Autumn of Terror || h.s. au

Chapter 5: Hold My Coat

           

"What are you thinking about?" Harry asks me from across the carriage. He always seems to know when something's wrong, I guess he's cleverer than me in that sense.

"It's too simple, this case," I say, looking down at my hands. "Something's not right. Why is it so easy? Any idiot could figure it out."

"That's not true," Harry shakes his head. "If any idiot could figure it out, the Ripper would be caught by now. I don't think this is simple at all, I just think luck is on our side. Now, whoever the man in charge of the fight club is, that drunk at the pub said he knows everything about everyone. He can tell us everything we want to know about Cutbush."

"But, that man said he won't give out any information to just anybody," Niall adds. "Do you think he meant we have to bribe the man?"

I sigh. "Probably," I think for a moment. "We can't tell Freddie or any of them on the team about this. Fight clubs just so happen to be illegal."

"I've never been to one before," Harry admits. "I wonder what it'll be like."

"I've been to one," Niall answers. "There's a fence that's short in height, it forms a huge circle that people fight in. There is usually a large group of men standing on the outside of the circle, cheering the fighters on. It can get gruesome, a round doesn't usually end until someone breaks a bone or is knocked out. It's not really my thing, but my brother used to take me there when I was younger. He liked to fight."

"That..." Harry's voice trails. "That doesn't sound fun at all. Why do people like doing things like that?"

I shrug. "I suppose it does wonders for their ego if they win. I used to get into fight with other children when we were young, do you remember that?"

Harry chuckles. "Yeah, some of the boys we knew would pick on you a lot for not being from England. You'd tell me to hold your coat and then you'd fight them. Those boys never stood a chance against you."

"Well, I couldn't fight very well with a heavy coat on," I laugh. "I was pretty good at fighting when I was younger, I only got a few bruises or so. Think I even broke a boy's nose, now that I think about it. They deserved it, though. Making fun of the way I speak, those bullies were asking for it."

"Wow," Niall comments. "I never knew you were so tough."

I merely giggle. I seem to surprise quite a lot of people with what I can do. I've grown out of that phase, though. I've calmed down since then, I haven't picked a fight since I was twelve years old. Henry was never much of a fighter, so he would just stand by the side and cheer me on.

"So, what exactly are we going to ask this man?" Niall asks.

I shrug. "We'll just be straightforward with it and ask him if he knows a man named Thomas Cutbush. Simple as that."

"And if he doesn't know?" Harry points out. "What will we do then?"

I think for a moment before responding. "Well, if he doesn't know, we'll just have to go back to the pub and ask around again. It's getting late, though. We might just head back to the house after this."

"I can't wait," Niall says. "I'm exhausted, this has been one of the longest days of my life."

The carriage comes to a stop and Harry gets out, holding open the door for me and helping me step out. I get a good look at the scene in front of me. The carriage dropped us off right in front of the railway station, so we just have to find the stairs leading below the train tracks and follow those. The man in the pub said it would be in an open area surrounded by construction, so it won't be directly under the tracks. It'll probably be on either side of the tracks.