'I presented myself at the firm's offices, said I was interested in their goods, and my people might be willing to do business with them. When it came to prices they were remarkably low and they told me the goods could be delivered from their warehouse in London. They haven't got one actually: I checked up on that, but they intended to supply me with contraband through one of their agents here, of course, so I decided to place an order anyhow, and get a fresh line on their methods of delivery, but I made a lot of fuss and bother as I didn't want to clinch the deal until I'd got in touch with the lady herself.
'At my third call I was lucky. They'd evidently come to the conclusion I was a troublesome sort of bird and called her in to vamp me into signing up. She's the goods all right I'll give her that but not quite the type that appeals to me and, anyhow, when I'm on a case I'm about as cold as Mount Everest. I asked her if she'd take lunch with me just to celebrate this new business tie-up we were making between her firm and mine. She didn't want to, I could see, although butter wouldn't have melted in her mouth to all outward appearances. I don't flatter myself I'm the sort of chap a woman like that would waste her time on out of office hours either, but this was business and the order I was proposing to give made it worth her while to treat me nicely, so she came along. Seeing the sort of woman she was I took her to the Meurice.'
'The devil you did.' Gregory grinned. 'Lunched her at the Meurice, eh. By Jove! If that's the way the police treat suspected persons I shall consider turning crook myself.'
Wells laughed a little ruefully. 'Lord knows I'll never get that back on my expenses account. The prices just made me shudder; but she's a sport all right. As far as talk and apparent interest in me were concerned she really did me proud. If I hadn't known what was behind the scenes, and been a genuine buyer of ladies' underwear, I might almost have thought she'd fallen for me; but being a policeman puts you wise to the way women can act pleasant when they want to and not think another thing about it the second you've gone out of the door.
'After that lunch I hadn't got much for'arder, but she was paged wanted on the telephone outside and she left her bag behind. That was my big opportunity. You bet I took it. You'd be surprised how quick trained fingers can go through a lady's bag in an open restaurant with everybody looking on but no one noticing; and inside was the telegram addressed to Corot.
She'd evidently written it out ready to send off just before leaving her office.
'I had no time to make a copy so I pinched it. Only thing to do. Then when she got back, although I'd paid the bill and we were just about to make a move, she asked for a liqueur and more coffee, so we sat on until the restaurant was nearly empty. She had warmed up quite a lot by then and really started in to vamp me properly.'
Gregory kept a perfectly straight face but his humour was intensely tickled by the vision of the delectable Sabine stooping to conquer this nice but unsophisticated young policeman in complete ignorance that he already had her taped.
'She asked me if I'd ever been to Deauville.' Wells smiled. 'I had it as a matter of fact. Then she told me she was off there that afternoon and began to chip me about being a staid unadventurous English businessman: "Why not come too?" she said. "Take a few days' holiday. I shall be there and the bathing is delicious on that long sunny beach. I have many engagements but I like you and would put some of them off in order to be with you. Tonight now, I have to dine with a friend but I have no engagement for supper. You tell me that you are not married? All right then; forget your business for a few hours and meet me at midnight tonight in Deauville to give me supper. That is romance."
'Well, it might have been romance, if she'd really meant it that way, though of course I knew she didn't. I was wondering what the game was and couldn't guess what she was after but the opportunity to follow her up seemed far too good to miss. As I had a plane at my disposal I put it to her that I'd fly her down to Deauville if she liked.
'She said, "yes" to that and we had another ration of Cointreau on it. I met her again at Le Bourget at half past five, by arrangement, and flew her to the sea. We took a taxi from the airport to the town and she pointed out the place where she would meet me that night. I’d asked her already where she'd like to have supper but she said she knew a little place that would just suit us. In the meantime, there were all sorts of reasons why we should not be seen together; which of course, if I'd been the businessman she thought I was, would have added to the romantic mystery of the game. I turned up at the Customs sheds that night just as she had told me and she picked me up a few moments later. You know the rest.'
Gregory nodded: 'So that's why the telegram was on a sending form and had never been despatched. Obviously she missed it from her bag almost immediately after you'd pinched it and made up her mind that she must get it back. It would have been easy enough for her to send a duplicate but she didn't want you to retain possession of the original and, I suppose, she had to have a bit of time to make her plans before she could arrange to have you laid out.'
'That's about it,' Wells agreed. 'If I hadn't been a fool I should have made a copy of it and mailed it off to the Yard that evening; but she was so charming after lunch that I don't mind confessing she really made me half believe she'd developed one of these sudden passions for me as I've heard some foreign women do. It never occurred to me she was after the telegram, but you got that in the end, didn't you? Although you never told the Superintendent so.'
'No, since he wouldn't cooperate,' Gregory smiled, 'I kept it dark, but I acted on it and went over to the Cafe de la Cloche last night.'
'The Super guessed you'd got it so he had you shadowed all yesterday. I left Heston only about ten minutes after you and I sat around the Grand Hotel doing my best to comfort myself with sandwiches while you had a damned good dinner; because I was afraid that you'd recognise me if I went into the restaurant. When you left I went after you in a taxi but, as a little time elapsed before I could get one, the fool driver failed to pick you up and took the wrong road, so the only thing I could do was return to the airport and keep your plane under observation. That was a cold and miserable job enough but I stuck it until you turned up hours later and I was in the air within two minutes of your leaving the ground. I hadn't the ghost of an idea what you were up to, but I thought there was a real chance you were on to something, so I sat on your tail until you landed here outside the park.'
Gregory grinned. 'D'you mean to tell me that you never even saw the smugglers' fleet?'
'Not a sign of it. I didn't even know there was one although, of course, I assumed they were running the stuff in by air.'
'No. I suppose you had your eyes glued on my plane all the time and that's how you missed spotting the others.'
'Why in the world didn't you follow them?' Wells expostulated. 'It was a chance in a thousand to find the place where they actually land the stuff.'
'Naturally I meant to but it wasn't quite as easy as all that. I lost them in the clouds somewhere south of Ramsgate and I only picked up a single plane that landed here when I came down low over Thanet later on.'
'This is one of their receiving bases then?'
'I don't think so.' Gregory shook his head. 'The plane I followed in wasn't a cargo carrier. I had to land outside the park, as you know, but I managed to get into the grounds in time to see Lord Gavin Fortescue, Mademoiselle Sabine, and a couple of men, who were probably pilots, leave by car.',