Pastworld (24 page)

.

Chapter 47

Bible J ran through the foggy streets, the dark hidden alleys, the fine squares and the parks of the city. It was crowded now, and a festive Buckland Corp. airship moved overhead through the dark sky. He was in a barely controlled fury at the loss of Eve, his bruised head, his bruised pride. He clenched and unclenched his fists as he ran. He ran on and on, his energy fuelled by his anger.

He found the address on the calling card easily enough. The door opened the moment he banged the knocker. To Bible J on the doorstep, it was as if his knock had simply flung the door open on the instant. He stood dishevelled and out of breath. While he caught his breath, he handed the card over to the man who had opened the door. Catchpole looked down at his own card and ushered the boy through into the dim parlour.

‘Forgive the dark, I was just on my way out. Where did you get this?’ Catchpole asked.

‘The woman with the cat gave it to me,’ Bible J said. ‘She told me that you were looking for Eve.’

‘Eve?’ said Catchpole.

‘Yes, Eve, they took her. Ragged men came and took her.’

‘Who are you?’ said Catchpole.

‘I am Japhet McCreddie, known as Bible J. Eve is my . . . my friend. I work for Mr Leighton over in Spitalfields.’

‘I know him. I was at his house. I am Sergeant Catchpole of the Yard.’ He held out his hand and Bible J shook it. ‘You were out with the houseboy.’

‘Caleb, that would be.’

‘I know,’ said Catchpole, ‘I was in fact there looking for Caleb. His father and your Eve are strangely linked. No time to explain now. Will you come with me? We have an important job to do. It could be very dangerous, I should warn you.’

‘That’s why I’m here,’ said Bible J. ‘Anything for Eve.’

They set off together, out into the crowded streets under the cloak of the fog.

.

Chapter 48

Mr Leighton was at the big table in the seance room while Caleb polished the holsters and gun belts which were piled on the table beside him. Outside there was music from a barrel organ and the sound of crowds of milling people. Leighton sat loading bullets into a selection of pistols and guns from his collection.

Mrs Boulter came in with a tray of food.

‘Put it over there please, Mrs Boulter. Thank you,’ Leighton said, without looking up.

Mrs Boulter started in surprise at the gleaming pile of death metalwork scattered across the polished table. ‘Whatever are you two doing?’ she said. ‘I was certain you would be going to the demolition party tonight, sir.’

‘Defending myself, my home, and more, Mrs Boulter,’ Leighton said coolly, sighting down the barrel of a Remington pistol. ‘I have no time for any party. After that last event, that robbery, I am going on the attack. The Buckland officials do nothing, and honest, properly licensed persons like myself are targeted by illicit scum like the Fantom and his so-called “ragged men”. Well, no more. I will take vengeance myself.’ He held her gaze as she backed out of the room, tutting and shaking her head.

Leighton waited until she had gone down the stairs.

‘Food, young Caleb. I have things to say to you.’

They sat together and ate mutton pie and boiled potatoes with peas and gravy.

‘I have enquired about your father.’ He looked across the table at Caleb. ‘He was a very important man,
is
a very important man in the history of this whole place. I believe it was no random robbery. Those ragged men took your father for a reason. I feel certain they have not killed him. They will be holding him for ransom, and they would have taken you too only you ran off. They obviously think that Buckland will pay up very big to get someone like your father back.’

‘The blind man seemed to know my father,’ said Caleb. ‘And he mentioned a girl called Eve as well.’

‘Eve,’ said Mr Leighton, ‘he mentioned Eve, the same name as that odd circus girl of Mr McCreddie’s, and you wait until now to tell me? Eve is in hiding from the ragged men too and your father was taken by the ragged men, and you didn’t connect any of those dots?’

‘No,’ said Caleb, ‘I didn’t. I was so shocked by everything, I wasn’t thinking straight.’

‘Tell me,’ Mr Leighton said, ‘what do you make of the friendship between our Mr Japhet McCreddie and his circus girl?’

