Colby Jack - Classic at Bay

• Jack Colby: myself, the proud owner of Frogs Hill farmhouse and classic car restoration business
• Louise: my partner in love
• Len Vickers: irreplaceable crusty car mechanic in charge of the Pits, the barn we use for car restoration
• Zoe Grant: Lens equally irreplaceable number two
• Rob Lane: her come-and-go partner in love (not too sure about the love angle)
• Dave Jennings: head of the Kent Car Crime Unit for whom I work (on and off)
• DCI Brandon: of the Kent Police and Serious Crime Directorate
• Adora Ferne: cabaret star of the fifties and sixties
• Danny Carter: manager of her Jaguar collection
• Diane Carter and Sam: Dannys estranged wife and son
• Sir Rex Hargreaves: former husband of Adora Ferne and Three Parrots club member
• Simon Hargreaves: son of Rex Hargreaves and Adora Ferne
• Alice and Michael Hargreaves: Simons daughter and son
• Charlie Dane: former husband of Adora Ferne and son of the owner of the Three Parrots club
• Melinda Dane Wilson: daughter of Charlie Dane and Adora Ferne
• Harry Gale: former husband of Adora Ferne and hopeful prospective husband
• Noel Brandon-Wright: former member of the Three Parrots club, now in a care home
• Gabriel Allyn (now Earl of Storrington): former member of the Three Parrots club
• Valentine Paston: former member of the Three Parrots club, now in a care home
• Montague Greene: actor and former member of the Three Parrots club
• Fred Fox: former gardener to and admirer of Adora Ferne
• Blake Bishop: former admirer of Adora Ferne
• Alan Reeve: former admirer of Adora Ferne
• Doubler: king of the Kent car crime underworld

D ont go there!

Why not? I had seen no earthly reason why Louise should warn me against driving over to Sussex to Downe Place. After all, it was in the interests of a paid commission to buy a classic Jaguar that personally I would drool over. So why should my beloved partner be so aghast at the idea?

I was beginning to realize I should have paid more attention, however. Louise hadnt been the only one to warn me. Zoe had backed her up.

Forget it, she had snorted. Zoe is number two to Len Vickers who runs the Pits thats our name for the converted barn at Frogs Hill Farm in Kent, where our classic car restorations are carried out in loving detail. The business is owned by yours truly, Jack Colby, but its easy to get the wrong impression, such is the single-minded devotion paid by Len and Zoe to their work.

Why? I had asked these two female pillars of my existence mildly as they exchanged meaningful looks.

Adora Ferne.

They had spoken in unison and so solemnly that Id laughed and driven on my merry way. After all, I wasnt dealing with that notorious lady herself but with Danny Carter, the manager of Miss Fernes car collection and an entirely different proposition. He was not quite so enticing perhaps, but certainly down to earth where my commission was concerned. My task would be to persuade the Right Honourable Earl of Storrington to sell his classic and rare 1937 SS 100 2.5 litre Jaguar sports car to my client. Price no object. Run it by me first, Carter had said, but theres no ceiling. Weve got to get it. Its the thirteenth car.

Mine not to reason why, but to charge right ahead. Easy, I had thought. Now, at Downe Place, I could see there was a problem.