The Red Rabbit Inquiry Agency - Book Two

By Lucidus Smith

Book 2 continues with the story of Mac Smith and Carice Offstrop, who have set up an inquiry agency together in Auckland, New Zealand. Mac and his wife, Deborah, have been married for just over a year, and Carice is engaged to Desmond, who manages a hotel in Auckland.
Their office is located above the Moray Restaurant, which is situated in the business centre of Auckland and is owned and managed by Stephen Newn, Desmonds brother. Living in an attic bedroom above the office with his dog, Holborn, is Professor Tymn, who lectures at Auckland University and often assists them with their cases.
Mac and Deborah have become friends with a couple named Caspar and Phoebe Primrose, who own a small farm north of Auckland and who have involved them in their search for a lost gold mine.
This book does not contain bad language, gratuitous violence, or sex scenes.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse UK
• Release date: Aug 12, 2013
• ISBN: 9781491804001

Lucidus Smith

Lucidus Smith is British and was born in South London at the end of the Second World War. He is the youngest of four children, his father working as a wagon maker on the railways and his mother a housewife. He gave his heart to the Lord when he was eleven and was baptised with the Holy Spirit when he was thirty. He qualified as a Methodist lay-preacher in 1991 and during his years as a Christian has attended a range of churches which include Baptist, Methodist, Church of Scotland, Church of England, Christian Outreach Centre and various other evangelical house churches and fellowships. He left school at sixteen and first worked for a London Stockbroker's as a junior clerk and then joined a City financial group where he qualified as a Company Secretary. He next worked for IBM in a variety of roles for twenty years before going back to being a Company Secretary in 1991 with Lexmark International UK Ltd. He retired in 2001. He married Elizabeth in 1969 and they have three sons, all of whom are married and have children. Lucidus first started writing in 2005 on the premise that 'everyone has a book in them' and his first book, 'Blossom in Winter - Frost in Spring', was eventually published in 2010 and this book is now the twelfth that he has written and published.

Book preview

The Red Rabbit

Inquiry Agency—

Book Two

Lucidus Smith

US%26UKLogoB%26Wnew.ai

AuthorHouse™ UK Ltd.

1663 Liberty Drive

Bloomington, IN 47403 USA

www.authorhouse.co.uk

Phone: [phone]

Also by Lucidus Smith

The 'Blossom' Trilogy

Oh for a Ha'porth of Tar

Blossom in Winter—Frost in Spring

Blossom by the Billabong

AND

The Red Rabbit Inquiry Agency—Book One

AND

The Lost Treasure of Pim de Zwolle

(A 17th Century Pirate)

© 2013 by Lucidus Smith Ltd. All rights reserved.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the author.

The characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author. Any institution or organization mentioned in this book is either fictitious or if real, used fictitiously without any intent to portray actual events or situations.

Published by AuthorHouse 08/07/2013

Any medical information contained in this book only reflects the author's opinion and, in no circumstance whatsoever, should be considered as medical advice. If you have any healthcare related questions or problems, please call or see your doctor or other qualified health care provider.

ISBN: 978-1-4918-0292-2 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4918-0400-1 (e)

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models,

and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

CONTENTS

DEDICATION

INTRODUCTION

CHAPTER 1—The Next Clue

CHAPTER 2—Allo, allo!

CHAPTER 3—I Spy!

CHAPTER 4—The Pilot Whale Hotel

CHAPTER 5—The Jade Lion

CHAPTER 6—The Valuation

CHAPTER 7—Pearl

CHAPTER 8—Whistle Blower

CHAPTER 9—Nightmares

CHAPTER 10—The Missing Key

CHAPTER 11—Fishing for Trout

CHAPTER 12—Red Sandals

CHAPTER 13—All Change

CHAPTER 14—Wesley’s House

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

DEDICATION

To Mr. C. S. (Eddy) Edmondson

My very good friend and inspiration.

