SHORT FAT STUBBY FINGER STORIES PRESENTS:  The COUNTDOWN BEGINS 4-3-2-1

Click Icon for EPISODE 1 (start) to read from the beginning

      To go to NEXT Episode: Episode 78

     Use SEARCH (above right) for other episodes.  eg: Episode 36      

      WEBSITE: Coming soon         tonystewart3.blog

SHORT FAT STUBBY FINGER STORIES PRESENTS: 

The Night of the Darkness

by Tony Stewart

The COUNTDOWN BEGINS:

********

EPISODE 77

A rental furniture van reversed into a large, seemingly disused garage on the other side of the road just as Harvey walked into the Trenthamville Police Station, a block and a half from the hotel.  Harvey momentarily half-turned his head in response to the distraction, but took little notice of the vehicle as he entered the room and asked for the inspector.  While he waited for the desk sergeant to locate him, Harvey absently looked around the room, and his eyes wandered through the open window and into the street just in time to see the roly-poly man, and two other men, coming out of the garage, and heading back towards the hotel.  Suddenly, the penny dropped.  Without waiting for the inspector, Harvey ran outside, pulled out his mobile and rang Joseph.
  “I think I know where the statue is,” he said excitedly as he crossed the road, but restraining the volume of his voice as best he could under the circumstances.
  “Where?”  Joseph asked, barely restraining himself from becoming equally excited.
  Harvey explained his suspicions and what he had seen, saying that he was going to sneak into the garage and have a look around, but first he wanted to know if he should speak to the inspector now, or wait until he had checked out the lorry.  Joseph advised him to wait until after he checked the garage, and warned him to be careful; there was every chance that traps could have been set.  Harvey promised he would, and after checking that no one was watching attempted to open the front door, but was disappointed to find it padlocked.  However, undaunted by his setback,  Harvey made his way down the small lane that ran alongside the left hand side of the building and was quickly rewarded when he noticed a partially broken window towards the rear of the garage.
Harvey instantly began assessing the situation to ensure that he would be able to remove the remaining glass and make his way safely in and out of the garage when he noticed the boards laying against the wall a bit further down the lane.  Harvey looked at the boards and wondered why they were there; they seemed to have been placed there in a hurry, yet they also seemed to be there to serve a purpose.
Curiosity got the better of him, and he moved down to the boards and began to pull them away from the wall, quietly placing them further up the lane-way lest somebody was still inside the garage, and was surprised to find his instincts were correct; the boards had been placed there deliberately to hide a door.  Tentatively he reached out and slowly, cautiously, gently, began to turn the handle … and it immediately moved with every ounce of pressure he applied.  He stopped momentarily as he listened for any sound whatsoever that emerged from inside. Several heart-beating seconds thundered through his head before he felt safe to continue turning the knob.  Within a further two seconds the door was wide open and, again checking that nobody was watching him, Harvey poked his head through the open space, and once he was finally assured that there was no one there, he walked inside and closed the door behind him – and it was then he discovered that the lock was broken.  He presumed that was the reason for the boards; to keep anybody from entering the building until the door lock could be fixed or replaced.

                                                         ********

The van stood out in the emptiness of the deserted room – its shape grotesquely silhouetted against the limited light streaming in through the grimy glass windows that ran the length and breadth of half of the ancient building. Thousands of dust particles floated aimlessly through the stuffy, stale air; sparkling like a thousand fireflies as they drifted in and out of patches of darkness and subdued daylight.  And through this man made version of the heavens at their peak Harvey slowly made his way to the vehicle, slightly hampered by the darkness that filled the rear of the building, and narrowly avoiding falling down a mechanic’s pit – only to walk straight into the operating mechanism for the pit’s hydraulic pump, before bouncing off the side of the van as he fought to regain his balance. 
Now limping slightly, Harvey gingerly made his way around the truck looking for any obvious booby traps.  Finding none he attempted to open the rear door, only to discover that it was also padlocked.  He went around to the cabin, climbed up on the footstep and attempted to open the door only to find it too was locked. Frustrated, Harvey got back down on the workshop floor, and worked his way up to the first workbench he could find and was fortunate enough to find what he was looking for almost straight away.  He picked up the length of hard wire with the twisted end and headed back towards the van; Wire for unlocking cars that had their keys locked inside was a standard accessory for a mechanic, Harvey decided, and the previous garage owner had been no exception.
It took Harvey less than two seconds to unlock the driver’s door and climb inside.  Once inside the cabin he found his luck was finally improving with the van having a sliding window on the wall behind the driver’s seat to enable the driver to check the load if required.   Harvey slid the window aside and was confronted by what he assumed to be part of the statue only inches away from his face.  In other circumstances he may have had trouble identifying the item standing behind the cabin wall, but in this case the sunlight that did make its way into the garage and though the truck’s front window found the diamonds and rubies, and embraced them lovingly with its rays.  It caused them to sparkle and shimmer, like the stars that shone on a clear summer’s night when one was far from the city lights. Harvey was pleased he had found the statue that so many sought; each for their own reasons … but few that were for reasons a peace loving man would think of as acceptable. But, never-the-less, he had found it.

