A phone call was made.
The conversation ran like this - or so say the walls:
I know I am in no position to make demands, because you have helped me so very much recently. And I thank you I really do, very deeply thank you. But I am in trouble right now. And if I am in trouble then that means our entire operation is as well. DC Peddler is on my case. Actually he has always been right from the moment I arrived in Fenwick. You must know of him? He is a very dangerous man. Aim your cameras at him and you will know the truth of it. He wants me locked up. I can’t make money for us not while stuck in a prison cell. Again, I repeat, Peddler is dangerous. He is also my worst enemy in town. Honestly. He has to go! I beg you, for all of our sakes. With everything that is going on, with the war and all, we cannot suffer this mans meddling along with everything else. We must be rid of him. You must send some resource to help me. Everyman has a weakness. Everyman has a dark secret… And YOU have cameras everywhere. You must have something recorded somewhere that can help me bring this man down.
Grey’s response was this:
‘It will be sorted. Be at the Rits tomorrow at eight pm.’
My gosh! Does time ever fly when one is at war with their worst enemy!
It felt like only a few minutes after the phone call that Jim was standing outside the rickety hotel.
Jim approached the Rits tentatively - his last meeting with the owners was on tenterhooks - in fact Jim had only managed to get inside the building because he was in a disguise.
So relations were not good with the owners were not good!
So Jim was surprised to find Mr Rits the owner himself waiting at the entrance ready to welcome him in.
Had Mr Grey greased the wheel?
Maybe.
It didn’t matter. So long as there was no violence Jim was content.
Mr Rits shook Jim by the hand on approach and spoke to him in a very cordial manner, like they were old friends.
‘Good to see you again Jim,’ he said, in a happy voice. ‘You are a fine man, and I like you. So you are the new Banker in town, hey? How nice! I would stay to have a drink with you to celebrate, but you know the wife is as demanding as ever. But hey ho! Such is life. Anyway. So long as you are in this part of town board and bed are yours for half price! For life! So long as you stay away from my wife… That bit of sad business will always remain the same between the both of us.’
Jim smiled, patted Mr Rits on the shoulder and assured him that the last thing on his mind was the other mans wife, ‘And forever will she remain in that place,’ he added. ‘So please, you can keep your wife. Thank you.’
Mr Rits swept his sweaty brow with a dishcloth, and sighed with what appeared to be immense relief. After that he waved the young man into his establishment.
‘Mr Twaddle would like to talk to you on the second floor,’ he said as he led Jim into and across the main hall.
Jim nodded and made his way upwards.
And there sure enough was his old acquaintance waiting for him.
‘Why couldn’t we meet downstairs? I mean there is a bar down there, and it would be nice to have a drink. My contract with Mr King was finalised over a week ago and they have started selling G-Juice in all the locals,’ said Jim. ‘Why don’t we go down and try some out. A bevy to warm the night! Let me tell you something, my G-Juice drink is like nothing you have ever drank before I swear. It’s amazing! If you have not tasted it before then now is as good a time as ever! Please! Let’s go now and try some!’
‘O bless me no I can’t risk doing something like that!’ Mr Twaddle replied. ‘We are rather close to the coast right now and if there was ever a flood we would very much been in the deep end right down there, and I can’t have that! What if a whale was to come in and eat me? O no! We must stay upstairs, please. I don’t want to give those pesky whales the chance to get the better of me O no! A whale could eat a man whole if it ever desired to do so! So we will stay up these steps if that is okay with you - at least then we have got a chance of escaping them and their ways!’
‘I don’t see how,’ Jim replied, dryly. ‘If there is a flood on such a scale in town then we are still going to be trapped.’
‘Please don’t mock me, son,’ Twaddle replied. ‘1759 was the year of the Great Flood of Wently. O yes! All the streets of Fenwick were flooded thick with sea water. It was said that a number of large sized whales were seen floating through the ruins of the old city. What if the same thing was to happen now? I mean, I know it has been hundreds of hundreds of years since that fatal event, but you can never tempt fate, Mr Jim! There are whales out there in the sea and they are hungry for a man like me, so we will stay at the top of these steps thank you good sir. And to answer your question we will not be trapped because I came here prepared. Yes. I rented the room over there, no. 9. And my bed is an old boat, so I will float if the seas come raging in! Ha! Like I said before now, I won’t give those whales a chance to get at me! Now, with that out of the way let’s talk business.’
