Agatha & the Scarlet Scarab

by Karl Fish

A bark from behind them hailed the entrance of Luna. The Lady landed on the windscreen frame and cawed.

  ‘I say, is that Nathaniel Noone I can hear?’ came the welcome sound of Archie’s voice. ‘Any room for quite a big one?’

  Noone turned to Archie who had Pop Braggan propped upright in a wheelchair. He was semi-conscious and most definitely alive.

  ‘I ’erd that, Goodfeller,’ Pop wheezed at Archie before clutching his ribs in agony.

  ‘Until next time then, Nathaniel,’ Florrie bid him goodbye. ‘Don’t make it a decade, for pity’s sake. I may not be around.’

  ‘Next time, soon. I promise.’ Noone smiled.

  As Aggie’s great aunt revved the truck and pulled away, the teenage girl he had unceremoniously kidnapped weeks before waved Nathaniel Noone goodbye with a longing smile as he disappeared into the distance.

  ‘Where are we going?’ Aggie asked of the chaperoning women.

  ‘Home, dear,’ they replied together.

  ‘London?’

  ‘No, not London.’ They all laughed, as they began humming the skipping rope song.

  The truck made its way along the coast until, not far by, they reached the sign to the Seven Sisters.

  ‘You’ve lots of explaining to do, you know that?’ Aggie directed towards them all.

  ‘We’ll leave that to Gideon,’ they advised.

  ‘Oh, Gideon, is it?’ she replied back. ‘Not Halcombe then?’ she questioned.

  ‘It’s complicated, Aggie,’ came Gideon’s soft voice as he struggled for breath. ‘It’s really complicated.’

  ’I’m just glad it’s all over,’ Aggie said and sighed with relief at the sound of his voice.

  ‘Oh, it’s far from over,’ Florrie whispered under her breath. ‘Far, far, from over. If anything, it’s only just begun.’

  The end … for now.