Flight of the Falcon (Byrdes of York #1)

6. Chapter Six

Chapter Six

Hugh

H ugh watched and waited until he saw Falcon and Francis enter the bookshop and lock the door. He stayed a few more minutes at the window, watching the arcade down below, then turning round, he began to re-build his scope. He’d feel better with it available to watch over the Byrde men.

As he finished, he felt a presence behind him and turned around to find that Imogen was watching him. She was now dressed in pyjamas, obviously ready for bed.

“What?” he asked.

Smiling, she walked over to him and tucked herself up under his left arm. “I like him,” she stated.

“Want to know a secret?” he asked, grinning at her. “So do I.” “I can tell, I think he likes you as well.”

Moving together, they entered the kitchen and Hugh put the kettle on, whilst Imogen got some tea out – chamomile since it was late at night and they both needed to sleep.

Hugh stretched. He could still feel his bruises, but after Falcon’s ministrations earlier, they felt better.

As he waited for the kettle to boil, he thought over what they had learned that evening. Try as he might, he still couldn’t bring together Ian Swales and his need for Falcon Byrde to be killed. He shuddered at the thought.

“I’ve heard from Gil,” Imogen said as Hugh poured hot water into their mugs. “He’ll be here in a couple of days. I didn’t mention anything about the tunnels or the Ninth Legion, I think that’s something he needs to hear from us when he gets here.”

“Did he mention anything about either Ian or Robert Swales?”

“No but I also contacted Peter in the office. I asked him to keep it quiet and see if he could find anything out about Ian.”

“That’s a good idea. Peter’s a great analyst and researcher. We need to find out where Ian could have stashed Robert. And what about the place where Ian was supposed to be being kept securely?”

“I’ll get Gil to put out some feelers when we see him. I did a quick google search, and the place where Ian was originally sent to was shut down about six months ago. The residents were all sent to different secure hospitals after that. There’s nothing about Ian himself online at all.”

Hugh sipped his tea, then blew on it as it was still a bit hot. Imogen put her hands around her mug and sipped slowly.

“Why don’t you go to bed, Imogen? You’re falling asleep at the table.”

She smiled at him and taking her mug with her, headed off to the spare bedroom.

Wandering into the lounge, taking his mug too, Hugh checked the large scope once more, then set the night vision camera attached to it to record. He checked the flat, making sure doors and windows were closed and locked before setting the alarm.

Yawning, he entered his own room and began to get undressed. He looked at the doorway where Falcon had been earlier and smiled as he remembered the glint in Fal’s eyes while he was looking at him. He was really looking forward to getting to know the other man better and seeing where this feeling he had would take them.

Grinning, he finished his tea and got into bed. There was lots to do tomorrow, and he needed his sleep.

After a quick breakfast, Hugh and Imogen headed round to Falcon’s bookshop. Hugh waved at Ella in the café as they went by. He’d stop and introduce her to Imogen later.

“Hi, Abbie,” he greeted the teenager, who was once again on the till. “Is your boss in?”

Abbie grinned and nodded. “He said to give you this when you got here.”

She held her hand out. On it was the little camera he’d installed in the shop a few days ago. He accepted it with a smile of his own. “Fal!” Abbie shouted. “Your guests are here.”

An indistinct acknowledgement came from the back of the shop and moments later the man himself appeared. He was dressed in form fitting black jeans with a pale blue dress shirt. Hugh couldn’t take his eyes off him.

“Good morning,” he greeted them. “Hey, Abbie, this is Imogen Lovell and you already know Hugh McHughes. They’re going to be working on a project with me and Dad for a while. You okay to hold the front of shop?”

“I’m fine, Fal. Rachel is due in today for a shift,” she replied, mentioning their other assistant. “So we should be covered. You go do your mysterious stuff!”

Hugh grinned as Falcon led them through to the back of the shop and into his personal space. He gestured for them to enter the room to their right and they found themselves in a well-presented study. Francis was already in there sitting at a small conference table.

“Come in, come in,” Francis said, getting up and shaking their hands. “No problems this morning?”

