by S G Read
She jumped again, caught hold with both hands and pulled herself up out of sight. She saw the light flash below her and felt her arms beginning to give way. She fought hard and held on but still the beam of light shone along the pipe, was he coming after her? Had he seen her? As suddenly as it had appeared the light was gone. She lowered her legs but using the last remaining strength in her arms she pulled herself up the ladder until her feet were on the bottom rung. Now she could rest her aching arms.
When Clo heard the shots and sent Larry to find out where Lefty had gone he had to wait patiently for him to return but he was not a man who was known for his patience. Larry climbed over the dead restaurant owner and walked to the front of the restaurant. Outside he could see lefty laying on the street in a pool of blood, the torch beside him. He hurried back inside.
‘The cops got Lefty boss!’ He said apologetically.
‘It saved me the job, he was getting sloppy,’ Clo retorted, ‘and I got the impression that he was after my job!’
‘Lefty left his trademark in there boss.’ Larry pointed to the restaurant.
‘How many?’
‘Just the one!’
‘Let’s get the hell out of here then, before they come a looking.’ Clo ordered and hurried away.
They ran up the alley where Spotty’s accountant was waiting. They did not stop but ran past him to the car and as he had heard the gunshots in the main street, the accountant chose to follow them. As soon as they were in the car, Larry drove off.
‘Where to boss?’ Larry asked.
‘The Dolphin, I need a drink!’ Clo replied, wiping his face with his lace handkerchief.
When her arms felt like they could take her weight after a short rest, Cally climbed to the top of the ladder and pushed at the grate, it moved a little. This was not going to be easy! The grate made the same noise that had alerted her to its position, then again but this time the sound was different. She tried the grate again, this time it was firm and unmoving. She heard a car door slam and someone walk away. She was about to shout when she remembered the man in the pipes with her who would most certainly hear her. Her heart nearly broke. There was nothing she could do, other than to climb back down and go further along the pipe.
There was no sign of the light, when she dropped into the pipe and she continued her flight. After five minutes she saw light to her left. There was a smaller pipe like the one she had crawled down in the first place. There was no ladder and her first efforts at getting up into the pipe were met with dismal failure, it was only the sound of someone splashing somewhere behind her that gave her the renewed strength to squirm up into the pipe and stay there.
She crawled forwards and found the grate that the light and the water were coming in. By now her dress seemed to weigh a ton. She reached up and pushed at the grate, it lifted a few centimetres then she had to let it fall back. She paused and looked back down the pipe she had just crawled up. She saw the torch flash, he was coming!
Somehow, he had guessed which pipe she had gone up. She tried again, this time using all her strength but it was no good, she let it drop back.
‘Can I help?’ A voice asked from above.
Cally looked up to see a boy’s face looking down at her.
‘I can’t get out!’ She pleaded. ‘Can you lift it?’
‘You push and I’ll pull.’ He replied.
Between them, they were able to pivot the grate on one corner so that Cally could get out. When she struggled to push it back into place, he helped.
‘There’s someone after me!’ Cally explained.
‘Come on I know where you can hide!’
The boy led Cally to a lean to type shed in an alley, made up of odd pieces of wood and metal. Inside a man sat smoking a pipe, the white stick beside him and the dark glasses led Cally to believe he was blind.
‘I’ve brought a friend Caleb!’ The boy announced.
‘So I can smell. I take it you found this friend in the drain?’ Caleb replied.
‘Well, sort of! Someone was chasing her.’ The boy answered.
‘Did you see her pursuer?’
‘No.’ The boy admitted.
‘Maybe you should see who we are to be wary of Drummond?’
‘Okay. Stay here girl, Caleb will look after you.’ The boy ordered and hurried away.
‘Yeah but who’s going to look after him?’ Cally asked after the boy had gone.
‘Blind I may be, but helpless I’m not!’ Caleb replied.
