Emily looked at the clock. Only half an hour left to go and then her shift at Posh Nosh would finally be over. She was so sick of it by now and couldn’t wait for her two days off.
She smiled as she handed Mrs Roberts her weekly pound of Red Leicester cheese, then noticed Jacob coming into the shop. He made a beeline for her.
‘What’s up, Jacob?’ Emily said.
He glanced at Peggy, who was helping a customer, then leaned over the counter towards Emily. ‘I’ve had a very interesting conversation with Sam this morning. Apparently her mother showed Patrizia a picture. It wouldn’t surprise me if this was the same picture that went missing from the school.’
‘Interesting,’ Emily said. ‘We need to see it.’
‘Yes, my thoughts exactly. Of course the interesting question is how Patrizia knew about the picture. What was it that she wanted to find out and if she did find out something incriminating, was she killed for it?’
Emily nodded. Her mind had skipped past several possibilities while Jacob was talking. ‘So the ultimate question is, can the picture prove that Colleen is the killer?’
‘Exactly.’ Jacob leant over the counter again. ‘Sam’s really scared that Colleen will harm her, so I’ve taken her home. She’s now trying to find out if any more of her family members remember Colleen from before.’
‘Can you two stop whispering?’ Peggy stood glaring at them both, her hands planted on her hips. ‘I have had it with murder talk in my shop, so get out. The both of you.’
Emily glanced at the clock. ‘But my shift hasn’t ended yet.’
‘I’m giving you the rest of the day off.’ Peggy gave her a push. Emily quickly got her hoody and bag from the back, then joined Jacob on Woolaston Road.
‘This is the first time I’ve been kicked out of Posh Nosh,’ Jacob said. ‘And I needed some cheese.’
‘Too late for that now.’ Emily looked over her shoulder at the shop. ‘Aunt Peggy’s been in quite a mood today. The sewer smell is getting worse by the day and she blames Uncle Dave for not having found a solution yet.’
Jacob sniffed the air. ‘Now that you mention it, the smell is getting worse. Let’s get out of here.’
They made their way over to Sant’Ambrogio’s and entered the restaurant. Sam saw them come in and walked towards them.
‘I’m glad you’re looking so much calmer,’ Jacob said.
Sam smiled. ‘I feel a lot better to be honest. I’m so glad I don’t have secrets any more.’
‘I hope you haven’t had any problems with Colleen,’ Emily said, looking up and seeing Lorenzo studying them from the door to the kitchen. He still gave her the creeps, even though he had gone down on their list of suspects.
‘No, I haven’t seen her at all.’ Sam looked at her brother. ‘And Lorenzo has kept an eye on me. He’s been very sweet.’
‘Great,’ Emily said, and she smiled at her friend.
‘Also,’ Sam continued, ‘I have left a message for my aunt in Italy about Colleen and I hope to hear from her soon.’
‘Thank you,’ Jacob said. ‘Please let us know what she says.’ He glanced around the restaurant. ‘Is your mother at home, by any chance?’
Sam nodded and she looked at the ground. ‘Mother has taken the death of Patrizia really hard. We all have, really. We didn’t know her very well before she came to Milbury, but she became part of our family in a short time.’
‘Yes, of course,’ Emily said. She put her arm around Sam’s shoulder, wishing she’d talked about it earlier with her. The whole Bandoni family must be in mourning right now.
‘I will take you to her, if you like,’ Sam said.
They followed Sam upstairs to the apartment above the restaurant. Entering a small living room overlooking the car park across Milbury Road, they saw Sam’s mother Giovanna staring out of the window. She turned around as they came in.
‘Mama,’ Sam said. ‘Jacob and Emily would like to ask you something.’
The woman looked at them, her face streaked by tears.
‘We’re so sorry about what happened to your niece,’ Jacob said. ‘This can’t be easy for you.’
Giovanna waved at the couch and they all sat down. More tears welled up in her eyes. ‘Poor Patrizia. I should have looked after her better,’ she said. ‘She was in a foreign country after all.’
Sam grabbed her mother’s hand. ‘It’s not your fault, Mama.’
Jacob began to fidget and Emily knew he was burning to ask Giovanna some questions. She cleared her throat. ‘Umm… we know this is a difficult time for you, but Sam told us that Patrizia had asked you to show her a picture.’
‘Picture?’ Giovanna looked at Emily with a blank face. ‘Patrizia didn’t ask me about a picture.’
‘Oh, sorry… we thought…’
‘Patrizia asked me about a girl that used to live here,’ Giovanna continued. ‘Then I remembered the girl was in an old photo and showed it to her.’
