Transylvania's Most Wanted (19 page)

It was after six when he arrived there and
the shop was closed. He looked at the room above the shop and saw a
light on there and figured the shop owner lived there. He banged on
the door hard and just kept knocking. Finally a window slid open
above him.

“We’re closed for the night,” the shop
keeper said leaning out the window.

Tom showed him his badge. “I’m a police
officer,” he said. “I need to talk to you for just a minute. Do you
mind coming down?”

“I’ll be down,” the shop owner said sliding
the window shut.

A minute later the door was unlocked and Tom
was let in.

“You’re the second policeman to visit me
today. Did you have some more questions?” the shop owner asked as
he turned a light on.

“That’s right,” Tom said. “We have a couple
more questions for you.”

“How can I help?”

Tom wasn’t quite sure how to begin, but then
he asked, “I think you were showing Chief Inspector Meriwether some
clocks earlier today?”

“That’s right,” the man said. “Would you
like to see the one he bought?”

“I would.”

The shopkeeper, an older man with white hair
and a white mustache led Tom through the store. There was a lot of
ticking going on in there, from watches and several hall clocks for
sale and some cuckoo clocks even. He led Tom to a shelf where some
fine clocks encased in wood sat on a shelf. The kind of clock you
might set on your fireplace mantle or a top a dresser. More like
your dresser since it had a pair of bells on top. It served as an
alarm clock in addition to being a fine-looking work of
craftsmanship.

“This is the kind Inspector Meriwether
bought,” the shop owner said picking one up and showing Tom it.

“This an alarm clock?”

“Can be,” the man said poking at the bells
on top. “That’s what those bells are for. This is the same kind of
clock I sold the man Inspector Meriwether was here asking
about.”

“Oh? What man?”

“A Mr. Darcy. He’s visiting here and he
wanted to buy something as a memento. Inspector Meriwether came in
here asking about him.”

“Where was Mr. Darcy from?”

“He never said, but I get the feeling he was
from someplace I’ve never been.”

“What makes you say that?”

“His watch.”

“His watch?”

“It was a most unusual watch. Nothing like
I’ve ever seen. I asked to look at it. I noticed the maker’s name
on the bottom. It said Kozloff. I notice those things of course –
being a watchmaker myself and all. I know most of the other
watchmakers here in Britannia. There is not a Kozloff that I know
of.”

“He said his name was Darcy?”

“That’s right,” the man said as Tom handed
him the clock back. The clock maker wiped Tom’s fingerprints off
the clock before placing it back on the shelf. “I’ll have to get
busy making more of these,” he said. “I like to have three on
display and now I have just the one. Three is a good number.”

Tom looked at the shelf below, where there
was a similar kind of clock, not as wide with a little smaller
clock face and slightly smaller bells. He noticed there were only
two for sale there, one lined up behind the other. The last spot on
the shelf was empty. “Looks like you need to make another one of
those too then,” Tom said pointing there.

The man looked there. “That’s odd,” he said
before looking around like he hoped to spot the missing clock
misplaced on a shelf close by. “There should be three there.”

“You must have sold one.”

“No,” he said. “Not for a week now and there
was three there this morning.”

“
You’re sure you didn’t
sell one of them today?”

“Oh, I’m quite certain. I remember there was
three there when I brought Mr. Darcy back here.”

“
What about when Inspector
Meriwether was here. Was there three of them then?”

The man thought for a moment. “I can’t say
that I noticed. You don’t think Mr. Darcy would have taken it do
you?”

“Maybe he did. You’re certain there should
be three there?”

“Oh yes,” the man said. “I always keep three
of this kind there. If Mr. Darcy did take it, I hope it was because
he admired it. He seemed excited to own the clock he did pay for.
He handled it with much care. He talked with me for quite some
time.”

“What about?”

“He mentioned he was in the mining
business.”

“The mining business?”

“Yes, he asked if we had any mines in this
part of the realm. So I of course told him we had the Tunnel Like
Hell mine here.”

“What did he say?”

“He asked what that was,” the shopkeeper
said. “I found that surprising since the Tunnel Like Hell mine is
the biggest coal producer in all of Britannia.”

