in some. And three of them share the same woman. That's a secret they don't think I knows. Supposed to be married. I never 'eard of one woman being married to three men. They don't fool me with their trick.'

  `What trick was that?' Paula asked.

  `When she came back with a different so-called husband she dressed differently, wore a wig. But I could tell,' Mrs Garnett went on vehemently, 'from the way she moved. One woman doesn't fool another with fancy dressin' up.'

  `You mentioned professional people working in Southampton,' Tweed recalled. 'How do they get there? I don't see any garages – or do they park.

  `Garages are round back at end of street. Old barns converted to take their cars. They can drive off in either direction to Southampton.'

  `I'm surprised there's no village store,' Paula remarked.

  `Was one. Cottage at top end of the street, near the landing stage. When Mrs Rogers sold out they converted it into a cottage to live in, like the rest.'

  `Is the landing stage used much?' Tweed asked casually.

  `Not in daylight. None of them 'as boats. But I sleep light. In the middle of the night about every three months a couple of new men arrive and move in to two of the cottages. Those there moves out. Lord knows where. But they comes and goes by the river. There,' she stood up with remarkably agility. 'Step's finished so I'm goin' to make myself a nice cup of tea.'

  `Thank you for your information,' Paula said. 'Now do take care of yourself.'

  `Got my trusty cudgel. Anyone who tries to move me out ends up with a cracked skull. I own this cottage…'

  As they walked back to where Newman was engaging Barton in conversation it appeared an argument was taking place. Barton was pushing past Newman, red in the face.

  `No cars? I should have spotted that earlier. So you came down the river, used the landing stage. That is private. I may sue you for trespass.

  `Don't talk such tripe,' retorted Nield, who had joined Newman. 'There's nothing to indicate it's private…'

  `Bloody blind as a bat, are you? I'll show you,' Barton stormed.

  They followed him down the lane. Barton's leather- soled shoes created a drumbeat as he marched down the long catwalk. Newman and Nield were close behind him as Tweed and Paula followed.

  `What the devil…?'

  Barton was standing on the landing, staring at where the warning notice had been. Tweed noticed Mordaunt was carefully not looking in Barton's direction as he stood up in the dinghy. Paula needled Barton.

  `You should put up a notice if it's private property.' `There was a bloody notice…'

  `Watch your language, old man. Especially when you're talking to a lady,' Newman sugges
ted amiably.

  `Vandals!' Barton was beside himself with fury. 'You don't expect them on the river but they come. Wreck things just for the pleasure of it…'

  As he raved on Mordaunt helped Paula aboard the dinghy to the same seat at the prow. Tweed glanced downriver, joined her as Newman and Nield came aboard. Mordaunt started up the engine after releasing the rope tying the craft to the landing stage. They were moving out into midstream when Paula also glanced downriver and stiffened.

  The temperature had nosedived, the sky was almost dark as night. And drifting swiftly up from the Solent was a dense freezing fog.

  ***

  Paula's nerves were on edge but she made a great effort not to show it. The freezing fog – like ice mist – had caught up with them, blotted out both banks. It recalled for her the vigil at Lymington marina when she had waited for Harvey Boyd to return. Something was moving up close behind them.

  The fog swirled like dense smoke. She peered back and saw it was only phantom shapes which came and went. At least so they appeared. Tweed sensed her nervousness, squeezed her arm.

  `We'll soon be back at Buckler's Hard,' he said quietly.

  `But how on earth will Mordaunt find his way up the main channel? We could end up marooned in one of those horrid marshy flats.'

  `Seems to know what he's doing…'

  The fog trailed clammy fingers over Paula's face. Just as it had done at the marina. She was living the nightmare all over again. Gritting her teeth, she continued to look over her shoulder, waiting for something huge to drive them under the water.

  They had been talking in whispers. It was an unconscious reaction to the leaden hush which had fallen on the river with the arrival of the fog. Even the sound of their outboard was muffled as Mordaunt followed the familiar course of the channel. Then she heard a slapping noise of water washing against a hull. A second later a distinct shape loomed up to starboard. Paula's gloved hand clenched the plank seat tightly.

  `Just a yacht moored to a buoy,' Tweed assured her.