The Mystery of the Clockwork Sparrow (14 page)

‘What I really want to know is why it’s the sparrow that is so important,’ said Billy slowly. ‘There were heaps of other valuable things taken that night. But this only mentions the sparrow.’

‘Sophie said that Sergeant Gregson – that’s the policeman – was awfully keen on talking about the sparrow,’ Lil remembered. ‘It’s special, isn’t it? Not only because it’s worth a lot, but because it’s so unusual.’

‘And there’s a separate reward for finding it, too. It was mentioned particularly in the Captain’s advertisement,’ Billy remembered.

Lil looked up at Joe. ‘Are you absolutely sure you didn’t recognise the man who dropped this? If it was someone working for this Baron person – and if you worked for him too – then maybe it might have been someone you’d seen before.’

Joe shook his head. ‘I couldn’t get a good look at his face,’ he explained. ‘It was dark and he was just wearing normal clothes – a cap and a jacket with the collar up, nothing to make him stand out. I tell you what, though, he weren’t one of the Baron’s Boys. I reckon I’d have recognised any of them right enough.’ He paused for a moment, scratching his head thoughtfully. ‘But the Baron’s got all sorts of folk in his pocket. It could’ve been anyone.’

They all sat in silence for a moment, letting this sink in. Lil found herself staring hard at the message, as if she could will it into giving up the answers they were searching for.

‘I just can’t believe that they’ve sacked Sophie,’ said Billy at last.

Lil shook her head. ‘I don’t think it makes the slightest bit of sense,’ she said again. ‘Why would they sack her? Surely they can’t be such idiots as to really believe she could be involved in this. She’s a shop girl, not some sort of . . . master jewel thief.’

‘It was the pin – that’s what convinced them,’ said Billy, sounding rather mournful.

‘That silly old pin didn’t prove anything at all!’ said Lil crossly. She paused for a moment and then went on, more hesitantly. ‘I know it sounds a bit potty, but don’t you think it’s all been rather convenient? I mean, Sophie was at the scene on the night, and then Gregson interviews her, and everyone suddenly believes she was involved, and then her hatpin just happens to turn up at the scene of the crime.’

‘You mean maybe someone put the hatpin there? On purpose?’

‘Perhaps. Maybe someone is going out of their way to make it look like Sophie is guilty – or at least to keep everyone’s attention on her, instead of on what really happened. On this fellow the Baron, or whoever else was behind it all.’

Joe considered this. ‘You might just be right about that. There’s something fishy about this whole business, I reckon. I tell you what, I’d be watching them coppers. Gregson and that other fellow too, the detective. The Baron’s probably straightened ’em up.’

‘Do you mean
bribed
them?’ asked Lil, fascinated.

Joe gave an experienced nod. ‘Given them a few quid, got them to look the other way when he wants them to. He does it all the time. Half the coppers in London are as crooked as they come. They’ll do more or less anything for a bit of bread and honey.’

‘Hang on a minute,’ said Lil, her eyes widening. ‘Sophie knew what the message said, didn’t she? She knew about the Baron.’

‘Yes, but she didn’t know who he was,’ said Billy, frowning.

‘But when she was being interviewed, maybe she told them what we found out.’

‘That’s it then!’ said Joe, realising what Lil was getting at. ‘That’s why. If she told them what she knew – and if they are working for the Baron – she’ll have put the wind up them good and proper, won’t she? I reckon they’ll have told your Mr Cooper she wasn’t to be trusted and to give her the push. Get her out of the way before she sends anyone sniffing around in the Baron’s direction.’

Billy’s brow was furrowed. ‘So what on earth do we do now, then?’ he said after a moment. ‘I mean, if the police can’t be trusted – then who do we go to with what we know? Should we tell Cooper?’

‘I don’t think Mr Cooper will listen to us,’ said Lil, shaking her head. ‘He obviously trusts the police, and we would need real proof, something more than the message. After all, Sophie’s already told him about that, and if Gregson has told him not to believe her, he’s bound to be suspicious. For all he knows, we could have written it ourselves.’

‘You want to get some dirt on those coppers,’ said Joe. ‘If you can prove they’re being paid off, I don’t reckon the high-ups would be too pleased with them.’

‘There’s something in that,’ said Billy thoughtfully. ‘But how?’

Lil shrugged. ‘Well, we know exactly where Gregson is working,’ she said. ‘In Cooper’s office. We could wait until he’s out of the way and then have a good poke about and see what we find.’

