Sewer Mayhem

by Annie Appleton

  Alfonso looked him up and down and just about managed not to wrinkle his nose. ‘Of course.’

  As they sat down at a table in the corner, Emily grinned at Jacob. ‘He thinks you look ridiculous in your lab coat as well.’

  ‘I don’t care.’

  * * *

  Paddy

  ‘What’s the name of Daisy’s brother again? I said to Vinnie’s tail as we made our way down to the sewers via a series of pipes and drains.

  ‘Charlie.’ Vinnie stopped at a crossroads of pipes and hesitated.

  ‘I think we should go left,’ he said. ‘It takes a little bit longer to get down, but we’ll be more likely to avoid the Bambini.’

  I nodded. ‘Good idea.’ We were on our way to Ratville and my teeth had been on edge ever since we’d gone through the hole in the wall. Gus had stayed behind to guard his treasure and Leo had opted out of the excursion with the excuse that at least one of us needed to get some more chow. For the victory celebrations, he’d said.

  ‘So far so good,’ Vinnie said. ‘Let’s try and be extra quiet as we go down this pipe.’

  ‘I’ll go first,’ I said and moved past him, taking the left pipe. I almost pulled my left ear once and right ear twice for good luck, but managed to restrain myself. My superstitions were in the past. Besides, I didn’t want Vinnie to start making fun of me again. He had done that enough in the spring.

  The pipe angled down steeply and I let myself glide down most of the way, collecting a lot of grime on my paws and the fur of my belly. I could hear Vinnie’s nails scraping the pipe as he tried to slow down somewhat to avoid bumping into me. Perhaps he should have gone first after all. Being larger, he slid down faster.

  The bottom end of the pipe opened up into the sewer just past our former digs.

  Vinnie’s head bumped into my shoulder, as he slid out of the pipe behind me.

  ‘Where are they?’ he said in my ear.

  ‘Downstream somewhere I hope.’ I looked about me. ‘If we can just get past the manhole, we’ll probably be okay.’

  Hoping these weren’t famous last words, we tiptoed our way north along the main sewer, our ears wide and scanning the surrounding area for any sounds of habitation.

  ‘Look,’ Vinnie said. ‘The footprints of a two-legged. Seems like Yellow Hair made it as far as here.’

  ‘Indeed he did.’ I looked at the haphazard shoeprints that dotted the sewer floor, left behind in the dust and muck. The prints of three different rats accompanied them. Funny that so much evidence of Victor’s attack was still present.

  My spine tingled a bit. Seeing the Three Bambini’s footprints made me realise they could be near. ‘Let’s move on.’

  We’d only made it a little bit further down when suddenly a familiar voice sounded in the distance. ‘Aren’t you a pretty one, molto carina. Come closer.’

  We froze on the spot.

  ‘Victor,’ Vinnie mouthed to me. I nodded. The sound came from a side-pipe. We silently moved along and inched our noses around the corner to see what was going on.

  My heart went cold when I recognised Daisy, huddled into a ball as she sat a bit further down the pipe. Victor was sitting next to her, eying her shapely ears. Sal watched from a distance, looking bigger than ever in the narrow pipe. His beady eyes were focused on Daisy and some drool escaped his open jaw.

  ‘I haven’t seen you here before,’ Victor said. ‘What’s your name, darling?’ As he moved a bit closer to her, Daisy shrunk even further, her whiskers and ears drooping.

  ‘I’m not gonna hurt you,’ Victor said, trying to grab her paw. ‘Here, have a present.’ He took off his paper clip necklace and tried to put it around Daisy’s neck. The young female rat flinched and pushed herself against the wall of the pipe, trying to slap Victor’s paws out of the way. She didn’t have much luck.

  Not since Cecil had tried to blackmail me in the spring about the whereabouts of my nephews had I felt so helpless. While the anger welled up inside me, I felt the fur on my neck rising.

  ‘Leave her alone, you one-eared freak,’ I yelled. I ran into the pipe and snatched Daisy away from the clutches of a startled Victor and pulled her behind me out of harm’s way. Vinnie was hot on my tail, lips curled up in an angry snarl.

  Victor’s confusion didn’t last long.

  ‘You scrawny little Irish bogtrotter!’ he shouted. ‘Keep your hands off my girl.’

  ‘Your girl?’ Vinnie said through clenched teeth. ‘Daisy is Gus’ girlfriend. Stay away from her!’