“No, everything is fine today,” Hugh replied, taking the seat indicated. Imogen pulled up a chair beside him and they both helped themselves to the carafe of coffee after a gesture from Falcon.

Hugh held the camera out and grinned at Falcon. “Thanks for retrieving this for me. Sure you don’t want to leave it in place? Could prove useful.”

Falcon grinned back and shrugged. “No need. I’m having my brother Ollie come in and fix us up with a new security system. We have external cameras, of course, but I thought I’d follow your example and fit some internal ones as well. At least this way my staff will be aware of them.”

“Ollie?” Imogen asked. “Is that short for Oliver?”

“No. His given name is Oleander. Don’t ask. He hates it.”

Imogen only nodded and turned to Hugh. She poked him and he grunted. “Bring them up to date.”

Quickly, Hugh summarised the information Imogen had found out the previous evening.“So we’ve no way of knowing what happened to Ian after the home he was in was shut down?” Francis asked. “Seems a bit strange as it was a private secure hospital and not local authority funded.”

“All I could find online was that the owners decided to close it down. There was no mention of who the inmates were, of course, just that they’d been relocated. Strange thing is that on their blog for a couple of weeks before this announcement, they were saying how well their expansion was going.”

“Sounds dodgy,” Falcon agreed.

“What’s on the agenda for today?” Hugh asked.

“I thought we’d take Father McKenzie up on his offer to meet Myrna the National Trust manager at the Treasurer’s House and go and look at the cellars. You still okay coming with?”

“Sounds good,” Hugh replied. Not only was he intrigued about what had happened in those cellars over 60 years ago, but he would get to spend some time with Falcon.

“Whilst you’re doing that, I’m having coffee with John – Father Mckenzie that is,” Francis said. “I want to catch him up about Robert and Ian and warn him to be on the lookout for anything strange.”

“What about you, Imogen?” Falcon asked.

“I’m going to set up in the flat here and organise the ‘back office’. I’ll liaise with Peter, our analyst back in Manchester”

“Be careful.” Hugh said. “I’ll be glad when Gil’s here to offer more backup.” “I’ll be careful.” she replied. “It’s not my first rodeo.”

“Do you have Myrna’s contact details?” Hugh asked Falcon.

“I do. I’ll call her in a few moments and work out a time to meet with her.” “Okay.” Francis stood up. “I’m off to meet John. Take care all and keep in touch.”

Falcon

Falcon arranged with Myrna to meet her at lunchtime. There were no tours of the cellars booked in that day and she was happy for them to see the area. She sounded intrigued by what he told her over the phone and was looking forward to meeting them.

Walking over to the Treasurer’s House through York’s historic streets was a lesson in history, Falcon always thought. They weren’t far from the Minster and still within the area of Roman Eboracum.

Falcon and Hugh dropped into an easy pace, as though they’d been walking together for years.

“What’s your take on the idea of it actually being connected to the Ninth Legion under those tunnels?” Hugh asked him.

“Sceptical,” Falcon replied easily. “I’m not convinced. Until I see what’s down there myself it’s hard to speculate.”

“And McKenzie said no-one else is aware of them now. Doesn’t that seem unlikely?”

“I asked him about that, and he just shrugged and said many things had changed since the 60s. The people who knew about it when he was young man appeared not to have passed that knowledge on.”

“Yeah, that I don’t understand. Maybe your father will get more information out of him, seeing as they’ve been friends for years.”

“I hope so,” Falcon agreed as they crossed to Chapter House Lane and the entrance to the Treasurer’s House. Gaining entry through the main door, Falcon led the way to the ticket sales.

“Hi,” he greeted the man on duty. “We’re here to see Myrna Booth, she’s expecting us.”

“Yes, sir. I was told as much. Just a moment and I’ll call her down.”

Falcon and Hugh waited as the man contacted Myrna on the walkie talkie hanging from his belt.

“She’ll just be a moment,” the man said before turning his attention to the middle-aged couple who had come in behind them.