‘Who was the girl Patrizia wanted to know about?’ Jacob said.
‘Sarah. She went to school with my Gianni.’
Emily’s pulse quickened; they were on to something. She made eye contact with Jacob and he gave her the smallest of smiles.
‘Can you show them the picture, Mama?’ Sam said. ‘It’s important.’
Giovanna nodded and pointed to a cabinet in the corner. ‘Get the blue album for me, Samuela. The one on the bottom shelve.’
Sam handed her mother the photo album and Giovanna started leafing through it. The protective parchment paper crackled under her hands.
‘Here it is,’ she said, turning the album, to show them a large school photo. They all looked at it. The faces of about thirty teenagers stared back at them.
‘There’s Gianni,’ Sam said and pointed at a lanky but handsome boy, who looked down his nose at the camera. He hadn’t changed much, Emily thought. He was still arrogant and full of himself.
‘Is Nate on here?’ Jacob said.
‘He should be,’ Sam said. She studied the picture. ‘There.’ Emily looked at the boy with interest as she had never actually met Nate. He was lanky, like Gianni, but more awkward and geeky, wearing a T-shirt with the Star Trek logo on it.
‘Mama,’ Sam said. ‘Who is the girl that Patrizia was interested in?’
Giovanna bent over the picture, then pointed at a chubby girl standing on the edge of the group. She had blonde hair, braided into two pigtails. She didn’t smile and her gaze was focussed on a spot below the camera.
‘That’s Colleen?’ Emily said.
Giovanna shook her head. ‘Sarah. Her name is Sarah Miller.’
Emily looked at Jacob. ‘But she doesn’t look at all like the woman she is today.’
‘People change,’ Jacob said. ‘Giovanna, can you tell us a bit more about Sarah?’
‘Yes, but there’s not that much to tell. Sarah and her family only lived in Milbury for a few years. Her father got a job somewhere else and they moved away right after secondary school. Sarah must have been about sixteen then.’
‘Thank you for the information. It’s a big help.’ Jacob smiled at her. ‘Would you mind if we borrowed this picture for a little while?’
‘Is it going to help to find the killer of my niece?’
‘It might very well.’
‘Okay then. But I want it back.’ Giovanna popped the picture out of the little plastic corners that held it on the page and gave it to Jacob. They said their goodbyes and followed Sam back down to the restaurant.
‘Thanks, Sam. You’ve been a great help,’ Emily said and she gave her friend a quick hug. ‘Make sure you let us know asap when you hear from your aunt.’
Sam smiled. ‘Will do.’
Back on Woolaston Road, Emily took the picture from Jacob and studied it in greater detail.
‘This must be the same picture that was in the school corridor,’ she said. ‘So what’s so incriminating about it for Colleen?’
Jacob shrugged. ‘It looks like an ordinary school photo, so perhaps Colleen was simply afraid that people would recognise her from it and put two and two together.’
‘Perhaps.’
Suddenly Emily realised she actually recognised someone else on the picture. ‘Look here.’ She pointed at a somewhat scrawny looking boy, with a think mop of curly brown hair. ‘It’s Abe.’
‘Abe?’ Jacob took the picture from her and looked at it up close. ‘Of course! Abe actually told me he was in the same year as Nate. Perhaps he can tell us more about Colleen.’
‘But why hasn’t he said anything before? He must have recognised her by now.’
‘Don’t forget that Colleen has changed quite a bit.’ Jacob tapped the picture with his finger. ‘And Abe has been occupied with the murders. Perhaps he’s simply not been around much and never got a chance to even recognise her.’
Jacob looked at his watch and started walking down Milbury Road. ‘But we can ask him about it in a minute, as I’m supposed to meet up with him at the Fox & Glove for the darts match.’
Emily watched his retreating back, then caught up with him. ‘What darts match?’
‘You know, the final between Jock Cropper and Dan Stevenson. It’s on TV this afternoon.’
‘What?’ Emily stared at Jacob. ‘Since when are you into darts?’
‘I’m not. But Jock Cropper is a local boy.’ Jacob rubbed his hands together. ‘I taught him physics in school, so his success is down to me.’
Emily sighed. ‘I’m going to regret asking this, but why is his success down to you?’
‘Darts is physics, as simple as that.’
Emily rolled her eyes. ‘You’re simple.’
Jacob cocked his head at her. ‘We’ll see.’
