by S G Read
‘What’s going down?’ Stone asked when he reached the church.
‘Nothing. I sent Carter round the back to keep an eye on things but not to do anything until you arrive. I did tell him not to challenge him but to shoot the bastard on sight!’
‘Pruitt you go left and cover the bridge, Johnson you go right. With Carter round the back that leaves the place surrounded. We’ll go in the front door and look around. Forest you wait out the front after we’ve gone in to make sure he doesn’t get out that way.’
Officer Forest nodded and drew his pistol. Stone and Grogan moved carefully and quietly toward the door ready for anything but nothing happened, it was very quiet inside. They found the stairs and started up them, slowly and as quietly as possible. Passing the broken areas of the steps as best they could. At the top, they saw an open trapdoor. Stone hesitated for a moment then thrust himself, gun first through the opening. The tower was deserted. Two bells hung there slowly rocking side to side. He looked down into the well below but it was too dark to see anymore.
‘Get me a light and tell them to keep their eyes open!’ Stone hissed quietly.
Grogan made his way back down the stairs, hurrying was out of the question. He found Forest outside ready to shoot him.
‘It’s Grogan!’ He hissed. ‘Tell the others to keep their eyes open and give me your flashlight.’
Forest held out his flashlight then headed of to warn the others. Grogan made the climb back up the stairs. Stone shone the light down into the well of the tower.
‘There’s a way out down there!’ He cried. ‘Let’s find the other end, it looks like the rope has been burnt to stop us following, the end is still smouldering!’
They ran down the stairs and at the door they were met by Forrest.
'They went out the back door, we'll go and see where they are.' Stone ordered.
Baptiste realised there must be a way out of the back of the tower and started back down the stairs but he heard men’s voices below and swore. He pulled up the longest rope and tied the shorter rope to it and then cut it free from the bell, making the rope long enough. He started down the rope, sliding down until he passed the knot, then climbing the rest. At the bottom, he stopped long enough to set fire to the rope as it now reached low enough to the ground to climb down. He watched to make sure it would burn.
‘No one will follow Baptiste now.’ He said with a smile and hurried after the children.
When he made it outside he walked straight into Carter but Baptiste reacted first and Carter felt the knife slice through his throat. He could not cry out, he just sank down on his knees trying to stop the blood pouring out but it was no good. He soon fell forward onto his face, dead.
‘Let’s swim for it!’ Cally said almost breathlessly.
‘I can’t, I think my arm’s broke.’ Drummond replied. ‘You go I’ll try and stop him.’
‘Don’t be silly we’ll find ano-’ Cally stopped talking as Drummond collapsed in a heap unconscious. ‘Don’t do this to me Drummond, not now!’ She ordered on the verge of hysteria.
She knew that Baptiste only had to look round the back of the church, find their tracks and follow them to the river. Cally looked about. She could see a small punt like boat moored up stream from them. That was it; she dragged the unconscious Drummond toward it trying not to pull on his injured arm. Getting him into the punt was a nightmare, at any moment she expected to see Baptiste standing over her, knife in hand. Twice she tried to pull Drummond into the punt but with him unconscious and the punt moving in the water it was impossible. In desperation she climbed in the punt and heaved him part way in and let the rope go. She held him tight as the water tried to claim Drummond then with one final effort she pulled him into the punt. A movement in the corner of her eye alerted her and she looked round to see Baptiste in the water trying to follow them but the current had hold of the punt and he had to stop or swim after them. He hit the water with his hands, one after the other then turned and hurried away, he needed a boat! Cally stuck her tongue out at him and relaxed.
Lieutenant Stone followed Forest round the back and showed him what he had found. It was Carter with his throat cut from ear to ear.
‘He’s dead Lieutenant.’ Forest said angrily.
‘Find this man and don’t forget to shoot on sight. Get me some dogs; I want this man so badly it hurts!’
Forest covered the dead man with his coat and stood guard over him like a loyal dog, while the rest searched for Baptiste.
‘What about the children lieutenant?’ Pruitt asked.
‘I’d say we were too late for one, we’ll find him soon enough and the girl he’ll take back to Clo’s place, and I have men watching there for when that happens.’ The lieutenant replied sadly. ‘As soon as she is taken in there we will go in shooting and hang the consequences!’
Cally watched, satisfied that they were safe, for now anyway. Drummond’s arm was limp and needed attention, in front of them on the river was Dan’s houseboat and the lock. Baptiste new of both of them and if he was not waiting there for them it wouldn’t be long before he got there! She tried to make herself small when they passed the Dolphin but it was getting dark and they passed it without incident. The bridge loomed up in front of her and she remembered the drain. That was the way to go! She slapped Drummond and splashed water on his face until he woke.
‘We’re on the water in a boat but Baptiste knows where we are and where we’re headed. We can use the drain but only if you can walk!’ Cally whispered.
‘I’ll carry you if you like!’ Drummond answered bravely.
Cally dropped over the side of the punt and swam to the concrete at the entrance of the drain pulling the punt with her. Drummond slid out of the punt while Cally held him to make sure he did not get washed away and then pushed him through the hole in the grating. They stopped long enough to tie Drummond’s arm in place before they walked further into the drain.
