AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Scuff stared straight back at him without flinching. ‘Yer tellin’ me yer could get shot? Killed, even?’
‘Anybody could,’ Monk answered honestly. To lie about it would help nothing, and only make Scuff feel even more excluded.
Scuff’s gaze did not waver. ‘Then yer no different from me,’ he pointed out. ‘I can do things.’
Monk was momentarily at a loss for an answer. He wanted to protect Scuff, make sure that in this tragedy at least he was unhurt. Hester would never stop grieving if Scuff came to harm in rescuing her.
‘I’m coming.’ Scuff did not wait for him. ‘We’re going for Hester, and kids that were just like I was. I’ll be useful. An’ Mr ’Ooper’s still hurt. Yer need me. We got ter do this.’
‘Yes, I do,’ Monk agreed. ‘But you have to do as you’re told!’
‘I will,’ Scuff promised, nodding his head.
Monk did not believe him, but it was not the time to argue.
‘He’s right,’ Hooper observed. ‘We need a farm cart of some sort. Something that won’t draw attention on a country road. We’ve no chance of taking them if we don’t get them by surprise. I’ll see if anyone knows of someone who has a dray we can use.’
‘Squeaky would,’ Scuff said eagerly. ‘He can get anything if ’e wants it bad enough.’ He did not add that for Hester he would, but Monk knew it was in his mind. ‘I can go tell him.’
Monk glanced at Hooper, then back at Scuff. ‘Good. Go and ask him. We need it before sunrise tomorrow morning. We’ve no time to lose. I’d go now, except we have to wait for light. We can’t do it in strange lanes at night.’
‘I gotter tell him what for,’ Scuff pointed out.
‘Of course,’ Monk agreed reluctantly. ‘There’s no help for that. Tell him as much as you need to so he understands, and that it can’t wait. Tell him I’ll pay whatever I need to.’
Scuff gave a brief smile, and then picked his jacket off the coat stand where it hung beside Monk’s, and a moment later he was outside and they heard the door close.
Monk and Hooper bent to study the maps they had of the area where Magnus Rand had said the cottage was. They could see the main roads, but there would be many lanes and by-roads unmarked. There was much planning needed, with variations to cover the unforeseen that might happen.
Scuff set out at a run on his errand to Squeaky Robinson. The light was hazy across the water already and the colour deepening in the west. He caught the first ferry he could, jammed on the seat next to a fat man with a bowler hat that was too large for him and resting on his ears. Scuff paid his fare before they pulled out into the current, and he leaped ashore as soon as they touched against the stone steps on the further side.
Normally he would wait for an omnibus, and change as many times as necessary to get at least as far as Gray’s Inn Road. Now he ran out into the traffic and hailed a hansom. He was surprised that the driver did not question his ability to pay. Perhaps at least he looked like a young man, not the boy he felt inside.
‘As fast as yer can,’ he asked. ‘I want ter go to the clinic in Portpool Lane, opposite the brewery.’
‘You sick?’ the cabby looked at him dubiously.
Scuff stretched the truth a little, or perhaps rather a lot.
‘No. My mother’s the doctor there. Please ’urry.’
The cabby looked dubious, but when Scuff put two shillings in his hand, he stopped discussing the matter and urged his horse forward.
Scuff knew he had given the cabby ample to cover the journey, so as soon as the cab swung in towards the kerb in Portpool Lane he leaped out and ran across the narrow pavement and in through the door.
The woman sitting at the desk looked up immediately, expecting an emergency. Then she recognised Scuff and it ceased to be medical and became personal. She rose from her seat and hurried towards him, her freckled face both eager and frightened.
‘Hello, Ruby,’ he said hastily. ‘I need ter see Mr Robinson, very quick. Is ’e in ’is office?’
‘I expect,’ she replied. ‘D’yer want me ter—’
‘No, thanks.’ He brushed past her, ran along the narrow corridor and swung round at Squeaky’s door. He knocked, then opened it and went in anyway, closing it hard behind him.
Squeaky opened his mouth to give him a piece of his mind about such manners. Then he saw Scuff’s face and for once held his tongue.
‘We know where she is.’ Scuff leaned forward over the desk scattered with the usual papers, letters and scraps of calculation. ‘We got ter go, tomorrow, and rescue ’er. We’ve got ter creep up on ’em, like, so they don’t know it’s us. There could be guns. It’s in the country. Yer’ve got to ’elp, please!’
Squeaky stared at him, his over-long hair wild, his gaunt face filled with outrage. ‘You suggesting as maybe I wouldn’t? Watch your tongue, boy! I’ll box your ears for you, after we done this. Where is she? What does Monk say? He sent you, or you come on your own? Guns, eh?’
