The Londum Omnibus Volume Two (The Londum Series Book 12)

by Tony Rattigan

  ‘Well, couldn’t you just lift the display case off, once you’d picked the locks?’ asked another journalist.

  ‘Apart from the fact you’d need a block and tackle or a couple of strong men to lift the case, that is where our extra precautions come in. On each of the four sides of the plinth, beneath the case, is a sunken, spring-loaded brass bolt. As long as those bolts are depressed with a force equal to the weight of the case, then all is well. Should the case be lifted off, or even tilted to one side, and a brass bolt rises up by so much as an inch … then the alert mechanism comes into play. Alarms go off in the guard’s post and the statue itself sinks into the body of the plinth and then no one can remove it without dismantling the plinth. And I don’t think they’ll have time to do that when the guards are on their way, do you?’

  All the journos politely joined in, laughing at his little joke but Jim had noted it all very carefully and was already working on how to beat those ‘extra precautions’.

  ***

  1:45 AM

  Jim’s timing was spot on. Seven minutes after concealing himself in the cupboard, a guard came down the stairs at the far end of the room, walked slowly through the Eejiptian gallery and out of the door at the far end. Jim watched him leave and then checked his watch again. Right, he now had forty-five minutes until the next pass. That meant he had to stop in forty minutes time to be safe and return to the cupboard. He swung open the door and looked at the display case containing the Snake-head statue. In the dim light all that could be seen of the Snake-head display was the statue in the glass case. The plinth below was invisible, it was as if the case were hovering in thin air. Perfect! thought Jim. It was what he’d been hoping and what he had planned for.

  Lugging the canvas holdall over to the display case, he unslung the haversack from his back and laid it on the floor behind him. First he took out his own lamp and lit the candle inside it. He didn’t want it too bright, the candle gave him just enough light to see what he was doing but being inside the lamp it shielded it from being seen from any other angle. Then, taking out his lock pick, he opened each of the four locks spaced around the sides of the case.

  As he worked, he had the strangest feeling that someone was watching him, so he dropped to his knees and hid behind the plinth. After a moment he peeked around and then over the plinth but he couldn’t see anyone. Still, he had that feeling. He looked slowly around the room, it was very creepy in here in the dark, he realised, with all the statues of their Gods and the mummies looking down on him.

  That was it! Some of the mummies were laid out in their sarcof- … sarcopoh- … er, coffins, while others were standing upright inside glass cases and one of them seemed to be staring directly at him. He went over for a closer look. Of course it had no eyes and was just a body wrapped in bandages but with the shadows cast by the dim lighting it seemed to be watching him, no matter where he stood. The expression ‘Eyes that followed you around the room’ came to mind. Jim pointed a finger at it warningly and then went back to work on the statue. Nevertheless, he kept an eye on the mummy and if at all possible, avoided turning his back on it.

  He opened the holdall and took out a long chisel with a broad blade and a rubber-headed mallet. He placed the head of the chisel at the crack where the wooden case rested on the plinth and hit it sharply with the mallet. Pausing to see if there was any reaction to the soft ‘thump’, he hit it again a few times until the broad blade of the chisel was wedged firmly under the case.

  Opening the holdall again he took out a strange device, painted a dull black. It was a smaller version of a ‘jack’ for lifting up coaches, to replace wheels or suspension, but it had extra bits welded to one side of it. Basically it was in the form of a collapsed, diamond shape. Two opposite corners were touching and it was on each of these facing corners that a long piece of extra metal had been fixed to the centre of the jack, reaching out lengthways along the jack. Each piece of extra metal had a ‘lip’ on one side of it so that whatever it was supporting wouldn’t slip off.

  The two corners of the diamond that had been forced apart by the other two corners coming together, had a long, threaded bolt running from one to the other, through the centre of the jack. This extended past each end and had a cross-bar through it, so it could be wound in a circular motion. Winding one way would pull the outside corners together, forcing the centre corners apart, opening the jack. Once it was open, winding the other way would bring the centre corners back together, closing the jack again.

