Scotland Hard (Book 2 in the Tom & Laura Series)

by John Booth

  “Nuthin’. She just screamed that I was never around when she needed me. And ‘ere’s me come all the way to Scotland to save ‘er, the ungrateful bitch.”

  “She didn’t know you were so close,” Arnold pointed out. “She was probably just letting off steam.”

  “She didn’t sound happy, like,” Tricky admitted as he remembered the emotional tone of the message. “P’raps she really does need me.”

  “It’s a pity that telepathy isn’t directional,” Daisy mused. “And my dreams aren’t being much help at the moment. All I’m certain of is that we must go to this dance tonight. Or maybe it was the next dance or the one after that. It was a Scottish dance though, and I’m sure Dougal was there.”

  “And they say that precognition is a useless talent because it isn’t ever detailed enough,” Cam said sarcastically.

  “It saved that maid, Jane,” Daisy pointed out.

  “And a fat lot of good that has proved to be. Saving a stupid girl who works for the Brotherhood.”

  “Good deeds rarely go unrewarded,” Arnold pointed out. “Perhaps we will receive ours in heaven.”

  “I’d rather go on living, if it’s all the same to you,” Cam said irritably. “And what is more I’ve got nothing to wear for this dance.”

  “There might be a shop in the village,” Daisy said cheerfully. “We should go and look. I’m sure you wore something pretty in my dreams.”

  “Now that, boys, is the problem with putting a female in charge of a team,” Arnold remarked with a sly grin on his face. “At any critical juncture, it is highly likely that the ladies will decide to go shopping.”

  Arnold ran through the house laughing as Daisy and Cam threw anything they could lay their hands on at him. He ended up locked in the bathroom with Cam pounding futilely on the door shouting words not at all dissimilar to the ones Tricky had used earlier.

  The moment came that Alice had been dreading. Madam Hulot announced that their lessons were ended for the day and stood up to go. The girls leapt to their feet to curtsy to her. Madam Hulot inclined her head in approval and swept out of the classroom door.

  Seconds later Alice found herself backed up against a wall with three angry girls facing her down.

  “I have not had so many stripes across my legs since the day I got here,” Gwendolyn Mathews complained. She was a big girl in every manner and her chubby fingers were clenched into a menacing fist. “And it is entirely your fault.”

  “She caught me right on the crease of my bottom,” Lucy Williams said. The girl had a Welsh lilt to her voice. “I can barely walk now because it hurts so much.” Lucy was the smallest of the girls, and had a doll like quality to her. This was probably a consequence of her striking jet-black hair. Even tied back behind her head it had an unreal quality to it.

  “How can you be so ignorant of the simplest rules of etiquette?” Edith Trenchard asked in sneering exasperation. She was the tallest of the girls and the thinnest. She had curly red hair that was immaculately groomed. In fact, everything about the girl was immaculate. That and her refined Scottish accent were enough to make Alice dislike her intensely.

  “It’s not my fault Hulot is a cow,” Alice protested. “I did the best I could. It just weren’t good enough for ‘er.”

  “Listen to how she speaks,” Edith said disdainfully. “She is an ugly common little trollop and no mistake.”

  Alice attacked Edith with fists flailing. Flurries of blows were exchanged on both sides before Alice was pulled to the ground by Gwendolyn, who promptly sat on her. Alice’s arms were trapped under Gwendolyn’s weight and she found she could not move.

  “Now girls, shall we extract our revenge on this little hussy?” Gwendolyn asked her friends.

  “Get off me or you’ll get yours,” Alice wheezed as she tried to arch her back. Gwendolyn raised herself up on her knees before dropping her bottom firmly down on Alice’s tummy. Alice felt the breath squeezed out of her.

  ‘GET OFF ME!’ Alice shouted telepathically with all her strength. Gwendolyn screamed and fell over with her hands clasped to her ears. Edith and Lucy fell backwards before fainting on the floor.

  It took Alice a few moments to free her body from under Gwendolyn’s limp form.