Yes. That sounded like a good idea.
Mr Twaddle’s barminess was off the rictus scale and Jim wanted to spend as little time with the little man as possible.
‘Mr Grey received your message loud and clear,’ Mr Twaddle continued. ‘The boss doesn’t care much for the Detective Constable either. Mr Peddler could indeed pose a danger to our operation. Luckily we are one great big step ahead of him! We have got him on cameras following through with a lot of shady stuff. Here. Take this package. It contains a tape of Mr Peddler smuggling contraband in 2003! And there are several amusing photos of him climbing through the window of this very hotel. You wonder why? Well there are two photos in this package, one of Mr Peddler standing by the window of the hotel, and a second of him in the arms of Mrs Rits! Now I don’t think our good Detective Constable would like to have such a scandal being leaked into public awareness, at the very least it would mean an immediate hit on his head from Mr Rits! You know how defensive that man can get in matters concerning his marriage? To see his wife in the arms of another man in such a way might send him over the edge. Use these tools wisely, Jim!’
‘This is brilliant!’ cried Jim.
Jim was ecstatic - yes - in all ways the literal definition of a very happy man.
Jim hated being forced to get that tattoo back in the day but good gosh did being a member of the Tailors ever come with its perks!
Indeed!
Jim was finally winning!
He had the edge over his main opponent and was finally in a position to deliver the final strike against him.
So it was time to set up a meet…
Jim sent out the word, and DC Peddler agreed to meet Jim by the castle gate.
‘It is time for us to have words,’ said Jim, as the Detective Constable approached.
‘O? Now this should be interesting. I always have time for you, Jim,’ DC Peddler replied. ‘Every time we have our little meetings the noose around your neck tightens a few inches more. It won’t be long before we kick the stool away form beneath your straggling feet and let you fly, Jim. Fly right into one of my lovely pleasant prison cells! Ha! The thought of locking you up is one of the few things that cheers me up. Ha! I wake up in the morning sometimes and I wonder what it is all about, you know? The big questions: life and the meaning of it… It can be depressing. But whenever I do get myself down I think about you, Jim, and again and again about that day when I finally get to close the prison cell door on you. The thought of that cheers me up a great deal! O yes! It warms the cockles of my heart.
‘It must be so lonely living in the Bankers House? Just you and that big old building, with just the wind and the rain and entropy for company. Well don’t worry Jim! Good old DC Peddler here will put an end to your loneliness in due course, when we lock you up with the lads.’
‘You are a piece of work, DC Peddler,’ Jim replied. ‘I often wonder what branch rotten people like you spring from? I mean why are you so bitter? Was it a bad childhood? Were you bullied at school? Or maybe it’s the company you keep?’
‘What are you talking about?’
‘A little robin tells me you were cuddling up to a certain Mrs Rits of the Rits Hotel? Yes. The wife of the jealous and very angry Mr Rits! Only I guess it did not work out as you are not together anymore. How sad. It looks like she was only interested in a quick fling after all,’ said Jim. And then Jim added this sharp stinger:
‘It looks like she used you!’
Peddler was all smug and laughter. And then Jim showed the detective constable the pictures.
Good gosh! Jim had never seen another mans face change its complexion so quickly.
DC Peddler went from plucky and bright, and then into a ghost as pale as moonlight in 0. 0. 0. point of a second. He looked like he was about to drop down! The detective constable actually started grasping for his heart!
Was he about to die?
It looked that way!
‘Where did you… how? No!’ DC Peddler couldn’t find the words. ‘Nothing happened between us I swear! She threw me back out of the window! Story of my life!’
‘O yes? But you wanted something to happen I bet?’
DC Peddler was too scared to reply.
Then Jim showed the detective constable the package.
It was the final move in his great strategy.
‘Inside here is a tape of you smuggling contraband back in the day. Now I will keep quiet about this tape for now, DC Peddler, but I swear,’ said Jim, ‘you threaten me again and this tape will find itself in the hands of your superiors. And then it will be YOU being locked up with the lads. And I hate to think what would become of an ex officer of the law inside prison? I don’t think it will go good for you, DC Peddler, if you find yourself behind bars. But then if Mr Rits sees the photos of you trying it on with his misses then you will just end up dead. What a fine choice, hey, DC Peddler. Prison or death? or you can just back off. So what will it be? Make your choice NOW!’
