AllFreeNovel
Share Us
They stood close together in the sharp, early light. Monk, Squeaky, Hooper and Scuff watched the small figure of Worm as he reached the corner, looked around him carefully, and then went on towards the front door.
Monk swore under his breath.
Hooper put a hand hard on his shoulder. ‘Don’t stop him, sir. We’ve no time to lose if this isn’t the place.’
‘And how is Worm going to know if it is or not?’ Monk said savagely.
No one answered him.
Worm had disappeared out of sight. The seconds ticked by, dragging out until time seemed endless. There was no sound but the wind in the trees, a ticking of insects in the long grass at the sides of the road, and the occasional snap as a seed head burst in the strengthening heat of the sun. A bee wound its way lazily through the hedgerow flowers. Sheep bleated in the distance.
It was almost unbearable.
Scuff did not dare to look at Monk.
Then at last they saw Worm coming back along the dirt track, not quite at a run, but moving quickly. He arrived breathless, and it was only then that Scuff noticed he was barefoot.
‘Well?’ Monk could not help himself asking.
Worm nodded vigorously. His face was flushed. ‘There was two women in the kitchen. I’m almost sure one of them were Miss Hester. There was sheets on the laundry line, an’ a nightshirt, big.’ He stretched his arms wide without ever taking his eyes off Monk’s face. ‘An’ there’s a big man, like ’im.’ He jerked his hand at Hooper. ‘But ’e’s got a long gun, an’ ’e walks around the garden all the time. But ’is ’ands is dirty, like ’e digs in the ground a lot. ’E told me ter get out of it, an’ if I come back ’e’d shoot me, like a rabbit.’ He swallowed hard, still staring hopefully at Monk, longing for his approval.
‘Two women in the kitchen?’ Monk asked him.
‘Yeah,’ he nodded.
‘How much did one of them look like Miss Hester? A lot, or a little bit?’
‘A lot. ’Ceptin’ ’er ’air were all screwed back like she didn’t care. Not . . . pretty, like.’
‘And the gardener carried a gun?’ Monk pressed.
Worm gulped and nodded.
Monk glanced at Hooper.
‘Then we must take the gardener first.’ Monk made the decision. They would get no better information than this. He touched Worm lightly on the shoulder. ‘Thank you. You did very well. From now on you will do what you are told, or I will have to tie you to the wagon. You promise?’
Worm nodded, but he was smiling, flushed with the praise. He had helped.
They studied what they could see of the landscape for a few more minutes, and then began to lay plans as to how they could flush the gardener out of the immediate surrounds of the house so that they could ambush him and take his gun. It was finally agreed that Worm would lure him out, from a distance.
‘I can do that,’ Scuff said immediately.
‘No, you can’t,’ Monk told him grimly. ‘You’re getting too big. At a distance he’ll take you for a man. We have to let Worm do it again. Your job will be to attract his attention later.’ He bent and drew a rough diagram in the dust at the side of the road. ‘I will be here, Squeaky there. Hooper will come this way and when Worm gets to here, Scuff will go this way and get Worm out of there. Do you understand? We must give him too many targets to be certain which way to shoot. Hooper, when he turns this way, please God before he can shoot me, hit him as hard as you can with the pitch fork.’
‘Yes, sir.’ Hooper already had the fork from the hay in his hands.
‘Right,’ Monk accepted. ‘Nothing to wait for. Everyone clear?’
They agreed as one. Hooper set off to the right, Squeaky to the left with Scuff on his heels.
Worm set off down the middle of the track again with Monk close to the hedges, moving then stopping, keeping ten yards behind at least. He felt guilty for using Worm, even more because of the child’s eagerness to please and to belong, even at this risk. He had racked his brains for another way, and found nothing. Now he needed to think, to watch, to be ready for anything.
He saw the gardener before Worm did. He was standing half concealed by a dense bush, watching the boy.
Worm walked on. From what Monk could see, he had no idea that the gardener was only feet away from him, and still with that gun. It was a shotgun. He could hardly miss with it.
Should Monk shout? It would distract the gardener for a moment, but it would also distract Worm, perhaps long enough for the man to level the gun and fire it. Or even to lunge out from behind the bush and seize Worm, even kill him accidentally with his sheer weight.