  “Now I wonder just what I should do with you three,” Alice asked herself, before an answer came to mind that made her grin with devilment.

  32. Actions

  Trelawney cursed as he read the telegram for the second time. Belinda stood on the far side of Trelawney’s desk and wondered what had so upset him. As if in answer to her question, he passed the message over for her to read.

  LOST ITEM AT STATION STOP STAFF HERE CANNOT REMEMBER HIM STOP VERY BUSY WITH PASSENGERS TODAY STOP REQUEST PERMISSION TO GO TO HOTEL STOP UNDERSTAND RISK BUT CAN SEE NO OTHER WAY STOP AWAIT YOUR PERMISSION STOP BENTLEY STOP

  “Bentley is the man you have following Saunders?” Belinda asked. Trelawney had not told anybody who he was using for that task, but Belinda was more than capable of reading between the lines. “He’s just come back to England from being head of station in India. I thought he was on extended leave.”

  “He is.., officially,” Trelawney said wearily. “I needed to find a competent agent I could trust and with Saunders working for the Brotherhood, the supply is limited. Saunders has been involved in the recruitment of most of our agents over the last five years. I recruited Bentley myself over twenty years ago and he has been in India for the best part of ten years. I felt he was a safe pair of hands.”

  “But he has lost Saunders somewhere in Scotland?” Belinda surmised.

  “He lost him in the centre of Edinburgh to be precise. He tracked Saunders to the Waverley Hotel, but lost him at the railway station this morning. Now he wants permission to talk to the staff in the hotel to find out where Saunders has gone.”

  “That sounds reasonable.”

  “For all we know, all the staff in the Waverley work for the Brotherhood. We have no idea how deep their influence extends and it would only take one false step to put Laura in terrible danger. As it is, Sidney wants me to set up snipers at every port with orders to shoot anyone who looks like her who is seen boarding a boat.”

  “The Secretary of War wants that?” Belinda asked in astonishment. “But was he not telling you how terrible it was that she was dead only a couple of days ago? Now he wants you to kill her? That makes no sense.”

  “Laura Young dead, was Britain down one Class A, which Sidney regarded as terrible news. Now we know Laura was sold to the Hungarians, and that is a very different situation. Laura dying is terrible, the Hungarians gaining a Class A Spellbinder is a disaster. The only reason I was able to dissuade him was because Laura is currently in the hands of the mysterious Sir M and we were expecting Saunders to lead us to her.”

  “If only that maid had kept her eyes open,” Belinda muttered.

  “Her eyes are not the problem; Jane Muldrow just isn’t very bright. Still, without her we would have nothing. She is the only one in that house who has told us anything, and she had the chance to speak with Tom and Laura as well as Camilla’s team.”

  “The Navy are not making any headway with Bertram Smee?”

  “Everyone in the house seems to be scared to death of talking. They fear it more than the gallows. I have two MM1 agents talking to Jane at this very moment, to see if they can find out anything else. The girl is terrified, but she is being cooperative. Apparently, there were earlier auctions at the house and we are hoping to find out the names of the children who were sold, if not to who.”

  “I have a possible solution for you, regarding Bentley,” Belinda said suddenly. “Give him descriptions of Arnold, Camilla, Daisy and the two boys and tell him to ask the station staff about them. They are a much more distinctive group than Saunders. The station staff might well remember them. The one thing we know for sure is that Saunders is chasing them, so wherever they have gone, he is following.”

  Trelawney thought it through and smiled.
“Sometimes I think you should be sitting in this chair rather than me. That is a brilliant idea. Will you compose the telegram for me?”

  “Of course I will, Ernest. But if I were to do your job, who would handle all the paperwork? I think things are better arranged the way they are.”

  Belinda walked back to her office as Trelawney stared after her. She is quite correct; he thought. I have always been hopeless at paperwork. On the other hand, Belinda is efficient and talented enough to do the paperwork and my job. Men may well prove redundant should women ever get the chance to run the Empire.