‘Where do we go?’ Drummond asked.
‘I don’t know but if we figure right we should be able to come out near the hospital. You need your arm looked at.’
‘No don’t worry about me go and get a bus! The money’s in my pocket.’
‘No way! Not until you’re in hospital!’
Drummond was beginning to realize there was no arguing with Cally.
‘Will you go when I’m in hospital?’ He asked.
‘Yes. I’ll go then.’
‘Promise?’
‘I promise.’
‘On your pa’s life?’
‘I said I’d go didn’t I?’
‘Say it!’
‘I promise to go as soon as you are in hospital, on my Pa’s life! Satisfied?’
‘Good enough now let’s go before Baptiste figures out where we went.’
‘Hang on.’ Cally replied.
She ran back out to the drain entrance where she had tied the punt.
‘Put a sign up or what?’ She complained and untied it. Then she turned it over to make it sink. ‘Find that Mr. Baptiste!’
CHAPTER 15
Baptiste watched the punt drift out of reach and beat the water with his hands. Then he headed away from the police who were about, he knew they would be mad as he had just killed one of them. He headed up river where he knew there would be a boat he could steal. The punt would end up in the lock and the kids would either get out there or hide in the houseboat. He could see that one of them was injured but from the distance there was no way he could tell who it was. He assumed it was the girl, he figured that if the boy was injured, there was no way the girl would have been strong enough to pull the boy into the punt. Before he found a dinghy, he heard the dogs baying behind him and started to travel faster. The first boathouse he came to was locked and to shoot the lock of was to invite company quickly. He had no time to call at the house and ask for the key so he walked on. A lone dinghy tied at the back of a house answered his prayers and he was soon drifting downstream lying in the well of the dinghy so tha
t he was out of sight.
He saw and heard the dogs on the bank when he passed them and smiled to himself. Once more he had outwitted the stupid police. When he was sure he was out of sight of the police he started to use the oars, he wanted to be on the correct side of the river to moor to the houseboat. He let the river do the work until he was close enough, then pulled in at the back of the houseboat and moored to the overhanging trees. He used the trees to pull the dinghy close enough to climb on the bank and crept along the side of the house boat. On board he heard a noise and smiled to himself once more. The chase would soon be over. He hauled himself aboard and crept down the steps into the first cabin. A man sat there, whisky bottle in hand, obviously a drunk.
‘Hey get off! This is my boat now!’ The drunk slurred. ‘I’m looking after it for a friend.’
‘Like you look after his whiskey? No?’ Baptiste replied moving in for the kill.
‘Get off my-’ the drunk started but Baptiste had had enough.
The drunk looked down at the knife Baptiste had just pushed into him, up to its hilt.
‘That wasn’t a very nice thing to do!’ He slurred.
Baptiste repeated the wound somewhere else.
‘Stop doing that, will you? A feller could get hurt like that!’ The drunk declared but not in any distress.
After the fourth thrust with his knife the drunk crumpled in a heap.
‘That must be good whisky.’ Baptiste declared and poured himself a drink. ‘Maybe I need to go to the lock.’ He looked at the whisky but did not drink it. ‘First I look at the lock before it is too dark.’ He jumped off the boat and walked downstream, through the path he had previously cut. At the lock there was no sign of his quarry, and no punt.
‘They won’t get too far tonight. Tomorrow I’ll have a good look!’
Stone waited for the dogs to pick up the trail then they were charging through the gloom until they met the river. They sniffed around then started upriver until they came to the house with the missing dinghy. The dogs stopped by the bank and bayed, this brought out the dingy owner.
‘What’s all the noise about and where’s my dinghy?’ He asked.
That told Stone all he needed to know. The current was quite strong here and it was obvious which way Baptiste would have gone for speed. Grogan came running up to him.
‘No more bodies lieutenant. It looks like the kids got away, both of them!’ He announced.
‘Then they must have found themselves a boat and gone downstream as well. Baptiste is merely following them and ignoring us! I want men at the lock and men watching Craigrose’s house boat!’
‘Yes lieutenant.’
Grogan ran off again.
‘What now lieutenant?’ Pruitt asked.
He was itching to meet Baptiste, as Baptiste had killed his partner, he had a score to settle.
‘We take the dogs and go down the towpath with them to see if anyone came out that side.’
‘The Dolphin isn’t far down the river from here.’ Pruitt observed.
‘I know but I can’t go charging in there without a reason. Get me someone who swears he or she saw the kids taken in there and I’ll tear the place apart. Until then we leave it alone. You were supposed to see me in my office after that episode the other night Pruitt.’
‘Yes sir, sorry sir I forgot!’ Pruitt replied.
‘Well you are suspended until we have our little tete ta tete, so go home to your family. You and Carter have been partners sometime now and I can’t have a man who is on the edge, running about killing bad guys when he feels like it.’
‘Carter can’t go home to his family sir!’
‘I know that Pruitt. Go home that is an order!’
