Scooters Yard

by Clive Mullis

  ‘Does that mean we have to go back to the classroom?’ asked Mindy. ‘Only… well, we’re all keen to help out a little more.’

  Rose smiled. ‘Let’s see. I suggest a nice cup of tea, and then the Commander and I will talk through a few things.’

  Chattering away at nineteen to the dozen, the girls disappeared into one of the back rooms to fire up the little stove that the dwarfs had brought down. Rose watched them go and then pulled up a chair and sat in front of MacGillicudy.

  ‘Any clue?’ She indicated with her head the pile on the next desk.

  The commander nodded. ‘I think there is. I will have to go through them all again, but one or two really stand out. There are a couple that I’m loath to think about, but I have to.’

  ‘Really? Why?’

  He looked up and gave a sad smile. ‘Two who match are Wiggins and Diffin.’

  The gasp left Rose’s throat before she had a chance to stifle it. ‘Oh, Jethro. I hope they’re not involved.’

  ‘So do I; I’ve known both of them half me life, and I trust them as much as anyone, but the policeman in me says that I shouldn’t be fooled by appearances. We have to check them out, same as the others. Wiggings served on a ship as a cabin boy, Diffin as a young soldier.’

  ‘Helloooooo down there.’

  The voice wafted down from above and Rose looked up to see Frankie standing at the dwarf entrance. He waved, hiccupped and then swayed a little as he tried to grab hold of the ladder. Cornwallis came up behind and saved him from the imminent fall, grabbing him by the collar and dragging him back.

  ‘If you haven’t already noticed, Mr Kandalwick is somewhat the worse for wear,’ said Cornwallis.

  ‘No shit,’ replied the commander. ‘I thought you were trying to find things out?’

  ‘We were and we did,’ replied Cornwallis. ‘But after we left the pub that Gerald’s two lads were on about, we went to the Stoat to chew things over. Unfortunately, Frankie didn’t tell me how much he had to drink. You know him, he’s normally got hollow legs; he seemed sober as a judge, but then went off the scale; fine one minute, pissed the next. I think we’d better let him sleep it off for a while.’

  ‘Isabella will have a fit,’ observed Rose. ‘You should have kept a closer eye on him.’

  Frankie grinned and then wrapped his arms around Cornwallis to give him a hug. ‘My old mate. The bestest mate in all the world.’

  The hug resembled one given by Big George the bear when he got upset with someone. Cornwallis struggled to breathe as his lungs felt the full compression. ‘Ugh!’ he whimpered, as tears sprang to his eyes.

  Rose ran up the ladder and pulled Frankie off before the blue faced Cornwallis expired.

  Frankie then turned his attention to her. ‘Come here, my little darling,’ he slurred. ‘Come to Frankie.’

  Rose managed to duck just as Frankie reached out. She skirted around him and he flailed in the air.

  ‘Missed! Where you gone now?’ he asked, bemused.

  Cornwallis began to recover; taking great lungful’s of air, thankful that they were still working.

  ‘Why did you let him get like that?’

  ‘I plead innocent, but your uncle Eddie had something to do with it. Frankie went in for a snack just as Eddie put out a bottle of his new whisky; single malt, aged for twenty years in an old oak barrel, from the highlands of Scleep. Apparently, he and Eddie got through half a bottle in about ten minutes. He came back, took a swig of his beer and went straight over the edge. I nearly took him back home, but then thought it might not be a good idea, so I brought him here to sleep it off for a while.’

  The two dwarfs who accompanied them down from the surface grabbed hold of Frankie and dragged him off. Frankie didn’t take much persuading and decided he quite liked his new best friends. He even gave them a chorus of his favourite drinking song.

  ‘Drink, drink, drink, drink, drink, drink, drink, drink,’ ad infinitum.

  Cornwallis and Rose listened to the noise; it got slowly fainter and fainter as Frankie moved further and further into the depths of the tunnels.

  ‘At least he won’t forget the words,’ said Rose, with a little bit of a grin.

  ‘Wait,’ said Cornwallis, putting his hand up. ‘There’s an “oh” and an “and” in it somewhere.’

  Drink, drink, drink, drink, drinkkkkkkk. Oh, and drink, drink, drink, drink…’

  ‘See, he got it right.’

