Sewer Mayhem Read online

  ‘But why? It all smells rather fishy to me.’

  Voices came from the corridor. Emily ran to the door and peeked through the window.

  ‘Quick! They’re coming.’

  Jacob’s heart leapt into his throat. He randomly put the file back in the cabinet then fumbled with the lock. Throwing the key back on top of the cabinet, he took a few quick steps back to the door, just in time for it to open to let the head of Human Resources department through.

  ‘Hi, Jacob,’ she said and glanced from him to Emily, taking in her blue hair. ‘Were you looking for someone?’

  ‘Umm… actually, yes, Molly,’ Jacob said. ‘I was curious about how many holidays I still have left, but it’s not imperative that I find out now.’ He gave Emily a little push and walked out the door. Reaching the end of the corridor, he could still feel Molly’s eyes prick in his neck.

  They crossed the hall and made it to the playground outside. Jacob took a deep breath. Sweat dripped down his face and he dabbed at it with his hanky. He was never going to do something like that again.

  He glanced at Emily, who seemed unfazed by it all.

  ‘I would like to know why Colleen is using a different name than the one on her passport,’ she said.

  Jacob nodded. ‘So would I.’ He pondered it for a bit. ‘Normally you would only do something like that if you were afraid of people recognising your real name.’

  ‘But she hasn’t been here before, has she? Who would recognise it?’

  ‘You’re forgetting about the anonymous letter. Someone obviously does know her.’

  ‘It must be Patrizia,’ Emily said. ‘She met Colleen in Italy.’

  ‘Perhaps you’re right.’ Jacob started striding across the playground. ‘Let’s find her right away.’

  * * *

  It didn’t take them long to get to the end of Milbury Road. They had decided to first quickly check the restaurant and if Patrizia wasn’t there, to go to Fortunato’s, where she surely would be at this time of the day. They needed to get to the bottom of this mystery.

  ‘There she is,’ Emily said, pointing at a small clutch of people that had gathered in front of Sant’Ambrogio’s and watched as a man was shouting at another man at the top of his lungs. ‘What’s going on?’

  ‘It’s Kenneth and Spencer,’ Jacob said. They walked up and joined the crowd. Some people on the other side of the street had also stopped to watch.

  ‘Tell them what’s going on, you beanpole,’ Kenneth yelled, as he pushed Spencer in the chest.

  Spencer stood his ground and glared down his nose at Kenneth. ‘There’s nothing to say.’

  ‘Liar!’ Kenneth now stood so close that he all but spat in Spencer’s face.

  A car drove up and stopped at the kerb.

  ‘Now we’re going to have some fun,’ Emily said to Jacob under her breath. They watched as Inspector McDermott and Abe climbed out of the car and walked up to the feuding men.

  ‘Mr Field,’ McDermott said. ‘You need to come with us to the station.’

  Kenneth glared at the inspector. ‘What for? I haven’t done anything wrong.’ He pointed at Spencer. ‘That dressed-up puppet is the one you need to arrest.’

  ‘We’re not going to arrest you, Kenneth,’ Abe said. He loosely took him by the elbow. ‘We just want to have a word with you, that’s all.’

  ‘No! I’m not going anywhere.’ Kenneth tried to pull his arm loose, but Abe held on tighter.

  ‘There’s nothing to worry about,’ Abe said. ‘We just want to talk to you in private. Not in front of all these people.’ He indicated to the crowd. The Jeffersons had made it across the street and were straining their necks to get a glimpse of the action, as did Lorenzo Jr and Sam, who had joined Patrizia.

  ‘I don’t care who hears this,’ Kenneth yelled. ‘Spencer knows more.’

  All eyes turned to Spencer, who just stared and said nothing.

  ‘Talk, you idiot!’ Kenneth kicked Abe in the shin and pulled his arm loose. He flung himself at Spencer, grabbing the startled man by the lapels of his jacket. ‘Talk!’ He pummelled Spencer on the chest with his fists.

  Abe grabbed Kenneth by a shoulder, and was rewarded with an elbow in his stomach.

  ‘It’s all his fault,’ Kenneth yelled and hit Spencer some more.

  Rubbing his stomach, Abe stepped forward again. ‘Right, I’ve had it.’ He took his handcuffs from his pocket and after a bit of a struggle managed to cuff Kenneth’s arms behind his back. ‘Into the car with you.’

