Nice To Meet You Cally (Calliaster Doyle Book 2)

by S G Read

  NICE TO MEET YOU CALLY 1 CHAPTER 1

  Calliaster Doyle lay in the bath, she preferred to be called Cally but her mother had always insisted on calling her Calliaster up until now! Cally felt dirty, even though this was one of many baths she had taken since reaching the retirement home her mother ran. She had been chased all over Chicago by a gang of hoodlums led by a man named Luigi Clo. He wanted the money her father had stolen from him and he was not particular how he got it back. Her father, Dermot Doyle, had run in front of a greyhound bus while he was trying to escape from Clo's men but before then he had given her the key she was looking at now. She suffered a lot for this key and what was behind the lock it fitted but no one, apart from her father knew where the key fitted and he was in no state to tell anyone. After he had been hit by the bus Clo's men had stopped the ambulance and taken him back to Clo’s headquarters at that time, the Dolphin Hotel on a stretcher. Clo made them take him to hospital, so that the doctors could save him, for Clo to kill later! At least Cally’s mother, Barbara, had taken Dermot from the hospital and he was tucked up in bed in the rest home Cally's mother ran. They had to do everything for him but Barbara Doyle was a nurse and a good one. She was not leaving him in hospital for them heathens to look after! When Clo called in a tracker called Baptiste, a man with no morals who could track over concrete, things went from bad to worse but Cally's grandfather Archie had stopped Baptiste. Cally stopped daydreaming and returned to her bathing, she was going to see Drummond today, the boy who had helped her beat Clo and his gang of killers. She wanted to look her best when she met him. Dan Craigrose, another person who had helped her, was being released from hospital today, at the same time as Drummond and they were both coming back to the retirement home to live. The key slid out of her fingers and dropped into the water. She fished it out again and dried it just in case it went rusty. She dried it with the towel that lay on the chair next to the bath and threw the key on to a nearby table. Someone tapped the door.

  ‘Who is it?’ Cally called.

  ‘Grandpa.’

  ‘Come in grandpa.’

  The door was knocked open wide and a man came in using a walking frame. Archie Scott had been a patrolman but now his legs would not hold him up anymore but he proved he was still able to fight when he met and killed Baptiste to save Cally. He took his time to circle the open door and throw it closed showing a surprising strength in his arms.

  ‘How's my favorite granddaughter?’

  ‘Your only granddaughter is fine and how is grandpa, apart from bitching about his legs?’

  ‘Fine, apart from the legs. I hear you're going to see your young man today.’

  ‘He's not my young man! He's just a boy I met.’

  ‘Do you kiss all the boys you meet in lonely farmhouses then?’

  ‘I didn't meet him there, we just sort of ended up there! And no, not all. Just the nice looking ones.’

  ‘So you think he's nice looking then?’

  ‘Oh he's nice looking but he's also a pain in the butt!’

  ‘And you're not?’

  ‘That's different! I'm allowed, I'm a girl!’

  ‘But you try hard not to show it!’

  Cally's grandfather started to shuffle toward the door.

  ‘Isn't there anything they can do about your legs grandpa?’

  He looked back.

  ‘Hasn’t Barbara explained it to you. That's why things are in such bad condition round here. Your mother is saving all the money that comes in, to pay for an operation which might help me walk again without having to use this thing!’

  ‘You mean you'll be able to walk again after an operation?’

  ‘So they say but even I'm not supposed to know about it, so don't you let on!’

  ‘My lips are sealed.’

  Cally waited until her grandfather had made it outside and closed the door again before she jumped out of the bath. She found the key and looked at it closely.

  ‘I need to know where you fit! My grandpa needs an operation and this place needs a power of work done on it. The money you are hiding will make all the difference!’