“What did he say then?”

“He asked if they use explosives out
there.”

“He asked that?”

“Yes. Of course I told him they do.”

“What did this man look like?”

The shopkeeper tried to picture Mr. Darcy
then. “Hard to say really,” he said. “Not too tall or short, not
too heavy or thin either. Nothing too remarkable about him. He did
have a mustache.”

“Did he say where he was staying?”

“No,” the clock maker said shaking his
head.

“Did you tell Inspector Meriwether that Mr.
Darcy mentioned he was in the mining business?”

“No, that didn’t come up.”

“Could you do me a favor? Would you mind
calling the station and asking for Inspector Meriwether?” Tom asked
as he began to write the number down for the shop owner.

“Okay.”

“Tell him you just noticed that one of your
other alarm clocks is missing. That it must have been stolen just
today, and you thought that you should mention it to him.”

“All right.”

“Don’t mention I was here though, okay?”

The shop owner looked at Tom a moment. “I
guess you have your reason,” he said. “I don’t have a phone here in
the shop. I’ll have to use the one on the corner.”

Tom reached in his pocket to give the man a
coin for the phone, but couldn’t find one. “I guess I don’t have
any coins on me.”

“I’ll get one from the cash register,” the
man said.

They went out the shop and up to the corner.
The clock maker made the call while Tom waited. Tom thought Red
should know Mr. Darcy was in possession of two alarm clocks.

Chapter 36

It took Mr. Slang nearly an hour to walk
back to The Depths, having to lug a sack of dynamite through the
woods. Once there he called for a cab. While he was waiting for the
cab, standing outside smoking his pipe, a police car sped past,
headed down Horseshoe Road toward the mine. The guard must have
come to finally and called the police.

Just before his cab
arrived, Mr. Slang looked up into the dark sky and saw the
zeppelin,
Tempest
come floating over the top of the cliffs surrounding
Transylvania City. It was a magnificent sight, the zeppelin slowly
coming into view like an oblong moon orbiting a planet. A
searchlight came on and shone on it, offering it a tunnel of light
to descend down from out of the dark sky. He watched as the craft
slowly turned, pivoting like a gate, as it headed toward the
landing site, which had been hurriedly constructed just north of
the city that day.

Soon King Havel would
arrive on the
Dauntless
, hurrying to Transylvania City to see that his daughter was
safely returned to him no matter the ransom asked or demands made
by the kidnappers.

Tom drove across The Executioner Bridge into
Draculia headed for the Tunnel Like Hell mine. He don’t know what
to expect to find, because he figured Jones, Dunne and McElroy must
be tailing this Mr. Darcy, whoever he was and they must have told
Red that Mr. Darcy had visited the clock shop.

Tom didn’t know how Red had known to follow
this Mr. Darcy, but Tom figured Mr. Darcy was tied into the
U.R.R.K. delegation somehow. The Russian name on his watch made him
think that. There were people of Russian descent here in
Transylvania of course, and throughout Britannia for that matter,
but if he was from here, it reasoned, especially since he claimed
to be in the mining business, that Mr. Darcy would have heard of
the Tunnel Like Hell mine.

When he got to the end of Appian Way, and
was about to turn onto Horseshoe Road, Tom heard a siren. It was a
Draculia police car heading the direction of the mine, so he waited
until it passed and he followed it. Sure enough it turned down the
forest road that lead up to the Tunnel Like Hell mine.

As they approached the mine, Tom could see
another police car had already arrived there and he followed the
second one right up to the guard shack. As he got out of his car,
the Draculia detective he had just followed there gave him a look,
curious to why he was following him.

The detective was a vampire. A vampire with
a badge. A vampire with a badge, gun and wearing a scarf, a white
shirt open at the collar and a long, black, expensive-looking, soft
raincoat. He looked like Hollywood’s idea of a vampire detective.
He had a dark complexion, dark hair that reached his shoulders, a
build like a middle-weight boxer, and probably was just a quick as
one.

“Who are you?” he asked.