********

  It was instinct alone that made Harvey reach in and try to wiggle one of the glittering rubies free.  Unable to do so with his hand, Harvey reached into the glove box in search of a tool of any usable description.  His searching, groping, fingers came into contact with some paper, which he pulled out and stuffed into his pocket, meaning to put it back when he had finished searching.  Finally his hand made contact with metal, and he retrieved a long, flat edged screwdriver.  He used the tool to pop a ruby out and was in the process of putting that too into his pocket just as a muffled sound could be heard in the otherwise empty room.  Harvey dropped the screwdriver back into the glove box … closed it, and got out of the cabin, closing the door behind him as quietly as he could, and scrambled back towards the rear door.
“Harvey, are you there?”  The voice whispered, “It’s Joseph.”
The unexpected presence of Joseph had caught Harvey hesitating with his hand on the doorknob which he knew would have immediately exposed him as bright sunlight exploded into the room. ‘But was it Joseph?’  He wondered, ‘Or was it a trap?’
  Joseph called out again and Harvey took his hand off the doorknob and made his way back towards the van, this time avoiding the mechanic’s pit.
“Down the back,” he called out softly as he moved, still slightly suspicious, “I’m heading towards the driver’s door.”  Harvey, however, was not really heading to the driver’s door at all. He was standing partly beyond the rear of the vehicle so he could see just who it was that was coming in this maddening half-light.  But as the figure got closer, Harvey relaxed as he recognized Joseph’s profile.
  “Actually, I am really over here.”  Harvey said in a subdued voice as he stepped out of the shadows and walked forward towards Joseph. You scared the life out of me.  I wasn’t expecting  you.  I thought that they had come back. How did you get in?  The door was locked.  And how did you manage to avoid letting the light in, for that matter?”
  “Sorry about that, actually I had a key.  It appears that William is handling the rental of the garage through the hotel.  But he was unaware that one of his employees had leased it out to Professor Robinson until just now.  He gave me a spare key, but when I first arrived I made my way down the lane that runs beside the building simply to ensure myself you had found away in.  I guessed that it was you that had exposed the door, but I decided to use the front entrance, just in case that entrance had proved to be unsafe.
  “But if you had opened the front door, the whole street would be now exposed ?”
“Ah. yes that would have been the case should I have unlocked the padlock, but should you have turned the lights on you would have seen there is a sealed off office at the front end of the building which has door entry into here.  However, entrance to the office itself by the public is only gained via the doorway which one can only access on the right hand side of the building as you face it.  You can’t see it from the street even though its only a few yards around the corner; you need to know it’s there.  There used to be a sign hanging off a pole that extended out to the street, but the garage was shut down at the end of the war and somehow it disappeared.  Presumably taken as a souvenir.  Trenthamville had been very busy once upon a time, and so was this garage, but when the war finished, the army personnel stationed at Trenthamville were discharged from the service, and their civilian off-siders moved back to London, or wherever they came from.  The garage was closed down, surplus to the villager’s requirement.  Frank’s father used to operate the garage where Frank now resides, and his uncle used to run this one.  His uncle decided to retire both the garage and himself and moved down to Underwood to live out his days leaving the garage to Frank to rent or lease the building as the opportunity arises.  Other times it assumes a role as a local historical building and is open to the public during the high peak tourist season.  Did you sight the statue?”
  “Yes.  It’s standing upright right behind the cabin.  Come with me.”  Harvey led Joseph over to the truck, and used the wire to open it again.   As they climbed into the truck and viewed the statue Harvey couldn’t help but state his admiration for the jewellery that adorned the part of the statue that they could see.
“Aren’t they beautiful?” he whispered. 
“And very deadly,” Joseph responded.  “I think now that we have found what we are looking for, it is time to put my plan into action … and for you to go into your routine as a good citizen reporting information to the police.”