  The crowd watched as the two policemen bundled Kenneth into the car and drove off. Then all eyes went to Spencer again, who cleared his throat and in silence straightened his jacket. He brushed fluff off one of his lapels, then with a curt nod to the crowd walked off.

  ‘What was that all about?’ Emily said, staring at Spencer’s retreating back. ‘The money from the ASBOW account?’

  Jacob shook his head. ‘That wouldn’t make sense. If Spencer knew about that, something much bigger is going on.’

  ‘Perhaps there is,’ Emily said. She leant towards Jacob and lowered her voice. ‘Perhaps Kenneth murdered his own son after all.’

  ‘No, I can’t believe that. I’ve known Kenneth for years.’ The crowd was now dispersing and Jacob stepped up to Patrizia, who with her cousins was making her way into the restaurant.

  ‘Patrizia,’ he said. ‘Can we have a quick talk?’

  The Italian woman shrugged her shoulders and followed Jacob and Emily around the corner.

  Jacob dived right in. ‘We know that you’ve met Colleen Frost before in Italy. Can you remember what name she used when you met her?’

  Patrizia stared at Jacob, her face turned a bright red. ‘Who told you about that?’

  ‘Sam told us about it,’ Emily said. ‘She didn’t think it was a secret.’

  ‘Well, I guess it isn’t.’ Patrizia sighed and crossed her arms. ‘I don’t actually remember her name. I just recognised her from before, that’s all.’ She looked at her watch. ‘I’d better get back to the shop. I’ve left Gianni in charge and he’s not the best with customer service. I only came here to check up on Samuela.’

  She waved with her hand and walked away.

  ‘Did you send me an anonymous letter?’ Jacob said raising his voice a bit.

  Patrizia stopped in her tracks and turned around. ‘An anonymous letter?’ She walked back to Jacob, her eyes spat fire. ‘Of course I didn’t. Why would I want to do something so childish?’ She turned on her heel and stalked off.

  ‘Wow,’ Emily said. ‘She’s feisty.’

  Jacob nodded. ‘Perhaps.’ He watched as Patrizia crossed the road and made her way up Woolaston Road. Was she telling the truth? Did she seriously not know Colleen’s real name? He had the feeling she was holding something back. And what about the letter?

  * * *

  Paddy

  ‘I’m hungry,’ Leo said. ‘We’ve been here all day, with nothing to eat.’ His stomach rumbled, and we all glared at him. ‘Sorry.’

  Gus rolled his eyes. ‘How can you think about food at this moment? Defending our home is far more important than eating!’ The lump on his head had shrunk, and he seemed back to his normal self.

  We’d been sitting behind our defences for a while. Nothing much had happened in the last few hours. There’d been a bit of a skirmish when Dino and Sal had attacked us with the pencils Vinnie had thrown at them, but a few well-aimed paper clip shots with Daisy’s catapult had taken care of that.

  ‘This is turning into a siege,’ Daisy said.

  ‘Exactly.’ Leo rubbed his tummy. ‘If I’d known that would happen, I would’ve stockpiled some food.’ His stomach rumbled again.

  ‘Stop talking about food,’ Gus said. He turned his back on us and walked away, but we could still hear the rumbling in his stomach as well. ‘You’re making it worse!’

  I had to admit that I was quite hungry myself. As much as I was getting sick of the junk food, I could easily eat a whole fried
fish right now.

  ‘Maybe I can sneak out and get us some fish and chips,’ Leo said, as if he’d read my mind. He licked his lips in anticipation.

  ‘And leave us behind, one rat down?’ Gus said. ‘You’ve got to be kidding.’

  Leo considered this for a moment. ‘No, you’re right. I’d better stay here and help defend our fort. But I do want to point out that morale is always better when there’s food.’

  Gus clipped him about the ears. ‘Then please stop reminding us that we don’t have any!’

  ‘Now you’d wish your treasure was edible like mine, wouldn’t you?’

  ‘Well, you’ve eaten your treasure, so that’s not helping us any…’

  ‘But I can simply go out and get some more of my treasure to eat, while yours will remain inedible.’

  ‘Shut up, you two.’ Vinnie glared at his cousins. ‘Bickering about it is not going to do much good. We need a plan.’

