Sewer Mayhem Page 24

  A numbness came over him. He tried to ignore his inner voice telling him that the game was up, but to no avail. He’d gambled and he’d lost. He moaned.

  Then Ricky made his way out of the crowd. He couldn’t look at the hole any longer. He didn’t deserve this. He had tried so hard to get his loot back and now he’d have to go back to his mother telling her that the fur coat was definitely not coming. It was all the fault of those blasted rats. If they hadn’t ousted him from the sewer that first time, he might have had a chance to get his loot back. But not any more.

  He turned his back on Woolaston Road, his shoulders slumped, and disappeared into an alleyway.

  * * *

  Paddy

  At my request, we’d made it outside and were now sitting under the bench on the edge of the car park. I really needed to be outdoors for a bit. Being almost swept down the sewer had shaken me badly. It was hard to believe that Gus and I had actually made it out alive.

  ‘What have you done, Paddy?’ Vinnie said, staring, mouth open, at the enormous hole in the road. ‘You have destroyed the sewers.’

  I glared at Vinnie. ‘How could I have known this would happen? If it’s anyone’s fault it’s the two-leggeds. They kept flushing their toilets.’

  I watched as White Coat, Boss Guy and Blue Hair stood pointing at the hole in the road. They seemed to be as shocked by its appearance as I was.

  Apart from the hole, the road had caved in, creating large chasms on either side of the hole. I wondered how deep they were. Would it now be possible to reach the sewer from up here? If I hadn’t been so tired, I might actually have gone down to the edge to take a look. Perhaps later. There were far too many two-leggeds milling about anyway.

  Gus had been anxious and fidgety from the moment we had crawled out of the hole in the wall. It had gotten worse since we’d been under the bench. He’d actually tried to get to the big hole in the road a few times.

  ‘But my treasure is still down there!’ Gus said, pleading and struggling to break free from the grip Charlie and Leo had on his arms. ‘I need to get it. Let me go!’

  ‘Your treasure will be halfway to Pocklington by now, together with the Three Bambini.’ I shrugged my shoulders. ‘Not much you can do about that.’

  ‘But that’s my point,’ Gus yelled, his voice a high squeak. ‘I don’t want Victor to have any piece of my treasure.’ He hopped up and down in frustration. ‘Why didn’t you let me take some with me?’

  I rolled my eyes. What was this hold that the treasure had over him?

  ‘If I had let you do that,’ I said, ‘we would both have been swept away with the water and the blob.’

  Gus glared at me. ‘You don’t know that.’ He stamped his feet on the grass. ‘At least I could have saved some of my treasure.’

  Vinnie turned towards me. ‘Ignore him. He’s just venting.’

  ‘Venting?’ Gus looked daggers at Vinnie, his whiskers bristling. ‘Do you realise that there is a big chance that Victor will find the treasure and start bribing other rats with it. They might still come back to kick us all out again.’

  ‘He has a point there,’ Leo said looking at Vinnie. ‘That is something Victor would do.’

  The fur on my head pricked. Could they be right? Was there a possibility that Victor was still dangerous? I stared at the hole in the road. No. I wasn’t going to let myself be frightened about something that might never happen. And if it did, we would find another way to beat the Bambini.

  ‘But who says that the water dragged the treasure as far as it did Victor?’ I said. ‘The treasure might have ended up somewhere else completely.’

  ‘Paddy’s right,’ Daisy said. ‘There’s no use getting scared about nothing.’ She patted Gus’ arm. ‘I’m sorry you lost your treasure, dear. But there will be another one.’

  Gus pulled his arm loose and turned his back on her.

  ‘No one is feeling sorry for me,’ he said.

  I shook my head. I’d better focus on something else, or I might actually rip the tiny ears off his head.

  I watched as White Coat and Blue Hair walked around the edge of the crack, bend over, their noses almost to the ground. What on earth were they doing? What was it they were looking for?

  White Coat bent down and picked something up from the road. He looked at the object more closely, holding it up to his face, turning it this way and that. It glittered in the sunlight.

  My whiskers tingled. Was that what I thought it was? Could the shiny object be part of Gus’ treasure?

  I glanced at Gus, who was now consoled by Daisy as well as Leo. He seemed a bit calmer, not having noticed White Coat.

