CHAPTER 27 (PART - B) end of chapter 27



Allan disappeared for a couple hours that previous night leaving Tom, Ivan, and Mikhail at another pub. Allan watched one of his old girlfriends from a distance. Each time he thought he would have a chance to approach her there were always crowds of people around. Allan watched the place up until closing time hoping to catch Tessie alone with no more than two people. The opportunity didn’t come as the pub seemed extraordinarily busy as loud laughing and shouting could be heard. When Allan saw they were finishing closing the place up, he had planned on having a little one on one talk with Tessie for her insubordinate behavior towards him. Unfortunately for Allan she was escorted by three different men and that young bartender.

“If you won’t talk to me I will think of another punishment for you!” Allan thought not wanting to deal with that many foes at one time alone. He watched her fine frame walk along with those others lustfully.
“I’m much better than they are!” Allan thought resentfully.
He watched them disappear out of view as the level of anger began to rise in Allan until he decided what he was going to do. Systematically he began setting fire to the building from the back.

“See how you like it you whore!” Allan moved away watching as the fire began to start to catch. Satisfied for the moment that he hurt Tessie back for turning him down, he returned to the pub where Tom and Mikhail were a bit tipsy.
“Come on blokes! We got to go now!” Allan came in quietly.
“Already boss? Why don’t you have a drink with us?” Tom said happily.
“Now’s not the time for this stupidity Tom, we got to get to the train stop and be on our way towards Colchester” Allan explained taking his and Mikhail’s beer from him.
“Hey! Come on boss!” Tom complained.
“That’s my beer! You can’t have any!” Mikhail said pouting.
“You’re going to have some of my fist in a minute you idiots, now get going!” Allan grunted.

Ivan quickly grabbed Mikhail by the arm leading him to the door as Allan did Tom. They quickly made their way to the train station. Allan could hear fire trucks and police cars in the distance which made a wicked smile curve up on his lips as they finally reached a train stop. It was late so there weren’t many riders. They rode the train to Colchester and found an inn in town to stay at for the night.

The innkeeper was an unsavory type which was the sort Allan liked to deal with. He figured most minded their business and cared only for their own. There were two small twin beds in the fairly clean room.
“The drunk ones get the floor or the chair” Allan announced, but neither Mikhail or Tom seemed to care. Mikhail had already dozed off on the chair in the corner, while Tom had already passed out on the floor.
“Didn’t you mention that Tintin had been spotted in Ipswich?” Ivan asked curiously.

“Yes, but it’s too late to get that far, besides, I have a connection or two in this town” Allan said glancing out of the second floor window down at the street.
“This is where you’re from?” Ivan asked.
“My original town is up north in Manchester—you’d better get some rest Ivan we got a lot of work to do tomorrow” Allan warned him.
“You think Tintin is really here?” Ivan asked taking off his shoes getting comfortable on the bed.
“We’ll see, or we won’t be returning to the Sea Serpent. Lieutenant Wagner does not like failure” Allan said opening a window lighting a cigarette.
“Did you take care of your business?” Ivan asked lying on his side as Mikhail and Tom continued to rest out cold.
“You might say that…” Allan took a long drag on his cigarette.
“She must have been the love of your life” Ivan commented.
“More like, ‘I use you, then you’re no good for me’ kind of woman” Allan laughed.
“You got to keep control of your women” Ivan suggested.
“Aye!” Allan laughed.
“You give them too much freedom they forget who is in charge” Ivan continued.
“That’s my problem, I’m never around long enough to make ‘em mind” Allan nodded.
“I know what you mean…” Ivan agreed.
“I say love ‘em and leave ‘em” Allan said bitterly taking his last drag of his cigarette flicking it out the window. “Listen Ivan, I’m counting on you to keep Mikhail in line, we can’t be fooling around with this mission, got it?” Allan concluded with a serious tone.

“Yes Admiral…” Ivan agreed.
“If we aren’t in Glasgow with Tintin by early Monday… we may as well make tracks. This guy doesn’t play around” Allan warned.
“So that’s why we will find him” Ivan replied optimistically.
“Exactly, only Tintin is already on to us, so we’re going to have to be clever” Allan explained.
“The Lieutenant should have let us go after him earlier” Ivan shook his head.
“Aye, but you can’t question the likes of him…not a good idea” Allan closed the window. “We got a long day ahead of us tomorrow” Allan sat on his bed.
“Night Admiral” Ivan said turning over and shutting his eyes.

