Campion's Choice

Rashpal James had a willowy figure and shoulder length black hair. She wore a tight fitting, red and black biker’s jacket and carried a large silver motorcycle helmet. As she stood there the helmet knocked rhythmically against the caravan’s plastic cupboards. She picked up a cloth and wiped blood from her clothing.

Jack thought her eyes looked like small circles of coal. With the blood wiped from her coat and cheeks he should have felt less unnerved by the young woman’s presence, but he wasn’t. Her face looked like it was caught inside a fishing net. She either wore a veil or was covered in some kind of a tattoo.

‘Sorry about all this blood. I just had to settle the calf down in the shed,’ she said.

Jack remembered the shed shaking when they arrived and had visions of Rashpal ‘settling’ down the animal. Probably with an axe.

’You can’t keep that cow here! My cousin will go mad. You’re supposed to do your ‘Save-the-World’, Militant-Vegan stuff in your own time, not when we have meetings. Where did you get a baby cow from anyway?’ Elvis complained.

’We ‘liberated’ her from an abattoir just outside Cambridge. It was a bit of a struggle to get her in the horsebox, hence the blood all over my clothes.’

There was a tiny scraping sound at the door and all heads turned for the last time towards the entrance.

‘Ah, good. Here’s the sixth member of our merry band,’ Ursula said.

A small, curly haired girl stepped lightly into the caravan, filling the last few inches of remaining space.

‘This is Aubon, all the way from Cornwall.’ Ursula explained and added, ‘you’ll have to make your own introductions later. We really should get on.’

‘Sorry I’m late. I caught the mail train last night to get here,’ Aubon Drew explained sweetly.

Jack couldn’t work out what was going on. He assumed that all of the people in this group would be adults. But Aubon looked like she was about fourteen. And what was more she looked like a young, girly, flowery dress and daisies in her hair, kind of fourteen. It didn’t help that, next to Rashpal, Aubon looked as light and as insubstantial as a woodland fairy. If Rashpal filled a room with her personality, it seemed that Aubon was hardly there at all.

Ursula produced a notepad from her handbag.

‘Let’s get started.’ She held her pencil poised over the paper.

‘It all sounds like a prank that went wrong,’ Max spoke up.

He and Klaus had squashed Tia between them like a throw cushion. She pushed herself free to speak.

‘It wasn’t a prank. Gidean didn’t look like someone who knew what was going on. He was in shock.’

Klaus cleared his throat.

‘I’m sure it’s a hoax. It usually is. It looks like something impossible but we’ve seen a thousand stunts like this all over the country. People get fooled all the time,’ he observed.

Ursula looked down at her pad and tapped the end of a pen from line to line until she found something and then turned to Jack, ‘You say you found coins, the ban liangs in a bag? What kind of a bag?’

‘This one,’ Liam said. He picked up the plastic bin liner and opened it to reveal the battered leather bag that Jack tripped over in the air raid shelter.

‘So that’s what Carl gave you?’ Jack said. Liam nodded.

Klaus leant forward as far as his crippled legs would allow and reached out to pick at the find.

‘Not so fast,’ Liam said, slapping the man’s hand away and closing the plastic bin liner.

There was a strange silence in the caravan. Every eye had turned on Liam.

‘You lot think this is a hoax. You don’t sound like you’re going to help us. I’m outta here. My dad’s in jail because of all this. I need to get home.’

He hoisted himself to his feet, hung the bin liner over one shoulder and started to squeeze past the tiny figure of Aubon.

Ursula put down her pad and stepped quickly to block his path.

‘Liam, please, we’re trying to get at the truth.’

Liam’s shoulders dropped as if he were about to charge at the old woman and knock her aside. In desperation Jack blurted out the first thing that came into his head.

‘If you want the truth. We’re scared. A policewoman tried to shoot me!’

All eyes turned to face him.

Jack stood up and pulled off the knitted hat that Tia had given him.

‘Someone tried to kill me. A woman called Inspector Criel. Why would she do that if this whole thing is just a big joke?’

‘Someone tried to shoot you?’ Max asked first.

‘Yeah. The bullet bounced off my head and it hit the next door neighbour.’

When Klaus laughed Jack felt terrible.

‘The bullet bounced off my head!’ he repeated unhappily.

Just saying the words sounded really stupid and it was followed by another awkward silence in the caravan. Windows were beginning to steam up. Jack felt trapped.