  Then Blue Hair picked something up from the road. It glittered as well! Would it be possible that instead of being swept down the sewer, Gus’ treasure had found its way up to the surface? If that was true, then there was no way that Victor would find it. They were safe after all!

  I watched as White Coat found another piece of Gus’ treasure. Perhaps it was better if I didn’t draw Gus’ attention to it. He would most definitely go berserk.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

  Colleen continued to yell at the man and was now swinging her fists at his face. Abe, arriving at the scene at same time as Jacob, Emily and Dave, grabbed Colleen’s arms and pulled her away from the man. It was Gianni.

  ‘Stop this! What has gotten into you?’ Abe said.

  Colleen struggled to get loose. ‘Let me go! I’m going to kill him!’

  The crowd had by now lost complete interest in the hole in the road and had gathered around the two adversaries in a semicircle.

  ‘This is all your fault,’ Gianni yelled, stepping forward to glare at Colleen. Blood streamed from his nose and a bruise started to appear under one eye, marring his handsome face.

  Dave stepped in front of Gianni. ‘Stop this yelling. You’re only making it worse.’

  ‘I don’t care.’ Gianni pointed at his nose. ‘Look what she did. If my nose is broken I’m going to sue her.’

  Colleen snorted. Her eyes spat fire. ‘Oh, don’t be a baby. It’s just a little bit of blood.’

  A Mercedes pulled up and Inspector McDermott got out. In one fell swoop he surveyed the whole situation. The hole in the road, the gathered crowd, the policemen, the fire brigade, Gianni’s car that was parked haphazardly on the junction, his bloody nose, Colleen standing with her fists raised, Dave and Abe trying to stop the fracas and lastly Jacob. He chewed on his moustache.

  ‘I should have known you were involved in all this,’ he said, glaring at Jacob.

  Jacob stared at McDermott and shook his head. ‘I have got nothing to do with this.’

  ‘And yet, here you are. Right in the thick of it.’

  Abe stepped forward. ‘Excuse me, sir. It looks like the sewers exploded, but there’s only material damage.’

  ‘What about the damage to his face?’ McDermott said.

  They all looked at Gianni, who pulled a hanky out of his pocket and held it to his nose to stem the blood flow, trying not to get any of it on the driving gloves he was still wearing. A little late, Jacob noticed, as quite a bit of blood had already made its way to his tailored silk shirt.

  ‘She attacked me for no reason,’ Gianni said, looking daggers at Colleen.

  McDermott looked Gianni up and down, his mouth pinched.

  ‘We will deal with you two later,’ he said. ‘The hole in Woolaston Road is more important right now.’

  ‘Umm… actually,’ Jacob said, stepping forward, holding up one finger. ‘I don’t agree.’ He waved at the police and firemen. ‘They’ve got everything under control and Mr Johnson is already inspecting the sewers. They don’t need other people poking around.’

  McDermott glared at Jacob, planting his feet on the road and crossing his arms. ‘So now you’re telling me how to do my job?’

  ‘I know who killed Nate Field and Patrizia Affini,’ Jacob said, taking in McDermott’s glare without blinking.

  There was a gasp f
rom the crowd.

  McDermott’s face turned red. He looked at the crowd, who were now straining their ears not to miss a thing. He let out a sigh that came from all the way down to his toes. ‘Let’s go somewhere a bit more private.’ He started to usher Jacob, Emily, Abe and Dave to the corner of Woolaston Road and Upper Tile Street.

  ‘I’m sorry,’ Jacob said. ‘Colleen and Gianni need to come as well.’

  ‘Whatever.’

  The little group made their way to the corner. Spencer, Kenneth and Lorenzo Jr, who had been in the crowd, followed as well. McDermott glared at them, but didn’t say anything.

  He turned to Jacob. ‘Let’s start again.’ The words came out through his clenched teeth. ‘You claim to know who killed Nate and Patrizia.’

  ‘I don’t claim to know. I actually do know,’ Jacob said, putting his hands behind his back. ‘But let’s get a few things straight first. The police are looking for the burglar with regards to the murders.’ He shook his head. ‘They’re barking up the wrong tree. The burglar had nothing to do with it.’

  McDermott’s face reddened and his eyes bulged as he glared at Jacob.

