The Drake Detective Agency - Case Seven - Part 1

The White Tiger Mother Affair - Part 1


Molly stared at the piece of paper she was holding tightly with both hands, feeling her heart rate increasing, almost seeming to feel the blood rushing through her veins. She felt sick and light-headed. She felt like she wanted to scream, to cry, to rush out and find comfort with the first friend that she could find. The piece of paper was a simple, computer-printed note, in a bold font. It had arrived in a plain, unmarked envelope that bore her name. She had found it lying on the doormat when she had got in from school that afternoon. The letter was short, to the point, and direct in its meaning. It said;

Molly,
We have your mother.
If you wish to have her returned unharmed, be at the central museum, 9pm tonight.
You have work to do. Bring your friends if need be.
NO POLICE, OR YOU WILL NEVER SEE HER AGAIN.

There was a photograph in the envelope as well. It showed her mother, bound hand and foot, and seemingly unconscious or sleeping. A black gloved hand was holding a copy of the local newspaper, The Gazette, in the foreground, with a black marker underlining of the day’s date.
As soon as she had seen it, Molly had rushed around the house, hoping and praying that the letter was some sort of sick prank. There was no sign of a disturbance. More worryingly, there was no sign of her mother, apart from a cold cup of coffee and two biscuits on the kitchen worktop. Her mother had the day off work, so shouldn’t have been at the office, but Molly called there anyway. As suspected, her mother hadn’t been there. Molly’s next call was to her mother’s mobile phone. As soon as she started calling it, she heard the ringtone; it was coming from the living room. It was coming from her mother’s handbag, which sat on the coffee table. Her mother never went anywhere without either.
Molly knew that her father was working late that night, working up in London. That he would almost certainly be staying in a hotel overnight, at his company’s expense, and would travel home the next afternoon. She had to act fast. Her next call was to Caroline.

There had been much mention in the local news about the Central Museum lately. Normally, it wasn’t anything spectacular; a typical local museum for a big town, housed in an old library building near the town centre, housing a collection of artifacts and documents that related to the local area’s history, ranging from fossils found at a quarry just outside of the town, Stone age tools, Roman and Saxon finds, medieval discoveries and so on, carrying on up to the mid-20th century. Nothing special, until three weeks before, and the announcement that the museum would be playing host to the Brockhurst collection.
Brigadier-General Herbert Brockhurst had been an explorer and amateur archaeologist of sorts in the mid to late Victorian period. He had travelled extensively, especially in Asia and the Far East. Molly dimly remembered reading about him in the past. He had brought back many curious and sometimes precious finds, and was chiefly noted in his day for never going on his adventures without full formal attire in his baggage. A sort of upper-class, very English, walrus-moustached Indiana Jones. His great great great granddaughter, Lady Helen Brockhurst, had decided to loan the collection to the museum for a time, whilst she herself was on one of her interminable pleasure cruises, and the Museum had been keen to trumpet this fact to the local media. And the main reason for the announcement was the fact that included in the collection was the famous White Tiger of Siam, a large, flawless, and particularly impressive diamond that the Brigadier had supposedly discovered in the ruins of an ancient temple.
It was Caroline who had brought the matter to Molly’s attention. Caroline occasionally did voluntary work at the museum, helping the researchers. And when Caroline had told Molly about the precious diamond, it had peaked her interest.
“Now that will be something to keep an eye on!” She had said, as she and her friends were sitting in Caroline’s bedroom, listening to music on evening. “If there’s anything in this town that would attract a big-league thief, it’ll be that diamond!” The others had all agreed, and from then on, Caroline had collected any and all references to the diamond’s lending to the museum. The local council had shelled out some extra money from their budget to increase security for the duration, and part of the museum had received a makeover ready for the arrival of the collection. The police had announced that they would step up patrols in the vicinity as well. But Molly had a gut feeling that this would not deter any thief worth his or her salt.
And that thought returned to her now, as she made the call to her best friend. The letter, the supposed kidnapping of her mother, and the reference to the museum had to be connected to the presence of the Brockhurst Collection.
“Hi Molly, what’s up?” said Caroline over the phone, sounding like she had her mouth half full of something.
“Caroline... I need you to come round...urgently. Something terrible has happened...” Molly stammered into the phone, trying to keep from panicking and breaking down.
Caroline had known Molly since early childhood, and she recognised that tone of voice instantly.
“I’ll be there. Want me to get the others?”
Molly nodded, even though she knew that Caroline couldn’t see her. “Please... and hurry...”
Caroline hung up, and Molly slumped into the armchair in the front room, still clutching the piece of paper, and the photograph.

