THE NEXT MORNING, I made a special effort to be on time. If Miss Kleinman was going to be certain to be there to let me in, I didn’t want to be rude enough to turn up late. But the earlier time meant the Underground was less crowded and everything seemed to run more smoothly than I was used to, making me even earlier than I had intended. As I followed the crowd out of the station, I wondered what to do. I certainly didn’t want Miss Kleinman to think I’d been forced to wait again after she had been so particular about arriving to let me in. I was just considering whether or not I had enough time to get tea at one of the nearby shops when I heard my name being called, “Miss Pengear? Miss Pengear, is that you?”
I turned and saw Mr. Morris weaving his way through the crowd pushing towards the exit. I waved and continued up the stairs until I could separate myself from the press and wait for him by the railing around the entrance.
“As you can see, I’m early today. No waiting to be let in. Will you walk with me?”
As we walked, he made small talk. “How is the job going?”
I wasn’t sure how much he was supposed to know about it. “Very well.”
“And I suppose you’re liking seeing all that jewelry. We may not be the biggest shop in town, but I like to think we have some of the best designed pieces.”
I remembered that he was the designer. “It’s all beautiful.”
“Here we are. Good morning, Miss Henderson. I hope you haven’t been waiting too long.”
“Not at all, Mr. Morris. I just got here, in fact.”
I saw her slip a cigarette case into her pocket. So maybe he was a bit too early for her tastes.
Mr. Morris pulled out his keys and went to unlock the door. He hesitated as he slid his key into the lock.
“Something wrong?” Miss Henderson asked.
“I’m sure it’s nothing. It just feels like the lock isn’t, I don’t know, quite its normal self. Oh well.” He slid his hand into the slot and got the door open.
As Mr. Morris passed into the small entranceway, he turned back. “Did you try the bell, Miss Henderson?”
“First thing I did in case Miss Kleinman was here. No one answered.”
“Stay behind me, girls.”
“Why?” I asked. When he didn’t answer, I followed him inside. He had stopped part way down the hallway and was staring at a light coming from under one of the closed doors at the end of the hall.
Miss Henderson looked over my shoulder. “That should have been put out when we left last night.”
“It was,” Mr. Morris said. “I checked as I was leaving the shop.”
“And Mr. Kleinman would have checked all the offices before he locked up.”
Mr. Morris walked briskly down the hall and grabbed the knob. “Let’s see what it is. Maybe someone came back last night to get some paperwork or...”
Miss Henderson and I crowded behind Mr. Morris to look through the door. It opened into a short hallway that led to the foyer outside of the vault. Everything in the hallway looked fine until I saw the door leading to the foyer was wide open.
Mr. Morris rushed forward and through the other door. Miss Henderson and I followed him.
“Don’t touch anything,” I called.
Mr. Morris had already made it to the vault and had his hand on the open door. He pulled it away quickly. “Yes, yes. The police. They’ll want...” He stared blankly in front of him.
Miss Henderson and I joined him at the vault door. Several of the small boxes had been pulled out of place and left open and empty on the floor. There were small jewelry boxes and bits of tissue paper scattered over the floor, but no real destruction. Mr. Morris started looking in the boxes.
I put a hand on Miss Henderson’s arm to stop her from following him. “We’ll have to contact Scotland Yard. I’m sure they’ll want to see exactly what we found.”
“Yes, yes, of course.” Mr. Morris stopped touching things and left the vault. He looked quite pale and his hand was shaking as he ran it through his hair. “There’s a telephone in Mr. Kleinman’s office. I will inform the Yard. If you girls would wait and let the others know what’s happened as they arrive?”
“How about I make you a nice cup of tea,” Miss Henderson offered. “In fact, we could all use some. So will the others when they get here.”
Mr. Morris nodded. “I suppose they will. Miss Pengear, if you’d wait for the others?”
“Of course.”
I watched Mr. Morris and Miss Henderson go back towards the office, then returned to the back door to wait for the rest of the staff. As I walked through the hallway, I glanced into each room I passed and behind any furniture I ran into. I was hoping our thief had left, but I didn’t want to be the one to discover that we’d interrupted him mid-crime.
~ * ~ * ~
Miss Kleinman was the first to arrive. “Good morning, Miss Pengear. It seems everyone else was even earlier than me this morning. Is there something wrong with the display room?”
I sighed so she would have a hint that something was indeed wrong. I could see from the way her eyebrows twitched that she’d caught my tone. “It appears someone broke into the vault,” I said as matter-of-factly as I could.
“What?” She pushed past me and sprinted down the hallway to the open door. I followed her, ready to suggest she not touch anything, but she was more sensible than Mr. Morris and just stood there, staring at the mess.
“Mr. Morris is calling Scotland Yard,” I said more to announce my presence than anything. “And Miss Henderson is making tea.”