  Jim forced the two side bits of metal into the gap that the chisel was barely holding open. Then with a yank he pulled the chisel out of the way. The display settled easily onto the sidepieces of the inserted jack. After checking his watch, he then took the chisel and the mallet and moved onto the next side of the case. Once he had wedged the chisel in once more he got another jack out of the holdall and forced that into place. He did this with the other two sides until the display case was sitting on all four jacks.

  He checked his watch again and then put the chisel and mallet back in the holdall. Jim took out one last item, a black, velvet curtain. He tied it around the base of the display case, covering the jacks but leaving the statue exposed. He made sure that it was tied on the side away from the side of the gallery that the guard would be walking on. Then he blew out the candle. Standing back to admire his handiwork he was pleased to see that everything appeared to be as it was earlier. The case was visible but it seemed to float in mid-air on an invisible plinth. Checking his watch again, he gathered all his things together and just made it back to the cupboard in time as he heard the guard approaching the gallery, down the stairs.

  ***

  2:30 AM

  He watched the guard anxiously as he crossed the room, would he notice the curtain around the plinth? But if he had, he gave no sign and just continued his slow perambulation around the museum. Jim breathed a sigh of relief, he would have loved to smoke a cigarette right now but he didn’t really think that would be wise.

  Once the guard had left, Jim checked his watch. Right! Everything had to be done in the next forty minutes. He lit his lamp and quickly went to the statue. Removing the curtain he put it to one side and began to wind the threaded bolts on each of the jacks, raising them up slowly.

  The whole problem with the robbery was that the display case had to be removed to get to the Snake-head statue, but the pressure had to be maintained on the spring-loaded, brass bolts as the case was lifted. This was why Jim had come up with the jack idea. As the jack was lifting the display case up, the weight of the case was transferred to the lower corner of the diamond and the strip of metal attached to it. So, no matter how far the case was raised, it would always maintain the same pressure on the brass bolt. The ‘lip’ on the metal strip would hold the case steady and hopefully stop it from sliding off the jack.

  Slowly, carefully, he wound the bolts of the jacks tighter and tighter. The outer corners of the diamond inched closer and closer together as he did so. He had to wind a bit at a time on each of them in turn, otherwise the case would overbalance, so he did them on opposing sides at a time, to try and keep the thing on an even keel. It was hard work as the case was heavy but the case crept slowly higher.

  Also, he could only raise the jacks in small increments, as to raise two opposing jacks would leave the other two sides no longer pressing down on the bolts with sufficient force.

  He knew how high the case had to be to slide the statue out, he had all the dimensions, so he had known in advance exactly how high to raise the cage, five inches. To save himself time and trouble he had marked on the winding bolt when the case would be at the right height. When the two opposing corners of the jack wound in to the right point they would cover the mark on the bolt and he knew that he could safely remove the statue.

  Of course in his original plan, he would have had to slide the fake statue back into the display case. He wasn’t just going to steal the statue … he was going to swap it for a perfect copy. Jim kne
w that there would be a hue and cry, and public outrage if it went missing, but his original scheme called for him to replace the statue with the copy that Yakob Stein was making for him. There would be no clue that anything had happened to the original until they came to pack it up to send on to another museum or back to Eejipt. Then surely one of the experts would notice that it was a fake, but that may be years away. Who knew how long it was on loan for?

  But he was sure that unless the robbery was spotted and in all the papers, Lassiter wouldn’t be convinced that Jim had actually done the robbery and would hurt Racine. Therefore, once he had got his hands on the statue, he could get out of there and leave everything in place, he didn’t need to worry about taking the jacks with him.

  Winding the bolts on the jacks was heavy going, due to the weight of the case but eventually all the marks were covered and the case had reached the height that Jim had calculated was high enough. He stopped to take a breath and checked his watch. Damn! There wasn’t enough time to remove the statue and make his getaway! The guard would be descending the stairs as he was legging it out the other end of the gallery.