The doorbell rang. Molly startled, having lapsed into staring numbly at the wall, and totally losing track of time. She ran to the door, and opened it.
They were all there. She had known they all would be. They stood by each other through good and bad, and the first thing that happened was that Caroline wrapped her arms tightly around Molly, and hugged her as she stepped through the door. The others clustered around in sympathy. Molly, fighting the urge to cry, simply put the piece of paper and the photograph into Caroline’s hands. Her friend peered at it through her glasses, her eyes widening in horror.
“Oh my god, Molly! If we’d known it was this bad, we’d have got here even sooner! Alex, make coffee! Jemma, go and turn the heating up. Molly, you come and sit down right now...”
Caroline swung into full Den-Mother mode, fussing over Molly, and issuing instructions to the others to do anything to make Molly more comfortable, to try and ease the shock and fear of the situation.
Molly found herself on the sofa, wedged tightly between Caroline and Jemma, the two most affectionate of her friends, both of the girls with their arms around her, and her head resting on Caroline’s shoulder.
“Okay...” said Caroline firmly, still taking charge as Molly was plainly in no great shape for organising things at that moment. “We all have our kits in Monique, right?” Everyone nodded. The girls had all organised their own version of a Bug-out bag by now, containing anything that they deemed to be useful for organised snooping. Even Jemma had managed to scrape one together, although Gina never tired of teasing her about the fact that her kit was stored in a Hello Kitty Backpack.
“Good. Molly, we’re all coming with you tonight, and we’re going to do whatever it takes to get your mum back, aren’t we?”
There was a loud and supportive chorus of assent from Alex, Jemma and Gina. “All for one!”
Molly raised her head and looked around at her friends, and despite the fear and worry in her heart, she started to smile. If there was anybody in this world that she would want to have with her at a time like this, it was these four girls. And somehow, their confidence gave her a sense of hope.
“Right... and if I catch whoever did this, I’m going to make them sorry they were ever born!”

