Archie's Battleflat Adventures: The Harriman Mystery (21 page)

Archie
shook his head. “I am fairly certain that they think we have it but
can’t be sure.” He glanced at his friend warningly. “I do know one
thing. If Lord Brentwood has anything to do with either of those
two men outside tonight, then he will be hanging around the mill
again asking more questions, only this time he may come to the
bakery.”

“
What will he do?” Edward muttered, dropping back down on the
floor with a heavy thump. His stomach lurched at the thought of
coming into contact with the horrid rich man from the big
house.

“
Ask you loads of questions.”

“
What do I say?” Edward whispered, wishing Archie could go to
work with him in the morning.

“
Deny everything. Just keep saying over and over that you know
nothing and saw nothing.”

“
What if he asks what I have been doing outside with you in
the dark?”

Archie
paused and frowned.

“
The vicar said it isn’t good to lie,” Edward reminded him,
the stern look on the vicar’s face swimming before him
alarmingly.

“
I know but I think he will forgive us given that we are
trying to find the man who has committed the worst sin of
all.”

“
Murder,” they both said together. Edward puffed out his
cheeks on a sigh and hoped he was up to it. Although he tried, he
really did, he just wasn’t like Archie. His best friend was always
thinking on his feet and was usually calm in a crisis. Edward
usually fell to pieces and ended up a quivering mess, helped along
by Archie’s calm coaxing. He had a vague feeling that something
else had happened to Archie that his friend wasn’t telling him
about, but he didn’t know how to ask him. He didn’t know what he
was asking, but nevertheless he knew that Archie would tell him in
his own good time if he saw fit that Edward should know.

“
I’ll try,” Edward muttered, not at all convinced that he
could withstand relentless questions by the Justice. “I’ll do my
best.”

“
What do you think this is?” Archie said picking up the roll
of parchments. He didn’t wait for Edward to reply, and slowly
unrolled the papers. The unfamiliar swirls of ink made little sense
to him but his eyes ran over row upon row anyway just in case
anything familiar jumped out at him, but nothing did. He passed the
parchment to Edward who glanced at it and dropped it on the floor.
He too was unable to read, and the lines made little sense to him
either.

“
Isn’t that the Brentwood crest?” he gasped when three more
pieces of parchment had been casually discarded.

Archie
froze. Edward was right. There at the top of the paper was a large
crest very similar to the one on the side of the big black carriage
that rumbled past the corn mill whenever Lady Brentwood went on her
travels.

“
What do you think it says?” Edward whispered, peering over
the top of the parchment.

“
I am not sure, but I think this may prove that Brentwood was
involved in something.”

“
Like what?” Edward’s eyes met Archie’s.

“
I am not sure, but until we can find out, Brentwood must not
get his hands on them.”

Edward
nodded.

They
turned to the last two items on the material. One of them was a
small rectangle of grubby metal that was covered in what looked
like ash.

Archie
picked it up and felt a tiny thrill of excitement stir deep in his
belly. He knew that this, whatever it was, was the reason Mr
Harriman had been killed. Beneath his fingers the smooth dips of
the metal were familiar. As familiar to him as the coin he had
spent many hours running his fingers over during the past two
days.

He
frowned and placed the item in the palm of his hand. There was a
seam running down the length of the metal. Digging his fingernail
into the seam, he gasped as it suddenly sprang open and there, in
the centre of the grimy rectangle of grey, lay another coin.
Although, unlike the coin in his pocket, this one was perfectly
cast.

With
trembling fingers, Archie slowly lifted it from its casing, gasping
in astonishment as his fingers touched the grime on the coin and in
doing so, revealed shiny gold underneath. He had only ever seen a
gold coin once, and that had only been briefly as it had been in
Lord Brentwood’s hand when he had been searching for a penny to
throw to one of the children. But the colour had remained in
Archie’s memory. A wonderfully shiny, yellow colour, almost like a
canary’s wings, that was so brilliant that it could have been cast
from an angel.

“
Do you think it is real?” Edward whispered, watching Archie
polish it on his shirt and place it on the floor between them. He
daren’t touch it and sat staring reverently down at it
instead.

“
Yes, I do, Edward, and I think we are now in a lot of
trouble,” Archie murmured, feeling wonder and fear
collide.

“
What do you want to do now? I mean, you can hardly wander
around tomorrow with this lot stuffed in your pocket, and if you
leave it in the house, anyone could find it.”

“
We will have to hide it where nobody will think to look for
it,” Archie replied after several silent moments of deep thought. A
vague flicker of an idea swept before him and he smiled secretively
at Edward for a moment.

“
How tired are you?”

Edward froze and stared in horror at his friend. “I am
not
going out there
again,” he snapped, his voice firm. He felt so strongly against the
idea that he felt certain that if Archie persisted, this was one
argument he was not going to win.

“
I know we are not. Neither of us are going out there at night
again.”

“
Thank heavens for that,” Edward huffed, swamped with relief.
“I’m tired, Archie, can we not leave all of this until the
morning?”

“
Yes, I’ll sleep on this for tonight, but tomorrow I need your
help.”

“
What, again?” Edward huffed, slumping into his blankets. He
watched as Archie snuffed out the candle. The sounds of his friend
settling amongst his own blankets added to his relief in the
knowledge that Archie meant what he said. “At this rate, Archie, I
am going to start charging you for my services.”

“
Hah! I have a gold coin to pay you with!” Archie replied,
snuggling down and savouring the warmth.

“
Good, because I have a feeling you are going to need all of
it to pay me what you owe me after tonight. Now you have the nerve
to ask me for more,” Edward grumbled, feeling inordinately smug
that Archie needed his help.

“
How are you with pigs?”

