Dinner was a somewhat quiet and tense affair. The only person who didn't mind that was BA who had never seen the sense in mixing food and conversation anyway.
When coffee was served David asked if he could be excused and went to his room. Mike watched him leave then watched the door that closed behind him. Eventually he turned back to the others with a sigh.
"Sorry," he said. "You didn't come here to have to put up with my domestic troubles."
"It can't be easy, bringing up a kid on your own." Hannibal said.
"It's not easy for him either." Mike said, "Having a dad who looks like me I mean." No one could think of an answer to that one. "And it's only going to get harder. Once he starts bringing girls home I mean." He shook his head.
"I wouldn't worry too much about that," Hannibal said, "I think the main problem that kid is likely to have with girls is crowd control." He was rewarded with a smile from the client. "Perhaps Face can give him some advice?" He grinned at the Lieutenant who gave him an ironic smile in return.
"Like I said, he gets his looks from his mother." Mike glanced over at a family portrait on the wall. His late wife was a pretty woman, with a gentle smile, thick black hair and the same dark eyes as David. "Now Elena, she was born to the circus life, her family had been show people in Europe for generations. She was a trapeze artist."
"Is that how she died?" Murdock asked. "An accident?"
"Oh no, nothing like that." Mike said, "No, she had a brain haemorrhage. Just sitting sewing one day, she blacked out and…" He stopped, looking down. "Davie misses her."
Hannibal glanced around at the rest of the team, who all had wistful expressions; perhaps remembering loved ones they missed. He cleared his throat.
"Let's get cleared up and post a guard for the night," he said. "I get the feeling we may have some late night visitors."
Hannibal was right. It was almost one in the morning when they heard the distant roar of an engine.
"Colonel, the game is afoot." Murdock reported from the command post.
"Okay, get down here and get into position." Hannibal ordered.
A few minutes later Hannibal was standing outside the front door, apparently lounging casually, smoking a cigar. A dark red pickup came up the drive fast and screeched to a halt. It was a new truck, that year's model, Hannibal observed, very shiny and tricked out with plenty of unnecessary extra lights and bull bars. Three men were in the cab, half a dozen more in the back. Hannibal guessed the Heinemann brothers were the ones up front.
As the men got out of the truck, the one who had been driving growled "Watch the chrome, you jackasses!" at the men getting out of the back. That must be Jed, the oldest brother, Hannibal thought. Tall and bulky and sandy haired, he possessed a certain natural authority. Hannibal could see right away he was a man used to getting his own way. Things were about to change for Jed.
The men were rowdy and clearly the worse for drink. They didn't notice Hannibal at first as they approached the door. When he stepped out of the shadows they stopped abruptly.
"Hey there, neighbours," Hannibal said, "I'm afraid our bar isn't open yet, come back in a couple of months."
"What? Where's Harper?" Jed demanded.
Hannibal gave what he hoped was an infuriating smile. "Anything you want to say to Mr Harper you can say to me."
"Oh yeah?" Jed asked, "Who are you then, the ringmaster?" His brothers and their friends sniggered. "I wanna see the midget right now. I've told him already to keep his brat away from my daughter."
"Kids," Hannibal said, "You can't tell them anything these days."
"Well I'll tell him alright. Thrash it into the brat if I have to."
"No, you won't." Hannibal's voice went hard. "You'll get out of here now and you won’t come back." This was greeted with derisive laughter from the other men, but not Jed. His eyes were locked on Hannibal's.
"Aaron," he said to one of his brothers, "get the shotgun." Aaron moved back towards the truck. Hannibal showed no reaction to the threat.
"He doesn't seem to get it, Jed," the other brother said.
"He'll get it okay in a minute, Zeke," Jed said, still looking at Hannibal. "If he doesn't send out the hobbit."
"Hey, sounds like we've found the intellectual of the group." The thugs whirled at the sound of a voice from their left. Face stood on top of a stack of building materials, holding a machine gun on the group.
"Indeed, it seems this fellow may have actually read a book." This voice came from their right. Murdock was on another stack, similarly armed and speaking in an English accent.