The town centre was quiet. During the week, it usually was of an evening, and the part where the Central Museum stood, lacking any nearby pubs, restaurants, clubs or fast food joints, was even quieter. The sun had long since gone down, and the street adjacent to the museum was dark, damp with rain, and reflecting the stark orange glow of the only two streetlights that were working. T was cold, and the girls had all worn warm, padded coats over their clothes. They sat crammed together in Monique, Alex’s car, as it sat parked across the street from the museum. Alex was in the driver’s seat as usual, Gina occupied the passenger seat, and Jemma, Molly and Caroline sat together in the back, huddled up for warmth, even with the car heaters turned on. They all watched the museum intently. The large Victorian-era building of red brick and sandstone sat back from the road with a set of neatly trimmed lawn in front of it, surrounded by a high brick wall. There were two large iron gates set in the wall; one led up the front path to the flight of steps at the front of the building. The other was set off to the side, and entered onto a driveway for deliveries and the public visitors carpark at the back.
Alex was studying the building through a compact pair of binoculars. She glanced over her shoulder at the others.
“Nothing looks out of place. Lights are all off. Windows are all closed. The front door is locked and padlocked. If there’s anything going down, it’s going to be at the back of the building, I reckon...”
“How are we going to get in with the gates locked?” asked Jemma, eyeing the high wall. “We’ll look totes suspicious trying to climb them, or the wall!”
Gina nudged Alex, and pointed. “There... the DIY place next door. Can you see if there’s a gap between the building and the wall?”
Alex peered through her binoculars again. “I think there is... and there are some of those big plastic recycle bins down there. If we can get onto those, getting over the wall should be easy... I don’t know about getting out again though...”
“Well, let’s just get in there, and worry about getting out when we come to it!” Said Molly, as Caroline opened the car door. The girls climbed out of Monique, and dragged their kits out of the boot.
“Look...Jemma...really... I can loan you a perfectly good army surplus pack...” began Gina, eyeing the pink and white Hello Kitty pack as Jemma shrugged it on. Jemma said nothing, and simply gave Gina a withering “Talk to the hand” look.
Alex made sure that Monique was locked, and then the five girls quickly crossed the road to the front of the Museum’s wall. Caroline looked about.
“We’ve been sitting there for almost half an hour... I thought the local police said that they would be patrolling more around here, but we haven’t seen a single police patrol...”
Alex shrugged. “Budget cuts, I’ll bet. More patrols probably means twice a night, instead of once...”
The girls skirted the wall until they arrived at the front forecourt of the DIY store next to the museum. Alex had been right; there was a passageway between the side of the store, and the museum’s wall. And there were indeed large plastic bins in the passage way, one of which caught their attention.
Jemma pointed. “Check that one out... right against the wall. I think someone got the same idea as us about getting in already...”
Molly, feeling more like her usual self now that they were in action once more, led the way down the side of the passageway, until they reached the plastic recycling bins. She stopped, and turned to the others.
“Right... I want Caroline to come with me. The rest of you... as soon as we are over the wall, I want you to move the bin back away, and then keep watch. We’ll set our phones to vibrate only, so you can call us if you see anything, or of anything happens. If anything goes wrong out here, try to ring twice, and then hang up, and we’ll know that you’re in trouble...”
Jemma looked a little disappointed, Gina looked doubtful, and Alex frowned slightly. “Are you absolutely sure you don’t want us to come with you?”
Molly smiled a little, leaned across, and put her hand on Alex’s arm. “Thank you Ally... That means a lot to me. But I really think that having us in two teams will be safer. You guys are our backup. And besides, this might be really dangerous... more than usual, and I already have to worry about my mum. If I have to worry about dragging all of you into danger as well, I don’t think I could do this...”
The others still looked a little concerned and disappointed, but they nodded. Molly’s answer made sense, even though they wished it were otherwise. Without another word, Alex helped give first Molly, and then Caroline a lift onto the top of the plastic bin. She smiled up at them as they carefully straddled the wall. “Good luck... and call us the moment you need help... even if you’re not sure. Don’t leave it to chance!”
Molly looked down at her three friends and smiled, nodding in response. And then, she was gone, dropping down onto the grass the other side of the wall. Caroline gave the others a quick, joke salute, and then followed. As soon as they landed, the two girls crouched low, looked around, and then ran, quickly and quietly alongside the wall, keeping to the shadows, and making for the back of the building.