‘Sorry, I didn't mean to be rude. It’s just that I’ve been through a lot today!’ Cally said tiredly.
‘Tell me about it, I might be blind but I still have a brain.’
‘Not much to tell really. Pa went to work as usual this morning but then while I was in bed someone kicked the door down and trashed the place. I hid and when they came back for seconds I legged it but they saw me and I had to jump into the drain!’ Cally simplified it and Caleb realized that.
‘We’ll leave the hows and whys until later,’ Caleb said thoughtfully, ‘now I need to know who is chasing you?’
‘Two men in a black car.’ Cally replied.
‘What sort of car? Black really doesn’t mean anything to me!’
‘I don’t know, it was just black!’
‘How many wheels did it have?’
‘Don’t be silly!’ Cally replied. ‘All cars have four wheels!’
Caleb smiled.
‘At least you know something. Tell me about the car.’
‘It was black!’
‘We’ve trod that path.’ Caleb replied and sighed. ‘There must be something you recognized about it?’
‘There was, the two men in it!’ Cally sat on the edge of what she took to be a crude wooden bench.
Caleb returned to smoking his pipe.
‘We’ll wait and see what Drummond has to say when he comes back.’ He said through a cloud of smoke.
Carter walked along to the restaurant and found the owner dead by his smashed back door. Outside the open drain was plain to see. He scratched his head and walked back to the mercantile. Pruitt was speaking on the phone.
‘Is that the lieutenant Jimmy?’ He asked.
Pruitt nodded.
‘Tell him I found a dead’un at the restaurant, not one of Clo’s. Looks like a restaurant worker, might even be the owner. The doors been shot open from the inside and there’s a storm drain been opened at back.’
Pruitt held the mouthpiece out.
‘You tell him.’
The lieutenant listened to what Carter told him and tried to piece together what went down but it did not make sense.
‘I’ll come down there,’ he ordered after a few seconds, ‘don’t let anyone move anything!’
‘No Lieutenant.’ He put the mouthpiece on the hook. ‘We got to leave things be, he’s on his way!’
‘You go and make sure no one messes around at the restaurant and I’ll sort things in the street.’ Pruitt replied.
The shop door opened and a uniformed police officer arrived.
‘Just in time,’ Pruitt declared, ‘things have to be left as they are for the inspector, can you make sure no one touches anything in the street.’
The officer nodded and walked out into the crowd outside which was growing steadily. He took charge and started to move them on.
‘What does that leave for you to do,’ Carter asked, ‘if it is not too much to ask?’
‘I want to have look round in the restaurant, before the lieutenant gets here!’ Pruitt replied. ‘That okay with you?’
‘Fine,’ Carter answered, ‘I’ll show you what I found.’
They walked back to the restaurant and Carter showed Pruitt what he had found in the restaurant. Pruitt walked out into the alley, up as far as the street it started in and then walked back.
‘There are a lot of other doors down this alley, why pick this one?’ Pruitt asked.
He looked down at the dead restaurant owner; a set of keys lay beside
him.
‘If he was willing to unlock the door, why shoot him before he can? It don’t make any sense. Why is the drain up? Is there any connection?’
They were still debating it and putting forward theories on what had happened there, when the lieutenant arrived.
‘Have you questioned everyone?’ He asked.
‘Only the storekeeper,’ Carter answered, ‘we can’t talk to this one he’s dead!’
‘Talk to everyone on the block, maybe someone saw something which can shed some light on things.’
‘It doesn’t seem to make a lot of sense lieutenant!’ Carter replied. ‘Why steal a torch by gun point and then go back for another one?’
‘I’ll tell you when I figure it out myself Carter.’ The lieutenant answered.
Carter scratched his head.
Drummond walked back to the shed.
‘That was one of Clo’s men!’ He announced. ‘What have you been up to?’
‘Nothing! I was quite comfortable in bed when they broke in and trashed my house!’ Cally complained. ‘Why should it be my fault?’