‘Please Jim! I beg of you! Don’t do this to me!’
DC Peddler dropped to his knees and started to cry, but Jim took no pity on the other man and simply told him to shut up.
‘It is over for you DC Peddler,’ Jim replied. ‘I will spare you prison. I am not that cruel. NO! I am not like you! But I am going to show Mr Rits the photos!’
‘But… But he will kill me…’
‘Yes. He will indeed. That is why you must leave town NOW. Leave town and never return. If you were any other person I would let matters go but not with you. I don’t trust you, Peddler. You are too dangerous. You have a chip on your shoulder and you will not let it drop. So I want you gone. And that is why I am doing this. I might seem harsh, but I have a good thing going right now in town and I won’t let you put my life in jeopardy. You are a thorn, and I am plucking you out right now. So be gone from Fenwick forever!’
‘But by doing this you will ruin me? My career… It’s all over after this…’
‘Am I supposed to feel sorry for you?’ Jim went on. ‘A minute ago you were telling me how you wanted me to be tortured in a prison cell. It warmed the cockles of your heart, you were telling me. NO! Damn you. I am not give you a second chance. Your career is over and I am glad. Maybe this town will be a better safer place without insane corrupt idiot like you running it. Now I have given you my final warning. Get lost!’
DC Peddler wanted to beg some more, but Jim had some horrible news for him:
‘Mr Rits has already seen the Photos… I showed them to him before I left the Rits hotel. The last I saw of him he was going to fetch his gun. So you had better get running, Detective Constable, or should I just call you DC Loser… That’s my new name for you. Do you like that name, loser? Now shoo off you worthless cockroach!’
DC Peddler picked up his hat, adjusted his coat, and then ran for it!
Jim happily never saw the man ever again!
Not alive anyway…
I know I am in no position to make demands, because you have helped me so very much recently. And I thank you I really do, very deeply thank you. But I am in trouble right now. And if I am in trouble then that means our entire operation is as well. DC Peddler is on my case. Actually he has always been right from the moment I arrived in Fenwick. You must know of him? He is a very dangerous man. Aim your cameras at him and you will know the truth of it. He wants me locked up. I can’t make money for us not while stuck in a prison cell. Again, I repeat, Peddler is dangerous. He is also my worst enemy in town. Honestly. He has to go! I beg you, for all of our sakes. With everything that is going on, with the war and all, we cannot suffer this mans meddling along with everything else. We must be rid of him. You must send some resource to help me. Everyman has a weakness. Everyman has a dark secret… And YOU have cameras everywhere. You must have something recorded somewhere that can help me bring this man down.
Grey’s response was this:
‘It will be sorted. Be at the Rits tomorrow at eight pm.’
My gosh! Does time ever fly when one is at war with their worst enemy!
It felt like only a few minutes after the phone call that Jim was standing outside the rickety hotel.
Jim approached the Rits tentatively - his last meeting with the owners was on tenterhooks - in fact Jim had only managed to get inside the building because he was in a disguise.
So relations were not good with the owners were not good!
So Jim was surprised to find Mr Rits the owner himself waiting at the entrance ready to welcome him in.
Had Mr Grey greased the wheel?
Maybe.
It didn’t matter. So long as there was no violence Jim was content.
Mr Rits shook Jim by the hand on approach and spoke to him in a very cordial manner, like they were old friends.
‘Good to see you again Jim,’ he said, in a happy voice. ‘You are a fine man, and I like you. So you are the new Banker in town, hey? How nice! I would stay to have a drink with you to celebrate, but you know the wife is as demanding as ever. But hey ho! Such is life. Anyway. So long as you are in this part of town board and bed are yours for half price! For life! So long as you stay away from my wife… That bit of sad business will always remain the same between the both of us.’
Jim smiled, patted Mr Rits on the shoulder and assured him that the last thing on his mind was the other mans wife, ‘And forever will she remain in that place,’ he added. ‘So please, you can keep your wife. Thank you.’
Mr Rits swept his sweaty brow with a dishcloth, and sighed with what appeared to be immense relief. After that he waved the young man into his establishment.