  MacGillicudy had his face in a file as Cornwallis and Rose climbed down. He had a few sheets of paper and a pencil by the side where he jotted down some notes. Rose quietly told Cornwallis about Wiggins and Diffin.

  ‘Let’s see if we can shed a little more light on the matter,’ said Cornwallis. ‘Despite Frankie’s appearance now, he at least told me what he found out at the pub. If we put that together with what I learnt, I reckon we can narrow things down a bit further.’

  MacGillicudy seemed to come back to life. ‘I can hear the pair of you. You don’t have to whisper. What did you find out, Jack?’

  ‘That we’re looking for a feeler who has connections with the Reaper and Wrangler, also someone who has a brother named Shadrig. The pub has two entrances, in reality it’s two different pubs; there’s the posh side and the Brews side. This Shadrig appears to be the one getting the gonepowder from those two lads and he then passes it on to his brother. Now, a couple of feelers use the Brews side of the pub, but a few more use the posh side.’

  ‘Where did the information come from?’ asked MacGillicudy, looking up.

  Frankie spoke to a Tom out in the yard, apparently one of Gerald’s, a girl by the name of Maisie. She said she applied to join the feelers, but Rose turned her down.’

  Rose’s eyebrows shot up. ‘We couldn’t take everyone, especially not a Tom.’

  ‘She said as much. Apparently you told her to get out of the profession and try again another time.’

  ‘Oh yes, I remember her now. She would be quite good, but…’

  ‘Not to worry,’ he patted her rear. ‘She just wanted to help and Frankie said he’d mention it to you.’

  Rose removed his hand. ‘Was that an affectionate pat, or a patronising one? Think before you answer,’ she added in warning.

  ‘Affectionate, definitely,’ he replied.

  ‘Good, then you can put it back.’ She returned the hand to its previous position and then gave his a squeeze too.

  MacGillicudy rolled his eyes and then shook his head. ‘Can’t you leave each other alone for two minutes?’

  Rose and Cornwallis looked at each other and then at MacGillicudy.

  ‘Er… no,’ replied Cornwallis. ‘That’s a daft question. Anyway, if you’ll let me continue.’ He waited until Jethro nodded. ‘There was another of Gerald’s girls on the posh side of the pub. She recognised me and managed to have a word. He didn’t elaborate on how she had sat at his side and sort of poured herself over him, not with Rose there, he wouldn’t. ‘She confirmed that there’s a room upstairs that’s sometimes used by a group of feelers. She didn’t know for what purpose, but the place seems to tick the right boxes.’

  ‘So it’s worth keeping an eye on the place?’

  Cornwallis nodded.

  MacGillicudy sighed. ‘Normally we would get a couple of feelers to keep watch, but that’s out of the question. There’s just us four and even if Gerald is keeping a finger in the pie, we can’t ask him. We’re desperately short of manpower.’

  ‘But not womanpower.’ Rose narrowed her eyes. ‘You said you will swear them in,’ and she indicated the girls next door. ‘Do that and you have a dozen feelers to work with.’

  MacGillicudy held his hands out. ‘I know, and I will, but we need experience here. We need to watch and follow and I don’t want to put them at risk. How would you feel if one of them got hurt? The people we’re after are blowing places up.’

  Rose disentangled from Cornwallis and began to walk around the room, remembering when she had first followed someone.<
br />
  She was with Jack and Frankie, but she still felt out of her depth. They were trying to catch some people who were trying to kill them and she remembered that she had a bit of a moment a little later and Jack had to calm her down. Would the girls have a similar reaction? Perhaps, but she didn’t think that their lives were at serious risk. After weighing it all up, she came to the conclusion that they would be able to deal with it.

  She turned back to MacGillicudy. ‘We’ll ask them. Ask for volunteers, and I bet each and every one of them will. I’ve taught them a little about how to defend themselves, so they should be able to manage, but we will have to tell them more about what and who we’re after, as well as why. Give them the whole story.’

  ‘That the police are trying to destroy the force?’

  ‘Yes, Jethro. You can’t keep them in the dark if you want to find these feelers.’

  ‘Maybe you’re right.’ He yawned and stretched out his arms. ‘It’s getting late, and we’ve been at this for hours. Let’s all get some sleep and we’ll look at it in the morning. Nothing we can do now, anyway.’