  Okay, he had planned for this eventuality, it would take some nerve but he would have to do it. He left the statue where it was, replaced the velvet curtain so it was covering the plinth and the jacks again and after gathering up his stuff, he extinguished the candle and returned to the cupboard again.

  ***

  3:15 AM

  If he had removed the statue, the guard would probably notice it while Jim was still in the building. This way, nerve racking though it was, he could hope that the guard wouldn’t notice from a distance, that the case had actually been raised several inches. Then, Jim could remove the statue and have the best part of forty minutes to make good his escape, before the guard passed this way again.

  Jim wiped the sweat of his face and neck with his handkerchief as the guard slowly made his way through the ground floor exhibition room. Jim felt sure he would hear the beating of his heart if it wasn’t drowned out by the sound of his breathing. He picked up the rubber mallet in anticipation of having to deal with the guard. When the man looked in the direction of the statue, Jim had to bite his handkerchief to stop himself groaning but the guard just carried on through the room, oblivious to what was going on mere feet from him and exited through the other door.

  Leaving the holdall in the cupboard, he picked up the haversack and left the cupboard. He crossed to the plinth, removed the statue and placed it in the haversack which he slung on his back. Pausing only to stick two fingers up to the watching mummy, he headed for the stairs.

  Once back in the workshop he climbed up the rope and taking it with him made for the edge of the building.

  ***

  3:50 AM

  He checked his watch by the moonlight, he still had ten minutes until Bob would be back, so he lay down in the shadow of the parapet and stayed where he was on the roof. Less conspicuous than waiting down on the ground, he figured.

  When there was only five minutes to go, he hooked the rope on the parapet and climbed down to the ground. He ran for the shelter of the trees and waited there until he heard Bob’s carriage rattling along the cobblestones of Montague St. It pulled to a halt as he climbed over the railings and ran to the coach. With a wave to Bob he climbed aboard and they were off.

  He took off the haversack and collapsed on the seat, drained. Looking at the seat beside him, he saw that Bob had thoughtfully provided some cigarettes, matches and a hipflask. He helped himself to a cigarette and a drink and relaxed in the seat as Bob took him home.

  ***

  Wednesday evening, Jim made his way to Lassiter’s house. Exhausted, he had slept all day when he had returned home from the museum. When he had risen and left his house, he noticed all the newspaper sellers were shouting about the terrible robbery at the British Museum.

  The headlines declared what an outrage had been committed and that Caledonia Yard’s finest were on the case. That relieved Jim, with those clowns on his trail he didn’t really have anything to worry about, he told himself. He had left no useful clues and they simply weren’t in his league, he reckoned.

  Jim knocked on Lassiter’s door and a moment later Bolan opened it and ushered him inside. Without waiting to be invited Jim went down the hall and let himself into the drawing room.

  Lassiter was sitting in the chair by the fireplace where Jim had last seen him. He didn’t get up. Jim placed the heavy leather bag that he was carrying at Lassiter’s feet.

  ‘Well, there you go, the Snake-head,’ said Jim. ‘Now tell me, where’s Racine?’

  ‘All in good time Darby, all in good time. I need to examine the statue first. Please take a seat.’

  Jim curbed his impatience and sat down in the other seat. He heard Bolan come into the room and close the door. Lassiter opened the bag and took the Snake-head out and held it up so he could examine it. ‘Beautiful, just beautiful.’ The firelight danced on the gold fluting of the flared hood and made the ruby eyes sparkle. ‘A truly magnificent specimen, I thank you for your service in this.’

  ‘Don’t bother thanking me, I just want Racine back.’

  ‘But there is no need for us to be uncivil towards each other. You have done all that you were asked to, you have delivered the goods and I will fulfil my part and return the hostage. Then we can go our separate ways with no further hostility between us, this will soon be over so there is no need for further aggravation.’ He put down the statue and took out his cigarette case. Taking one himself he offered the case to Jim who also took one.