********

Harvey happily followed Joseph through the office and out the side door before crossing the road to the police station, while Joseph returned to the hotel.  This time, when Harvey entered the room, the inspector was standing behind the desk, waiting for him.
  “Where the devil did you get to, Harvey?  I have been here for ten minutes waiting for you.”  The inspector complained in an exasperated rant.
  “Sorry.”  Harvey admitted apologetically, “I originally came in to tell you that I have seen those strangers that I saw at the farm again.  While I was waiting for you I noticed them passing by the window, and I decided to follow them to see where they went.”
  “Did you, by Jove.  That is wonderful news. I am sorry if I took too long. It was the wife, you know.
Needed a few things picked up on the way home. You know how it is. Now, these people you saw … where did they go?”
  “The Rat and the Mouse.  I think that one of them may be staying there.”
“Well then, I think that we should go and pay them a visit.  Sergeant Johnson, could you come out here, please!” A large man, with an equally massive set of thick red hair, came through the open doorway at the back of the room behind the counter, his physical presence dominating the room. He was not fat, nor did he appear to be muscle bound, but he was, most certainly, a big man. Like the inspector, Harvey found himself looking up to the man to attain eye contact. ‘Not a man to get offside with, I imagine’. Harvey thought.
“Yes, sir?  What can I do for you?”
  “Go and get Constable Hobson.  We have to go and interview some very suspicious people.  It would be a feather in our cap if we could beat our city cousins to the punch … or, in this case, to those responsible for what happened at the farm.  It might convince them that there is no need for them to come all the way up here to tramp all over our daisies.
“Yes, sir.” The sergeant replied with enthusiasm; agreeing totally with the Inspector’s caustic comment.  He too was no fan of the big city and his London based brothers-in-arms..
  “Would you like the young’un to come along as well?  It would give him some experience he won’t get very often in Trenthamville.”
  “No.  There may be trouble.  I don’t want lack of experience to interfere in what we are about to do.  There is no need to lockup the station.  He can learn a bit of responsibility manning the station by himself for a short while.  Constable Hobson will do just fine.”
  “Very well, sir”  

********

Thirty seconds later,  Constable Hobson, a rather obtuse, and equally obese, policeman waddled out to join them, and the four of them walked out the front door, and headed to the hotel.  When they arrived they went straight to the counter, where William was waiting.  Harvey described to him the men that they wanted to question.  William appeared to ponder on the question for a moment, and then he suggested that perhaps it was the men in room five that they wanted to see.
The inspector agreed with Harvey’s suggestion that Harvey wait down stairs, out of sight, while the inspector and his men went to visit these possible hooligans.  He was to watch from a special hiding place, and only come out should the inspector have the wrong suspects.  It was far better, the inspector also agreed, to face a little embarrassment, than it was for his star witness be on view to the guilty party. Who knew what ramifications may occur as a result of such a blunder.
  Harvey went behind the counter, and entered a small room where a monitor exposed Inspector O’Reilly and his men as they made their way towards the room Sharkie occupied and knocked on the door.  After a few seconds the door opened, and they were admitted into the room.  Inspector O’Reilly introduced himself, and suggested that the men accompany him down to the station for a little talk.  To the inspector’s surprise the men offered no resistance, and allowed themselves to be escorted to the station.  Harvey remained inside the closed room, watching the passing parade on the hotel monitor while William had conveniently disappeared from view as the six men walked past the counter
  Inspector O’Reilly led the way, followed by Professor Robinson and Sharkie who, in turn, were followed by Constable Hobson. They, in turn, were followed by the third man, and he was subsequently followed by Sergeant Johnson.  As they passed Harvey’s hiding place, Sharkie unexpectedly coughed so loud that it made Harvey jump, and in turn it made him pay closer attention to Sharkie as he seemed to pretend to trip over and grab at the inspector as he tried to regain his balance.  His actions caused a chain reaction which resulted in those walking behind the incident momentarily becoming physically grouped together rather like participants in a disorganised conga line when the music unexpectedly stopped playing; everybody’s balance was suddenly at risk.
  At first it seemed a natural event, with the various parties profusely apologising to each other as they fought to retain their balance, but while this farce was taking place, Harvey could see professor Robinson and Sharkie each slip something into the nearest policeman’s coat pocket.  What took place between the third man and Sergeant Johnson was not seen, but Harvey knew it was time to speak to Joseph.

********