INTRODUCTION

Thirty six year old MacDonald Smith and his wife Deborah, who is a year his junior, emigrated from England to Auckland New Zealand in August 1950, just four months after their wedding in Spain. Deborah had spent six months in Auckland soon after leaving school and had such happy memories of her time there, that she had persuaded Mac (as he was known to his friends), that New Zealand was the place for them to start their married life together.

Whilst Deborah had been able to simply change jobs, with the big London Insurance Company she had worked for, Mac, who had been a draughtsman in England, working in the planning department of a local council, had to start all over again, searching for a job which he considered to be appropriate, for his age and experience.

During one of the periods that Mac was un-employed, he had undertaken an investigation for his cousin Arnold, who worked for a bank in Australia. During this investigation, he had met a twenty five year old young lady named Carice van Offstrop, who agreed to go into partnership with Mac to form The Red Rabbit Inquiry Agency which opened its doors for business on the 15th January 1951. Whilst Carice had no previous experience of being an Inquiry Agent, Mac had served with the British Military Intelligence during World War II behind the lines in enemy occupied France, as a result of which he had received severe scarring to his face and body.

Their office is located above The Moray Restaurant which is situated in the business centre of Auckland and is owned and managed by Stephen Newn, who is the brother of Desmond Newn, a hotel manager in Auckland and Carice’s fiancée. Living in an attic bedroom above the office, with his dog Holborn is Professor Tymn, who is 62 and a Professor in Ancient History at Auckland University, who had been on hand to assist Mac and Carice with some of their early cases.

Over the first three months of operation, the agency tracked down a missing dog and someone’s brother, solved the theft of a valuable painting and helped to find some Top Secret documents which went missing during World War II, which brought Mac and Carice into direct contact with one of Mac’s old wartime buddies.

Whilst Mac and Deborah (who is about 3 months pregnant with her first baby) live in rented accommodation, Carice rents a room from Brock and Rosie Lewes, who are old friends of Deborah’s father Bertie Bannister and who also now work part-time for Stephen Newn in The Moray restaurant.

During a weekend trip to Paihia, in the Bay of Islands, Mac and Deborah became friendly with a couple called Caspar and Phoebe Primrose who owned a small farm north of Auckland and who told them about their search for the lost gold mine of a man known widely as ‘Wesley the Rabbit’ and who used to own the farm where they now lived. It was believed that Wesley had found gold in South Island, near to a small town called Lawrence, which lies about sixty miles south west of Dunedin and is close to the Tuapeka River. When they discovered that Mac was an Inquiry Agent and an ex-spy, they enlisted his help to crack a code they found in a book which had belonged to Wesley, on the understanding that all expenses and any gold discovered would be split 50:50.

On the 15th April 1951 Mac and Deborah invited Caspar and Phoebe to join them for Sunday lunch as they believed they had managed to crack the code in the book and wished to share the information they had discovered with them.

CHAPTER 1

The Next Clue

It was just gone eleven in the morning when Caspar and Phoebe arrived at Mac and Deborah’s house and although they were both very worried about Phoebe’s father who was ill in hospital, having suffered a mild heart attack, they were both very anxious to hear the ‘good news’ about Wesley’s code which Deborah had intimated on the telephone that they had finally cracked the previous evening.

Goodness we could do with some good news right now, what a dismal three months we have had, said Phoebe, show us what you have discovered then!

Deborah told them the story about them having realised that they needed to work from the back of the book and not from the front of it, so that the last page became page one and so on and then the message Wesley had left started to make sense.

For goodness sake Debs, put them out of their misery and tell them what it said, Mac interjected.

Patience, I was just getting to it, she snapped back, it says, ‘My, own, house, vault, bed, chamber, mine’.

Well I’ll be! said Caspar.

That is truly amazing, well done both of you, said Phoebe.

This means that the clue to Wesley the Rabbit’s lost gold mine has been hidden in some sort of vault in one of the bedrooms of your house, for all this time, Mac announced, all we have to do now is find the clue and we can all become very rich. Time for a celebratory drink, I think!

Hear, hear, they all replied as Mac passed them all a glass of white wine.

You will let us be there when you search your home for the next clue, won’t you Phoebe? Deborah enquired.