  ‘Okay, but make sure you come to the right… no, the only decision. With Frankie in the state he is, I’m going to have to see Isabella; she’ll be waiting for him to come home. You coming, Jack?’

  ‘I’ll go, you stay here. You pair can argue while I’m away. Anyway, you have to explain to the girls why they’re staying here tonight.’

  CHAPTER 18

  Cornwallis rapped on the door and then waited, patiently, knowing that it would be a while before she answered. Isabella’s condition dictated that everything must be done at impending motherhood pace, and nothing would interfere with that.

  The light from the parlour crept out through the blinds, so he knew she hadn’t gone to bed. In Frankie’s bachelor days it had been the sitting room, but a bit of silk, some plush cushions and a total revamp had changed it beyond all recognition. Now it definitely resembled a parlour. Everything else in the house had undergone a similar transformation, now barely recognisable as the place it had once been. Strangely, Frankie didn’t mind at all.

  The door opened cautiously and then jammed against the chain. Two eyes peered out and then a cry of welcome burst upon his eardrums as she hastily unfastened the door and flung it open.

  ‘It’s only me,’ said Cornwallis, unnecessarily. ‘Frankie is somewhat indisposed at the moment, I’m afraid.’

  ‘Indisposed? Do you mean he’s drunk?’ she enquired, not exactly pleased, but not angry either.

  ‘Er… Yes. Sorry, my fault really. He needed to get some information from someone and… Well, you know,’ he shrugged apologetically. ‘The dwarfs are looking after him at the moment.’

  ‘Oh well, as long as he’s safe. Come on in, Jack. I’ll get the kettle on. I can’t sleep at the moment anyway, what with junior here dancing all the time.’

  She waddled down the passage to the kitchen and put the kettle on. ‘The same business?’

  ‘Yes, but I think we’re getting closer now. He managed to get some important information.’ Cornwallis thought it best to big Frankie up; even if it was his own bloody fault he got pissed.

  She placed a couple of mugs on the table and warmed the pot before spooning in the tea. ‘So I take it he won’t be home?’

  ‘Not tonight. He worked very hard.’

  ‘I bet he did.’ She turned and he thought he saw a little smile. ‘I don’t mind, as long as he’s all right. To be truthful, I’m glad, as all he wants to do at the moment is fuss around me. “Is this okay? Do you want that? Don’t do that; let me. You just rest, put your feet up.” It’s all well and good, but us girls have been having babies since the dawn of time. We know what we can and can’t do.’

  The kettle boiled and she cut the whistle off mid-tweet before pouring the water into the pot. She stirred it and waited for it to brew.

  ‘I can have a restless night without worrying about waking him up. Did you know he’s a worrier? Everything about him says the opposite; that he’s a tough man, that nothing could stand in his way. But he’s as gentle as a lamb around me. His mum said he was like that and I think it’s why I like him.’

  ‘Like?’

  She giggled. ‘Love, then.’

  Cornwallis smiled and they caught a look. Originally, Isabella and he were going to get it together, and very nearly did. If it hadn’t been for Frankie and MacGillicudy sticking their noses in, he would have too. He smiled at the memory. His friends knew that if any getting it together was going to happen then it should have been him and Rose, so they made sure that they did — two friends looking after the third. Isabella realised the situation and so turned her attention towards Frankie. She never looked back after that, which Cornwallis felt a little irked about, as though that incident had never occurred and she only ever wanted Frankie anyway.

  The bump in her stomach bashed up against the table as she poured the tea. As he looked at the bump, he felt something stir in him — a feeling of jealousy perhaps? Rose had been insistent that he kept buying the little rubber overcoats for the old man down below, spending a fortune on the bloody things, and he thought that he generally kept the whole damn industry going.

  She handed him the mug of tea and then lead the way into the parlour. Fluffy lay in front of the fire, curled up in a ball. He half opened one eye and then closed it slowly. He shifted position and then stretched right out, giving a low purr.

  Cornwallis looked at him and then quizzically at Isabella.

  ‘He came back about an hour ago,’ she said. ‘Said he had some news for you.’

  ‘As it happens, I saw him earlier and he had nothing to tell.’