  Tom’s tour of the factory finished and he admitted to himself that Lord McBride ran an impressive facility. It was obvious that the man took a pride in looking after his workers and paying them a decent wage. If it were not for the fact that he had kidnapped Laura, Tom would have found himself admiring the man. It was rare to find someone so committed to bettering the lot of his fellow man.

  McBride led Tom along a large imperial style concourse back to the castle. This was the first time they had been out in the elements during the tour, though the flagstones were heated from beneath, so no snow had settled on them. It was freezing out in the real world and Tom made a mental note to locate heavy clothing he could steal for when he and Laura escaped. The idea of freezing to death for want of a coat did not appeal to him in the slightest.

  Tom was grateful to be back inside the castle and basked in the warm air as McBride led him onward through endless rooms and stone corridors until eventually they found themselves back in the laboratory.

  Laura turned and smiled when she saw him. She looked so beautiful in her pretty Scottish dress that Tom wanted to rush over to hug and kiss her. Not that he did, of course. He had been brought up with better manners than that.

  “I see you have fully recovered, Thomas, though you appear to be a little breathless.”

  “That is through having to chase after Lord McBride as he has rushed me through the castle. I am glad to see you recovering so well, Mr. Summers.”

  “That is all down to you, Healer,” Giles said, giving Tom a small bow. “I trust you will be able to do the same for my friend, Andrew Baxter, when you are able.”

  “The boy will attempt the healing tomorrow,” Lord McBride said sharply. “Judging by what healing you did to him, he will need all his strength for Andrew.”

  “That sounds like the wisest course of action, my lord,” Giles agreed.

  “What progress have you made?” Lord McBride asked Kemp.

  “Laura’s first bind dissolved the copper rod leaving behind a residue of a strange grey metal,” Kemp explained in a tone similar to that of a teacher. “It was to be expected that her first attempt would end in failure. When the decontamination team has done their work, we will try again. It is all very exciting.”

  “Aye, well donna think you have all the time in the world. Giles can begin to process the other rods while you get the lassie up to speed. With a wee bit of luck, we will have Andrew back at work tomorrow and then we can relax a little. Perhaps all I needed all along was a really good Healer.”

  “I do not understand your urgency on this matter, Lord McBride. Surely Mr. Clerks has enough of the pure dantium to continue his experiments?” Kemp protested.

  “If his experiment goes as planned we will have little time to act,” McBride stated. “There will be those that suspect, even if they cannot comprehend the method. We must move before they act on their suspicions…”

  McBride’s eyes unfocussed as he stared into the distance, lost in thought. Then he snapped out of his reverie.

  “Be that as it may. You have done enough for today and there is the Cèilidh tonight to prepare for.”

  “What is a kay-lee?” Laura asked trying to copy McBride’s pronunciation and failing. “Is it some kind of experiment?”

  Giles laughed and even Kemp and Lord McBride smiled.

  “Have you never heard of a Cèilidh?” Lord McBride asked in astonishment. “It is an occasion to dance, an evening of entertainment and merriment. We are to welcome a host of new workers come to join us in our humble home. It will take place tonight as they arrived today, but we always hold a Cèilidh at least twice a month if not every week.”

  “I’m afraid I do not know any Scottish dances. Do they not generally involve men dancing over the blades of swords?” Laura asked.

  “Aye, sometimes they do,” McBride conceded. “But we will show our new guests how to do each dance before we start and these dances were designed to be danced by those a little the worse the wear for drink, so I think you’ll have no problems. Many of my new workers are from England and Wales, so you are unlikely to be the poorest dancer in the room tonight.”

  “Is everyone in the castle coming?” Tom asked.

  “Aye, every man woman and child will be there. It is the tradition, though some will be busy serving food and drink. Why do you ask, laddie?”

  “I was wondering if we would get a chance to see Alice,” Tom replied. Laura immediately felt guilty because she hadn’t thought about Alice at all.

  “Aye she’ll be there too, as will my son Dougal. Giles, will you escort these two back to their quarters to make their preparations?”

  “It would be my pleasure, my lord,” Giles said as he smiled warmly again at Tom.

