by S G Read
‘I don’t know, do I?’ Cally declared. ‘It's about time you thought of something for a change.’
‘I could pretend to be ill.’ Drummond suggested.
‘But we need to get him away from the door.’
Drummond looked down the flight of stairs in front of him.
‘I got it! I’ll go down there and make like I fell down the stairs and you send him round. When he gets down to where I am I’ll pretend to wake up and be okay.’
‘That gets me in but how do I get out again?’
‘Open the door a little bit. I’ll be along the corridor watching and when I see the door open I’ll collapse again and while he’s looking at me you can slip out and come to my rescue!’
As plans went, it was not a great plan but it was all they had and they went with it. It all depended on the police officer, would he leave his post for an injured child? They would find later and it would either work or it would not.
Lieutenant Stone walked into the hospital. Daniel Craigrose, the man on the boat had regained consciousness and he hoped he might find out something from him. He waited as two boys walked past, then walked to the information desk.
‘Which room is Mr Craigrose in?’ He asked.
‘Room 111, on the first floor, he must be popular, those two boys just asked for him. One said he was his grandson.’ The nurse replied.
The lieutenant saw them get into the elevator and walked over to it. The elevator door closed and he had to wait for another one to come down. He saw the elevator the boys were in, pass the first floor and stop at the second floor. It made him smile.
‘Kids!’ He said remembering his four children, at home.
An elevator arrived and he took it to the first floor. When the elevator door opened he could see room 111 opposite him. He walked in and found Dan lying in bed, awake but not comfortable.
‘Mr Craigrose?’
‘That’s me who are you?’
‘Lieutenant Stone twenty third precinct. We did speak before but you probably don’t remember, you were in a bad way. I think you might be able to help me.’
‘Oh yes, I remember now. How can I help, I told you all I knew?’
‘There was a girl on your boat this evening, a girl we would very much like to meet.’
‘Why? What’s she done?’ Dan asked.
‘She’s done nothing that I’m aware of but I think her father stole some money from the local mob.’
‘Why chase her? Why not chase her father?’
‘He’s in this hospital in a coma, been that way since he tried to stop a bus the hard way. Now the mob is after her, for some reason and I’d like to know more. Do you know where she went after she left you?’
‘No I failed again,’ Dan replied sadly, ‘she’s probably in the river somewhere or Clo’s men have her.’
‘No, she didn’t drown, we know where they climbed out of the river and that they walked to a farmhouse pursued by Clo’s men. We headed Clo’s men off but the kids went into the storm drain and gave us the slip.’
‘You said, they?’
‘Yes. There’s a boy with her now, helping her.’
‘Then I didn’t fail this time,' Dan cried, a big smile on his face despite the pain he was in, 'keep going sweetheart, you’ll get there.’
‘Where’s there though?’
Dan closed his eyes for a moment.
‘Damned if I know, the memory isn’t what it used to be. I pulled her out of the river wrapped in wire and gave her a change of clothes but apart from telling me her Name was-’ He closed his eyes again. ‘Cally Archibald, she didn’t tell me much. She spun me a yarn about falling out of a tree in a tyre and getting tangled in some wire. I expect Cally wasn’t her real name either.’
‘The Cally’s right, Calliaster Doyle is her real name and she’s on our endangered species list!’ The lieutenant explained.
‘I wish I could help you more. She’s wearing a red dress if it’s any help, her dress is on my boat.’
‘No we have that at the station.’ The lieutenant corrected. ‘Are you sure you don’t know where she’s going?’
‘Where would you go, if you were her?’ Dan asked. ‘She said her Mother doesn’t live with them and you say her father’s in here? She’s either coming here to see her father or going to see her mother.’
‘Maybe I should put a few extra men around the hospital and find out where her mother is living.’
‘Might be a good idea lieutenant can you call a nurse for me I feel the need and she don’t let me get out of bed!’
CHAPTER 11
Harry Drew woke. His head hurt, he was locked in the warehouse and his gun had been taken.
‘Nobody does that to Harry Drew!’ He hissed and kicked at the door but he was not about to get out that way.
He looked about for another way out but there was only one door. He walked to the boat. He could easily get out that way but it meant getting wet unless he took the boat as far as the jetty but the boat had to stay out of sight. He weighed up the dos and don’ts. If he took the boat round he could break open the padlock, then take the boat back round and walk through the door without getting wet or Clo finding out! It seemed the perfect answer.
‘Sergeant Grogan.’ The speaker was captain Wells.
Grogan stood to attention.
‘Yes captain.’
‘I have just had some information about Clo and his motley crew of murderers. It appears they might have a waterfront warehouse. The paperwork was buried in a dummy company’s finances. If they have, there just might be some evidence inside to help me put them away. Go find it and when you’ve found it let me know.’
‘Yes captain.’
When captain Wells spoke all obeyed. Grogan found Carter and Pruitt and headed for the docks. It was like looking for a needle in a haystack but look they would. They drove along looking at warehouse, after warehouse, looking for something; they did not know exactly what they were looking for but they kept looking. Suddenly a boat appeared from behind a warehouse with none other than Harry Drew steering it. They stopped the car and Drew saw them cursing his luck. He turned the boat away from the dock and headed out onto the lake.
