'Let me solve this difficulty,' Conchita suggested. 'Why should we not fly to my old home in Spain? It is an estate of many thousand acres, in La Mancha. My house-servants were loyal to me in the Revolution, and, even if they wished to talk, who could they talk to when the nearest city is Ciudad Real, fifty miles away? The house is in what you call here the back of beyond. We have no neighbours, only little peasant villages scattered over the Great Plain.'
'That's a grand idea,' Rupert agreed, 'as long as no officious person sees us landing.'
She laughed. 'My dear one, the peasantry are so ignorant that they're only just learning to read. How could they possibly know one aeroplane from another, even if they saw it? But few of them will do so, if we land at dawn. And then we will lock the plane away out of sight in one of the great barns.'
'It sounds good to me,' Hemmingway admitted. 'But, wait a minute! If it's a land-plane it couldn't come down on the sea; so you'd never have used it for taking Fink-Drummond to catch a liner. The air reporters will spot that as soon as the story breaks.'
'Fortunately, we're all right there. She's an amphibian, so we could come down equally well on land or water.'
'How about the distance, though? It's clear from what you said just now that to land at any place en route would give the Whole game away. Can you make it in one hop?'
'It's under a thousand miles, and, fuelled to capacity, my new bus could cover three times that distance.'
'How long will it take you to get there?'
'About five hours.'
'Fine. I reckon that's a little longer than you'd need to overtake the Falconia, but not enough to matter. If you leave at one, you'd be certain of having the morning light to land by.'
'Yes, and I'd need that to spot the ship. It's important, too, that I should pass the Spanish military aerodromes while it's still dark; otherwise they might send up a plane to challenge me. I hope they haven't built a drome anywhere near your place, Conchita?'
'No. I am sure I should know of it if they had.'
'That's O.K., then, as I shall fly very high until we have to land.'
■Right.' Hemmingway nodded. 'Now, this is the drill. You go straight home from here, Rupert, get your plane ready, and tell your mechanics you're flying Fink-Drummond out to catch the Falconia off the west coast of Ireland. You're leaving at one o'clock, but you don't want to keep them up once the plane is ready. Say you're taking your fiancee with you just for the trip, and that you expect to be back at—well, whatever you work out to be the normal hour tomorrow morning.
Til take Conchita back to London in my car. She must pack and tell her maids the same story. But, for goodness' sake, Conchita, don't take a lot of luggage, because you're only supposed to be staying up all night. It's hard to ask you to leave most of your things behind, but, strictly speaking, you shouldn't set off with much more than your beauty-box.'
That I understand,' she replied gravely. 'But, as I am flying to my own home, I have no need to do so. For the simple life that we shall lead I have plenty of clothes out there.'
'Good. Then I want you to order a car from Daimler Hire to pick you up at midnight. You must make a special point of insisting that they supply you one which has blinds. Directly you get in the car pull them down, and tell the man to drive to Bryanston Square. You'll find me waiting by the garden railings opposite No. 102. That's Fink-Drummond's house. Luckily, I'm about his height, and dark. I shall be carrying a big suitcase as though for a journey, wearing an overcoat with a fur collar pulled up round my face, and a gangster hat right down over my eyes.
'Directly you drive up in the car I shall jump into it, taking care that the chauffeur doesn't see my face. You will then tell him to drive us down to Rupert's place at Cobham. When we arrive I shall get out with my bag and walk round the side of the house. You'll pay the man off, and tell him to drive back to London. Then ring the front door bell, and when Rupert's man answers it say to him, "Would you tell Captain Brand that we've arrived, and that Mr. Fink-Drummond is so anxious to get off that he's gone straight round to the plane."
'Rupert will be lurking in the lounge listening for your arrival. Directly he hears the butler go to open the front door he will come out into the hall dressed all ready for his flight. He should hear what you say to his man about Fink-Drummond being in such a hurry to get off, and greet you at once with the words: "In that case it's not much good my offering you a drink." He'll then join you on the doorsteps, say good night to his man, and walk with you round to the hangar.
'I shall be there to give a hand with the plane, if necessary, and to see you off with my blessing. After which I'll have to do a cross-country walk of six or seven miles into Epsom, knock up a garage there, and hire a car to take me back to London. Is that all clear?'
The others agreed that it was, and he went on:
'Grand. Now, let's see how things will pan out from there on. I can fix it this evening that a small news paragraph appears in one or two of the leading morning papers, saying that, for urgent private reasons, Fink-Drummond has left England by plane to join his wife, who is on the S.S. Falconia, two days out, bound for New York. The midday editions of the evening papers will carry a more prominent story: "Ex-Cabinet Minister's dash to join his wife on outward-bound Atlantic liner. Famous airman, Captain Brand, engaged at short notice to fly him out. Brand takes beautiful fiancee with him as passenger on trip."
'By midday your people, Rupert, will be getting really worried about your not having returned. They'll 'phone the Air Ministry and the balloon will go up. The late editions of the evening papers will carry a headline story: "Ex-Cabinet Minister, ace airman, and fiancee reported lost over Atlantic."
'The Falconia will radio home that she is keeping a constant look-out, but has seen nothing of you. In the following mornings papers there will be a real hullabaloo, and I'm sorry to say we'll have to cost the country a whole packet of money sending up planes to look for you; but, of course, without result. After a day or two the excitement will die down, and it will be believed that all three of you have been drowned at sea.
'If any of Fink-Drummond's relatives feel that there is something queer about his sudden departure, and start to make inquiries, this what they will learn. That he was last seen at Sam's wedding here, today. Then ...'
'Wait a minute, though,' Rupert interrupted. 'How about the chauffeur in the car that brought him down? His man is bound to wonder what's happened when he fails to leave with the other guests.'
'Say! I'm glad you thought of that. I must fix it. I'll have a message sent him, when people start to go, that he's to drive home empty, as his chief is returning to London with the Mar-chesa del Serilla. That will tie up nicely with the rest of the story later on.
'Getting back to the investigation. The chauffeur will tell Fink-Drummond's relatives that he left here with Conchita. For a few hours Fink-Drummond disappears entirely, and no one will ever be able to find out what he did during that time, but that dovetails with this mysterious personal business on which it Was so urgent that he should see his wife. The Daimler people will say that Conchita hired one of their cars to collect her at midnight, and specially insisted that the car should have blinds.
'Their man will tell his story: that, having picked her up, she pulled down the blinds in the car, and he then drove her to Bryanston Square, where they picked up a man whose face he did not see; but whose description will roughly tally with that of Fink-Drummond. And this man was carrying a large suitcase, as though for a journey. The couple were then driven down to Captain Brand's place at Cobham, where the lady paid the car off.