  Alice realized she needed some kind of hold over the girls, still lying unconscious on the floor. It was the irritatingly refined voice of Edith that provided an appropriate answer Alice was quite capable of being rather wicked and her upbringing ended her innocence before it was ever started.

  Once she had arranged them in exactly the right manner and removed their clothing where appropriate, Alice poured the contents of a large pitcher of water over them. The girls awoke and instantly grasped their compromised position.

  “Oh my lor’,” Alice said placing the back of her hand to her forehead. “To think I should come into a room and find yer doin’ such things to each other. I shall ‘as to tell Madam Hulot, that I will.”

  The girls hastily scrambled to their feet, struggling to pull up clothing wrapped around their ankles.

  “We shall deny it,” Edith said haughtily. “And it must have been you that arranged us like that in the first place.”

  “The truth’ll out, me dad always says,” Alice said with a wicked grin on her face. “I’ll bet yer’ll change your tune when Hulot has placed enough stripes across that bottom of yers. And yer knows she will.”

  “We’ll kill you for this,” Gwendolyn said through gritted teeth, her fists clenching and unclenching spasmodically.

  “Not affors I tell,” Alice challenged. “And yer know what I can do to yer now. Maybe I’ll do it again and bring Hulot in to see it for ‘erself.”

  “What do you want?” Lucy asked with a sigh. She had faced defeat often enough to recognize it when it bit her on the bottom.

  “I wants us to be pals like. I was stolen from me parents and this aint the place I’d choose to spends me time, if I was given a choice. We ‘as to keep in mind who the real baduns are in this place.”

  The other girls looked at her in astonishment. Gwendolyn slowly unclenched her fists and began to calm down.

  “We were taken from our families too,” she said and put her arms around Alice and gave her a hug, the other girls immediately joined in.

  “You sure you three aint trying to squeeze the life outta me?” Alice asked breathlessly a few moments later. However, she was grinning as she said it.

  33. The Dance

  Daisy and Cam giggled together as they walked up to the castle. They had indeed found a clothes shop in the village and were now resplendent in tartan skirts, matching blouses, stockings and bonnets.

  Lord McBride had anticipated that most of his employees would be ill equipped to take part in a Cèilidh and the clothes shop was stocked to the brim with appropriate clothing at ridiculously low prices. After some persuasion from the kindly woman in the shop, they had also bought Scottish clot
hes for Arnold and the boys. It was how the males looked that was causing the girls so much merriment.

  “If we are the only males wearing skirts when we get there, you girls are going to be in so much trouble,” Arnold said in a growl. He could not believe that Camilla had managed to convince him to wear a kilt. If his own clothes had not needed washing so desperately, he would never have agreed to it. His spare clothes were still in his case at the left luggage repository back in London. They never had the opportunity to go back and retrieve them.

  Getting Ebb and Tricky into kilts had been a difficult task and Camilla had resorted to a mix of threats and bribery. If Arnold had not given in to wearing the kilt the boys would still be in their scruffy clothes. As it was, all three looked resplendent in their Highland apparel as they trudged miserably up the hill.

  Dougal waited at the castle entrance to greet new member of his father’s workforce. He smiled when he saw Daisy and openly grinned when he caught sight of Arnold and the boys. Fortunately for Daisy and Cam, he was also wearing a kilt, replete with a large and impressive sporran at the front.

  “I see that your sisters have got you into proper clothes,” he said to Arnold. “My father will be pleased to see you getting into the spirit of Scotland.”

  “Camilla can be very persuasive,” Arnold replied grimly. “I trust we will not be out of place inside?”

  “It’s only about one in four who are wearing a kilt among the newcomers,” Dougal admitted. “But you look fine.” He turned towards Daisy and offered up his arm. “May I escort you into the Great Hall, my lady?”

  “I would be delighted,” Daisy said standing at his side and placing her arm in his. “Lay on, MacDuff,” she said brightly

  “Aye, the Scottish play,” Dougal said as he squeezed her arm in his. “The Bard of Avon did write one good story, despite being handicapped by his English birth.”