Billy looked at her in alarm, not at all liking this suggestion. His last bit of investigation had, after all, ended in disaster. The Exhibition Hall had been one thing, but Cooper’s office was quite another – and if the last few hours had proved anything to him, it was just how easy it could be to be dismissed from Sinclair’s. ‘I’m not sure that would be a very good idea,’ he said warily.

‘Well, what else can we do?’ said Lil, looking impatient. ‘I’m going to go and look, even if you’re not.’

‘All right, all right,’ said Billy hastily. ‘I’ll do it. But let’s not just rush off. We need to find the right moment, when we shan’t be spotted.’

From high above them, outside in the yard, they dimly heard a familiar voice yelling: ‘Billy! I don’t have time for this! Get here, you little skiver, or I’ll tan you till you can’t sit down!’

Billy heaved a deep sigh. ‘I’d better go and get it over with,’ he said. ‘The longer I stay away the worse he’ll be.’ He gave Joe a quick nod. ‘I’ll be back later on with some grub, if I can get away.’

To Joe’s surprise, Lil didn’t immediately follow Billy out of the room, but instead sat still, contemplating him with her long-lashed brown eyes. It had been one thing when there were three of them talking together, but now they were alone, he felt as awkward as when she’d first walked in. He’d never seen a girl anything like her before.

‘What happened to your arm?’ she was asking.

‘Chap went for it with a shiv.’ His voice came out sounding rough and brusque.

‘A shiv? What’s that?’

‘A long blade. Like a razor.’

‘Gosh,’ she said lightly. ‘Mind if I take a look?’

Without waiting for him to say yes or no, she took hold of his arm and rolled back his sleeve briskly. Her fingers felt warm: her touch was light. Joe was very conscious of how close she was, and felt disorientated for a moment, but then she peeled back the rough bandage, and the sudden stab of pain brought him back to himself.

‘Sorry,’ she said. ‘It doesn’t look so good. I think it ought to be properly cleaned. I’ll bring some stuff to dress it for you tomorrow.’ She rolled his sleeve briskly back into place. ‘You look like you could do with a decent meal, too,’ she said. ‘Billy’s a good chap, but I don’t believe he’s exactly what you’d call practical. I’ll bring you some proper food – and some old clothes of my brother’s, if you like?’

Joe shrugged uneasily. Lil smiled at him, and for a moment he was dazzled.

‘All right then. I’d better go.’ But as she stepped towards the door, Joe heard something. Acting on instinct, he pulled her quickly back, motioning to her to be still and quiet. There came the sound of swift, decided footsteps, passing the door of the little room.

‘Wasn’t that Mr Cooper?’ whispered Lil, after they’d gone.

‘The starchy looking chap with the beard? I reckon so. He’s been down here half a dozen times. Always goes off down that way towards where those furs are kept. Must be keeping a careful check on them, I reckon. But it’s no trouble to me to stay out of his way.’

He came to a sudden stop, as if exhausted by such a long speech. But Lil was hanging on to his words.

‘The fur storage room?’ she asked. ‘How funny. I wonder if there’s something really special down there. Or maybe Cooper’s got some sort of sordid secret he’s hiding amongst the sables.’ She laughed, and Joe stared at her, fascinated and confused. I really must go,’ she said. ‘I’ll see you later.’

He stood and watched as she slipped out into the passage, peering around carefully for any sign of Cooper before she went. He fingered his arm uncertainly: it felt different where she had touched it. He settled back down in his hidden corner again, but the room seemed suddenly very empty now that she had gone.

‘I’m still not sure about this, you know,’ Billy said doubtfully. It was nearing the end of the day, and he and Lil were hovering outside the door to Mr Cooper’s office.

‘Don’t bottle it now. We’re doing this to help Sophie, remember?’

Billy couldn’t help feeling annoyed. ‘Yes, but we won’t be able to help Sophie much if we both get caught and get the sack too.’ Lil was actually enjoying this, he realised, seeing how her eyes were sparking with mischief.

Now she huffed a small sigh of impatience. ‘We aren’t
going
to get caught. I heard Gregson say he’d be gone for at least half an hour. Come on . . . we haven’t got all day. I want to go and see Sophie on my way to the theatre, remember? And I really mustn’t be late for the rehearsal.’

