by S G Read
'No wonder they were so quick to believe him instead of us!' Stuart whispered. 'He must be suing them for a mint.' His voice started to stray to loud. 'Why didn’t they arrest Willie for the first crime?'
Stevey thought for a few seconds. 'Because he is pretending to be Ronnie, who they don’t want to rub up the wrong way!'
'Of course but there is no way we can prove he is Willie?'
'Bed Stuart, and go to sleep!' David shouted.
They did just that!
Morning came and things were not good. The news reported that Lenny had been sexually assaulted and murdered by a blow to the head. Wendy took over things and they were kept in until lunch time, then they were taken to the cinema, the first time Jenny had ever been to a cinema! Afterwards they had a meal at a fast food restaurant, before going home. By now is was six o’clock in the evening and the chances of getting to the car breakers and into the cellar to see just what was going on seemed remote but the day had tired Jenny out, she went upstairs to lay down and the two boys took their chance. They rode to Gordon Hall, put their bicycles in the shed and walked down the garden. The old gardener waved as they walked past and they waved back. -This would be a nice place to visit when everything was quiet, in fact they could bring Jenny here! - Stuart thought as they walked. -In fact they could bring her here and go next door while she sits and reads or something! - He liked that idea, looking after Jenny and sneaking into the car breakers to spy. They walked to the end of the fence, not that they could see it with the thick foliage in front of it, designed to hide it. They slipped into the shrubbery and found the gap the old gardener had mentioned. They looked about to see if anyone was watching, then slipped into the car breakers, knowing they were breaking their word. Instead of walking up where Marmalade was usually chained, they circled the front of the house, flitting from car to car to avoid being seen and approached it from the other side after making sure there were no cellar windows on that side. They could see a grate at the front of the house which might cover another window lower down but they could not be seen from it. Once they were next to the house they ducked down and crawled to the front door. The grate over the window in the cellar was on the left hand side of the front door. That meant they did not have to go near it but Stuart crawled over to it and listened. There was a whirring and clanking sound from below but muffled somehow. He moved closer to see more but saw the top of someone’s head through the dirty window and had to duck back. They retreated to the front door, walked in and looked for the door to the cellar. There was no visible door.
'A hidden door!' Stuart whispered. 'It gets better and better.'
'What do we do now?' Stevey whispered.
'We go upstairs and keep watch on the hall, the door has to be there somewhere and he must come up sometime to pee!'
They crept up the stairs and took up a position where they could see most of the hall, then settled down for a long wait. After half an hour with their legs aching and sore backsides from sitting on the floor the wall suddenly opened. Willie stepped out, looked about then walked outside. The wall closed behind him and three minutes later he returned, zipping up his trousers. He twisted one of the uprights on the bannister and the wall opened again. They watched the wall close and the upright return to its normal position, before they ventured downstairs. Stuart walked to the upright, counted from the bottom of the stairs and held up three fingers, to indicate it was the third one up. Stevey nodded and they crept outside, they were not planning to outstay their welcome. They did the same going out as they did coming in, flitting from car to car until they reached the gap between the two fences, there they slipped back into the garden. The old gardener was sitting on a wooden bench when they walked up the garden. They walked over to where he sat but preferred to stand.
'Did you see your friend Marmalade?' The old gardener asked.
'Yes he was pleased to see us.' Stuart lied.
He did not want to but he realised that the old gardener thought that that was what they were doing and that was why he was being helpful. If he knew the truth he might have been less helpful.
'I’ve seen you walking with him, he don’t cotton to too many folks so I reckon you are privileged.' The old gardener explained.
'I’m Stuart and this is Stevey.'
'Nice to meet you Stuart and you as well Stevey, they call me Dan as that is my name. You can call me that as well if you want to.'
'Thank you Dan.' Stuart replied. 'Was that a real ghost we met the other day?'
'As near as you can get I reckon. I used to try to talk to him but he just disappears when I speak to him, like he’s scared of me! Me of all people, I was the nearest thing to a father to him when he was still alive. His ma and pa died mysteriously and his uncle took over his upbringing until he just up and disappeared one night. The door was kicked in and his uncle had been attacked, he reckoned it were gypsies what took him but if they took him away why is his spirit wandering about here still?'
'A good question.' Stevey replied. 'I always thought that a ghost always haunts where its body is!'
'How come you know that?' Stuart asked.
'I might have watched a late show or two!' Stevey replied.
'What while your mum was at work and you were supposed to be in bed?' Stuart exclaimed.
'Well I was lonely and it sort of made sense!' Stevey explained. 'There is no reason for him to be wandering about if his body isn’t here!'
'Unless those late night ghost hunters are wrong!' Stuart declared.
'So you did watch them!' Stevey accused.
'I might have sneaked down during the night when I couldn’t sleep just to see what was on!'
'I don’t know about any late night programmes but master Timothy does walk the rooms of Gordon Hall regularly.' Dan declared. 'I’m not one for ghosts and that but I’ve seen him and heard him. He looks for Mister Philip, his uncle but he soon cut and run when the boy started his walking through the house and the crying. He put the place up for sale with the understanding that it would not be developed until Mr. Philip was dead and buried. A family bought it but when Master Timothy started carrying on soon after they moved in, they left in a hurry and put it up for sale. Master Timothy frightened off all the other buyers, I think the family lives in a council house in Scotland now!'