  Lassiter lit his cigarette with a match and then held it out for Jim. Jim had to sit on the edge of his seat and lean forward to reach the match. Just when he was off balance and leaning forward Bolan reached over and punched him in the face. Awkwardly positioned as he was, Jim could do nothing and the force of the blow knocked him to the floor. He lay there stunned for a moment and all he could hear was Bolan shout, ‘NOW!’

  Suddenly another three or four men ran into the room and piled onto Jim. Lassiter grabbed the statue and backed away quickly, leaving them clear access to Jim.

  Jim struggled violently but there were too many of them, they bound his feet and then tied his arms behind his back and pulled a hood over his head. Then they hauled him to his feet.

  He heard Lassiter speak, ‘Oh, one thing before you go … Racine is dead. I let Bolan finish her off as we didn’t need her any more. Apparently he took his time and had some fun first.’

  ‘You bastard!’ said Jim.

  Then he heard Bolan say gruffly, ‘Get him down to the basement and secure him properly. I’ll be down later.’

  The men picked up Jim bodily and carried him out of the room and down to the basement. They tied him to a chair and once they were happy he was securely restrained they yanked the hood off his head.

  Jim blinked his eyes at the bright light in the room and it took a moment for them to focus on the man standing in front of him. ‘McGarry!’ he exclaimed. ‘What are you doing here?’

  Big Mick McGarry stared down at him. ‘Mr. Bolan asked me nicely to help him out, that’s why. When he told me that he wanted to take you down, I said I’d be happy to oblige.’

  ‘Why are you doing this, McGarry?’ asked Jim.

  ‘Why? You ask why? Because I’m sick of you and the way you lord it over the East End. I’m sick of the way everyone sucks up to you because you flash your money around. “Yes sir Mr. Darby, No sir Mr. Darby, Three bags full Mr. Darby” Well now it’s my turn to be the one in charge.

  ‘I’d like to introduce you to a little friend of mine.’ Big Mick slapped a cosh into his hand, a leather tube about six inches long, filled with lead buckshot. ‘I call it “The Persuader”. I’m going to introduce you to him.’

  ‘You know McGarry,’ replied Jim, ‘I’m not too fussed about these small fry,’ he nodded at Big Mick’s cronies, ‘if I run into them then I’ll take my revenge but I won’t be chasing after them. Now
you … that’s a different matter.

  ‘If you let me go right now, we’ll call it quits. I guess you feel you owe me one after what happened at Annie’s, fair enough, so now we’re even. But if you don’t let me go this minute, when I get out of here, I’m going to come looking for you and I’ll be carrying one of those,’ he nodded towards the cosh, ‘as you’re so fond of them. Then I’ll make you pay for what you’re about to do.’

  ‘How can you be so cocky when you’re tied to a chair, getting beaten?’

  ‘How can you be so ugly with only one head?’ retorted Jim.

  ‘Didn’t your Mother ever tell you not to be rude to people when they’re holding you prisoner and are about to do this to you?’

  Big Mick swung the cosh at Jim’s head, then his men gathered around and beat Jim until he slipped into unconsciousness.

  ***

  Funny thing the human mind, sometime later, while Jim sat, head slumped forward as he drifted in and out of consciousness, his subconscious mind carried on working trying to find a way out of this situation. A dream … no, a memory … came back to him of his time in Canton with Tie-Pin.

  It was the early hours of the morning in Canton and the Sun had not risen over the hills yet but its glow could be seen behind them. Suddenly Tie-Pin crashed into the room carrying a lantern and kicked Jim to awaken him, where he lay on his thin straw mattress and ragged blanket.

  ‘Wake up, wake up you lazy Gwailoh! You want to learn? Then learn to get up in the mornings, not lie in your bed all day,’ Tie-Pin shouted at him.