Pruitt did not like it but it was orders and he obeyed orders, mostly.
Cally walked along the drain guiding Drummond, she knew if there was a storm above things could get difficult and she wanted to be as far in as she could get, as soon as possible. They ignored all junctions until they worked out which junction would take them near the hospital. The main pipe split in two saving Drummond an awkward climb. It split again giving them the choice of left or right but they could not agree. Cally climbed one of the ladders and after a struggle, lifted the grating but it was dark and she could see nothing. She was just about to drop the grating again when a bus drove by. She knew by the number that it went past the hospital and waited to see where it went. She climbed back down.
‘We go left.’ She announced.
‘Are you sure?’
‘Yes but I think we’re still two blocks away.’
They walked on in silence, Cally following her nose using what she had seen above to guide her. When she thought they might be near the hospital she climbed up again, this time she could see the hospital but how was she going to get Drummond out of the drain and into the hospital? They tried three times to get Drummond up the ladder and out of the drain but each attempt ended in failure. When they tried again Drummond passed out. Cally thought deeply about the problem, took the three dollars fifty from his pocket and climbed out of the drain to find a phone. She phoned the police to let them know where Drummond was and watched until she saw him taken out of the drain and loaded into the ambulance. Now all she had to do was to go to the bus station and get a bus to her mother's house. She stayed out of the drains and walked until she saw the bus office. She bought a ticket with the money she had. It would not take her to her mother’s door, when she had to get off the bus she would have to walk the rest of the way. She looked at the time on the ticket, it was in the morning there were none earlier. Now all she needed somewhere to stay. Baptiste knew about all the places they had been so far and all the other places she knew were near her friends. Too near! If she used them Baptiste might hurt her friends and this was nothing to do with them. They were only boys but they were still her friends. She thought about it carefully. This Baptiste was good, by now he must be following them along the drain so she should go to where he isn’t, Dan’s boat.
With her mind made up, she speeded up to get there and to get some rest before the bus in the morning. The boat was dark when she arrived but as she walked down into the cabin the smell was terrible. She tripped over something and fell headlong; it was too dark to see what it was so she crawled over to it and touched it. It was smelly and warm, and it smelled of whisky. She was reaching up to find a match when she saw a light outside. The burning match highlighted Baptiste’s face as he lit his one cigar of the day. Cally’s heart started to beat fast. She remembered a hatch in the floor, it was near where she knelt. She remembered it from when she was there with Dan and scrabbled for it. Luckily, Baptiste was in no hurry to jump on board, or he would have found her. He was enjoying his cigar. Cally found the hatch but when she tried to pull it up, she found the dead man was stopping it from coming open. She tried to push the body off it but he was a dead weight. She realized that he was literally a dead weight and it might be her turn soon, if she did not move him. With one final effort she moved him far enough to open the trap and slipped through the opening. She landed in water, which came up to her chest but worst still, when she pulled the hatch shut it stopped. The dead man was still in the way! She pushed and shoved all the time growing more and more anxious. She heard Baptiste land on the boat and gave the man one last shove. To her joy the hatch dropped down.
Cally stood there in the water. She was sure that Baptiste must have heard the hatch drop and waited for it to open again but nothing happened. She heard Baptiste moving about above her and then there was a splash. All the time she was standing there in the water, she had been moving and feeling things to find some way to get out of the water. She found a large solid thing and very slowly climbed on it, at least now she was out of the water.
Baptiste headed back to the boat and the glass of whisky. He stopped for the one cigar he allowed himself a day, before he jumped back on to the boat. He heard a clonk but assumed he had caused it by jumping on board. The smell which greeted him was du
lled slightly by the cigar and he was grateful. He weighted the drunk’s lifeless body down and dropped it over the side he did not want it found too quickly. When the dead man had sunk out of sight he sat down to enjoy his whisky. He lit the lamp to see what he was doing and found the bunk in the next cabin; he was a light sleeper and would be awake well before dawn. He turned out the lamp, while below him Cally curled up on the hard object, shivering and tried to sleep. She was hoping that she did not start sneezing but there was nothing she could do about it if she did, apart from holding her nose, when she threatened to sneeze.
She lay there for what seemed ages until light started to filter through from above. It was not daylight it was the lamp again. She heard Baptiste walk across above her, then water falling onto water. Baptiste walked back and turned the lamp out again. To Cally that was worse than torture as she wanted to go badly but there was no way she could make a noise like that!
In the end, she eased herself back into the water and added to the water in the bilge. When she climbed back on to the solid object she felt relieved but very cold and very dirty! There was no way she was getting on a bus like that! She settled down to wait again and later on there was another splash. She heard Baptiste cross above her and then all was quiet.
Pruitt walked down the towpath and saw the light across the river. He had been standing on the bridge just watching and waiting when he heard a splash and came down to investigate. The light was on in the houseboat. Either the girl was there or it was none other than Baptiste. He walked back to the bridge, he knew he should call in to the precinct but knew they would want him to wait for them and he quickly persuaded himself that to go alone, now was better. After all he was suspended!