He took a deep breath and rattled through the whole story.

‘Look, I have it on film. Criel trying to shoot me. Not the bit where the bullet bounces off my head. But the bit where she pulled out a gun and pointed it at me and fired.’

He rootled through his school bag and then began to turn things out onto the small wobbly table. He began to panic.

‘I can’t find it! I can’t find the phone!’

Tia leant across the small space and took hold of his rucksack.

‘It must be there. When did you last see it?’ she said, trying to calm him down and beginning to search through the outside pockets of the bag.

‘I don’t remember when I last had it. I was so busy all day texting Liam and Elvis. I had it when we were in the Computer Room ……’

He closed his eyes and looked straight ahead at the dilapidated wall.

‘Oh no. When Liam came into the Computer Room, I was spooked. I put the phone in the drawer.’

Tia pushed the rucksack away.

‘What?’

‘I hid the phone. It must still be there. I’ll get it tomorrow.’

‘You won’t. They’ve virtually emptied that place. Didn’t you hear what they said this morning? That’s what Gidean’s dad is paying for. The school’s getting all new stuff. The old desks and computers have been taken away,’ Tia said angrily.

Liam dropped the bin liner and leant against the side of the caravan.

‘Great. Now how am I going to prove that Criel had that gun and not my dad?’

‘What about me? I’m the one she tried to shoot. How do I prove that?’ Jack snapped. He was on his feet and was about to shout at Liam and tell him that this was all his fault for sneaking around when Klaus spoke up.

‘Before this whole thing was strange now it’s just getting silly. Appearing elephants, killer cops, bouncing bullets. What next, flying pigs? Elvis, is this a joke? This is a good story, but where is the proof? Can anyone, any adult, back up your story?’

‘Yeah. Clamp can. He can prove the story about the coins,’ Jack said.

Ursula was overcome by a sudden, loud coughing fit. When she regained her breath she said, ‘Vincent Clamp? The history teacher at Redemere School? He was the teacher in the room with you?’

‘Yes.’

‘I know Vincent really well. He’s been to seminars at my college. He has often asked me to drop by. And you say he has one of the coins?’ Ursula asked.

‘Yes.’ Tia and Jack answered the question in perfect harmony like a double act.

Ursula sat perfectly still. Thin lines of muscles tightened around her mouth. She untied her green scarf and gently pulled the silk between her fingers before knotting it tightly around her neck.

‘Let’s go and talk to Vincent,’ she said firmly.

‘Now?’ Tia asked.

‘Dimidium facti qui coepit habet,’ Ursula quoted.

Everyone in the caravan stared at the woman.

‘The work begun is the work half done. Horace,’ the old woman explained. Picking up her handbag she put away the notepad, took out her mobile and tapped in a text. That completed she stood up to leave.

Liam took a deep breath and threw the bin liner into the corner of the caravan.

‘Well then, let’s get going,’ he said.

As he was moving to the door Max raised his voice.

‘What are we supposed to do?’

Elvis held up his phone.

‘You could watch this. I showed Ursula a video earlier. I was trying to find Jack and I saw him in the street. Every time he walked past a car the radio came on.’

Elvis handed his phone to Max.

Just as they were leaving Jack heard Aubon say, in her tiny fairy voice, ‘This is all about the coins.’

‘No it’s a government thing,’ Rashpal disagreed.

By the time he was outside the caravan it seemed to him that all of the remaining members of The Orden were raising their voices and beginning a very heated argument.

Ursula parked the pink Range Rover behind a battered old ambulance, five houses away from Clamp’s house. His house, in Harvey Goodwin Avenue, was a nineteen thirties semi-detached bungalow with a driveway to the side. At the end of that driveway was a rickety old carport.

Ursula lowered her window, peered down the street, smiled and straightened the green scarf around her neck. In the back of the Rover Liam glanced up and down the street and then crouched low in his seat.

‘I think I’ll sit the visit out. If Clamp sees me on the doorstep he probably won’t take the chain off the door,’ he explained.

‘Well, are you two ready?’ Ursula asked, turning to Jack and Tia. They both nodded.

The house looked fairly run down, the windows needed a lick of paint and the front garden looked like it could do with some serious weeding.