  ‘That were earlier. This is later. Fings can change,’ said Fluffy, luxuriating close to the fire. ‘Fought youse might want to know.’

  ‘Did he tell you?’ he asked Isabella.

  She shook her head as she eased down into her chair.

  ‘Well?’ Cornwallis directed his question to the cat.

  ‘Well what?’

  Cornwallis sighed. Fluffy did this each and every bloody time. ‘When you’re ready, and I haven’t got all night.’

  ‘All right, all right, keep yer hair on.’ He rolled over and sat up. ‘Heard some feelers talking in the canteen, I did. Two of ‘em. Talking about a big bang and bringing everything down. Something about all of ‘em doing it. One of ‘em lost a button too.’

  ‘Who? When?’ Cornwallis had reached half way down to his chair, but he stopped mid-bend.

  ‘How the hell do I know ‘o they was? Just telling youse what I heard, is all. The one ‘o lost a button had to go out on patrol with that skinny fella, what’s his name? Oh yeah, Dewdrop. The feeler jest complained about ‘ow he got lumbered with the little gob-shite because he ‘it Beryl too hard.’

  Cornwallis’ arse still hovered above the seat. ‘Tonight? You mean one of them is out on patrol, tonight, with Dewdrop?’

  ‘Fer gods sake. That’s what I said, didn’t I?’

  ‘Oh shit. Sorry Isabella, but I have to go.’

  ‘Aren’t you going to finish your t—?’

  Cornwallis disappeared out of the door before she even had a chance to finish. He had to get to MacGillicudy quickly and get him to look at the Yard’s rotas: to see who had been detailed to work a beat with Dewdrop.

  The streets flashed beneath his feet in a blur, the earlier rain showers had made oily puddles on the cobblestones, and as Cornwallis ran, he splashed and the ripples showed rainbows in the glow of the street lamps and the slithers of light lancing through the shuttered windows.

  He skidded to a stop outside Flat Street underground entrance and rattled the gate. Soon a dwarf appeared, they had a hurried conversation and then he scuttled through the tunnels.

  Rose came through from the room where the girls had made up temporary beds from bits and pieces that the dwarfs had given them, and saw MacGillicudy examining the files yet again. She sat down, yawned, stretched and then pulled a file to
wards her.

  MacGillicudy looked up with a face of puzzlement, anger and resentment. ‘They’re some of the possibles,’ he said, as he tapped the pile. He then tapped a stack on his right. ‘These are the probables.’

  Rose nodded and smiled in the hope that it would break him out of his dejected reverie. ‘You have six files there, how have you narrowed them all down to just these few?’

  ‘Elimination mainly. Don’t forget I saw the cart’s driver, so I can guess his build and height. These all fit that guess, and then there’s the background: army, sailor, length of service, where they come from, where they live now.’

  ‘Six should be manageable; you have fourteen on the possibles.’ She thumbed through the pile of probables. ‘You’ve kept Wiggins in this one.’

  ‘I know. Diffin is in the possibles. As much as I want to, I can’t dismiss them, I can’t leave them out.’

  Cornwallis appeared at the top of the ladder and quickly scurried down. Rose saw that an expression of suppressed excitement flitted across his face.

  ‘What’s happened?’ she asked.

  ‘We’ve got one of them.’

  ‘What?’ MacGillicudy dropped the file in his hand.

  ‘Well, not exactly got, but I know where he is. He’s out on patrol with Dewdrop — and he lost a button.’

  ‘Dewdrop? He’s one of them?’

  ‘No, no, no. Not that I know of. Fluffy heard two of them talking and one of them had to go out on a patrol with him, the one who lost a button. All we need to do is to check the rotas.’

  MacGillicudy spun his head and locked his eyes on the door. Just through there and up a few steps were the rotas, in the sergeants’ office, on the desk.

  ‘No, Jethro, we can’t,’ said Cornwallis as he saw the gaze fix on the door. ‘It’s only a few minutes longer.’

  ‘No, you’re right,’ conceded MacGillicudy. ‘We can’t let anyone know we’re down here.’

  ‘Besides,’ added Rose. ‘We have twelve girls sleeping here. What would happen if that lot up there realised that? We’d be besieged again.’