Ricky was back on Woolaston Road, standing in the boarded up door opening to the old post office. He watched as Mr Hicks and the Goth girl walked off down Milbury Road. At least his old physics teacher hadn’t spotted him this time. The man had always been too nosey for words.
Ricky’d had some time to think things over since finding the ring the day before and now he was staring at the manhole again. Was the answer to his problems to be found down there?
He suddenly remembered that Mr Hicks always had an exaggerated interest in wildlife of any kind. Specially the more creepy ones, like rats. Ricky also recalled Mr Hicks telling a story about some rats once, while teaching class. They’d all listened, as the more Mr Hicks talked about other things, the less he would drone on about physics. He remembered his mate Ant asking strategic questions, to draw Mr Hicks out to tell them even more.
Something clicked in Ricky’s mind. Mr Hicks had told them that when he was young, he’d shocked the whole neighbourhood, because he’d formed some sort of friendship with the rats in the back gardens of his street. He had managed to recognise individual rats and had given them names to study them.
They’d all laughed about his story and how the neighbourhood cop had eventually stopped the experiment, as the rats had started infesting the houses.
But what if Mr Hicks still studied rats? He was a friend of the neighbourhood warden, so what if he was in on it as well and had trained the rats to guard his loot? It didn’t even sound too outrageous to Ricky. It was a possibility. Especially as Mr Hicks had been hanging around, just like the others who had stolen his loot.
It seemed that he had no other choice but to go down into that hellhole again, as he was convinced that his loot was back in the sewers and that the rats were guarding it. He needed to persevere this time and get his loot back. This game had gone on for long enough.
Lots of cars whizzed by. It was impossible to go down now. Ricky pulled the hood of his sweater over his head. Tonight he would go back into the sewers and once and for all find out what had happened to his loot. He needed the loot. It was his. He’d worked hard to get it and even harder to track it down after his unfortunate choice to dump it in the manhole.
Ricky glared at the offending object as it lay in the middle of the road. He wished he’d never seen that stupid manhole cover and had taken his backpack home with him that night. Then none of this crap would have happened!
This whole chase had cost him a perfectly good backpack, a new pair of trainers and scratches on his face and hands. He sighed deeply. That reminded him. He’d better make sure he wore some protective clothing tonight to prevent being scratched again. There was no doubt that those rats were guarding his loot and he wasn’t going to let himself be surprised again. A balaclava and some gloves should do the trick. He’d better buy some.
Ricky walked off. He needed to plan his attack with military precision. He needed to beat them all!
The more quiet everything was in the sewer, the more nervous I was about things to come. We’d spent all morning fine-tuning the plan I had come up with to get the Mob out of the sewer, and now it was time to set it in motion.
On our way down into the sewer, I tried to ignore the voice in my head that told me that too many things could go wrong. My senses were on high alert and my fur tingled, feeling as if it was on fire as it touched the walls of the narrow pipe. I jumped at every little sound, and if I’d had a choice, I would be halfway back to Milbury Hill by now, far away from this crazy situation and dark sewers.
I stopped as we reached the main sewer. None of the Mafiosi were in sight.
Charlie came to a halt beside me.
‘This is it, Paddy,’ his voice came in my ear, making me jump. ‘Good luck.’
‘You too.’
I watched as Charlie motioned with his paw to his second in command. Roger silently nodded and jumped with a group of squaddies across the sewer to the other side, where they made their way up the tunnel wall without any noise. On my side, Charlie and his rats did the same, all of them making their way up to the blob that hung from the roof.
I remained where I was and looked down the main sewer. A bit further down Vinnie, Gus and Leo put their noses around the corner of a side-pipe, waiting for things to come. The air was electric and I wondered if the Three Bambini would be able to sense that something was afoot.
Way back in the distance, I could just make out Daisy, looking on from her prison, her ears forward and whiskers alert. Although she had no idea what was about to happen, I knew she was smart enough not to give us away to the Mob.
I looked up and saw that the first of the squaddies had reached the blob. No going back now.
Near Gus and Leo’s old digs, Victor and his two brothers had fallen asleep, surrounded by Gus’ treasure. I could hear their snores from where I was. Victor had taken off his earrings and instead wound a gold necklace a few times round his neck. Further down the rest of the Mafiosi had spread out in the sewer, finding the most comfortable spots to take a nap. Two of them guarded Daisy, but they looked hardly awake.
The Rat Squad had now surrounded the blob and started gnawing at the edges where it was stuck to the roof. Charlie looked down at me and winked. All was ready. Nerves gripped my throat. It was now or never!