‘Mr Twaddle would like to talk to you on the second floor,’ he said as he led Jim into and across the main hall.
Jim nodded and made his way upwards.
And there sure enough was his old acquaintance waiting for him.
‘Why couldn’t we meet downstairs? I mean there is a bar down there, and it would be nice to have a drink. My contract with Mr King was finalised over a week ago and they have started selling G-Juice in all the locals,’ said Jim. ‘Why don’t we go down and try some out. A bevy to warm the night! Let me tell you something, my G-Juice drink is like nothing you have ever drank before I swear. It’s amazing! If you have not tasted it before then now is as good a time as ever! Please! Let’s go now and try some!’
‘O bless me no I can’t risk doing something like that!’ Mr Twaddle replied. ‘We are rather close to the coast right now and if there was ever a flood we would very much been in the deep end right down there, and I can’t have that! What if a whale was to come in and eat me? O no! We must stay upstairs, please. I don’t want to give those pesky whales the chance to get the better of me O no! A whale could eat a man whole if it ever desired to do so! So we will stay up these steps if that is okay with you - at least then we have got a chance of escaping them and their ways!’
‘I don’t see how,’ Jim replied, dryly. ‘If there is a flood on such a scale in town then we are still going to be trapped.’
‘Please don’t mock me, son,’ Twaddle replied. ‘1759 was the year of the Great Flood of Wently. O yes! All the streets of Fenwick were flooded thick with sea water. It was said that a number of large sized whales were seen floating through the ruins of the old city. What if the same thing was to happen now? I mean, I know it has been hundreds of hundreds of years since that fatal event, but you can never tempt fate, Mr Jim! There are whales out there in the sea and they are hungry for a man like me, so we will stay at the top of these steps thank you good sir. And to answer your question we will not be trapped because I came here prepared. Yes. I rented the room over there, no. 9. And my bed is an old boat, so I will float if the seas come raging in! Ha! Like I said before now, I won’t give those whales a chance to get at me! Now, with that out of the way let’s talk business.’
Yes. That sounded like a good idea.
Mr Twaddle’s barminess was off the rictus scale and Jim wanted to spend as little time with the little man as possible.
‘Mr Grey received your message loud and clear,’ Mr Twaddle continued. ‘The boss doesn’t care much for the Detective Constable either. Mr Peddler could indeed pose a danger to our operation. Luckily we are one great big step ahead of him! We have got him on cameras following through with a lot of shady stuff. Here. Take this package. It contains a tape of Mr Peddler smuggling contraband in 2003! And there are several amusing photos of him climbing through the window of this very hotel. You wonder why? Well there are two photos in this package, one of Mr Peddler standing by the window of the hotel, and a second of him in the arms of Mrs Rits! Now I don’t think our good Detective Constable would like to have such a scandal being leaked into public awareness, at the very least it would mean an immediate hit on his head from Mr Rits! You know how defensive that man can get in matters concerning his marriage? To see his wife in the arms of another man in such a way might send him over the edge. Use these tools wisely, Jim!’
‘This is brilliant!’ cried Jim.
Jim was ecstatic - yes - in all ways the literal definition of a very happy man.
Jim hated being forced to get that tattoo back in the day but good gosh did being a member of the Tailors ever come with its perks!
Indeed!
Jim was finally winning!
He had the edge over his main opponent and was finally in a position to deliver the final strike against him.
So it was time to set up a meet…
Jim sent out the word, and DC Peddler agreed to meet Jim by the castle gate.
‘It is time for us to have words,’ said Jim, as the Detective Constable approached.
‘O? Now this should be interesting. I always have time for you, Jim,’ DC Peddler replied. ‘Every time we have our little meetings the noose around your neck tightens a few inches more. It won’t be long before we kick the stool away form beneath your straggling feet and let you fly, Jim. Fly right into one of my lovely pleasant prison cells! Ha! The thought of locking you up is one of the few things that cheers me up. Ha! I wake up in the morning sometimes and I wonder what it is all about, you know? The big questions: life and the meaning of it… It can be depressing. But whenever I do get myself down I think about you, Jim, and again and again about that day when I finally get to close the prison cell door on you. The thought of that cheers me up a great deal! O yes! It warms the cockles of my heart.