  She thought long and hard but nothing came to mind and she had to be content in putting it back in her hiding place. She picked up Lucy's red dress, the police had found it, and Dermot’s effects, when they raided the Dolphin hotel soon after the shootout. The shootout which had taken place just down the stairs from where she was standing in the rest home. After the shootout, the police went into the Dolphin looking for any stragglers from Clo's gang. The dress was not what she liked to wear but Drummond, the boy who helped her, said he thought she looked pretty in it and she knew it would please Dan Craigrose. He helped her and got beat up for his troubles. She squeezed into the dress and made sure the broach was up the right way. The broach was a present from Dan, he was trying to forget about his part in the death of his granddaughter, although Cally didn't see why he blamed himself but that did not stop him. She looked in the mirror, the only thing different was her short hair, she'd cut it when she was being chased, to look like a boy. She admired herself for a few minutes until her mother called up.

  ‘I'm going now, if you want to come you should get your butt down here quick!’

  This was a different ma. No more soft and squishy. She drove a truck and even fixed it when it went wrong. She ran a retirement home for old policemen on her own and was now looking after Dermot, who was little more than a vegetable.

  ‘Be right there ma.’

  The journey back to the hospital was a lot quicker and easier than Cally's journey out to the rest home. At least now, no one was trying to kidnap her, although the truck was no limousine. When they passed the sign for Wilmington on their way out Cally remembered the drunk farmer and his daughter.

  ‘I wonder if he ever got off that pitch fork.’ She muttered staring into the trees, more to herself but loud enough for her mother to hear.

  ‘Who?’

  ‘Some old farmer. He was trying to stop his daughter from running off with her boyfriend. They argued something fearsome and she stuck a pitchfork in him.’

  ‘Where were you?’

  ‘Hiding up in the barn loft. I watched it all. It was like being in the nickelodeon!’

  ‘Didn't you help him?’

  ‘Nah. He would'of only gone after them with his shotgun.’

  ‘Would have.’ Barbara corrected. ‘Should we stop and find out if he's all right. Was he in pain?’

  ‘No I think he was too drunk to feel anything at the time.’

  ‘Then it serves him right!’ Barbara retorted.

  They parked in the hospital car park and Cally led the way to the information desk, she remembered walking in dressed as a boy, in an effort to see if it was her father in there. She smiled when she remembered Drummond kicking her when she nearly announced herself as Dan's granddaughter.

  ‘Could you tell me where Daniel Craigrose and Master Drummond- Oh shoot I don't know his other name?’

  ‘That's okay, nor do we.’ The nurse replied. ‘He wouldn't tell us. Mr. Craigrose is in room 179 and Drummond discharged himself soon after he had a visit from the child welfare woman.’

  ‘What! You mean I put this dress on for nothing?’

  ‘Not for nothing Cally.’ Barbara said as she caught up. ‘I'm sure Mr. Craigrose will like to see you in it.’

  ‘Is Drummond's arm still in plaster?’ Cally asked the nurse.

  ‘Yes, it's not due off for two more weeks.’ She replied.

  ‘What a-’

  ‘Cally!’ Barbara warned.

  ‘Well! Discharging himself, when I was coming to see him and when he's still in pl
aster!’

  They walked to the lift.

  ‘I wonder where he is?’ Cally complained, as they waited for the lift to come. ‘I know! I bet he's back at the shack in the alley, the one he shared with Caleb!’

  Caleb, the blind man who had taken a liking to Drummond and looked after him, when he had been kicked out of his home. Clo's men tortured Caleb when they found out they had helped Cally and he died shortly after. While Drummond was away trying to help Cally.

  The lift doors slid open with the familiar ding and Cally flinched.

  ‘It's okay, it's all over. You're safe now.’ Barbara reassured her as she steered her into the lift. ‘The bad men are all dead!’

  When they stepped out Cally led the way past the room Dan had been in the first time she had gone to see him and counted her way along until they came to 179. She hesitated then knocked on the door. When there was no reply she opened it and went in. Dan was asleep in bed. She sat on the bed next to him but did not wake him, she was afraid he would take her to be Lucy, his dead granddaughter, as it was her dress she was wearing.

  ‘You wake him Ma. I'll keep out of sight in case he thinks I'm Lucy.’

  ‘Lucy's dead.’ Dan said, with his eyes still closed. He opened them. ‘My don't you look pretty and that broach does go well with the dress.’

