‘Pinched it, did he?’ he said. ‘Oh! I see now. But I pray and arsk you, sir, don’t ’ave any rowin’ in ’ere. I’ve ’ad a bit of trouble that way already – see?’ He looked at them appealingly.
Martin turned to the others.
‘I don’t think we need do anything in here, do you?’ he said. ‘If Mr Haywhistle will let us wait in his yard at the side, with the gates open, as soon as Whitby comes out we can follow him. How’s that?’
‘That suits me fine,’ said Mr Haywhistle, looking at them anxiously. ‘Now I’ll tell you what,’ he went on, clearly eager to do all that he could to assist them now that he was not so sure of himself. ‘This is wot ’e says to me. Early this morning, about eight o’clock, ’e comes in ’ere with the car. My boy put ’er in for ’im, so I didn’t ’ear the engine running. I came in just as ’e was leaving instructions. As far as I could gather he intended to meet a friend ’ere late tonight and they was going off together in the car as soon as this friend turned up. Well, about eight o’clock tonight, this gentleman ’ere,’ – he indicated Prenderby – ‘’e calls in and spots the car and mentioned buying it. Of course I see where ’is artfulness comes in now,’ he added, beaming at them affably. ‘’Owever, I didn’t notice anything fishy at the time so when the owner of the car comes in about ’alf an hour ago I tells him that there was a gentleman interested in the old bus. Whereupon ’e went in the air – a fair treat. “Tell me,” says ’e, “was ’e anything like this?” Thereupon ’e gives a description of a little red-’eaded cove, which I see now is this gentleman ’ere.’
He nodded at Abbershaw. ‘Perhaps it’s your car, sir?’ he suggested.
Abbershaw smiled non-committally, and Mr Haywhistle went on.
‘Well, what eventually transpired,’ he said ponderously, ‘was this. I was not to show ’is property to anybody, and a very nasty way ’e said it too. ’E said ’e was coming back this side of twelve and if ’is friend turned up before him I was to ask ’im to wait.’
Abbershaw looked at his watch.
‘We’d better get into the yard straight away,’ he said.
Mr Haywhistle glanced up at a big clock on the bare whitewashed wall.