Sleep
was pushed to the edges of his mind as Edward stared blankly at the
ceiling with a frown. “Pigs?”

“
Yes, pigs.”

“
Oh Lord,” Edward sighed, rolling over. He was glad Archie
couldn’t see his grin in the darkness. Despite the fear, the lack
of sleep, the cold and the dead bodies that seemed to turn up
whenever Archie was around, this was still the best adventure that
Edward had ever had, and he couldn’t wait to find out how pigs
featured in any of it.

With a
sigh of contentment, he snuggled down and, filled with anticipation
of another day of adventures, promptly fell asleep.

CHAPTER TEN

“
What do you think we should do about Mrs Humble?” Edward
whispered the following morning as he followed Archie outside to
help with the chores. He was aware of the bulge beneath his
friend’s jacket, but stoically ignored it as they left the house to
carry out Archie’s chores.

“
Oh, I’m so tired,” Archie yawned widely, pausing briefly to
allow Edward to catch up and walk alongside him. Together they wove
their way along the narrow path toward the pigsty.

“
I don’t know,” he replied as soon as they were far enough
from the house not to be overheard.

“
Are you going to tell your dad?”

Archie
shook his head. “There will be too many questions to answer and we
will be in serious trouble, not only leaving the house to go to the
tavern alone, in the middle of the night, but then to go out to Mr
Harriman’s house –” He shook his head. “- Dad will have a fit and
my life won’t be worth living.”

Edward
could understand. If his own dad found out what he had been up to,
he would have to do double chores for the rest of his life. “I
don’t want to get into trouble either, Archie, but we can’t leave
Mrs Humble in the woods. She may never be found.”

Archie
picked up a pail, walked over to the well and began to wind the
bucket of water up. As he poured the cool liquid into the pail at
his feet, he glanced at Edward.

“
I don’t know about you, but it was dark last night and I
can’t remember where I was. I think I can vaguely recall where I
came out of the trees into the field, but I cannot remember where I
fell over her, much less be able to lead anyone to her.”

Edward
sighed, feeling strangely dissatisfied.

“
We can only hope someone does find her,” Archie
sighed.

“
But what if they don’t?”

Archie’s
gaze was solemn as he stared at Edward. “Then I will tell my dad
and hope she is still there.”

“
Why wouldn’t she be?” Edward frowned. “I mean, it is hardly
like she is going to get up and find herself somewhere else to lie,
is it?”

“
I know, but there were the two men in the woods, one of who
was the one who murdered her. Because they know I found her, they
may move her again.”

“
Oh Lord, this is getting more and more sinister. I don’t like
it, Archie. I mean dead bodies is bad enough, but moving them
around? What have we got ourselves into?”

“
I don’t know, but it is really serious and I know Lord
Brentwood is involved in it up to his ears; I just don’t know how
yet.” Archie picked the pail up and made his way to the
pigsty.

“
Keep a lookout,” Archie whispered, sliding back the bolt and
nudging the pigs out of the way as he disappeared into the
single-storey brick building.

Edward
picked up a pail of grain and began to scatter it for the chickens,
who jostled and clucked for the golden treat. While scattering the
corn, he surreptitiously scanned the track for any sign of
strangers but could see nothing unusual.

Minutes
later, chores done, they walked away from the pigsty outwardly
chatting in a perfectly normal way, but the knowing look they
shared was filled with barely withheld humour. Anybody watching
them would not have thought anything unusual about Archie entering
the pigsty with his bucket, or even going into the pigsty. The
pigs, being used to Archie around them on a daily basis, made no
objection to having their space invaded, allowing him to hide their
small parcel in the eaves of the pigsty without even a flicker of
an eye.

“
Any sign?”

“
Nothing,” Edward muttered, boffing Archie at the back of the
head playfully and running off down the track with Archie giving
chase. Archie’s mum had said that as soon as the pigs were fed,
both boys were to head off to work, which they were doing, but
nobody said they couldn’t have some fun while they were
going.

They
ignored the rueful shaking of heads from some of the workers who
were heading toward the fields for the day.

“
Save your energy, boys, it’s going to be a long one,” one
cautioned cheerfully, grinning as they scurried past,
laughing.

“
Don’t worry, we’ll be alright,” Archie replied, grinning at
Edward who had slowed to a steady walk.

“
Where are you today, Archie?”

“
I’m at the mill. It’s going to be really busy as soon as the
first carts come in, so it’s a long day for me. What about you? Are
you going to be at the bake house all day?”

“
Nope, I’ve got to go to the fields to tie the
sheaves.”

“
Lord, you’re lucky. I wish I could be outside all day,”
Archie replied reverently, thinking about his long hours in the
dusty corn mill.

Dawn had
just risen over the horizon, and the village was starting to come
alive. Most of the workmen carried sickles and scythes, pouches of
food and kegs of ale and cider. The women carried their babies
wrapped in their aprons, while young children scampered around in
excitement. The elder villagers shuffled along behind them, eager
to play their part and savour the community atmosphere.

Archie
waved to his mum who was walking alongside some of the eldest
villagers, feeling a thrill of anticipation at being swept along
with the masses heading to the fields. He wished he could go with
them; he really missed the singing and easy camaraderie of the
labourers.

All too
soon he reluctantly said his goodbyes to Edward, and disappeared
into the mill. Placing his lunch pouch on the table beside the
door, Archie picked up the brush and began to sweep. Luckily Sammy
and Ben had already gone to the fields with their dad, and would
not be back until later. Not having them in the mill meant more
work for Archie, but he didn’t mind that. He needed to think, and
not having their continual inane chatter and constant distraction
would give him the opportunity to decide what to do about Mrs
Humble’s body, and the clues they had found.