The police were searching every house within a five-mile radius of the station and that included every outhouse, stable and barn, every greenhouse. Every standing building was being searched from top to bottom, and the Thames Valley police pulled in every man possible to sweep the area. Scotland Yard’s Robbery Squad were already at the scene of the raid as hundreds more officers were drafted in to the immediate area to assist in the search. No vehicle had been found, no witness; the raid appeared to have happened without a single person seeing it.
The police interviewed the women and they all stated they were at home together the entire evening, went to bed at around eleven fifteen. They had heard nothing and kept up a bewildered act that might have been up for an Oscar, as they asked what had happened. A murder? A rape? A kidnapping? But they were told nothing as the uniformed officers began the search outside. They searched every cupboard, every chest and wardrobe, the roof, the chimneys, under the floorboards, the sauna area. The police were polite, diligent and stayed there for almost eight hours until they had to move on. They found nothing.
By lunchtime the press had arrived and now it was headlines in the evening papers: the biggest train robbery in history had taken place and Thames Valley were using more than four hundred officers to comb the entire area. By now the police knew that a man masquerading as a police officer had daringly held up the train, and the robbery had been committed by possibly five or six men. They had been armed, and the public were warned that if they should have any evidence or suspect anyone, they were to act with caution as the men were deemed to be dangerous. The owner of the speed-boat had been arrested but released after questioning. The signal box attendant, Jim, had also been questioned and released as the police drew up the lists of suspects. They had, as yet, found no evidence, and had no clues as to the present whereabouts of the stolen money. The amount was not disclosed.
The women did not dare believe they had got away with it as the searches and questioning never ceased throughout the first three days after the robbery. Helen of Troy had been examined but not taken in for questioning, as Julia joked with the police.
Everyone in the area who owned a horse was contacted. Even the local stables were questioned and their horses examined but the train driver could only describe the horse that had been standing on the line as shiny and black. The rain-soaked cape had made Helen of Troy appear that colour but as she was chestnut brown, it let her off the hook.
Every day they came and went away. Dolly knew she was a prime suspect but, if she was, they didn’t take her down to the station for questioning. They didn’t take any of them in; they just continued to comb the area. Norma’s cottage became a stop-over for the locals to drop in for tea. She had arrived home on the morning of the raid and, although she had invited a search, hers was the only house that was not done over. They had a look at her three-year-old hunter, but she assured them he was in no way capable of riding across live cables. She suggested they maybe try the nearest circus.
The officers had laughed. It was the audaciousness of the crime that couldn’t help but hook them all in. It was called the Wild West Hold-up by the Sun and from then on every paper referred to the raid in jokey cowboy terms.
In some ways Norma was disappointed that when all the excitement had gone down — a raid at her local station no less — she had been on duty outside a cinema in the West End for some big charity. The crowds had got out of hand and she had been called in with two other officers, but nothing untoward had happened apart from a soaking as it had rained all night long. By now she had replaced her cape and hat but it had been a long, boring, wet night.
The police now believed that more than one horse had been involved. They had discovered the scattered hoof-prints in and around the lake but, as the riding school took pony treks up that way, it became more and more difficult to ascertain how many there were, let alone from which direction they had come. The women had been using the same routes as the stables so the ground was covered in hoofprints and droppings.
There still remained the fact that not one vehicle had been traced or stopped by the road blocks, put up within ten minutes of the raid. But as the motorway was only a short distance from some of the narrow lanes, they could not exclude the possibility that the robbers could have got through.
The village was agog, the lanes filled with sight-seeing tourists who hampered the police, as did the riders from all the local stables. The ribbons to cordon off certain areas were removed at night but officers were retained on day-and-night duty, digging up wells, searching every inch of the railway lines, every tunnel and pothole, every drainpipe left on the surface of the ground.
On the fourth day, Dolly almost had a fit when she saw John and his workmen filling the skip over the lime pit. They were stacking it with rubble from the old greenhouse. It remained half filled and she just hoped that by the time it was moved, the lime pit would have done its job.
The women gardened, hoed the vegetable patches, cut back and pruned trees, appearing busy and unfazed by the continued search. But the paranoia was starting. They were worried about the dustbin liners filled with money and they couldn’t understand why they hadn’t been found. Did the police know about them? Were they waiting for them to collect them?
Julia was eventually instructed to visit Norma, just to suss out the safety of their precious money. She had severe doubts when she called on her because, as Norma opened the door, she could see three uniformed coppers sitting in her kitchen. ‘Hi! Long time no see,’ Julia said breezily.
‘I meant to call you,’ Norma said, stepping back. ‘Come on in, coffee’s on.’
‘No, I won’t. You’ve got company.’ Julia remained on the doorstep but gave a loose wave to the men who stared at her.
‘Don’t be stupid, come on in.’
‘Another time,’ Julia said, but the officers appeared behind Norma. They had all been at the manor at one time or another and were pleasant to Julia, who was still standing on the doorstep.
‘Thanks for the coffee, Norma.’ They began to file out and Norma looked at Julia. ‘Go in, help yourself.’ Julia hesitated and then went into Norma’s hall. She stood watching as Norma hurried down the path. The officers stopped and turned towards her, as she called after them, ‘It’s just a thought. You wanna walk round the back with me?’
They seemed a bit puzzled but realized she wanted to say something so followed her round the side of the house out of sight of the front door.
‘Look, I know this might sound odd, but have you searched my barn?’
They grinned. ‘Why? You telling us you got the money, Norma?’
‘No, I’m serious. It’s just that I don’t think you have. I know you’ve been in the stables and backyard but has anyone checked out my big barn?’
They saw she was serious. ‘Why?’
Norma kept her voice low, stuffing her hands in her pockets. ‘Well, I dunno. That bunch from the manor, they’re all ex-cons, you know. She’s one of them.’ Norma looked back along the path. ‘I just remembered she asked if she could store some gear and I said she could. I just hadn’t expected quite so much, so have a look for yourselves.’
Norma unlocked the barn door and opened it. The officers peered inside to see stacks and stacks of black rubbish bags tied tightly at the neck. They went in further as Norma hung back. ‘Look, you have a search around. I’ll go back and keep her talking, just in case.’
Julia moved fast, her heart pounding. She almost flew down Norma’s cellar steps, checking to see if anything had been moved, if there was any possible way the bricked-up cellar chute had been damaged. She, peered into the small, dark cellar. ‘Stupid, don’t be so bloody stupid,’ she muttered to herself. It was bricked up and even had stacks of boxes pushed up against it. Just as her heart slowed down, it started hammering again as feet crunched on the gravel outside. She could hear them talking and her whole body broke out in a sweat. She didn’t want to be obvious, didn’t dare go outside, but they were standing right by the coal chute door. Would they see that it had been dislodged and replaced?