They were out of earshot of their friends almost as soon as they set off, the damp, soft grass masking their footsteps perfectly. The three girls in the alleyway strained to listen, but could hear nothing.
“Right,” said Gina, hitching up the sleeves of her jacket. “Let’s get this bin moved!”
Jemma was still looking toward the wall wistfully. “I think we should have gone with them... I hate it when we split up like this...”
“Me too...” agreed Alex, as she and Gina started rolling the bin back against the wall of the DIY store. “But it’s Molly’s call. It’s her mum, her risk. I’m not going to argue with her on this one. If it was happening to me, I don’t know what I’d do in her place...”
Suddenly, the three girls froze, as they were caught full in the beam of a torch, pointed right at them and dazzling them after the darkness of the alleyway.
“Right... you three have some explaining to do!” Said a voice from behind the torch.
“Yeah! And it had better be good!” Said another.
“Ummm... wait a second,” said a third. “Something tells me that these three aren’t who we’re looking for...”
After the moment of shock, Gina, Alex and Jemma turned toward the torch. Jemma balled her fists, and Gina pulled the metal baseball bat out of her pack.
“Turn that effing torch off, or I’ll shove it down your throat so hard people’ll really think the sun shines out of your arse!” Gina hissed, readying the bat.
“Oh yeah? You and whose army?” Came an equally impudent response from behind the torch. But after a second or so, it was lowered, and switched off. A slightly friendlier, softer voice, the third which had spoken, then said “I think that you might want to come out of there. I think we have a lot to discuss, and if I’m right, we all have a friend with the same problem...”
The three girls walked out of the alleyway cautiously, still blinking after the bright light of the torch.
They saw three girls, around their own age; A tall girl with red hair, wearing jeans and a football t-shirt under her jacket; a petite blonde girl in a halter top and denim skirt worn over leggings, and a raven haired girl in a dark blue hoodie and black skirt. The two sets of girls eyed each other curiously.
The girl with the long black hair spoke first, with a slightly hopeful smile. “My name is Rachel... this is Abigail and Harriet...” She gestured to the blonde and the redhead in turn. We’re sort of detectives... helping our friend...”
Alex reached out a hand, and eased Gina’s baseball bat down until it was pointing at the floor, and then stepped forward. “I’m Alex. This is Jemma and Gina... and ditto!”
The girl with the red hair, referred to as Harriet, nodded toward the museum. Are there any more of you? Or did we catch up with you before you could go over the wall?”
Alex, Jemma and Gina exchanged glances for a moment, and then shrugged. These three didn’t strike them as being thieves and villains in any way. “Two others,” Jemma piped up. Molly and Caroline went over the wall. They told us to move the bin once they were over!”
Alex pointed over at Monique. “Let’s go discuss this in my car shall we? We’ll look really dodgy just standing around in the street like this, and we’ll have a fairly good view of the museum too...”
It was the other three girls’ turn to exchange looks now. But as a vehicle, Monique looked about as unthreatening as a car can get.
“Well...it is pretty cold out here...” murmured Abigail softly. Harriet gave her a little poke in the ribs.
“I told you that it would be cold! You should have wrapped up warmer!”
That seemed to settle the matter. The six girls turned, and headed for Monique for warmth, shelter, and a place to discuss what was going on at the museum.
“By the way,” began Alex, as they reached Monique. “You didn’t say if there were any more of you here tonight? I’m assuming that at least one of you went over the wall before us, right?”
Rachel nodded, as Alex unlocked the car doors. “Just Sara... she wanted to go in alone. We wanted to go with her, but she didn’t want to risk it...”
Alex looked at her two friends and smiled grimly. “Sounds familiar! I’m willing to bet that your friend and ours will have a lot in common when and if they meet up in there...”

Unnoticed by the six girls, a figure detached itself from the shadows further up the street, watching them with a disapproving frown.
“I might have known... First it’s Phillips and her clowns... now another bunch of total amateurs! Why can’t they all just stay out and leave it to the professionals?” As the six girls were squeezing into the car, the figure quickly dashed across the road into the DIY store forecourt, and made for the alleyway...

Unnoticed by the New intruder to the museums’ peace and quiet, a figure in a parked and apparently empty van watched the scene through a pair of magnified night-vision goggles.
“Now that’s interesting... a new interloper. I don’t know that one. Friend or foe, do you think?”
“Just one more temporary nuisance, I’d say...” rumbled a reply.
“Well, let us deal with the young ladies in the car first, and then see where events lead us shall we? Something tells me we are in for a most interesting night of hijinks...”

Kreep lowered the night-vision Goggles, and passed them back behind him. Then he dug inside his long dark coat, and pulled out an ornate silver pocket watch, flipping it open and studying it.
“Well, the girls are ahead of schedule... so we have plenty of time to kill before we have to act...” he pocketed the watch once more, and looked around him. Ogre sat in the driver’s seat, and in the back of the van were Troll, Jabberwock, Bandersnatch, Morlock and Barghest, members of his masked and threatening crew of criminals. He smiled at them all brightly behind his mask, as he pulled out a tartan thermos flask of coffee and brandy.
“So... anyone up for charades? I’ll go first...”