‘They seem happy together,’ Caleb said guiltily, and her face filled his mind again, her perfect face, her bright eyes and the feel of her throat under his hands.

‘He took me to see her once,’ Leighton said. ‘A strange girl, very clever on the wire, very beautiful. She just struck me as odd, but then I am out of touch with the younger generation in here. I think she has dazzled him, almost like hypnosis. I could use her here in one of my scientific meetings. Shame she’s a success up on the tightrope.’

‘She is the best ever, Bible J thinks.’

‘Why ever are you doing all this now, sir?’ Mrs Boulter asked as she cleared away the tray, a puzzled look on her face.

‘Mrs Boulter,’ said Mr Leighton, ‘take down the curtains and roll them and pile them in the hall with all the rest.’

The hallway was nearly full of chairs, rolls of fabric, paper, books and so forth.

‘I have my reasons for all of this, Mrs Boulter,’ he continued. ‘I need to protect my investments here. This house has become too vulnerable. In fact soon I may close it down altogether.’

When they had finished and Mrs Boulter was back in the basement, Leighton said, ‘The Fantom hates me and I hate him; tonight I propose to finish him off and free your father. I will claim my nice big reward from a grateful Corporation, and you and Mr McCreddie will, I hope, help me. I have a dangerous job for you, young Caleb.’

‘What do you want me to do?’

Mr Leighton went over to the corner cupboard and pulled out a wooden box with a brass lock. He unlocked the box and pulled out two mobile phones.

‘Well, well,’ Leighton said, ‘look at them. Very, very strictly forbidden, and very, very inauthentic
indeed
. Old models, I am afraid, though pretty reliable. I shall have one, and you shall have the other.’

‘And?’

‘I know that that there has been a traitor in my elegantly run little fortress here all along.’

‘Who?’ asked Caleb.

‘Why,’ he said, lowering his voice, ‘Mrs Boulter, I am afraid. Did you not notice her expression when she saw all the guns and her face change when I said I was bent on vengeance and would soon be closing down the house?’

‘Not really,’ said Caleb.

‘Well, trust me, I did,’ Leighton said. ‘I want you to follow her. As sure as eggs are eggs, she will soon be out of here and looking to be taken to the Fantom, to warn him what I am up to. You follow her among the crowds and then when you see where she ends up you call me. I have a general idea where his lair is, but I need to know the exact location. Do you think you can do it?’

Caleb’s heart leaped at the thought of doing something positive to rescue his father.
I will be the one to do it
, he thought.

‘Of course,’ he said.

‘The phones have only one number keyed in each other’s,’ said Leighton. ‘When used they will of course set off an alert at Pastworld Security but we will be beyond worrying about that by then. Besides, it will be busy out there this evening, what with the demolition and all. As soon as you find where it is press one and call me and I will get there with the arsenal. One more thing. Here, take this.’ He handed over a Remington service revolver and holster. ‘You may need it. It’s fully loaded so take care. Are you sure you want to do this?’

‘Sure,’ said Caleb.

‘We might make a footpad and a liar of you yet, young Master Brown,’ said Leighton. ‘Take this house key as well in case I am gone if and when you return. And Caleb . . .’

‘Yes.’

‘Go carefully now.’

‘I will,’ said Caleb. ‘I will.’

Mrs Boulter slipped away from the house a few minutes later and Caleb followed behind her. He had his hair stuffed under a cap, which he wore pulled down tightly on his head, so that it cast a deep shadow across his face. He looked like any regular ‘Ollie Twist’ street boy. He was at once swept along by the busy throng on the pavement. He had to struggle to keep his eye on Mrs Boulter. She walked surprisingly quickly. Mrs Boulter stopped a ragged man, and they turned away from the crowd into a doorway. Caleb watched their heated conversation, Mrs Boulter gesturing back towards where she had come from. Then Mrs Boulter and the ragged man moved off together. Caleb followed behind them as close as he dared through the crowds. Every movement of every beggar in the shadows promised a possible betrayal, and perhaps even a painful death. He moved on through the streets, the mobile phone heavy in his pocket, the revolver ready at his hip.