  Jacob turned to Spencer and Kenneth. ‘These two had nothing to do with it either. They had some problems, but that turned out to be a personal squabble between them.’

  Both men stood rooted to the spot and stared at Jacob. Spencer took a spotless hanky out of the inner pocket of his jacket and dabbed his face with it.

  ‘Umm… but what about the—’ Abe said, but Jacob cut him off.

  ‘Sorry to interrupt you, Abe. But Spencer and Kenneth’s private problems aren’t important right now. They will figure things out between themselves eventually.’

  Jacob turned around and let his gaze rest on Lorenzo Jr. ‘For a while there, you were on our lists of suspects as well.’

  All the colour drained from Lorenzo’s face.

  ‘But,’ Jacob continued, ‘you didn’t have anything to do with the murders either, even though you might have had some mistaken personal reasons to take revenge.’ He leaned towards Lorenzo, who had gone all red. ‘Talk to your sister.’

  Jacob turned to Gianni and Colleen. ‘These two were fighting just now and that gave me an important clue.’

  ‘You seem to be the cog in the wheel here, Colleen.’ He faced her and she turned white, her hands shaking. ‘But perhaps I should call you Sarah, for that’s your real name, isn’t it. Sarah Miller.’ Colleen stared down at her feet, avoiding Jacob’s gaze.

  ‘Sarah came to Milbury to take revenge.’ Jacob looked around. ‘It took me a while to make the connection, and figure it all out, but now I have.

  ‘Quite a while ago, Sarah went to school here in Milbury for a couple of years and was bullied by her classmates.’

  Colleen’s head jerked upright. ‘How dare you dig into my life?’ She stamped her foot on the pavement. ‘You know nothing of my life here in Milbury. Of having to go to that horrible school, where everyone made fun of me because I was fat.’

  She took some steps towards Jacob. ‘I didn’t kill Nate and Patrizia.’

  ‘Perhaps not, but we will come to that in a minute,’ Jacob said, nodding his head. ‘However, you coming here set in motion a whole string of events that turned out to be unstoppable.’

  Colleen glared at him. ‘I don’t believe you.’

  A phone beeped.

  ‘Oh, sorry. That’s me,’ Emily said. She took the phone out of her bag and thumbed the screen. After reading the message, she handed the phone to Jacob.

  Jacob looked down at the screen. It was a text message from Sam. She’d sent Emily the picture her aunt from Milan had just sent her.

  He fiddled with the screen to enlarge it. Studying the picture up close, he realised this was the evidence they’d been waiting for.

  ‘Ahem,’ McDermott said, tapping his foot. ‘Just get on with it. We haven’t got all day.’

  Ignoring McDermott, Jacob typed a quick reply to Sam. Please join us immediately. Corner of Upper Tile.

  He held up the phone in a somewhat theatrical gesture, and swung round to face everyone. ‘I have just received an important piece of evidence.’ He looked at Colleen. ‘There’s no doubt about it any more.’

  He handed Colleen the phone. ‘This is why Nate and Patrizia were killed.’

  Colleen looked at the screen and turned even whiter. Her knees buckled, but she managed to keep standing. The picture was of her as a young woman, holding hands with a handsome Italian guy.

  ‘I have now pieced together enough to know what happened,’ Jacob said. He took the phone back from Colleen. ‘It started at the final year of secondary school. A number of Sarah’s classmates decided that it would be fun to bully her. Nate Field was one of them and so was Gianni Bandoni.’

  Colleen looked daggers at Jacob. ‘Nate never bullied me.’

  ‘Perhaps not, but he didn’t stop them either. He was part of that group and scared to lose their friendship.’

  Sam arrived and stood next to Emily. She hugged her body and stared at Colleen.

  ‘Sarah left school,’ Jacob continued. ‘I don’t know if it was a coincidence that her father got a new job in Leeds, but the family left Milbury altogether.

  ‘After secondary school, Nate and Gianni remained friends. They didn’t go to the same university, but as few of their classmates actually stayed in Milbury, this might have been the reason they kept in touch.’ Jacob looked at Gianni. ‘Perhaps you can enlighten us about that a bit later, but for now we will concentrate on the summer you spent three months with your aunt and uncle in Italy.