‘Stop or I shoot!’ Grogan yelled.
Drew reached for his gun and found it missing.
‘Damn you Dill.’ He said through clenched teeth and tried to make himself as small as possible.
Grogan waited but when Drew showed no signs of stopping. He drew his pistol and fired at the boat. Pruitt and Carter drew their weapons and did the same but the boat kept on going out to sea.
‘Damn.’ Grogan shouted.
‘Do you think one of these is their warehouse?’ Pruitt asked pointing to the warehouses on either side of the spot where Drew was going to land.
‘Could well be.’ He paused watching the boat as it went further out onto the lake. ‘Let’s have a look. Carter you keep an eye on that boat and tell me if it changes course.’
‘Yes sarge.’
They looked through the window into the warehouse on their right after cleaning a spot to look through but it was full of furniture, nuts, the type you eat and tools of different types. They moved on to the next warehouse, this one was on their left. With no windows to look through, they decided to have a look through the locked door. The padlock fell off after a few hits using the iron bar lying outside. The tin bath with residues of concrete on it and the internal mooring for the boat made it a prime suspect in the final resting place for soon to be lost souls. The smell of urine and excreta added to the picture, it was overpowering. Carter walked in.
‘The boat just blew up sarge!’
The sergeant hurried out to where he could see the boat, by now there was just a cloud of smoke.
‘Must have hit something important, did Drew jump clear?’
‘It was too far out to see if he did, sarge.’ Carter replied.
‘Keep your eyes open in case he comes ashore and look out he’s a nasty piece of work!
’
‘Yes sarge.’
Grogan left Pruitt and Carter to keep anyone else out of the warehouse and hurried off to phone the Captain.
Drummond lay at the bottom of the flight of stairs and Cally waited until the police officer at the door was alone, before she ran up to him crying.
‘My friend’s fallen! I think he’s dying! Come on.’ She wailed in her most pitiful voice.
The police officer hesitated, as he had been ordered not to leave the door under any circumstances. Cally, however, was not about to let him say no. She grabbed his hand and dragged him round the corner and when he saw Drummond lying prone at the bottom of the stairs, he ran down to help him. Cally slipped away and after checking that no one was looking, she slipped into the room the police office had been guarding.
When the police officer reached him, Drummond started to wake up and to the police officer's surprise, was soon able to stand up. While he stood there he held imaginary painful areas.
‘Are you sure you don’t want a doctor?’ The constable asked.
‘I’m okay thank you. I’ll just get a drink of water in the rest room.’ Drummond replied, flexing muscles to make sure nothing was broken.
The rest room was near the room Cally wanted to get in and he assumed she was inside the room by now. From the restroom, he could see when she opened the door a little way. When he did see the door open a little way, it was time for his relapse, to give Cally a chance to slip out of the room again, unseen but it had to be good enough to take the police officer's attention.
Lieutenant Stone stood up.
‘I’ll let you get some sleep Mr. Craigrose. Just a minute those two boys haven’t turned up here to see you. They must be lost. I’ll get my men to have a look for them; one of them is your grandson!’
‘I haven’t got a grandson. I haven’t got any grandchildren that I know of, not any longer!’
‘But I saw- Two boys! Of course, what a fool I am. She is here in the hospital already but she is dressed as a boy now! Well I’ll be. I let her walk past me!’
He left Dan and ran for the elevator. Dan was feeling happier now despite his injuries, he was smiling at Cally’s trick as he lay there.
Cally walked slowly, so slowly, to where her father lay. When she saw it was him, she took a sharp breath and then took a step backwards.
‘Pa?’ She called softly.
When Dermot did not answer, she ran to the bed but try as she would she could not get any response from him, despite her tears. She wanted to shout but it would alert the policeman who by now was back outside the door. In the end she dried her tears and walked to the door. Then, when she saw the vase of roses someone had put in the room, she took one red rose and laid it on the pillow next to her father. Again, she walked to the door, at the door she looked back.
‘I’ll let ma know that you’re here pa.’ She called back softly and opened the door a fraction.
A noise from the rest room up the corridor let her know that Drummond had not missed his cue and she watched until the constable ran to the rest room, then she slipped out of the room and down the stairs as they had planned. On the next floor she walked into the men’s restroom, trying not to look at anything in there and headed for a cubicle. There she had to wait there until Drummond arrived, so she locked herself in a cubicle. Upstairs Drummond was still performing when Lieutenant Stone arrived.
‘Where’s the girl?’ He asked Drummond.
Drummond decided that he had acted long enough and was on the road to a miraculous full recovery.
‘What girl?’ Drummond replied.
‘The girl you came in with!’
‘That was a boy and he’s gone home now.’
‘And where does he live?’
‘I don’t know! I only met him today! What’s all this about can’t you see I’m ill?’
‘I can see that. In fact I’m going to make sure they find you a bed for the night!’
‘But I’m alright now!’ Drummond insisted.
‘We’ll let a doctor decide that young man.’ The lieutenant replied.
He turned to the constable.
‘What happened to him?’