.

Chapter 49

Catchpole and Bible J arrived in Fournier Street, just two among the excited crowds of Gawkers. Bible J opened the front door to find Mr Leighton sitting fully armed in crossed holsters and cartridge belts in a muddle of furniture and piled-up boxes.

‘At last, Mr McCreddie, there you are,’ he said, ‘and I see you bring Sergeant Catchpole with you.’

‘Expecting trouble, it seems? These are all licensed guns, I presume, sir?’

‘You Corporation people do nothing about the Fantom,’ he said, ‘so I am forced to do something myself.’

‘That is why we are here, man,’ said Catchpole. ‘We have come to enlist you to just that purpose. We intend to find the Fantom at once.’

‘He has taken Eve,’ Bible J said desperately.

‘Has he?’ said Mr Leighton. ‘We shall mount a two-pronged attack then. The game is afoot. I have already sent young Caleb out as a scout to locate the Fantom’s lair.’

‘But I know where he is hiding out already,’ said Catchpole. ‘At least I think I do. I believe he is in an abandoned Underground railway station at Moorgate. It’s not far from here. There is no time to lose.’

‘Wait,’ said Bible J, and he ran up the stairs, unlocked the gun room and put Eve’s journal carefully down on the table. If only he had time to read it. Then he took a pair of pistols from one of the cabinets. He locked the gun room, took the stairs two at a time, and was soon back in the hallway.

‘Right,’ said Catchpole, ‘let’s go.’

Leighton handed a rifle and a grenade to Catchpole, who tucked the gun across the broad shoulders of his ulster coat.

‘Take these, you’ll need them. I am staying here,’ Leighton said. ‘I am not a coward, I just fear they might come here. I must defend this beautiful house and its contents – they mean more to me than life. By the way,’ he said with a grin, ‘I am expecting a nice chunk of the reward monies for helping to save Lucius Brown’s son at least.’

‘You shall have your share,’ Catchpole said, ‘although I doubt there will be any reward.’

‘Why do you say that?’ Leighton said.

‘Another time, not now,’ Catchpole replied. ‘Come on then, young man,’ and with that Bible J and Catchpole went out into the dark street.

Bible J had his two revolvers and a desperate feeling of loss overlaid with anger and excitement. Catchpole had his own burden of fearful knowledge, a secret which filled him with dread and with pity for poor Eve.

They moved unhindered through the crowds. There appeared to be no one in pursuit of them and none of the jovial red-faced bobbies challenged them. Catchpole felt Gawkers’ eyes watching as they passed. He acknowledged some through force of habit, just once, with a quick nod, and then they turned off into Commercial Street. An iron eagle-head finial on the crest of a railing turned very slightly, and very slowly, and seemed to follow them.

The gas lamps were lit now, and there were more crowds of busy people. Cabs, carts and horses passed and clattered to and fro. Bible J noticed a single ragged man. They followed him, playing cat and mouse, dodging in and out of the crowds along the length of the street. As far as they could tell, he was unaware of being followed.

The fog was lifting. The deep mechanisms had shifted again, and another gear had been engaged. The great street was full of people on their way to the fireworks and the demolition. The Gawkers were now close and all around them as they went beyond a rumbling cart towards the bright windows of the Lyons Corner House. It was then that Catchpole realised they had lost sight of their ragged man.

‘I think we should change tack,’ Catchpole said. ‘Enter the Fantom’s lair via another station in the old Underground system and make our way towards it through the tunnels. We can pull off a surprise attack.’ He pulled a book from his pocket, opened the back cover and pulled out a folded Underground railway map.

‘We could get in at St Paul’s and make our way from there.’

‘Won’t it be dark down there?’ said Bible J.

‘Yes, pitch black. A little comandeering is in order.’

A bobby with a drooping moustache and a cheery smile on his face was patrolling the kerb not far from them. Catchpole approached him and flashed his warrant card. He was soon back holding a police lamp.

‘This should do the trick.’