  I glared at Victor for a second, then turned around to make my way back to the main sewer. ‘Come along, Daisy.’

  ‘You really think you’ll make it out of here alive?’ Victor said. He motioned with his hand to Sal. In a flash the big rat pushed past us to block our exit out of the side-pipe, his muscles rippling below his fur. The adrenaline levels in my blood were such that I didn’t even care that we were trapped.

  I turned around again to face Victor. ‘I’ll fight you to the death if I have to. You can’t treat a girl like that.’

  ‘Awww, that’s so sweet. You want to protect “poor Daisy”,’ Victor said in a mock girly voice.

  My muscles tensed and I was ready to jump forward and grab Victor by the throat with my teeth, but a sudden movement behind him distracted me.

  ‘Vic, look what I found!’ Dino came walking up from further down the pipe. He held something glittery up in the air.

  ‘Not now, you idiot,’ Victor snapped at his brother. ‘Can’t you see I’m in the middle of something?’

  ‘But Vic, I really think you need to see this!’ Dino waved a diamond ring under Victor’s nose. Dropping the paper clip necklace he was still holding, Victor snatched the ring out of Dino’s hand with a grubby paw. Sal pushed past me in a hurry, afraid to miss out.

  ‘Where did you find this?’ Victor asked turning the ring this way and that.

  ‘Further up in a side drain.’

  ‘This is very interesting…’ Victor scratched the fur on his chin. ‘Where did it come from?’

  ‘Is it real?’ Sal asked, trying to grab the ring. ‘Do you think it’s real, bro?’

  Engrossed as I had been in watching the three brothers, I nearly jumped a foot in the air when Vinnie tapped me on the shoulder. He cocked his head to the exit of the pipe. Of course he was right. It was important to get Daisy and ourselves out of the sewer to safety.

  We were halfway down the main sewer when Victor shouted at us from a distance.

  ‘Don’t think you’ll get away with it, you Irish bum! I’ll hunt you down and kill you all, sporco bastardi!’

  We ducked into a side drain to make our way back up to the old building. My mind was racing. Of course that ring was part of Gus’ treasure, no doubt about it. Would Victor realise there was more of it? And if so, would he come looking for it? At the moment we were still safe in the old building, but would it perhaps be better if we fled York altogether?

  In desperation, I realised that our quiet holiday was now a living nightmare.

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  It was about an hour before Lorenzo Jr showed up at the restaurant. Jacob started to become fidgety, checking his watch every few minutes.

  ‘Do you need to be somewhere?’ Emily said, after he had checked his watch for the umpteenth time.

  ‘I’d promised Magnus Cotterill I’d meet him in his back garden to check out some sort of ants’ nest he’s discovered.’

  Emily rolled her eyes. ‘I’m sure it’ll still be there later on. Besides, wouldn’t he be working in his shop?’

  ‘It’s Wednesday,’ Jacob said. ‘His shop’s always closed on Wednesday afternoon.’

  The door of the restaurant opened and Lorenzo walked in carrying a cardboard box with supplies. He glared at them, when they got up from their seats.

  ‘This is a restaurant,’ he said, ‘not the waiting room at the doctor’s. Why do you keep coming here?’

  ‘We’ve been waiting for you,’ Jacob said. ‘We
want a word about Friday night.’

  Lorenzo sighed deeply. ‘If I agree to come with you, will you then stop bothering me?’

  ‘Promise,’ Emily said.

  ‘Okay.’ He waved his hand. ‘Let’s go around the back, so that no one disturbs us.’

  They followed him out of the restaurant and into the alleyway behind it. Lorenzo kept the door in the wall open and stood in the opening. ‘Let’s make it quick. I have things to do for this evening’s prep.’

  Jacob looked Lorenzo in the eye. He wondered if Lorenzo really was as busy as he claimed.

  ‘Can you tell me about your absence from the restaurant last Friday night?’ Jacob said.

  ‘My absence?’ Lorenzo looked from Jacob to Emily, his brow furrowed. ‘I wasn’t absent on Friday night.’

  ‘According to some people, you left the restaurant for about twenty minutes around eight o’clock.’

  ‘And why would that be important?’ He crossed his arms, then his posture stiffened. ‘Do you mean at the time Nate Field was murdered?’ He took a quick step towards Jacob, his brown eyes boring down on him.