"That’s called a flanking manoeuvre, Jed," Hannibal told him. "And I didn't learn that in any circus." A couple of the men started to back up towards the truck. Aaron was standing near it with the shotgun, looking nervous. "Put that down, pal." Hannibal told him. Aaron hesitated.
"He said put it down, sucker." BA appeared from behind the truck, pointing his rifle straight at Aaron. Aaron's eyes went huge at the sight of him and he dropped the shotgun carelessly, put his hands up.
"And that's called being surrounded." Hannibal said. "Now, we don't want any trouble, this is a respectable hotel. So I suggest you leave quietly."
"This ain't over," Jed snarled as his group started to move towards the truck. "We don't want that little freak in this town."
"Yeah, how dare he come here offering work and bringing money into the town. Who does he think he is?" Face's voice was massively sarcastic.
"Colonel," Murdock called, still in his Holmes persona, "My powers of observation lead me to deduce that these men are intoxicated." Hannibal saw the glint in the captain's eye as he cocked his head slightly at the truck and he got what Murdock was suggesting at once.
"You're right, Holmes." Hannibal said. "Hand over the keys, Jed." Jed stared at him.
"You're kidding. You ain't getting this truck."
"Friends don't let friends drive drunk." Hannibal said. "I'd never forgive myself if you had an accident. Or got picked up by the sheriff." He grinned. "Though that's not very likely, now is it?" Jed was scowling and making no move to obey.
BA let loose a blast from his rifle over their heads.
"Man asked you for the keys! Do it!" Some of the men hit the dirt; the others ducked and quailed in terror. Jed flung the keys down at Hannibal's feet.
"Good decision, Jed." Hannibal said. "We'll return it in the morning."
"If there's so much as a scratch on it..." Jed was still angry and threatening and Hannibal was quite impressed. Most men would be grovelling for mercy by now.
"That pretty thing? I'll treat her like the lady she is," Hannibal promised. "Well it's late, I hate to break up the party, but …" He nodded down the driveway.
"He means move it!" BA snapped. The men, subdued now and grumbling started off slowly down the driveway. Jed followed. At one point he turned to glare back at Hannibal who waved to him in a friendly fashion.
"You tell him, you tell Harper to keep his kid away from my daughter." Jed yelled.
"Well, I'll pass it on, but I can't promise anything," Hannibal called back. Jed growled and turned away following his friends. Once they were all out of sight the rest of the team joined Hannibal.
"Those guys were real nasty, Hannibal." Murdock said, back to his own personality for now. "Drunk, armed. If we hadn't been here…"
"And they'll be back," said Face. He grinned, "David's messing with the guy's daughter, you're messing with his truck. All we need now is to do something to his mother and we've got the hat-trick."
"I'll have to see what I can come up with," Hannibal said. They went inside. Mike and David were in the lobby and must have heard what had been said outside, because Mike was talking very fast and angrily at David, the word 'daughter' coming up pretty frequently.
"I was just talking to Debbie about school," the boy protested, when he could get a word in. "Is there a law against that now?"
"You know the trouble I'm having, are you trying to make it worse? Do you ever stop to think?" Mike shut up as the team came in. "Go back to bed," he ordered David. "We'll talk tomorrow, after church."
The boy ran off upstairs, Mike, looking weary turned to Hannibal.
"Thank you, Colonel." He said.
"Hope we didn't scare the kid with the gunfire." Hannibal said.
"No, I'd already started yelling at him by then, so I'm not sure he noticed it." Mike said, wryly. Hannibal grinned.
"Okay, fellas, I'm taking first watch, the rest of you get to bed. Gotta be up bright and early for church in the morning."
"Church?"
"I can't believe Hannibal is making us go to church." Face said to Murdock. They were sitting in the lobby, drinking coffee. Face had been on watch since three and was looking like it. Rumpled was the word Murdock was thinking of looking at him.
"He thinks it will help us get a handle on the feeling in the town," Murdock said. "And he probably wants to cock a snook at Jed." He sipped his coffee. They sat for a moment watching David coming down the corridor from the direction of the kitchens.
"Why do you suppose he's walking on his hands?" Face asked.
"Because he can?" Murdock said, not seeing why a person would need any other reason.