Taking a few calming breaths, I made my way into the sewer until I was standing right under the blob. I could feel its presence looming over me, dark and gloomy. I was shocked by the effect the thing had on my mood and hoped it would all soon be over.
Above me, I could hear the Rat Squad gnawing away at the blob and I now also noticed the smell that was coming of the thing. It made me think of fish and chips and my stomach rumbled. How could I be hungry at a time like this?
I cleared my throat.
‘Victor!’ I yelled. My voice rang loud and clear through the sewer. ‘Wake up!’
The effect was instantaneous. Victor woke up with a start and sat bolt upright, looking about him to see where the voice was coming from. As his eyes focussed on me an evil grin spread across his face.
‘Look, brothers,’ he said, poking Dino and Sal awake with a foot. ‘It’s the little Irishman, paying us a visit.’
Dino and Sal blinked at me as if they couldn’t believe I was really there. Victor got up and strutted towards me, his ears erect and eyes unblinking, not noticing Vinnie, Gus and Leo in the side-pipe.
‘You must be tired of your life, Paddy my friend. Why else would you be so stupid to come down here on your own.’ Victor stopped a foot away from me, not close enough yet for our plan to work. I concentrated hard on Victor’s face, to keep me from glancing up at the Rat Squad.
The other two Bambini were now wide awake and stood behind Victor. They sniggered at Victor’s words and Sal let his muscles ripple under his fur.
‘I can’t understand why you hang out with my runty cousins,’ Victor continued. ‘They’re really not the smartest rats in the world, so what does that say about you?’ Behind the Three Bambini, in the sewers, I could see the rest of the Mafiosi slowly waking up. Some of them came closer, ready to pounce at any moment.
‘And then take Vinnie,’ Victor said, faking a shiver. ‘That idiot thinks he’s a real Italian, but is too scared to hang out with us. How stupid is that?’
‘You know what I think, Victor?’ I looked him deep in the eye without blinking. ‘I think you should pack up your things and leave, before it’s too late.’
‘What?’ Victor yelled. He jumped forward and was now nose to nose with me. I could feel his breath on my whiskers. ‘You dare to threaten me? We’ll see about that!’ He motioned with his paw and in a flash the Mafiosi formed a half circle around their boss.
My heart was in my throat, but I tried to keep calm, pretending I wasn’t fazed by Victor’s power play.
‘Don’t say I didn’t warn you, Victor,’ I said. ‘You’d better get out of here quick.’
‘Or what? Your little friends are going to turn up and kick us out? Don’t make me laugh.’ He gave me a push with his shoulder. ‘Your time is up, you mangy little bog dwelling runt. You’re the perfect little specimen to make an example of!’
Dino and Sal jumped forward and grabbed me each by an arm. All I could see was Victor’s face, teeth bared and eyes bulging. Now would be a good time for our plan to start working.
I tried not to flinch as Victor raised a paw and with care pinched one of my whisker hairs in his fingers. With a quick motion he pulled the hair out. My nose stung and my eyes started watering. I glared at Victor as he jutted his chin at me.
‘Fun, isn’t it?’ he said. ‘There’s more where that came from.’ He raised his paw again.
Suddenly I heard a loud sucking, squelching noise above me. A sense of relief washed over me. It was the sound I had been waiting for.
The grip Dino and Sal had on my arms slackened. I wrenched myself loose and jumped aside at the same time as Victor and his brothers looked up in confusion, trying to find out where the sound was coming from.
I made it to the side-pipe just before the blob, with an enormous splash, crashed down into the sewer. It completely engulfed the Three Bambini, trapping them inside.
Silence came over the sewer as everyone stared at the blob as it lay there, smelling of fish and chips, filling the sewer tunnel.
Victor managed to get an arm free and wiped the goo out of his eyes. He glared at his Mafiosi, who all had jumped backwards and were now, with wrinkled noses, looking at how the Three Bambini struggled to free themselves from the blob.
‘Get me out, you idiots,’ Victor said, spitting out a mouthful of goo.
The Mafiosi rushed in and started digging through the muck to get their boss out, completely forgetting about me.
I looked down the sewer and saw that Vinnie, Gus and Leo had already gnawed a hole in the chicken wire that held Daisy captive. As we’d hoped, none of the Mafiosi had been smart enough to leave a guard behind.
The Rat Squad came rushing down the tunnel walls, ready for the next stage of our plan and I braced myself for what was to come.
At that moment, a rushing sound came out of nowhere, getting louder and louder. It reverberated through the sewer and the ground trembled under my feet. The ominous sound filled me with dread. Whatever was happening, it couldn’t be good!