Of course, that’s only fair, after all you are the ones who worked out what it all meant, Phoebe replied.

Hold on a minute, they can’t! said Caspar.

And why not? We had a deal remember, said Deborah.

Oh my goodness, he’s quite right, said Phoebe, it’s not that we don’t want you to be there Deborah, we simply do not have the house anymore!

Of course you do, you are living in it remember and you told us that you found the book in a wooden box inside a cash box in the attic, said Mac, wondering what was going on.

Don’t tell us that you demolished the old house and built a new one in its place and didn’t find anything else there, said Deborah.

No of course not, we sold it, said Caspar.

Are you saying that you kept the farm but sold the old farmhouse and built a new house on another part of the farm then? Mac queried, In which case we will have to let these other people in on the treasure hunt as well or just sneak into their house and look for the clue, the next time they are away on holiday.

No, that is not what I am saying, said Caspar. We sold the old house, since it was still in good condition, to a company that buys and sells second hand houses. They came and picked it up on the back of a great big lorry one day and transported it over-night to their yard, where they advertised it for sale.

So moving house in New Zealand has a whole different meaning to what it does in Britain, said Mac.

I guess it does, said Caspar.

Perhaps the house is still for sale and we can go and buy it back, Deborah suggested.

Perhaps so, Phoebe replied, why don’t I ring you with the address and then you could go and look for yourselves. They might get suspicious if we turned up there asking about our old house. I have some photographs of it at home; I will look one out and send it to you, if you like, so you will know what to look for.

Even if we find it, I am not sure how it helps as we may have to take it apart to find the next clue, Mac pointed out, and neither the company nor the new owner, if there is one, will let us do that, will they?

So how does it work, this buying a second-hand house? asked Deborah.

Quite simple really, you buy a piece of land, tell the council what you want to do and show them details of the house you want to put there and they will tell you if it is a suitable dwelling for that area and what fees they will charge and what actions you need to take regarding services etc. The whole process could take less than six months, if everything was straight forward.

What are you thinking now Deborah? asked Mac.

It would be nice to have our own place for when the baby comes and it might be cheaper to do what Caspar just described rather than buy a new house, or purchase one which is already on its own site. How big was this old building and why did you decide to get rid of it?

It was an old weatherboard house, with two bedrooms, a lounge, dining room, kitchen and bathroom, we just wanted a larger brick house this time, there was nothing wrong with it, which is why the company were happy to buy it off us, Phoebe explained.

It sounds a bit like the size of my old flat Mac, maybe we should go to an estate agent and ask about suitable plots of land to put it on, Deborah suggested.

Well as it happens, my parents have been talking of selling off half of their land as it is just too big for dad to handle these days, it’s a nice spot by the park in New Lynn, which is just on the edge of town. They have a few local shops, a school and a church plus regular bus and train services to get you into town.

How big is the whole plot? asked Mac.

It’s quite large, about two thirds of an acre I would say and before you ask, we have no idea how much they would want for it, but they have mains water and electricity already and a telephone, so you could easily connect into those service, but you would have to put in your own septic tank and of course use bottled gas, like we do, Caspar informed them.

Caspar, I really want to get back to the hospital and see how dad is now, said Phoebe looking at her watch, you two think about what we have told you and I will ring you in a couple of days and we can chat about it again, is that alright?

That’s fine, you go Phoebe, Mac and I have a lot to talk about and I hope your dad is up and about again soon, said Deborah, getting their coats for them.

Their visitors left and Mac and Deborah sat down with a cup of coffee and chatted about what to do next.

Were you serious about us getting our own place Debs?

I don’t see why not Mac, we both like it here in Auckland and I am getting a lot less rent for my flat in Fulham than I should be, so I was thinking of selling it anyway. I only have a small mortgage compared to what it is worth now, so if we sold the flat and used the money to buy a piece of land and put a second-hand house on it, it would make a lot of sense, don’t you think.

I agree, but let’s not rush into any hasty decisions; we can wait for Phoebe to send us the address of the second-hand homes company and to check out if her parents really do want to sell half of their plot of land. We can also make separate enquiries with an estate agent to get an idea of how much everything might cost and I could call in at the council offices and see what they have to say about it. I presume your insurance company will offer you a similar mortgage deal to the one you had in London?