Allan turned the lamp off and lied down mentally trying to work everything out.
The next morning was a bit rough for Tom and Mikhail as they were having hangovers. Allan was already out and about connecting with his network while Ivan was downstairs getting the crude snacks they had. Before it became too late, Allan and Ivan woke Mikhail and Tom up reminding them of their mission.
“I have an old mate who set me up with a guy who would take us later to Ipswich, he knows the guy we need to talk to” Allan mentioned as they were walking downtown. The town was crowded as traders and vendors were dealing with merchants and folks were going about their daily business.

“So where are we supposed to meet this bloke boss?” Tom asked.
“At the corner of the farmer’s market” Allan replied watching everyone suspiciously. Ivan and Mikhail followed quietly. Ten minutes later they spotted a stocky man near a fish stand.
“Ah, there’s the guy” Allan smiled. “Mikhail, Ivan, wait here, Tom, come with me…” Allan instructed.
The man had a fish stand and his skin looked fairly red and weather beaten. He wore a patch over one eye and was missing a couple teeth. He wore a white tank top and a pair of jeans with boots.
“’ello mate, can I sell you a fish or two?” he asked showing his selection of codfish, sea bass, and shrimp.
“Not bad… good catches, I was told you were going to Ipswich later to meet a friend” Allan said discreetly.
“Yes I am, and who might you be?” he asked suspiciously.
“I’m the Admiral” Allan bent over and whispered to him.
“Oh… well that changes things then. I should be done a little after lunch. I got to sell these fish” he nodded.
“Get me to Ipswich by noon and this is yours” Allan whispered taking a pound note out.
“Fair enough…we leave in an hour, I know where your friend is” he whispered.
“You got somewhere to store these fish?” Allan asked inspecting the good quality.
“Yea, let me take them home and put them on ice, tomorrow is Saturday, I’m sure I’ll sell the whole lot then” He replied.

XXXXXXXX

Alyssa and Mary Ann were at the farmer’s market just about done with their shopping until they passed an odd couple of guys. A tall and a short man were talking quietly until one stepped right in front of Mary Ann almost causing her to drop her sack of vegetables.

“Excuse me please!” Mary Ann said a little loudly.
“Sorry madam, didn’t see you there” Mikhail said a little condescendingly.
“I know I’m short, but I’m here!” Mary Ann made her presence known attracting attention including Tom’s, the man at the fish stand, and Allan’s.
“Come on mum, let’s go…” Alyssa glanced not liking the vibe of these men.
“Sorry…good day” Alyssa nodded prompting her mother on.
“Guess I got a bit carried away” Mary Ann whispered.
Alyssa waited until they were several yards ahead and glanced back as the two men were still staring at them.
“Keep going mum, I don’t like the air of those blokes” she whispered.
“What language were they speaking?” Mary Ann asked as they finally turned a corner disappearing from site.

“It sounded like it could be Eastern European… I’m not sure” Alyssa replied.
“We still need need to run to Ipswich for that whisky you got for your Uncle Frederick…now Bob wants a bottle of that stuff too” Mary Ann explained.
“Let’s get out of here, I don’t like how those blokes looked at us” Alyssa rushed her mom.

XXXXXXXXXX

After an hour in the clothing store Thompson and Thomson finally found an outfit they were happy with. A pair of burgundy slacks, white button up shirt with a collar, and a burgundy vest since Chang mentioned that was a color the monks wore up in Tibet. Then they took him to a shoe shop and bought him a nice pair of slick brown loafers.
“I’d say he looks rather sharp Thompson” Thomson shook his head.
“I’d say so myself” Thomson agreed.
“Yea Mr. Chang, turn around again” Thompson said making sure all of the clothes fit well enough.
“Slightly a bit big on you, but close enough” Thomson smiled.
“Great, so we’re ready now?” Chang asked patiently. Chang felt a little silly.
“Oh, put on your hat!” Thompson said handing Chang a nice brown puffy hat. He put it on and looked in the mirror. It wasn’t as bad as he thought as his long braided pony tail swung all the way down his back.
“You just wait here Mr. Chang, we’re going to go pay for your clothes” Thomson smiled.
“Thank you gentlemen, but I assure you it’s not necessary” Chang smiled weakly.
“Don’t you worry Mr. Chang, we got everything under control” Thompson shook his head.
"Mr.Chang could I ask you to turn around one more time?" Thompson closed one eye as if he was inspecting Chang's clothes closely.
"Ok Mr. Thompson, I've already twirled several times for you and Mr. Thomson..." he said naively slowly turning with his arms up. Thompson nodded in satisfaction, "What a beautiful young man!" he thought.