“Both very worthwhile tasks. And I take it you were waiting to soften the blow.”
“Something like that.”
“I suppose we won’t be able to see what was taken until Scotland Yard’s had a look. You said there was going to be tea? Why don’t you get a cup. I’ll wait for the others and send them back.”
“If you’re certain you’d rather not...”
“I need to think for a minute. There’s quite a lot to be done.” She wandered towards the employee entrance without really looking at me. I went to the employee lounge. Miss Kleinman clearly needed to be alone for a few minutes.
Miss Henderson had tea set out and was digging through the cupboards for something to go with it. “Did I hear Miss Kleinman?”
“You did. She’s watching the door.”
“I’ll fix her a cup. Do you think chocolate biscuits are all right? They’re a little stuck together.”
“I doubt anyone will notice today.”
Miss Henderson nodded and left the packet on the table while she prepared a cup for Miss Kleinman. Mr. Morris came into the room and began unsticking the biscuits and stacking them on a plate without being asked. “They said they’re sending a man over. He should be here soon.”
We both nodded.
There were footsteps outside the door and another young woman came in. She was wearing the same navy skirt and shirt as the other shop girls only it seemed somehow neater on her, and she had her hair pulled back severely. I had the overall impression that she was trying very hard to be as precise as Miss Kleinman, but it wasn’t natural to her. Miss Henderson looked up. “Miss Eaton, did you see?”
“The robbery? Yes, Miss Kleinman told me.”
“And have you met Miss Pengear?”
“The typist. No, yesterday was my day off. Hello.”
I smiled, but she was already in the cloakroom putting away her things.
Miss Henderson finished pouring out and picked up one of the cups. “I’ll just bring...” but her hand was shaking and she sloshed tea onto the saucer. “I suppose I’ll drink this one.” She put the cup down and spooned some more sugar into another cup. “Would you mind?”
“Of course.” I didn’t think Miss Kleinman was the type to take sugar in her tea, but I had been told countless times it was good for a shock. I picked up the cup and decided against bringing her any of the half-melted cookies. The last thing she needed was chocolate fingerprints when she spoke to whoever Scotland Yard sent over.
On my way to the door, I passed Miss Fairfield just coming in. “Is it true?”
I nodded. “If you’re careful, you can glance through and see the crime scene; just don’t touch anything.”
She peered around the edge of the door, taking my warning very seriously. “What a mess. Miss Kleinman will have fits when she sees what they’ve done to her system.”
I thought she’d be having fits about quite a bit more, but I held my tongue. No point in panicking anyone. “There’s tea in the lounge.”
Miss Fairfield nodded and gave the crime scene a last look before tearing herself away and continuing across the hall.
As I approached the back entryway, I could hear Miss Kleinman’s voice, a steady irritated whisper that occasionally flared up into audible anger.
“Douglas, surely you see, in light of...”
“No, I don’t see. If the piece is still there, then why worry?” I could hear a slight note of, not nerves, more too much bravado to be believable, but he didn’t seem exactly worried either.
“Douglas, we don’t even know what the insurance company will say about this. You know what they're like; they’ll both try to pawn us off on the other. And if something happens to the Heart of Night...”
“Deborah, in my work with the company, I have...”
“What about my work with the company? Doesn’t that count?”
“Well, I handle...”
“The creative. I handle the business. The money. The creditors, if something should happen to...”
They both stopped speaking abruptly. At first I thought they’d realized I was listening in, but then I heard Miss Kleinman say, “Good morning, Mr. Garver,” in something very close to her normal voice. “There’s been a problem, I’m afraid. A break-in.”
I heard Mr. Garver whisper, “Good God.”
“The police have been summoned. We won’t know the extent of the trouble until they’ve had a look around. I believe there’s some tea in the lounge.”
Mr. Garver hurried past me, still looking like he was in shock. I pretended I had just been coming down the hall. “Miss Kleinman, we thought you might like some– Mr. Kleinman, I didn’t realize you were here or I would have brought you something as well.”
“Just arriving, Miss Pengear. Don’t trouble yourself. I have some things to attend to.”
Miss Kleinman took the cup from me gingerly, expecting to be burned, I realized. When she noticed the cup was lukewarm at best, she gave me a wry smile. “You heard?”
“A little, I couldn’t help it. I didn’t want to interrupt...” You’d think with the amount of eavesdropping I managed to do, I’d have learned a more graceful way of admitting to it.
She nodded. “Well, maybe the police will tell him he’s being a fool. He certainly doesn’t listen to me. But of course I’ll get to fix the mess.” She leaned against the wall. “Did you manage to get any tea? I’m going to stay here and wait for everyone else to arrive.”
I had the feeling she wanted to be alone, so I returned to the lounge.