‘We’re not laying blame but we need to know why they did it and why they’re after you.’ Caleb said quietly.
‘When they came back to the house a second time, I split; I decided to go and see my pa and tell him what happened or he’d blame me for the damage too! As I was on my way to where my dad works I saw the same two men in the same car and I ran! I went into an alley my dad often uses as a short cut. He knows the owner of a restaurant and cuts through the restaurant to save walking all round the block, but this time the door was locked and I had to escape down the drain.’
‘They must want you bad.’ Caleb replied. ‘What’s your name?’
‘Cally, Cally Doyle.’
‘Doyle, that rings a bell. Isn’t there something in the latest edition about someone named Doyle? Go and buy a paper Drummond, is there enough in my tin?’
Drummond shook the tin.
‘Hardly, three washers and a button.’
‘I knew about the button!’ Caleb replied.
‘I have money!’ Cally said and slipped her shoe of to find a coin and held up a dime. ‘I’ll go and get a paper!’
‘No. It isn’t safe for you out there, give Drummond the money, he’ll get the paper.’ Caleb ordered.
‘No way. He’s not getting his hands on my money!’ Cally declared. ‘Show me where I can get a paper and I’ll go and get it.’
‘It’s a stall on the corner but I’m coming with you,’ Drummond answered, ‘just in case they try to grab you again.’
‘I’ve beaten up bigger boys than you!’ Cally said defiantly.
‘I’m sure you have!’ Drummond replied dryly. ‘Then I’ve never hidden in a sewer before.’
‘It was a storm drain!’ Cally pointed out.
They walked warily to the corner where the paper seller was shouting and walking up and down. Cally took a paper and paid him. The man selling the paper looked at her with interest, especially her wet dress. She walked away with Drummond unaware that his eyes still followed her. When they turned the corner, he crossed the road to the pay phone.
Back at the shack Cally looked at the headlines, nothing there appeared to be of interest to her.
‘I just wasted a nickel because of you!’ She accused. ‘There’s nothing about my dad in here!’
‘Read out the headlines Drummond.’ Caleb said as he knocked the ash out of his pipe.
Drummond held out his hand for the paper and Cally reluctantly gave it to him.
‘I hope you enjoy it!’ She said angrily.
Drummond read out the main headline first then the lesser ones until Caleb stopped him.
‘That one read out that one.’
Drummond repeated the headline.
‘Luigi Clo’s bookkeeper in accident. Dermot Doyle, Luigi Clo’s- ‘
‘That’s my pa’s name!’ Cally interrupted. ‘Dermot Doyle But I don’t think he works for the likes of Clo!’
‘Where were you going to see your father?’ Caleb asked.
‘The Dolphin hotel.’ Cally answered automatically.
‘But that’s Clo’s hide out!’ Drummond gasped.
Cally flopped down on the crude bench again.
‘I don’t get it. If pa works at the Dolphin, does that mean he works for Clo?’ She asked.
‘If it’s the same Dermot Doyle!’ Caleb replied. ‘Is there a photograph?’
‘No.’ Drummond answered.
‘Then the only way of knowing for sure is to go and look.’ Cally exclaimed, ‘Where is he?’
‘Mercy hospital.’ Drummond replied.
‘Can’t be him then, we’ve got insurance!’ Cally retorted.
‘Read the rest out.’ Caleb ordered.
‘Dermot Doyle, Luigi Clo’s book keeper was hit by a bus on the corner of 72 and main. He was taken to Mercy hospital, where his condition is said to be serious. That’s all it says.’
‘If he’s unconscious then he can’t tell them about his insurance, which means he’ll be treated like anyone else.’ Caleb explained. ‘If it is him and you can show them his insurance they’ll be all over him like flies.’
‘If I go home to get it I’ll get kidnapped by Clo and I’d feel a bit silly if it isn’t him! I’ll go to Mercy and look.’ Cally declared. ‘If it is him I’ll try and sort out the insurance with them.’