"Knock that off!" Mike's voice came from a room off the corridor as David passed the door.
"And because it annoys his dad." Murdock added. The boy flipped back onto his feet. Mike came out of the room.
"You'll mess up your suit," he said handing David up a jacket, then he beckoned him to bend down and he straightened up David's tie. Hannibal appeared from the room, also wearing a suit.
"Sunday best, Colonel?" Murdock asked, grinning.
"I'd better get changed," Face said, standing up.
"Oh, that's okay, Face, you don't have to come."
"I thought BA was staying here on guard?" Face said.
"He is." Hannibal said.
"So I can get some rest?" Face asked, hopefully.
"Nope, you're taking Jed's truck back." He tossed the keys to Face, who caught them one-handed. Face groaned. "Now be careful not to scratch it," Hannibal said. "Though should you feel the urge to, say, let all the tires down and leave the radio and the air-con running, well you just go right ahead and indulge that urge." Despite his tiredness Face grinned a little.
"Right, Colonel." He headed towards the door, and then turned back. "Wait, how do I get back?"
"Just start walking, we'll pick you up on the way back." Face did not look overly thrilled with the idea of walking. He left grumbling.
"Ready Murdock? Right, we'll take your car, Mike. Let's go to church."
The church was a handsome white stone building, with an impressive arched doorway. People were milling about outside as they arrived, chatting in the warm sunshine. Mike greeted people politely, but most of them only gave him curt nods in response. He didn't appear to let that bother him, but Hannibal could see his jaw clenching tighter and tighter. David just glowered at people who didn't respond politely to his father. Murdock was looking around, eyes narrowed in concentration.
"Theorising, Holmes?" Hannibal asked. Murdock smiled and shook his head.
"Simply observing." He said. Hannibal looked around. He wasn't sure what exactly Murdock was observing; he couldn't see anything worth observing. Just a standard crowd of people, smartly turned out in their Sunday clothes. Nothing unusual about them that he could see. Still, Murdock had his own perspective; they'd soon see what he came up with.
Then something worth observing turned up. The Heinemann's. Not just the brothers, but the whole family, in three large sedans. Jed got out of his car and went around to open the passenger door. A woman in her sixties got out. She was a tiny wisp of a thing, barely more than five feet tall, smartly dressed in pale blue, with a matching hat. She took Jed's arm and they walked towards the church, the rest of the family following.
"That's the mother?" Hannibal asked. She was being deferred to as if she was the Queen of England by the town's people but was greeting them in a friendly way. Now and then she stopped to talk to someone, to pat the head of a child, or to coo over a baby.
"Grace Heinemann," Mike confirmed, nodding. "Her late husband was the one who really established the family in this town apparently. Put a lot of money into the place. Built this church for one thing. He was Mayor for about thirty years."
"And Jed, Aaron and Zeke just live off that legacy?" Murdock asked.
"Yes, literally off the money, they don't do much work. And off the reputation." He shook his head. "Their mother must be really disappointed in them, I feel sorry for her." She couldn't have heard him speaking, but Grace looked over at Mike and his party at that moment. Mike gave a nod in greeting and she smiled back at him. Jed saw where she was looking and scowled at them all. Hannibal grinned back at him, though resisted the urge to wave.
Among Jed's family members Hannibal noticed a girl of about David's age, wondered if this was the daughter, Debbie, Jed wanted the boy to keep away from. The kid had claimed he was just innocently talking about school, but when Hannibal glanced at him he was looking at Debbie and Hannibal wasn't so sure about the innocence. David had his head down a little and was looking at her through his bangs. And looking wasn't really the word. Smouldering was more like it. He had that down pretty well for someone so young, Hannibal thought, and it was only going to get better as he got older. Debbie was looking back at him with sidelong glances, until Jed snapped something quietly and a woman, presumably her mother, leaned close and spoke sharply to her. She put her head down, blushing.
As the sound of the organ came from the church the people began to move inside. The Heinemann family took up the front two pews, which no one else had attempted to sit in. Mike's party took a pew near the back. Hannibal didn't mind that, being near the door was a good strategic position. They opened their hymnbooks and began to sing.
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© Elizabeth Charles 2005