  Cally dropped off the bed and did a pirouette for Dan to see the full picture.

  ‘How are you getting on Dan?’ She asked when she sat back down on the bed.

  ‘Fine they say I'll soon be out of here.’

  ‘Sooner than you think. You're going home with us!’

  ‘That is, if you want to!’ Barbara added.

  ‘No it's not! You're coming with us and that's an order!’ Cally insisted. ‘I'm going to look after you, as soon as I've found that Drummond.’

  ‘Has he run off then? I thought I hadn't seen him for a couple of days. Surely he'll be at the shack?’

  ‘A woman from the welfare came to see him!’ Cally said. ‘I thought he'd be at the shack as well.’

  ‘Come on then. If I'm out of here, let's go and look for him.’

  Dan took his clothes into the small room on the right side behind his bed and dressed carefully, he had aches and pains everywhere from where Clo's goons had beaten him.

  Barbara followed Cally's directions and parked where Clo and his mob had parked when they paid their visit to the shack. Cally ran up the alley but the shack was no longer there! With Caleb dead it had become a place for drop outs, vagrants and other ne'er do wells. The mayor had ordered its complete removal and if anyone looked like they were trying to build another one they were soon moved on. Barbara caught Cally up when she stood looking at the space where the shack had been, while Dan waited in the truck.

  ‘Is something up?’ She asked.

  ‘It's gone! This is where the shack should be but it just isn't here anymore! This is where Drummond should be!’

  ‘If he isn't here, he'll be somewhere else.’

  ‘But where ma? It's a big city!’

  ‘Think Cally. You were friends, where would you go if you were all alone in Chicago?’

  ‘He isn't alone. Well he shouldn't be! He should be with me!’

  ‘That sort of talk won't help find him. Think about where you went when you hid from Clo's men.’

  ‘There's the den, he knew about our den he might be there!’ Cally cried, her mind suddenly waking up.

  ‘Let's go and look in this den then.’

  Once again Cally gave directions and Barbara parked as close as she could to the den, then they had to walk again, leaving Dan in the truck. Cally pointed to the little entrance.

  ‘You can get in there?’ Barbara asked.

  ‘Yeah, easy. Look I'll show you.’

  Cally squirmed into the opening and disappeared from view. Barbara heard Cally talking to someone and was hopeful that their quest was at an end but she could not make out, if she was talking to a boy of a girl or what they were saying. Cally re-appeared a few minutes later.

  ‘Was he there?’ Barbara asked.

  ‘No just a couple of friends. I borrowed some clothes off one of them and I owe him for them.’ Cally looked disappointed.

  ‘Come on Cally, think!’ Barbara scolded. ‘If I was Baptiste you'd be dead by now!’

  The name Baptiste brought memories flooding back, the escape from the farmhouse, the climb down the bell ropes at the church, the night she hid in the engine well on Dan's boat house.

  ‘That's it, Dan's boat!’ She cried. ‘Come on he's bound to be on Dan's boat!’

  Cally ran back to the truck and Barbara followed. She found Cally crying and Dan shaking his head.

  ‘It won't be there now Cally.’ He said quietly. ‘I had to pump her out twice a day, I always meant to get round to patching her up but I- Well you know why I didn't do it.’

  ‘You mean they'll have taken that away as well!’ Cally asked wiping her face with the handkerchief Dan gave her.

  ‘No it'll have sunk lass!’

  Barbara followed Cally's directions again but instead of walking through the wood Cally asked her to stop by the bridge and all three walked down the towpath. Dan wanted to see how the boat had fared without him but he really expected it to be on the bottom of the river. Cally wanted to see if it was still there and Barbara just went along for the walk. When they turned the corner the boat looked no different than it had before.

  ‘Well someone's pumping it out that's for sure.’ Dan said, glad to see that the boat was still there and in one piece.

  ‘And I know who!’ Cally cried and jumped into the river.

  Barbara threw her hands to her face in horror.

  ‘Cally come back you'll drown!’ She shouted.