“
Inspector Flynn of the
TCPD,” Tom said showing him his identification.

“I’ve heard of you, but you know you haven’t
any jurisdiction out here, right?”

“I know,” Tom said. “I just wanted to see
what was going on. It might be relevant to something I’m working
on.”

“What would that be?”

“Princess Alexi’s kidnapping.”

“Oh,” he said. “I don’t even know what’s
going on here yet, but if you want to hang around that’s fine. I’ll
ask the questions though.”

“Thanks,” Tom said.

The first thing the detective did was
approach the guard and introduce himself as Detective Rohev.
Vampires rarely use more than just the one name. The guard told him
how a man had snuck on him and hit him from behind. He had a knot
the size of a tangerine on his head to prove it.

“You get a look at this man?” Rohev
asked.

“No, he snuck up on me. Anyway he must have
used my keys to open the gate there,” the guard said pointing at
the gate which was swung open presently.

“Did you walk up to the offices there to
call us?”

“No. I got a phone in the shack here so I
called it in as soon I seen the gate open.”

“Could he be in there now?”

“I don’t think so,” the guard said. “He
clipped my keys back on my belt.”

Rohev and Tom walked up to the offices and
found that the door had been kicked in. Rohev drew his gun as he
motioned for Tom to stay behind him. They went inside. They looked
around the main office, but nothing seemed to have been disturbed
there. They went down a hallway. The heavy door where explosives
and other supplies were stored was ajar. Rohev approached it
cautiously with his gun drawn and poked his head inside.

“He’s gone,” he said pushing the door all
the way open and holstering his weapon. “Looks like he took some
items out of here,” he said pointing at a crate of dynamite the top
had been forced off. “I’ll have someone from the mining company
come out here and see if they can determine what all’s been
taken.”

Tom nodded at him. “Could you do me a
favor?”

“I guess.”

“Call the TCPD headquarters, ask for
Inspector Meriwether. Tell him he might like to know that some
dynamite was stolen here tonight. That you thought this could be
tied to the princess’ kidnapping.”

“I should run that by my superiors first,”
Rohev said, “but I won’t. There’s a phone in the office.”

“Just one more thing. Don’t mention my
name.”

Rohev looked at him. “I guess you have your
reason. When this is all over you’ll have to tell me it,” he
said.

“I will.”

Tom drove back to the TCPD building and went
up to the inspectors’ offices. Of course the first thing Red did
when he saw him, was ask what he was doing back there.

“I just wanted to see what was going on with
those items Pandora asked for.”

“
Those two constables
should be returning soon,” Red said looking at the clock on the
wall. “Why don’t you walk down with me and wait for
them.”

They walked to the train station and
informed the constables on duty there, that the bloodhounds would
soon be going nuts. On the way there Red had failed to mention
either of the calls he had received. They sat on a bench at the end
of the train platform, waiting for the Vulture to arrive.

“Fixx never called in from the Wolf’s Fang?”
Tom asked.

“Uh, yeah, he did,” Red said. “Told me Stone
hadn’t showed, so I told him to wait another hour and if he still
didn’t show, then he should head on home.”

“Oh,” Tom said.

Just then the second
zeppelin,
Dauntless
, floated into the valley. Tom pointed at it and remarked
that it reminded him of a giant, white whale, the red star near the
front of the craft appearing like its eye.

“Something you don’t see every day,” Red
said admiring the airship, which was nearly twice as long as
football field.

In a large field, a mile north of
Executioner’s Bridge, two platforms had been constructed for the
crafts to dock. Constables stood guard around the entire perimeter
of the field and others stood guard near the platforms.

They watched the Dauntless heading there and
then the Vulture blew its horn as it announced it was approaching
the station. The bloodhounds began barking and howling the moment
the train pulled up to the platform. The bear also caught scent of
the items the constables had brought back with them and began to
growl. Red took the bag from the two constables as soon as they
stepped off the train and looked inside. He thanked them for their
good work and sent them on their way. Then he and Tom started back
toward the police station, but then Red said he needed to use the
men’s room. Tom waited outside while Red took the items in with
him.