The Case of the Blind Beetle by Holly Webb

Author:Holly Webb [Holly Webb]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781847156280
Publisher: Stripes Publishing
Published: 2014-08-22T16:00:00+00:00

“Please make sure not to tread on my feet!” the elderly lady snapped, as the omnibus swung wildly round a corner. “And keep that dog under control!”

Maisie pulled her feet the other way as far as she could and picked up Eddie, holding him tightly, but the old lady simply gave a disgusted sniff. Maisie gave up trying to be polite and just stared out of the dirty window, trying to see if it was going to snow again. It was awfully slow, this journey, she thought worriedly. Perhaps on the way back she had better go by the Underground. She had said to Gran that she had errands to run for Professor Tobin as well. Hopefully that would stop Gran worrying where she had got to.

Maisie still had a little way to walk when she got off the omnibus. Lord Dacre had explained to her that the boys were known to work down towards Wapping and the docks. He had told her to ask the way to the Pelican Stairs, down to the river. It was not a part of the city that Maisie had ever been to before. She hurried along the alleyway that a young man pointed out to her, wishing she had never come. In the grey winter cold, with the snow already turning to filthy slush, the streets were eerily empty – but at the same time she felt as though she was being watched.

Maisie hesitated at the top of the stone steps. They were caked in mud and slime, and she couldn’t help thinking of the sewers, pouring out who knew what into the river. She frowned. If there was mud and weedy slime up the stairs like this, then that must mean the water came all the way up, too. At that moment the river seemed a long way away, sucking sullenly at the mud. She knew that the river moved with the tides here, being quite close to the sea, but surely it didn’t move as much as that? Could it truly rise all the way up a flight of stairs?

“What you want?” someone asked.

Maisie jumped and almost slipped on the worn stairway. She dug her nails into the damp wall down the side of the steps, gasping in fright.

“What you standing there like that for?” the boy demanded again. At least, Maisie thought it was a boy. He was so filthy with mud that it was hard to tell, but the face under his dirty cap looked quite young. He was wearing ragged trousers that were tucked up to show bare legs, scarlet with cold, and a pair of boots tied on with scraps of knotted string. There was a metal bucket dangling on his arm, full of holes.

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