05 - The Day the Circus Came to Stickleback Hollow by Woolley C S

Author:Woolley, C S [Woolley, C S]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780995146907
Google: xiAizgEACAAJ
Publisher: Mightier Than the Sword UK
Published: 2021-01-07T16:26:24+00:00

Chapter 9

The arrival of Captain Jonnes Smith in Stickleback Hollow was never a welcome sight. It wasn’t that the man was unpopular or an unpleasant man, but wherever Captain Jonnes Smith went, upheaval was never too far away.

He was the chief constable of the Cheshire Constabulary, and it was only the most serious of matters that brought him to visit with Constable Evans.

When Arwyn opened the door of the police house, his heart stopped. His first thought was that Miss Baker had followed through with her threat to write to the chief constable, but it soon became apparent that something more serious than missing leather tools had brought Captain Jonnes Smith to call.

"Evans, I need you to find someone," the chief constable barked as he marched past Arwyn and into the police house.

“Who, sir?”

“Paul Curran. He’s a wastrel, a scoundrel and he attacked several people in Chester on 23rd December. We've been looking for him in every village between the city and the border of the county. So far we've not found any sign of him, but there's a possibility he's with the circus that Lord Cooper is playing host to," Captain Jonnes Smith explained.

“Have you got a description of the man?” Arwyn asked.

"Yes, he's a stocky man, not too tall, dark hair, no beard or moustache and has a vicious snarl," the chief constable said.

"I'll go to the circus right away," Arwyn told him.

"See that you do, I want this man found and brought back to the city before the New Year," Captain Jonnes Smith barked and quickly left the police house.

It didn’t bother Arwyn that the visit had been a brief one; being around his superior officer always made him feel very uncomfortable.

He didn’t wait for the chief constable’s carriage to depart before he had his cloak around his shoulders and was making his way out to the circus camp.

Arwyn marched through the snow. He debated going via the lodge and asking Mr Hunter to accompany him, but considering how much the chief constable disliked Alex, Arwyn decided it was best not to involve him in official police business.

The same two women as before were stood outside the camp, still doing laundry. The moment Constable Evans came into view, they dropped their washing and disappeared inside the nearest tent.

A few minutes later, the same three men as last time marched out of the camp to bar the way into the camp.

“Constable, how can we help you?” Bairstow asked when Arwyn was still some distance away.

"I'm looking for a man by the name of Paul Curran," Constable Evans said as loudly as he could.

"There's no one by that name here," Bairstow shrugged.

"I'm sure that I can trust you to be a man of your word, but I need to search your camp. He could be using a false name or hiding in an odd corner of your camp," Arwyn replied as he tried to walk past the three men.

"You won't find anyone here that doesn't belong, and Bairstow already told you that there is no one here by the name of Paul Curran," the giant man said firmly.

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