  ‘You fell in love with an English girl who happened to come to the town where your aunt and uncle lived and who wanted nothing else but to have a nice holiday. I guess you didn’t recognise the girl you used to bully at school.’ Jacob turned to Colleen.

  ‘Did you recognise Gianni? Was it somehow justice to have him fall in love with you after all he’d put you through in school?’

  Colleen just looked at him.

  ‘Whatever your reasons, I guess you were both thrilled to discover that each of you lived in Yorkshire, not that far apart as it happened. It seems that the romance continued, as you got pregnant. But for whatever reason it all turned sour and now you live by yourself in Leeds with your son, while Gianni lives here in York.

  ‘But whatever happened, he does still visit you.’ Jacob pointed at Gianni’s fancy car. ‘Proof of that is a pile of parking tickets written out for that number plate and issued in a street near Sarah’s house in Leeds. I saw them last night on Inspector McDermott’s desk.’

  ‘What?!’ McDermott glared at Jacob, hands on his hips and his moustache bristling. ‘How dare you go through the stuff on my desk?! I will get you a Civil Injunction for this!’

  ‘Sir,’ Abe said, a slight grin on his face. ‘Please calm down. He didn’t do any harm.’

  ‘Didn’t do any harm?! He went through the stuff on my desk!’

  Jacob ignored McDermott’s outburst and turned to Colleen. ‘Were you happy, by yourself, in Leeds?’

  Tears welled up in Colleen’s eyes. She shook her head, then looked down.

  ‘Is that why you came to Milbury? To get Gianni to recognise the child you have together?’

  ‘Nate was not a bad person,’ Colleen said. ‘He was a good guy. It was Gianni and his posse that bullied me.’ She looked at Gianni. ‘Nate was scared of him and blinded at the same time.’

  ‘Blinded?’ This was news to Jacob. He looked at Gianni. How did that all fit in? A thought struck him, but it was a stab in the dark.

  Jacob walked over to Gianni. ‘Were you finally sick of his puppy love for you? Or did Nate find out how you mistreated Sarah all these years. Is that why you killed Nate?’

  Gianni went red to the roots of his hair. ‘What? No, that’s not… This is stupid.’ He crossed his arms and glared at Jacob down his nose. ‘That picture doesn’t prove anything. You have no idea what you’re talking about.’

 
‘I know, though,’ Sam said, stepping forward. ‘I know that Nate was in love with you. He never dared tell anyone about it, scared as he was that you would make fun of him.’ She pointed a finger at her brother. ‘You held him hostage for all these years. He was terrified of you. In school he was scared stiff that you would start bullying him, like you did Sarah. Afraid that you would out him in front of everyone.’

  Gianni stared at his sister with an open mouth. ‘How dare you, you little bitch!’

  ‘Shut up!’ Lorenzo stepped in front of Sam. ‘It’s high time you were brought down off your high horse. Stop being so entitled and take responsibility for once in your life!’

  Jacob had been watching the siblings. Now he turned to Gianni. ‘You are a proud and self-confident man. Tell me, were you actually flattered by Nate’s attention to you?’

  Gianni glared at Jacob with cold eyes. He spat on the ground.

  ‘I’m not a sissy,’ he hissed. ‘I hated Nate for what he was, I really did. I laughed at him behind his back with my friends. He was so stupid making googly eyes at me in school.’

  ‘But you were his friend!’ Sam’s hands were balled to fists at the side.

  Gianni glared at her. ‘Was I?’

  ‘Even if you were not,’ Jacob said, ‘you never told anyone that he was gay.’

  ‘You have no proof that I killed him.’

  ‘Perhaps he doesn’t,’ Colleen said. ‘But I do.’

  All faces turned to her.

  ‘I bumped into Nate on the Friday he was murdered,’ she continued. ‘I didn’t even realise he still lived in Milbury. He recognised me and we went on a walk together down by the river. He asked me about what had happened to me since I moved away and I told him everything. About how Gianni and I met in Italy and how we had a son together. And I told him about Gianni’s treatment of me.’

  She pointed at Gianni. ‘That man bought me a house in Leeds and pretended to be my boyfriend. But meanwhile he kept on living his life here in Milbury as if he was single, never telling anyone about me. Cheating on me. He once told me that he was ashamed that he’d ever fallen in love with me. Me, the fat girl he used to bully in school.