Almost another hour passed until they finally made it down to the harbor. Police officers were nearby further along the dock removing a truck that appeared to have been in some sort of fire.
“I wonder what happened to that truck?” Thompson said rhetorically.
“Let’s go find out” Thomson nodded.
Chang kept looking down the harbor at the boats that were in port. He saw a couple of black hulled ships but nothing really struck him as peculiar so he just followed the Detectives quietly.
“Stay clear of this, police business!” an officer warned as some workers were loading the burned truck on to the back of another for removal.
“We’re investigators from INTERPOL” Thompson replied showing his badge.
“Precisely” Thomson did likewise.
“So this must be important indeed if INTERPOL is getting involved” the officer raised an eyebrow.
“Indeed” Thompson replied.
“We’re here to investigate the four murders” Thomson mentioned.
“Oh those…you think this truck is tied in with all of that?” the officer asked.
“Possibly” Thompson shrugged.
“Where were the bodies found?” Thomson asked.
“On the other side of the dock” the officer replied watching the workers carefully hoist the truck up.
“Where was that?” Thompson said taking out a small notepad.
“Take a walk about six blocks it should bear near the old crab meat warehouse” the cop said. “We already investigated the four ships nearby… the Blazer, Sea Nymph, Sea Gull, and the Red Whale” the cop said slowly remembering the names.

Thomson looked at the empty ports in front of him stroking his mustache, “What was the name of the boats right here?” Thomson had a confused look. Chang was starting to become impressed with the Detectives line of questioning.
The officer took out a notepad of his own. “Hmm… I didn’t get them written down, I know one was the Rum Runner and the other… it escapes me” he stopped glancing up.
“The Sea Serpent?” Chang suddenly mentioned.
“Why that’s it! How did you know?” the officer looked at Chang amazed.
“Where was it heading?” Chang asked with his heart rate pumping a bit faster.
“That I don’t know, you will have to check with the registry” the officer frowned.
“Are you sure that’s the one ship we should investigate Mr. Chang?” Thompson questioned.
“I feel without a doubt that’s where we need to go” Chang nodded confidently.
The two detectives and the officer gave each other puzzled looks.
“We’ll check with the registry, thank you officer, good day” Thomson and Thompson took off their hats to him.

“Good day to you too gentlemen, hopefully your search yields more than what we have” the officer nodded. Chang finally felt now they were actually starting to get somewhere as the Detectives hailed a taxi and took them to the registry. After another hour of searching through records they finally found their answer.
“They're going to Glasgow” Thompson clasped his hands together. “I hope your feeling is right Mr. Chang” he sighed.

“I have a real strong feeling this is it” Chang reiterated.
“We still have these murders here Mr. Chang” Thomson pointed out.
“Do we have any other leads?” Chang asked rationally.
“Not really…” Thomson shrugged looking down at the desk the registry noticing a news article.
“…wait a minute! The bar we were at yesterday caught fire!” Thomson said picking the newspaper up.
“It did?” Chang looked a bit startled.
“It says no one was hurt and the establishment suffered only some minor damages” Thomson finished.
“Now that sounds suspicious” Thompson agreed.
“Precisely which is why we should go down there and investigate” Thomson said putting the paper down.

“What relevance does that fire have to the ship? Don’t you think they would be gone by now?” Chang asked a bit confused.
“There might be clues down there, plus didn't you say you got a peculiar name from the young man near the bar yesterday?” Thompson rationalized.
"Yes, it's true" Chang nodded in defeat.
“Exactly, so let’s hurry” they said running out of the registry. Chang didn’t know what else to say so he just followed them. So this is what is like to be an investigator Chang thought. Without further delay, they chased back across to the east end of London.

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