'I think I am going to like Master Timothy!' Stevey said smugly. 'I wonder if we could arrange a late night sleep over with the rest of the team, I’d love to see Ben’s face when he comes face to face with a ghost!'
'Or J.C’s come to think of it.' Stuart said with a big grin.
'I don’t think your parents would let you sleep on your own in a haunted house without the owners permission.' Dan replied.
'No we would have to give them the Minton run-around. One parent thinks we are sleeping in one house, the next another house and so on!' Stuart explained. 'But would the rest of the team be interested?'
'Yes.' Stevey replied. 'But only because they wouldn’t believe there was a ghost, until it was too late!'
'Come on, let’s go and ring them. We can see if Jenny is awake now as well.' Stuart declared excitedly. 'Bye Dan nice to meet you again.'
Stevey said goodbye and they were on their way. They collected their bicycles from the shed and rode down the road as though they owned it.
When they reached the house Jenny was watching television.
'Sorry I was a bit of a wimp.' She said when she saw them.
'It took me ages to go outdoors when I came out of hospital.' Stuart replied and sat down beside her. 'Feeling stronger now?'
'Yes, much.' She answered. 'This is a nice house.'
'We like it don’t we Stevey.'
Stevey nodded. 'It’s going to be a change when I am back in the flat all alone though.'
'You won’t be alone, I’ll be there.' Stuart declared. 'If it’s all right with you mum?'
'What about Jenny?' Wendy asked.
'She can come as well, we’re the three musketeers, until the
weekend that is, then we’re the fourteen musketeers!' Stuart answered.
Jenny laughed. 'I think I’d like that, if it is all right with my dad.'
When the programme ended Stuart dragged Jenny out of the chair.
'We’re going to my room, come on Stevey.' Stuart ordered. 'We can show you the games on the computer.' He left out the word "my" when talking about his computer now, as he considered it partly Stevey’s. ‘Hey when we go back to your flat we can take the computer with us!'
Once up it his room Stuart closed the door.
'While you were asleep we found this old house, with a huge garden.' Stuart declared. 'The gardener is a friend of ours and we can go there when we like!'
'Can we go tomorrow?' Jenny pleaded, she loved big gardens.
'Not tomorrow, the boys are coming down and we will play footy and lark about but we can go there on Monday!' Stuart replied.
Jenny looked suitably disappointed but just said. 'Monday it is then!'
They played on the computer, trying to teach Jenny how to do things but she was new to computers and it was hard going. They were glad when Wendy advised them it was time for bed, as they had a busy day tomorrow. Jenny went into the spare room to sleep, leaving the boys alone.
'We didn’t ring the others yet.' Stevey pointed out.
'I know, I had second thoughts.'
'What about telling the others everything?' Stevey asked.
'Yes, I don’t think we should tell them everything but what should we tell them?'
'About the car breakers and the secret door, they’d like that. Oh and the murder, they’d be interested in that. But if we tell them about the ghost they’ll want to go straight round there and we’d get no football!' Stevey exclaimed.
'Life’s hard sometimes.' Stuart complained,
'We should tell them about the car breakers and Lenny being killed by them, or so we think.' Stevey suggested.
'But then they would want to go in there and look round!' Stuart retorted.
'But we gave our word not to go in there and the place we get in by the pond is blocked off!' Stevey complained.
'So we did, and it is. I got to think about this, they have to know about it, because we have to have a back up plan just in case one of us gets into trouble!' Stuart decided.
'Like what?'
'A codeword or something. If we say a certain codeword or phrase they have to come running as one of us is deep in the pooh!'
'I get it.' Stevey replied. 'But all we have to do now is to think up one we could remember!'
Yawns took over and they turned their lights off one by one but in the middle of the night, Stuart turned his back on.
'Are you awake Stevey?' He whispered. There was no reply. He got out of bed and walked over to where Stevey was sleeping. This time when he asked he shook him as well.
'What’s up?' Stevey asked.
'I thought of it!' Stuart declared.
'Thought of what?'
'The come running phrase.'
'Well what is it?'
'Hat trick, how could anyone forget my hat trick.'
'See if I can remember it in the morning.' Stevey replied and turned over.
Morning came and with it came the rest of the team. They poured out of the little van one by one, J.C and C.J both carried a bunch of flowers.
'Hello Mrs. Sellars.' C.J greeted. 'We bought you some flowers.'
'Thank you, that was very thoughtful.' Wendy replied, suitably impressed.
Jenny walked in and J.C was forced to the front. 'Here are some flowers for you as well Jenny, a sort of getting out of hospital present!'
That was too much for Jenny, not used to being thought of at all, she fled upstairs in tears.
'What did I say?' J.C asked.
'You presented the flowers very well J.C, I think you overwhelmed Jenny a bit, she is not used to being bought flowers and the like.' Wendy explained.
'She didn’t cry when Stu gave her some flowers, did she?' J.C complained.