  ‘Not her, missus Doyle. She's swum that river before, once wrapped up in wire!’ Dan said and sat down to watch. ‘She sure is one live wire that girl!’

  ‘You can say that again!’ Barbara agreed and sat down beside him.

  Cally made the bank on the other side easily and landed up river of the boat. She climbed up the bank and on to the boat, then she walked to the door that led down into the cabin.

  ‘Permission to come aboard captain?’ She called down but there was no answer. She climbed down and looked around. The place was clean and tidy, even the windows were clean. She looked in the kitchen and front cabin but there was no sign of anyone. Cally was bitterly disappointed, she'd expected to find Drummond here. Her legs felt like lead as she climbed the steps back up on to the deck. Barbara could see that she had had no luck but from where she was but there was nothing she could do about it, there was no way she was going to swim across. Cally climbed off the boat and started to walk away but the climb down reminded her of the last time she was here, hiding in with the engine which was waist deep in water. Now the boat rode higher in the water so, as Dan had said someone has been pumping her out. She smiled and climbed back on board. She waved to Barbara and Dan before she climbed back down into the cabin. She walked over and opened the trap door that covered the engine well.

  ‘Are you going to cower in there all day Drummond?’ She asked. ‘It isn't comfortable, believe me I know!’

  ‘Go away!’ A voice called up.

  ‘No way. Do you know how long it's taken me to find you?’

  ‘You don't understand!’

  ‘Why because I'm a silly girl!’

  ‘No it's not that, you can't help that.’

  Cally slammed the hatch back down and sat on it.

  ‘Open the hatch Cally!’ Drummond called up. ‘This engine's hurting my butt.’

  ‘Silly girls don't know how to open hatches now do they.’

  ‘They were going to put me in a home Cally!’

  Cally opened the hatch.

  ‘Why?’

  ‘Because I'm only fourteen. I had to run or they'd have taken me and once you're in one of those places, it's all over!’

  ‘Come with us. You can live in Wilmington with all of us. It'
s a retirement home for old policemen!’

  ‘What if the fat woman comes for me? I don't want to end up in an orphanage!’

  ‘You can run away if you want and I'll run away with you. Besides there's a lot of places to hide in our house you ought to see the size of it!’

  Drummond looked up from where he sat on the engine, his cast showing up white despite his attempts to disguise it. He held up his good arm and Cally helped him up out of the engine well.

  ‘It'll be okay, you'll see.’ Cally assured him. ‘My mum don't take any stick from anyone!’

  ‘Where's your dad? He isn't in the hospital anymore.’

  ‘How do you know that?’

  ‘I used to go and sit with him. When Dan was asleep, Dan snores and it gets boring after a while!’

  ‘We collected pa in the week and took him home, my grandpa is with him at the moment. It was grandpa who shot Baptiste!’

  ‘Him I've got to meet.’ Drummond said respectfully. ‘Where's your ma.’

  ‘Across the river.’

  They walked up into the daylight and he saw the water dripping of Cally's dress.

  ‘Why did you swim across?’

  ‘To get here quicker!’

  ‘Nice way to treat a dress, when does Dan want it back?’

  ‘Well he can't have it now can he! Any way, you can ask him, he's on the towpath as well.’

  Drummond looked across to where they both sat and waved. They waved back.

  ‘I'm not swimming across my cast gets soft when it gets wet! Get them to meet us at the intersection where the track comes out of the trees.’

  Cally tried to pass the message on without shouting and eventually saw Dan explain to Barbara. The two on the other bank walked off toward the bridge. Drummond produced a large padlock and locked the repaired cabin door.

  ‘Where did you get that?’ Cally asked.

  ‘I stole it from the hospital, they had plenty!’

  ‘So you planned your escape then!’ Cally accused.

  ‘Yes of course.’

  ‘Then why didn't you tell me about it?’

  ‘You weren't there and that horrible fat woman was coming back to take me away!’

  They started through the trees to meet the other two. Before stepping into sight Drummond looked about to make sure no one was watching, then hurried into the truck.