They moved away slightly as they waited. Falcon looked around. It had been many a year since he’d been in the Treasurer’s House, though it never changed.

Something about its previous owner Frank Green insisting it stayed the same as he’d had it when he transferred it to the National Trust.

“Gentlemen.” The voice came from a petite, dark-haired woman as she approached them. “I’m Myrna Booth, welcome to the Treasurer’s House.”

“Thank you,” Falcon replied, introducing himself then Hugh. “Father McKenzie speaks highly of your father,” she said to Falcon.

“Yes,” he replied. “I believe they were at school together. In fact, they were meeting for coffee this morning to catch up.”

Myrna smiled. “This way, please. Father McKenzie said you were interested in seeing the cellar where Harry Martindale saw the Roman Soldiers in the 50s?”

“We are.” Falcon agreed. “He is following up a project and asked us to help out.” Myrna led them down to the cellars and unlocked the door.

“How much do you know about what Martindale saw?” she asked them.

“I’ve read a couple of interviews with him and seen him being interviewed on TV. He was always adamant about what he witnessed. Very believable.”

“He was,” she replied. “I was lucky enough to meet him when I was a lot younger, I was volunteering here when I was at university, and they came in with a TV crew to do some filming. From what I heard and saw, he certainly believed what he had seen was completely true.”

“Here we are.” She entered the cellar where Martindale had been working. It was rather dark and they had to rely on a feeble overhead light. Falcon switched his phone light on to augment the light coming from overhead. There wasn’t much to see. A stone wall and cellar floor, both devoid of markings. He shone his torch along the wall where it met the floor then out to capture more of the area.

“He was over here on a ladder when he saw the first Roman soldier.” Myrna moved to stand where Martindale’s ladder had been, facing them. “The Roman soldiers appeared in front of him, about where you are Mr McHughes, then marched in a straight line towards the wall over there.”

Falcon and Hugh turned to follow the direction she was pointing in.

“It’s my belief the original Roman road to the barracks lies about 15 inches below the floor of the cellar?” Falcon asked.

“That’s correct. If you follow it, it’s a straight line to the fort which was situated about where the Minster is now. There are many Roman remains and treasures found when the Minster was built. Many of these are now on display in the undercroft.”

“Our next port of call.” Falcon smiled at her. He squinted, trying to imagine what the young Harry Martindale had seen that had sent him into shock for two weeks. Into a lifelong belief that he had seen the soldiers. “He reported that the soldiers looked weary and unkempt. That they appeared to be disheartened. One of the things that stood out was his report that they were carrying round shields, different from the shape of the shields Roman soldiers normally carried.”

Myrna nodded. “Years later historians discovered that about the period the Romans were in York, that they had experimented with using round shields for a short time. That wasn’t known in the 1950s and gave verisimilitude to Martindale’s tale.”

Looking around the cellar, Falcon felt the atmosphere change. He glanced over at Hugh.

“Do you feel that?”

“I do,” Hugh replied. “It’s got distinctly colder.”

Myrna looked at them in confusion. “Doesn’t feel any different to me.” Falcon stopped and closed his eyes. Reaching out with his inner eye, he was surprised to feel Hugh join him. He’d been unaware that the other man had any kind of psychic power. He opened his eyes to find Hugh looking at him with interest, as though he too had been surprised. The cellar still felt cold to him, and he could feel a strange disturbance.

Suddenly, his phone rang, shattering the quiet and the strange atmosphere. He swore, looking at the screen. It was his father.

“Dad?” he answered quickly.

“Fal, bring Hugh and come to the Minster library,” Francis ordered. “What’s up?”

“Just come, quickly. John’s missing.” Falcon ended the call and turned to Hugh.

“I heard,” the other man said, already making his way out of the cellar.

“I’m sorry, Myrna, we’ll have to cut this short. We need to go and see my father.”

Myrna could only nod. She led them back up through the main hall. Saying goodbye and promising to keep in touch, they made their way out into the sunshine. Fortunately, they didn’t have far to go.

Falcon squinted against the sun, looking at the strange sight of police cars with flashing lights outside the library of the York Minster.