'Yes she did.' Stuart answered. 'I don’t understand girls, they like things so they cry! It doesn’t make any sense!'
'Are we going to play football at all?' Sherman asked.
The mood changed and a football match was soon under way.
As they played Jenny walked down and sat on the grass to watch, it was all she could do. Normally she would have joined in, like she did with the boys down her street, when they had a kick about on the road. At half time they all sat together, drinking the drinks Wendy brought over and Jenny walked over to where they sat.
'I’m sorry I was a bit of a cissy earlier, you caught me unawares.' She said contritely. 'Thank you for those lovely flowers. When I am allowed I would like to play, I play with the kids in my street when they play.'
The boys did not answer straight away, then Antony asked 'Do we vote on it?'
'We might as well do it right.' Stuart replied. 'The choice is, do we let her play and have seven aside or do we not let her play because she isn’t a Minton Cruiser, and she’s a girl. Now we need a proposer and a seconder before we can do anything.'
Four boys answered, almost in Chorus. 'I propose we let Jenny-' they all stopped when they realised they were saying the same thing.
A hand went up.
'Yes J.C.?' Stuart asked.
'I propose we let Jenny join in when she is here and is allowed.' He replied, speaking slowly, so that he did not mess it up.
'Any one going to second it?' Stuart asked.
A flurry of hands flew up.
Stuart chose one. 'Seconded by Ant. Any amendments?'
Toby raised his hand.
'Yes Toby.'
'I vote, no sorry,' He said correcting himself and some boys giggled. 'I propose we bring her with us, so that she can play when we do.'
'Do we have a seconder to the amendment?' Stuart asked.
Another flurry of hands flew up. 'Seconded by Stevey. We vote on the amendment first, all in favour?'
Every hand went up except Stuart’s. 'The amendment is carried and we have fourteen players now, well, when she is fit and allowed.'
They congratulated Jenny then wandered off to start the second half. Jenny caught Stuart alone before he went off to play.
'Didn’t you want me to play?' She asked. 'You didn’t vote for me!'
'I am the chairperson, I don’t get to vote unless it is a tie then I get to decide all on my own.' Stuart explained. 'It can be difficult sometimes, last time I had to decide, it nearly got us all killed! And I ended up with a mouthful of sand!'
Jenny looked at him bemused, he smiled and ran off to play football. She returned to her safe watching place and sat down, Wendy came over and brought a blanket for them both to sit on.
Stuart caught up the rest of the boys and now they were alone he called them together.
'What is it Stu?' Simon asked.
'Some things are going on here, which might mean that me and Stevey need Minton Cruisers help, and in a hurry!' He explained.
That caught their imagination, they all knew about the murder.
'Is it about that boy who was murdered?' C. J asked.
'Yes it is but there is more to it, we need to have a talk about it when we are alone.' Stuart answered.
'We’re alone now.' Sherman pointed out. 'And I don’t think we are going to be any aloner!' He turned to look at Toby who pretended to zip up his mouth. 'I was hoping you’d know the right word.'
Toby smiled. 'That’s a hard one but I think the word you were thinking of was isolated.'
'Okay, it’ll do. So why don’t we talk now and pretend to pick new sides.' Sherman continued.
'But we were winning!' J.C complained.
'And I thought I was the thick one!' Simon groaned.
'What do you mean Si?' J.C asked.
'We just pick the same teams but in a different order!' Simon replied.
'Is that sorted then?' Sherman asked. They all nodded and he tossed a coin as though they were picking
new teams. 'So what is going on Stu?'
'Well we made a raft to get across a pond-'
'Why?' J.C asked.
'Stop interrupting!' Simon hissed.
'We made a raft, to see what was on the other side of the pond, as the rest of it had a big wire fence round it, with barbed wire on it. We found a car breakers and a ferocious dog which wouldn’t let us land, so we made friends with it, just to explore the car breakers. We walked about and explored but the boy we sorted out, must have seen where we kept the raft and the day he went missing the raft was over near the other side of the pond, drifting. We swam across and retrieved it and there was a sweet wrapper on the bank, which led us to believe it was taken by Lenny Mole. We poled it back and tied it up, to make him swim across but he was never seen alive again.'
'Bummer.' Simon commented.
'So when he disappeared we went across to see if he was there and found blood stains on a spanner and in the boot of a car. We called the police but the man in the breakers must have seen us and the car and spanner was gone when we got back there! We went back later to find where they hid the car and found it behind the house but again we must have been seen and when we got back with the police again, the car was burnt out and we were the main suspects!'
All the time Stuart explained boys were being picked and moving to the team they were playing for, Stuart being the last one picked.
'We were made to promise not to go in there again and we did so. We watched from a good vantage point and saw them screwing up and burning money. so we think they are printing it in the cellar of the old house.'
'What fake money?' Ben asked.
'Counterfeit.' Toby corrected.
'Yes, we went it there and saw how to get in the cellar and we know now how they saw us each time but if we get caught and one gets away we can’t go to the police or my dad, so it’s got to be you lot! If one of us rings up and says hat trick, you lot come running ready to kick butt!'