‘It must be so lonely living in the Bankers House? Just you and that big old building, with just the wind and the rain and entropy for company. Well don’t worry Jim! Good old DC Peddler here will put an end to your loneliness in due course, when we lock you up with the lads.’
‘You are a piece of work, DC Peddler,’ Jim replied. ‘I often wonder what branch rotten people like you spring from? I mean why are you so bitter? Was it a bad childhood? Were you bullied at school? Or maybe it’s the company you keep?’
‘What are you talking about?’
‘A little robin tells me you were cuddling up to a certain Mrs Rits of the Rits Hotel? Yes. The wife of the jealous and very angry Mr Rits! Only I guess it did not work out as you are not together anymore. How sad. It looks like she was only interested in a quick fling after all,’ said Jim. And then Jim added this sharp stinger:
‘It looks like she used you!’
Peddler was all smug and laughter. And then Jim showed the detective constable the pictures.
Good gosh! Jim had never seen another mans face change its complexion so quickly.
DC Peddler went from plucky and bright, and then into a ghost as pale as moonlight in 0. 0. 0. point of a second. He looked like he was about to drop down! The detective constable actually started grasping for his heart!
Was he about to die?
It looked that way!
‘Where did you… how? No!’ DC Peddler couldn’t find the words. ‘Nothing happened between us I swear! She threw me back out of the window! Story of my life!’
‘O yes? But you wanted something to happen I bet?’
DC Peddler was too scared to reply.
Then Jim showed the detective constable the package.
It was the final move in his great strategy.
‘Inside here is a tape of you smuggling contraband back in the day. Now I will keep quiet about this tape for now, DC Peddler, but I swear,’ said Jim, ‘you threaten me again and this tape will find itself in the hands of your superiors. And then it will be YOU being locked up with the lads. And I hate to think what would become of an ex officer of the law inside prison? I don’t think it will go good for you, DC Peddler, if you find yourself behind bars. But then if Mr Rits sees the photos of you trying it on with his misses then you will just end up dead. What a fine choice, hey, DC Peddler. Prison or death? or you can just back off. So what will it be? Make your choice NOW!’
‘Please Jim! I beg of you! Don’t do this to me!’
DC Peddler dropped to his knees and started to cry, but Jim took no pity on the other man and simply told him to shut up.
‘It is over for you DC Peddler,’ Jim replied. ‘I will spare you prison. I am not that cruel. NO! I am not like you! But I am going to show Mr Rits the photos!’
‘But… But he will kill me…’
‘Yes. He will indeed. That is why you must leave town NOW. Leave town and never return. If you were any other person I would let matters go but not with you. I don’t trust you, Peddler. You are too dangerous. You have a chip on your shoulder and you will not let it drop. So I want you gone. And that is why I am doing this. I might seem harsh, but I have a good thing going right now in town and I won’t let you put my life in jeopardy. You are a thorn, and I am plucking you out right now. So be gone from Fenwick forever!’
‘But by doing this you will ruin me? My career… It’s all over after this…’
‘Am I supposed to feel sorry for you?’ Jim went on. ‘A minute ago you were telling me how you wanted me to be tortured in a prison cell. It warmed the cockles of your heart, you were telling me. NO! Damn you. I am not give you a second chance. Your career is over and I am glad. Maybe this town will be a better safer place without insane corrupt idiot like you running it. Now I have given you my final warning. Get lost!’
DC Peddler wanted to beg some more, but Jim had some horrible news for him:
‘Mr Rits has already seen the Photos… I showed them to him before I left the Rits hotel. The last I saw of him he was going to fetch his gun. So you had better get running, Detective Constable, or should I just call you DC Loser… That’s my new name for you. Do you like that name, loser? Now shoo off you worthless cockroach!’
DC Peddler picked up his hat, adjusted his coat, and then ran for it!
Jim happily never saw the man ever again!
Not alive anyway…
hint! hint!
(Remember! All spelling errors and grammatical mistakes are intentional - the author 😆)
Previous part here
===========================================================
Also take a look at:
My Games
Play Give 'em Hell
Play Elfin Quest
Witches Brew a short text based adventure game!
Also take a look at:
My YouTube Channel
My Books
No comments:
Post a Comment