‘He fell down a flight of stairs lieutenant.’
‘And lived to tell the tale,’ Lieutenant Stone snorted, ‘find me a doctor.’
The constable returned with a doctor and after the doctor’s initial examination the Lieutenant took him to one side.
‘I need him in a bed somewhere we can keep an eye on him. A young girl’s life depends on it.’
By now, a small crowd had gathered, including two nurses even though they were in the men’s rest room.
‘Nurse, take this young man to the isolation ward, just in case what he has is catching. I don’t think this was brought on by a fall.’ The doctor said officiously.
‘Constable Wilson you go with her to make sure he doesn’t pass out on the way.’ Lieutenant Stone ordered. ‘I’ll look after the door…, of course the door all this was a distraction, she could be in there now!’
The constable and the lieutenant ran up the corridor and into the room. There was no sign of anyone, save for the single rose on the pillow.
‘She was here. Ask the boy where they were going to meet up?’
The interest in the room had made the doctor and both nurses take their eyes off of Drummond and he was long gone. He ran down the stairs at the other end of the building and into the rest room. Only one cubicle was taken and he chose the one next to it.
‘They wanted to keep me in!’ He hissed through the wall of the cubicle.
‘You must have acted too well.’ Cally replied.
‘They know you’re here and that you’re dressed as a boy!’
Drummond waited for an answer but was met by silence. Someone came into the rest room and he waited until the man had gone.
‘Did you hear me?’
‘Of course I did silly, I am not deaf.’
Cally answered from in front of his cubicle.
I have to go alone but I’ll meet you in Dan’s room, it’s 111. Wait for a few minutes then follow me.’
Drummond opened the door and saw Cally, now wearing the red dress, walk out of the rest room. She had the brown paper parcel under her arm and he assumed that the boy’s clothes were in there. He smiled. Now they’re looking for a boy so she turns back into a girl. Then a thought hit him. Clo’s men were in there somewhere and they were still looking for a girl! He opened the door and hurried after her, trying not to be noticed by anyone. He used the stairs rather than the lift and arrived out of breath at room 111. He hesitated then walked in. No one was in there apart from Dan who was asleep.
‘Now what do I do?’ He said in the open doorway.
‘You could close the door for a start!’ Cally said from the other side of the bed.
She stood up after Drummond closed the door.
‘Now what?’ Drummond asked.
‘I want to talk to him, so we wait until he’s awake, okay? Or did you have an appointment somewhere?’
Drummond went to speak then stopped. After a while he said. ‘As everyone seems to be after you, I suppose in here is as safe as anywhere. Is there anywhere to hide apart from the bed?’
‘I don’t know I only just got here when you came in!’
‘Did you forget that Clo’s men are still looking for a girl, one wearing a red dress?’
Cally’s face paled, she had not considered that.
‘Time to change again I think.’ She said quietly.
‘Good idea, I’ll keep watch.’ Drummond answered.
Cally slipped into the restroom. When she was standing at the end of the bed she had seen the door on the right of the bed and assumed that it was the restroom. It was only a little room and as the room was small, the door was close to the bed. When she came back out, she was dressed as a boy again.
‘Better the police than Clo’s men.’ She admitted. ‘There’s an air vent or something back there we could h
ide in but I can’t open it!’
Drummond inspected the vent.
‘It’s not very big.’
He took a knife from Dan’s food tray and started to unscrew the cover.
‘Where did you learn that?’ Cally asked.
‘Caleb taught me.’ Drummond answered.
Saying Caleb’s name bought him to mind and Drummond could not stop a tear running from his eye. He ignored it and the second tear. After a while, he said. ‘He was better than a father to me. I’m going to get that Clo for killing him, somehow, someway!’
The cover slipped down with one screw remaining in it.
‘Why not take out the last screw?’ Cally asked.
‘It’ll make it easier to hold the cover in place when we’re inside.
That’s if we can get inside!’
Cally reversed into the hole and squirmed until she was out of sight.
‘That’s as far as I can go!’ She admitted. ‘There’s no room for you!’
Drummond was relieved; the thought of crawling in there forwards or backwards frightened him.
‘I’ll hide under the bed, I hope he doesn’t leak on me.’ Drummond added.
He put the cover back in place.
‘Wait until I need to hide! I don’t want to spend ages in here for no reason.’ Cally cried.
Drummond opened the cover again and helped her out. They walked into the little room and stood by the bed watching the sleeping Dan.
‘They beat him up a lot, didn’t they?’ Drummond noted.
‘Yes; just because he helped me. Everyone I meet seems to get hurt at the moment. First Caleb, now Dan, I couldn’t bear it if they hurt you.’
‘Me! But I’m only a boy.’ Drummond declared.
‘It’s not funny, what am I supposed to do?’
‘Go and see you ma.’ A voice answered.
It came from the bed.
‘Dan you’re awake.’ Cally cried.
‘Well he’s hardly talking in his sleep.’ Drummond retorted.
‘Who’s this?’ Dan asked trying to lift himself up on one elbow.
‘This is Drummond; my friend.’ Cally replied.
She helped Dan up by putting a pillow behind him.