  ‘We’re not bickering,’ Leo said.

  ‘No.’ Gus looked at his brother. ‘We’re talking.’

  ‘Sounded like bickering to me,’ Daisy said looking at her paws.

  My stomach rumbled. Four pairs of eyes glared at me. I ignored them and walked to the pile of penny rolls we still had.

  ‘I maintain that these things are good ammunition and will make some difference in our fight,’ I said. ‘I’m sorry to say but hurling paper clips and erasers at our enemies is just not cutting it.’

  ‘Well, we’ve seen what damage the rolls can do,’ Vinnie said, with half a glance at Gus’ head. ‘What crazy scheme have you thought of now?’

  ‘I’ve been trying to work it out for a while,’ I said. ‘This one’s safe.’

  ‘It better be,’ Gus said, rubbing his head.

  ‘You remember the playground on Milbury Green?’ I said to Vinnie. ‘The seesaws there gave me an idea. What if we made a seesaw and put a roll of pennies on one end. Then one of us jumps down on the empty end to launch the roll.’ I stretched out my arms and made a seesawing motion.

  ‘Jump down from where?’ Gus looked sceptical.

  I looked about me, then pointed up. ‘Umm… what about the top of that box?’

  ‘What?! That’s almost two feet!’ Gus scrambled up. ‘Do you want us to kill ourselves? Perhaps we’d better just walk into enemy territory and have them jump us.’

  ‘It’s not that high,’ I said. I looked up at the box again, realising that is was actually higher than I’d first thought. ‘It’ll be fine!’

  ‘Hmpf,’ Gus said. ‘Knock yourself out. I will keep an eye on the catapult for a bit.’ He walked away, gathering some paper clips as he went.

  ‘You know what?’ Leo said. ‘I think it could work.’ He grinned at me. ‘It’s definitely not as crazy as your two previous plans.’

  We set to work while Daisy and Gus gave us cover with the catapult. As it was difficult to anticipate the trajectory of the penny roll, we decided to set the seesaw to the side of our defences. A dangerous tactic as the Three Bambini might spot it before it was ready, but safety had to come first this time. We wanted to prevent hitting Gus with another penny roll.

  To make the seesaw, we balanced a metal ruler on top of a stack of erasers and sat a penny roll on one side. The ruler tipped over until it hit the floor. Now it was time to jump on to the other end to launch the roll.

  I looked at my two companions. ‘Who’s going to jump?’

  Vinnie studied the ceiling, avoided my eye.

  Leo held up both paws. ‘I’m scared of heights,’ he said. ‘There’s no way I’m climbing up there.’

  ‘Fine.’ I walked to the corner of the box and started my ascent. ‘I’ll do it myself.’

  It didn’t take long to get to the top of the box. I felt very exposed and butterflies danced in my stomach. Below me, the empty end of the ruler pointed up into the air. It looked much smaller from up here. I’d better aim my jump as well as I could.

  The four anxious faces of my compatriots looked up at me. Daisy pulled her ear in what looked like one of my warding-of-evil movements.

  ‘Be careful, Paddy,’ she said.

  Then another voice reached me from across the room.

  ‘Isn’t that the crazy Irishman?’ Victor jeered at me. ‘What’ve you got planned for us this time?’

  I took a few deep breaths and jumped off the box. It seemed as if I was in the air for a long time, then I landed feet first on the ruler, pushing it down into the floor.

  Just as I’d hoped the other end of the ruler swung up, launching the roll of pennies into the air. But instead of the perfect arc I’d envisioned, the roll shot through the room in a straight line. It sailed high over the Bambini’s defences and headed straight for the one window that wasn’t boarded up. The glass smashed as the roll crashed through it, narrowly missing a two-legged walking by on the pavement, carrying two full bags of shopping.

  ‘Oops,’ Leo said.

  The two-legged stopped in her tracks, looking open mouthed at the window that had so suddenly shattered. Then, picking her way through the broken glass on the pavement, she peered through the window to see what was going on inside.

  The first thing her eye fell on was the Mob staring back at her. She gave an almighty scream, then scuttled away from the old building as fast as she could.

  ‘Crickey,’ Gus said. ‘I didn’t know two-leggeds could scream like that.’

  There was a silence and I realised that once again one of my launching apparatuses had failed to deliver. My whiskers drooped.