As far as I know they will, but I will speak with my boss Neil about it tomorrow, it would be so nice to have our own house to bring up our child in Mac

I know it would Debs, he replied.

The next day was Monday so they both went off to their respective offices in town, Deborah to the hurly burly of a large international insurance company and Mac to the peace and frustration of a two man struggling Inquiry Agency.

Morning Professor, hello Holborn how are you today boy, Mac said to the big shaggy dog who had come bounding over to the top of the stairs to greet him.

And a good morning to you Mac, I trust you had an excellent weekend?

I did thank you and yourself?

A bit quiet to be honest with you, Holborn and I went for several walks along the beach, so not a lot to report really.

How are the plans for your next ‘dig’ in Egypt coming along?

We are getting there slowly; six of my students have signed up to come with me in September, so it is just about viable, I will probably write to my old friend at the British Museum this week some time and tell him to include us in his plans. Oh, while I think of it, Carice telephoned to say she was unwell, upset tummy or something, I said I would let you know.

Thank you, I will call her later, do you want a cup of tea or have you had one? Mac asked, as he walked through to their shared kitchenette.

Yes please and yes, but I am down to just two lumps these days you will be pleased to know and I don’t want to worry you Mac, but there was a funny noise as you were walking through to the kitchen just now, it sounded like you had something stuck to the sole of your shoe.

Oh darn it! said Mac, looking at his shoe, The sole is hanging off, do you get your shoes repaired round here by any chance Professor?

I use Hedwards Shoe Repairers, down the road from the barbers. The owner is the father of one of my previous students. Tell him Professor Tymn sent you.

Why will he give me a discount?

No, but I will be able to ask for one the next time I go there.

Good for you! Where is Stephen today? Unlike him not be here when I arrive for work.

It appears he has a group of farmers booked in for a dinner tonight and they have particularly requested turkey to eat, for some reason best known to themselves. Stephen left early this morning to go and pick up the birds from a couple he knows who have a smallholding somewhere out of town, by the main railway line to Rotorua I think he said.

The two men chatted over their tea and biscuit and then Mac said he was going to the shoe repairers to get the sole of his shoe fixed.

Do you have something else to put on your feet or do you intend hopping back here after you have handed your shoe over to Mr. Hedwards?

Good question and no I don’t, what size shoes do you happen to take?

Eights and you?

Nines. I don’t suppose you happen to have a pair of plimsolls’ do you, as they are often on the large size?

The last time I wore plimsolls’, you were probably still wearing short trousers at school. How about carpet slippers, they might fit? the Professor suggested.

The slippers were duly fetched from the bedroom and although a bit tight, Mac decided they would do the job and put them in a shopping bag which Carice always kept in her desk drawer and set off for the Shoe Repair shop. As he clip clopped down the street Mac received quite a few stares and giggles and was relieved when he finally reached the shop and went in.

Good morning sir, how can I help you? asked a man in his fifties who had the air of being the proprietor.

Mr. Hedwards? asked Mac and the man nodded.

My good friend Professor Tymn suggested I come here and ask for your assistance.

Did he now? So that means he will be expecting a discount next time he comes here, which means I will have to charge you a bit more this time, to make up for it, sir.

In that case, I have never heard of a Professor Tymn and he most definitely did not send me here, does that work for you?

It most certainly does sir. Now what can I do for you, if I didn’t already know?

The sole has almost come off my shoe and I was wondering if you could fix it for me please?

That is what I do for a living sir, so there is every chance that I can fix it for you, if you would care to hand the shoe over to me.

As Mac was wobbling around on one foot, trying to take his shoe off, the shop door suddenly flew open, almost knocking him over and a very stout elderly lady came in. Mac steadied himself against a pillar, whilst anchoring his right foot, which still had the good shoe on it, firmly to the ground, causing the door to bounce back from his shoe, catching the lady squarely on the forehead, with devastating consequences. She shouted out in pain and started to