The policeman went into the hall, looking extremely surprised. Peter's mother came from the kitchen and Peter's father looked out of his study.
" What's all this ? " he said. " Nobody has got into trouble, surely ? "
" No," said Peter. " Oh, Daddy, you must just listen to our tale. It's really super! "
They all went into the study, the policeman looking more and more puzzled.
" I think you'll find that stolen car outside Barr's Warehouse, at the East End of the town," said Peter. "And in the warehouse you'll probably find a Mr. Quentin, and quite a lot of stolen goods on the premises."
" And you'll find a man with half a finger missing, and another whose hair is so short that he looks like an escaped prisoner," put in Colin.
" Wait! Wait a minute! What's this about a man with a missing half-finger ? " said the policeman, urgently. " We're looking for him, Fingers, he's called, and he's a friend of a thief who's just been in prison. He escaped last week, and we thought he might go to Fingers for help, so we've been keeping an eye open for him too."
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"They met at Sid's Cafe," said Peter, enjoying everyone's astonishment.
"WHAT?" said his father. "Sid's Cafe? That horrible place! Don't dare to tell me you boys have been in there."
"Not inside, only outside," said Peter. "It's all right, Daddy, we really haven't done anything wrong. It all began with that night when you left Janet and me in your car in the station yard, and two men got in and drove it away."
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"And we wanted you to go to the police, but you didn't think you'd bother," said Janet. " So we've been trying to trace the two men ourselves, and we have! "
Then the whole of the story came out: how they found Sid's Cafe, how Peter dressed up as a guy to watch for the men, how they saw Fingers with his missing half-finger, and how George and
Jack followed them and saw them steal the car near Cole Square.
"And we know where they've gone, because they have a friend called Q... a Mr. Quentin," said Peter. " They mentioned his telephone number, it was 8061, and we looked up the number and found the address. We only did that a little while ago, actually. The address is Barr's Warehouse, as we said."