‘Do you know where the hospital is?’ Caleb asked.
Cally nodded.
‘Nodding to a blind man doesn’t help!’ Drummond exclaimed.
‘I know where it is! Okay?’ Cally replied.
‘Lend her that boneshaker of yours Drummond.’ Caleb replied.
‘Why? She didn’t even trust me with a dime just now!’ Drummond retorted. ‘Why should I let her use my bicycle?’
'Just do it.’ Caleb insisted. ‘She’ll get to her father quicker and you can collect it from the hospital.’
‘Fine! She gets to ride there and I get to walk!’ Drummond complained. 'I should have left her in the drain.'
‘It’s too far to walk to before dark!’ Caleb replied. ‘Once she’s there, the hospital will look after her.’
Drummond lifted a blanket to reveal an old bicycle.
‘Leave it in the cycle rack, I’ll find it.’ Drummond ordered as he folded the blanket.
‘Thanks; I think!’ Cally replied not sure about it, after she saw the bicycle. 'I have a better one than this at home.'
'Go and get it then.' Drummond cried.
'I can't they cut the tyres on it, so it isn't any good now.' Cally replied. She rode off quickly, she had ridden a bicycle as bad as this before.
‘Follow her and make sure she gets there!’ Caleb ordered.
‘But-’
‘Get a move on, you’ll have to run,’ Caleb urged, ‘and be careful they might be watching her father’s room!’
Drummond sprinted after Cally, who by now was out of sight. He had a long run before him, as he had to run all the way to the hospital, but he was a fit young man after all. He also had something to prove to this girl!
CHAPTER 5
After looking at the evidence, in the restaurant, in the alley behind the restaurant and in the mercantile store Lieutenant Stone questioned everybody who had seen anything, personally. He came to the conclusion that someone had gone down the drain and one or more of Clo’s men had followed them down.
‘It must be the girl! They are hot on her trail and it may not be long before they get her!’ He cried. ‘Pruitt, you and Carter get torches and follow them! I want her in our safe keeping before Clo gets her!’
‘We got this one.’ Carter pointed out, holding up the torch Lefty had stolen.
‘We still need one more. Get it from the mercantile; tell them its Police business.’ The lieutenant ordered.
Carter ran up the street as far as the mercantile.
‘We need a torch.’ He announced.
The owner took a torch from his di
splay and put batteries in it; tried it and gave it to the police officer.
‘That will be $1.50 cents.’ The storekeeper said hopefully and waited for the money.
‘Official police business.’ Carter replied.
He turned to go back to the alley.
‘You’re as bad as they are!’ The storekeeper shouted after him. ‘Doesn’t anyone pay for things anymore?’
Carter stopped and paid for the torch.
'I'll get my receipt later.' He added.
Now he ran back to the alley.
‘I want to know where they came out, if they have already come out and try to find proof that the Girl was in there.’ The lieutenant ordered.
‘Yes sir.’ Pruitt replied and followed Carter down into the drain.
Clo sat waiting. He had had no word from Barney. With Lefty dead and the accountant starting to become an embarrassment, Clo Was thinking that, as the accountant had not had a chance to tell Spotty what he had found, it might be better if Spotty never knew. Who knows, he might even be able to pin everything on the accountant! The phone rang and Larry answered it.
‘It’s Carl the paper; he’s seen a girl who looks like the one were after with the blind professor’s boy!’ Larry said then added. ‘Carl the paper said she was all wet!’
‘That has to be her! Tell him we’re on our way!’ Clo replied. ‘It’s about time we heard something.’
Clo walked as far as the room the men used as a rest room, it was something he never usually did, he usually sent someone else to fetch them.
‘Harry. I want you and Larry to take Spotty’s accountant and make Fish food out of him but I don’t want him found, so make sure you take him out a long way in the boat.’ He ordered.
‘Do I pop him?’ Harry Drew asked.
Clo thought a moment.