  ‘Don’t be too hard on yourself,’ Vinnie said, clapping me on the shoulder. ‘It was a good try, my friend.’

  ‘It didn’t work though, did it?’ I looked at the shattered window. ‘What are we going to do now?’

  ‘We’ll come up with something else, don’t you worry.’

  ‘Guys… Hey guys,’ Victor’s voice came from behind his box. ‘Don’t you think this has become a bit laughable?’

  I looked at the others and shrugged. ‘What do you mean?’

  ‘Well, as neither of us seems to make any progress, I think we should call it a day.’

  Gus snorted. ‘Do you really think we’d believe that you withdraw voluntarily?’

  ‘Hah,’ Victor said. ‘Who said anything about withdrawing? Waiting for reinforcements is what I mean!’ Dino and Sal sniggered.

  ‘The rest of my crew is standing by in Pocklington,’ Victor continued. ‘Tomorrow they’ll be here and then we’ll come back and kick you all out. Be warned!’

  ‘Who says we won’t have any reinforcements ourselves by then,’ Leo said. Daisy slapped him on the arm to shut him up.

  ‘I’m not afraid of your runty rats!’ Victor said. ‘We’re big and strong Italians from Hull! It’s going to be a piece of cake, believe me!’

  ‘Better get some rest, cousins,’ Dino jeered.

  Then there was silence again.

  ‘Do you think they’ve gone back down into the sewer?’ Leo whispered.

  ‘No, they haven’t, have they?’ Gus’ ears widened and his whiskers twitched.

  ‘Only one way to find out,’ Vinnie said and he poked his head around our defences. Nothing happened. ‘It looks like they’re gone.’

  He tiptoed to Victor’s box and checked behind it. ‘They’re gone.’ He ran back to our entrenchment. ‘They’ve really gone back down.’

  ‘Woohoo,’ Leo yelled and he jumped for joy. ‘Now we finally can have something to eat!’

  I smiled at his enthusiasm, but something gnawed on my insides. Was Victor really getting reinforcements? We’d better hope the Rat Squad was going to be here in time.

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  Emily surveyed the crowd that had gathered at the cemetery for Nate Field’s funeral. She couldn’t believe it was Friday again and already a week ago that Nate was murdered.

  As always when someone young died, a lot of people had come to pay their last respects. There seemed to be quite a few younger people and she won
dered if they were old classmates of Nate.

  Jacob nudged her with his elbow. ‘Look, Kenneth is here. I wonder if he has been officially released yet.’

  ‘I suppose so,’ Emily said. She looked at the man, who stood silently at his son’s grave. ‘They wouldn’t let him go to the funeral if he was still under arrest, would they?’

  ‘If he was ever under arrest. Perhaps they just took him to the station yesterday to cool off a bit.’

  ‘Well, I don’t think McDermott would let him go to a funeral of a person he’s suspected to have murdered.’

  They looked on in silence. Emily could feel Trevor and Mike wriggling about in the pocket of her hoody. This reminded her of a funeral not so long ago, where she was accused of being a rat whisperer. She smiled to herself. It was a good thing that Priscilla wasn’t here today.

  ‘There’s McDermott and Abe,’ she said, as her eye fell on the two officers of the law. They stood back a bit, like them, and watched the crowd. Abe caught her eye and smiled. She gave him a quick nod with her head.

  She let her eyes roam the crowd some more. On the opposite side of the grave were the Bandonis. Lorenzo Sr and his wife, who had her arm around Sam’s shoulders. Tears ran down the young girl’s face. Lorenzo Jr and Gianni both looked on unmoved, but she guessed that somewhere deep down, they were also sad. Especially Gianni, as he had lost his friend.

  Patrizia had also joined the Bandonis, although she stood a little bit separate from them.

  ‘I wonder how Patrizia fits into all of this,’ Jacob said, as if reading her mind. ‘I would love to talk to her some more.’

  Emily nodded. ‘That is of course, if Colleen has anything to do with this or not. I can’t imagine Patrizia having anything to do with Nate’s death.’

  ‘Talking of Colleen,’ Jacob said, giving her another nudge. ‘She’s here.’ He nodded with his head and Emily saw the woman standing behind some gravestones, clearly separating herself from the rest of the mourners.