  ‘I had nothing to do with that,’ he said through clenched teeth.

  ‘Of course not,’ Jacob said, standing his ground, even though Lorenzo was almost nose to nose with him. ‘But that being the case it shouldn’t be a problem for you to enlighten us of your whereabouts. It seems that you don’t have an alibi.’

  Lorenzo crossed his arms again, and looked at Jacob down his nose. ‘It’s none of your business.’

  Emily took a step forward and put a hand on his arm. ‘We understand that you are angry, but we are just trying to help Sam. Don’t you want to help her?’

  Lorenzo looked at Emily in silence. Then he sighed. ‘Do you think Sam killed Nate?’

  ‘What? No, of course not,’ Emily looked at him, her blue eyes wide open. ‘We’re certain that she didn’t have anything to do with it, aren’t we, Jacob?’

  Jacob nodded

  ‘Well then.’ Lorenzo’s shoulders relaxed. ‘On Friday night I went to my flat.’ He pointed at the windows on the second floor of the restaurant. ‘It’s up there, you know. I went there to get a packet of cigarettes and then stood outside in the alleyway for a while to smoke one of them. Please don’t tell anyone, as my mother doesn’t know that I smoke.’

  ‘Twenty minutes is quite a long time,’ Jacob said. ‘No one saw you go up to your flat or smoke a cigarette?’

  Lorenzo glared at him. ‘No one saw me. Now, can I go back inside?’

  ‘Yes,’ Jacob said. ‘Thank you for your help.’

  Jacob and Emily watched as he ducked into the kitchen door.

  ‘Do you believe him?’ Emily said.

  ‘Hmm, I don’t know.’ Jacob sighed. ‘It all sounds a bit too simple for me and above all, there’s no one that can confirm it. And he didn’t mention anything about knowing what Nate did to Sam. I’m keeping Lorenzo on my list.’

  ‘Well, perhaps he’s just thinking about Sam’s reputation here. She’s his little sister after all, so him keeping silent about that isn’t that strange,’ Emily said. ‘But somehow there’s still something off about it all. I agree that leaving him on the list is a good idea for now.’ They started walking down the alleyway. ‘What do you want to do?’

  ‘What about Sam’s other brother, Gianni? Suppose Lorenzo wasn’t the only one who found out about the harassment?’

  ‘That’s not a bad thought. Let’s go and check if he’s in his shop.’

  They walked to Woolaston Road and up the slight hill. Halfway up was Gianni’s designer clothes shop, Fortunato’s. The bell chimed as they walked in and found Patrizia behind the counter.

  ‘What can I do for you,’ she said with a smile.

  ‘We were wondering if Gianni’s in,’ Jacob said, letting his eyes roam past the racks of stylish suits.

  ‘He’s in the back,’ Patrizia said. ‘I will get him. One moment.’

  Emily let her hand slide over the suits on the nearest rack. ‘I know what you could do,’ she said, looking a Jacob with a twinkle in her eye. ‘Buy a suit here, for your date with Aunt Peggy tomorrow.’

  Jacob glared at her.

  ‘It’s not a date,’ he said. ‘And don’t you think I would be a tad overdressed for eating a sandwich on the green?’

  Emily shrugged. ‘Never hurts to make a good first impression.’

  ‘Peggy’s known me for fifty years. I think that ship has sailed.’

  ‘You could be right about that.’

  They turned to face the counter as Patrizia and Gianni walked in from the back.

  ‘Patrizia tells me you want to see me?’ Gianni said.

  ‘Yes, indeed.’ Jacob was suddenly very well aware that it was rather strange to question a man he’d never really met about a murder. ‘Umm… we were wondering if you’d know anything about Nate Field’s murder? We understood that he and you were friends?’

  Gianni looked Jacob up and down, then turned to Emily and let his eyes rest on her blue hair for a second. ‘Yes, we were friends, what about it?’

  ‘Well… umm… did you perhaps have a falling out?’

  ‘Are you accusing me of murdering my own friend?’ Gianni crossed his arms, his brown eyes flashing and his handsome face contorted into an ugly sneer.

  ‘We’re only trying to help Sam,’ Emily said.

  ‘What has my sister got to do with it?’ He glared at her. ‘Are you accusing her of murder?’

  ‘No,’ Jacob said. ‘We’re trying to get a better picture of her relationship with Nate.’