With that, she slipped quickly through the door and inside Mr Cooper’s office. Billy followed reluctantly. Like everything that the store manager touched, it was neat as could be: books ranged in perfect rows on the shelves, an upright, rectangular clock ticking on the mantelpiece, and nothing at all, not a plant or an ornament was out of place, Billy thought ruefully.

Lil was already at the desk, rapidly turning over the papers that lay across it. From the way that they had been left, there was no doubt that they must belong to Gregson: Billy couldn’t imagine that Cooper would ever leave things spread about like that.

‘Don’t make such a mess,’ he whispered to Lil. ‘He’ll know someone has been in here.’

Lil rolled her eyes, but began to look through the papers in a more orderly fashion. For several minutes, there was silence but for the sound of rustling paper.

‘There’s nothing here,’ she said, after some time had passed.

‘Keep your voice down!’ hissed Billy in alarm. ‘Cooper could be nearby for all we know.’

‘It’s all just terrifically boring paperwork,’ said Lil, only a touch more quietly. ‘Mind you, what were we really expecting to find? I mean, he was hardly going to leave out a nice juicy cheque, signed
Baron
. If he really is being bribed, I suppose he wouldn’t be fool enough to write it down.’

Billy was trying his best to decipher a pile of notes in an almost illegible handwriting. ‘We have to look through everything carefully,’ he said. ‘The evidence might be anywhere. It could just be something very small.’

‘I don’t think any of this is going to tell us anything,’ said Lil. ‘If there is evidence, they’re bound to have put it safely away out of sight.’

Billy glanced up at the clock on the mantelpiece and started. ‘Look at the time! We should go.’

‘Wait a moment,’ said Lil, gesturing to a small mahogany bureau that stood against the wall. ‘Look at that – all those drawers and cubbyholes. That’s exactly the sort of place you might hide something.’

‘We don’t have time,’ Billy urged. ‘They could be back any minute. Come
on
!’ He quietly pushed the door open, glanced along the corridor to make sure no one was there, and then slipped out.

Paying no attention to Billy, Lil stayed where she was, examining the bureau. Most of the drawers seemed to contain only stationery, ink-bottles, pen-nibs and blotting paper – and the rest were carefully locked. How like Mr Cooper, she thought in frustration. She was just about to give up, when she came across a folded piece of paper. It was a telegram. She gazed at it for a moment, but just then she heard the door open, and she jumped back from the bureau in time to see a strange man enter the room.

Lil was never flustered. She gave him a dazzling smile. ‘Oh – hello,’ she said blithely. ‘ I was waiting for Mr Cooper.’

‘Sergeant Gregson is using this office at present.’

‘I’m so sorry, I didn’t know,’ said Lil, a little taken aback that her smile didn’t seem to be having its usual effect on this person – a tall, greying man who she didn’t recognise. ‘Please pardon the intrusion. I don’t suppose you can tell me where I might find Mr Cooper?’

‘You’ll find him in the office just across the way, Miss – er . . .’

‘Rose. Lilian Rose. Thank you very much.’

With a final smile, Lil strolled out of the room, the crumpled telegram balled in the palm of her hand. As soon as the door was shut firmly behind her, she raced off round the corner, where she found Billy waiting looking very agitated.

‘I
told
you we had to leave! That was Mr McDermott – the private detective! He didn’t find you in there, did he?’

Lil grinned. ‘He did. But it didn’t matter. I simply told him I was waiting for Mr Cooper, and he believed me. I’m an
actress
, remember? This is what I do. I promise you, he didn’t suspect a thing.’

S
ophie put on her hat without bothering to check whether it was at the right angle, or whether her hair was tidy. She had spent a restless night reliving every second of yesterday’s terrible interview with Sergeant Gregson. And even when she had at last fallen asleep, her dreams had been troubled.

Now, in the hazy morning light, yesterday seemed like the memory of a nightmare. She could still scarcely believe it had happened. The thought of what the other staff at Sinclair’s must now be thinking and saying about her made her feel sticky all over with hot shame.

The strange thing was that what she minded most was being sent away from Sinclair’s itself. She was surprised to realise how much the store had come to mean to her. All that beauty . . . There was nothing beautiful here in the bare lodging-house room, she thought, looking around at the peeling walls, the empty mantelshelf, the bed with its faded eiderdown. Once again she had been torn away from a place she loved and people that she cared about, she thought bitterly.

She struggled to swallow the lump that was threatening to rise in her throat. She had to pull herself together. She would simply have to look for another job, that was all.