As Jack peered down the front path to see if anyone was at home a tabby cat purred loudly and came padding along the pavement to circle around Tia’s ankles. It glanced up at and raised its tail in greeting. Whilst the cat arched against Tia’s bare leg Ursula moved towards the driveway.

‘Good puss,’ Tia said, absentmindedly kneeling to stroke the animal.

It was an incredible summer’s evening, getting hotter all the time, the kind of oppressive weather that creeps up and promises a thunderstorm.

‘Hot, hot, hot,’ murmured Ursula. She pulled off her scarf and went to dab at her cheeks but dropped the thin piece of material

‘Drat.’

The cat saw the flash of green and twisted out from beneath Tia’s hand. It grabbed the scrap of silk and ran off, up Clamp’s drive, heading towards the man’s car.

‘Bad puss,’ Tia scolded.

Ursula covered the distance to the carport in a couple of quick strides. She beckoned to the others to follow.

‘I’m sorry. I really must get my scarf. I’m sure Vincent won’t mind,’ she called over her shoulder. Tia and Jack hurried along the side of Clamp’s house and arrived at the carport as the tabby sprang through one of the Fiat 500’s open windows. Before Ursula could move the animal disappeared beneath the back seat of the car.

Tia went one way and Jack the other, coming at the cat in a pincer movement. Luckily the car doors were open so they clambered onto the two front seats. Ursula waited and peered through the Fiat’s rear window.

‘Naughty cat. Give me the nice old lady’s scarf,’ Tia crooned.

Jack could hardly believe his eyes. The cat held out a paw and, as Tia stretched out a hand, it offered up the piece of material.

‘Got it,’ Tia said triumphantly. She waved it out of the window for Ursula to take.

‘It’s her,’ Jack hissed.

He grabbed and squeezed Tia’s arm and she dropped the scarf.

‘Ouch. Now look …’

Jack held up a warning finger.

‘Shhh! It’s Criel. She’s coming along the road.’

‘What’s happening? My dress is caught on a nail,’ Ursula complained.

‘It’s Criel! The Inspector I told you about. Look, there! Hide!’ Jack whispered. He was hardly able to speak for fear the policewoman might have another gun.

‘I’m going to ruin this dress,’ Ursula grumbled.

‘Be quiet,’ Jack hissed.

Jack and Tia ducked down as Criel arrived at the end of the driveway to Clamp’s house. The policewoman glanced up and down the road a couple of times and then carried on past the battered fence before disappearing at the front of Clamp’s house. Ursula’s head appeared next to Tia’s window.

‘I got my scarf. What’s going on?’ she said happily.

‘It’s Criel. She’s here. She must be at the front door,’ Tia hissed.

‘The policewoman is here? Well, perhaps we can speak to her?’ Ursula said as she bent back down again to continue her search.

‘Are you crazy?’ Jack hissed.

Music suddenly began to float across the garden. It appeared to be coming from an open bedroom window at the back of the house. Clamp appeared in the bedroom.

The teacher wore a red dressing gown and he carried what looked like a person. No, not a person, Jack thought, one of those dummies you see in shop windows: a mannequin. But when the dummy’s head rolled about Jack thought it must be some kind of lady shaped balloon. Whatever it was, it wore a floaty, sparkling dress.

Clamp stood the figure against his wardrobe and disappeared. When he finally came back he had taken off the dressing gown. Now he wore a dinner jacket, a starched white shirt and a black bow tie.

The teacher moved over to the ancient record player, turned up the music, took the hand of the dummy in the sequinned dress, and began to waltz around the tiny bedroom. Every now and then he would stop, pick up a book and nod to himself before turning back to the inflatable woman. He twirled her expertly in and out of the bedroom furniture.

’Ballroom dancing? He’s learning the ‘Cha, Cha, Cha’,’ Tia whispered.

Jack began to giggle.

That was when Criel appeared in the bedroom and punched Clamp in the throat.

Jack couldn’t imagine that anyone could flatten Clamp with a single blow but Criel made the job look easy.

The teacher staggered and collapsed into a chair. He clutched his throat and gagged for breath. In a blur of rapid movements Criel reached out and pulled the man’s dinner jacket half way down his body, trapping his arms. From nowhere a stiletto knife appeared in the woman’s hand.

Criel bent forward, handling the thin blade with practiced ease and held the razor sharp tip inches away from one of Clamp’s bulging eyes. She was grinning.