  ‘She didn’t have a relationship with Nate!’

  ‘Are you sure of that?’

  ‘This is ridiculous.’ Gianni stepped from behind the counter. ‘Stay the hell away from my sister and get out of my shop, pronto!’

  ‘I’m sorry to have bothered you,’ Jacob said and turned to Emily. ‘Let’s go.’

  At the door Emily turned around. ‘Would it be possible to buy a suit here?’

  ‘Out!’

  Back on Woolaston Road, Emily turned to Jacob. ‘He was not happy about that.’

  ‘Well, can you blame him, really?’ Jacob stiffened as he looked over Emily’s shoulder. ‘Oh dear, McDermott is making a beeline for us. Let’s start walking.’

  At a fast pace they set off in the direction of Milbury Road.

  ‘Wait a minute,’ McDermott’s voice came from behind them. ‘I need to have a word with you, Hicks.’

  Jacob sighed and slowly turned around to face the inspector. ‘How can I help you?’

  ‘Don’t be flippant with me,’ McDermott said, his hands on his hips. ‘I’ve heard you’re still doing your silly bug experiments and as I told you before, this has to stop. Otherwise there will be consequences.’

  The two men stared at each other.

  ‘Also,’ McDermott continued. ‘You two better stop nosing around my crime scene.’ He turned on his heel and disappeared around the corner.

  Emily looked at Jacob and started giggling. ‘You really do know how to rile people.’

  Jacob glared at her. ‘It’s not my fault that everybody’s grumpy today.’

  * * *

  ‘I was wondering if you’d like to go out for a bit of a walk,’ Emily said to Sam. ‘Take your mind of things a bit.’

  The early evening service at the restaurant had just started, but Sam’s mother had been so kind as to take Emily upstairs to visit her friend.

  ‘I’d like to,’ Sam said, ‘but first tell me if you talked to Lorenzo yet.’

  Emily nodded. ‘We actually did and he gave us an alibi.’

  Sam grabbed Emily’s arm. ‘I’m so happy about that. So he didn’t kill Nate?’

  ‘Looks like it.’ Emily went over to the window. Perhaps it was better not to tell Sam her brother was still on their suspect list. ‘What about that walk? We could go up Milbury Hill and make fun of all the silly allotment owners with their buckets and spades.’

  As they
walked out of the alleyway on to Milbury Road, Spencer Peacock came rushing by and nearly bumped into them.

  ‘Ah, Emily, I’m looking for your uncle,’ he said. ‘Do you know where he is?’

  Emily shrugged. ‘Last time I saw him, he was at home, having his dinner.’

  ‘Oh. Well, never mind.’ Spencer rushed off again.

  ‘He’s a funny one,’ Emily said as she watched his retreating back, shaking her head.

  Sam nodded. ‘Did you know that Spencer—’

  ‘Hey, girls,’ came a voice from behind them. ‘I was just going in search of you.’ A young woman with dreadlock hair and a colourful long dress beamed at them.

  ‘Hey, Liz,’ Emily said, glad to see her friend. ‘We were going for a walk, wanna join us?’

  Together the three young women walked down Milbury Road chatting. Sam seemed to perk up by their company and full of interest asked Liz about her new plans for an organic health and mindfulness stall at next week’s farmers’ market.

  None of the three women noticed Colleen Frost coming out of the allotment entrance.

  ‘Hello, how are you all?’ Colleen said, beaming at them.

  Emily’s scalp pricked as she looked at the supply teacher’s stupid smile. What was wrong with this woman?

  ‘We’re fine thanks,’ she said and tried to push past her to get onto the allotments.

  Colleen placed a hand on Emily’s arm. It felt very cold. ‘I hope you don’t mind me asking, but someone told me that you guys know lots about organic food. Is that true?’

  ‘Umm, yes. Well, Liz knows most about that,’ Emily said with a nod to her friend.

  ‘That’s great!’ Colleen clasped her hands in front of her and smiled at Liz. ‘I’m very interested in organic stuff, so would it be possible to have a chat about that some time?’

  ‘Yes, of course,’ Liz said. ‘No problem.’ She shot a quick look at Emily, who gave her the minimum of a shrug.

  The three girls made a move to continue on their way, but Colleen now grabbed Sam’s arm.

  ‘You work at Sant’Ambrogio’s, don’t you?’ she said.