Chapter 5: Tricky cases
Chapter 5 The Tricky Case
The Magistrate’s Court was set up not far from the Scotland Yard neighborhood, so it didn’t take Arthur long for them to arrive at the place on foot.
But by now Tony had long since lost his mind to work, and was worrying about the days ahead.
But he was not the most anxious of all those present.
A tense looking policeman was standing in front of the magistrates’ court pacing slowly, his brow clenched into a frown. Even from a distance, Arthur could clearly see beads of sweat on his temples.
Arthur raised his hand and greeted him, “Tom, are you in charge of escorting the suspect today?”
Officer Tom was practically moved to tears when he saw Arthur’s familiar face.
“Arthur, you must help me!”
Arthur twisted his head to look at the disoriented Tony behind him, and turned to Tom and asked, “What? Is your kid going to college too?”
“Going to college? No, my wife’s only just got pregnant and it’s hard to tell if she’ll make it to term.”
“Any difficulties?”
“Not yet. But I’ve had two miscarriages before, so you must help me this time.”
Arthur shrugged and spread his hands at him.
“Tom, you must be in a hurry. I’m just a cop like you, I’m in charge of crime, not births. If you want to help your wife have a smooth labor, then you should give her more nutrition and find an experienced midwife. But either of the above is not my line of work.”
Tom’s palms were sweaty with anxiety as he spoke, “I’ve already contacted a midwife, and while I’m not rich, I’ve already tried to spare a portion of my modest paycheck each day to buy her meat.
Although everything seems to be going quite well now, my wife had a dream about God last night.
God said that the reason she had a miscarriage was because I, as a husband, had too many sins on my hands, and that I had to go and atone for my sins, or else this time around the fetus would likewise be stillborn.”
“Atonement? Isn’t that a priest’s job? St. Margaret’s is right behind me, you should go straight and then turn left.”
Tom covered his face and said incoherently, “This time, this time, I’m afraid the priest doesn’t work.”
“Doesn’t work?”
Arthur cupped his chin and thought for a while, “Why don’t you buy a boat ticket to the Ottoman Empire and find an imam to ask? Or go to the East and find a bald monk with high cultivation to ask for advice? Even if God doesn’t look at the priest’s face, at the very least, he should take care of Allah and Buddha’s emotions, right? If none of them work, I still know a red-nosed clown who knows witchcraft, so I can ask him to take a look for you as well.”
Agareth’s shadow flickered for a moment, “Arthur, I’m not a clown!”
Tears glistened in Tom’s eyes, his whole being on the verge of breaking down.
“Whoa! Arthur, it’s that time of day, so don’t make fun of me. There must be a reason why God chose to appear in my wife’s dream at this time. I’ve been tossing and turning this morning, and no matter how I think about it, I think God must be talking about Little Adam’s case.”
“Little Adam’s case?”
Arthur’s mind sank at the name.
Little Adam’s reputation was as good as any in the ears of the patrolmen in the area.
Although he was only a nine year old brat, Little Adam’s criminal record was something that couldn’t be written on a page.
As an experienced grubber, Little Adam’s business ranged from breaking and entering homes and stealing handkerchiefs, down to taking fruit and snatching toys.
Only because the amount of money involved was small, his sentence was not too long.
As a result, every so often he could be seen active on the streets of St. Giles Parish, yet it wouldn’t be long before he was sent back to prison.
Arthur took the dossier from Tony’s hand and quickly found information about Little Adam.
As he flipped through the information, he chanted, “I’ve talked to that little brat before, trying to get him to tone it down a bit. But after I learned about his family’s situation, I realized that was impossible.” Tony asked, “Why is it impossible? Isn’t he afraid of going to jail or getting whipped?”
Arthur closed his information book and stared straight at Tony, “Adam told me that prison was more comfortable than staying at his home.
Because he gets a hot shower and some clean clothes and socks while he’s in there.
Although he sometimes gets bullied by other inmates in there, the guards and some conscientious criminals will put a stop to it.
And if he’s on the outside, once he doesn’t bring money back from the outside, then his asshole parents can beat him up much heavier than the inmates in the prison.
Tony, we’re just the police and we can solve some of the policing problems, but Adam’s criminal behavior is a social problem and there’s nothing we can do about it.”
Arthur then added, turning to Tom, who was praying penitently, “If you are feeling remorseful because of what happened to little Adam, then there is no need to be. For as far as he is concerned, you are doing a good deed in yourself by putting him in prison. God will not blame you for that. If you can arrange a prison with better conditions for him, God may not be able to reward you for your kindness.”
“But …… But it’s different this time, Arthur!”
Tom cried bitterly, “This time he’s made a big mistake, and I’m afraid the case can’t be closed by putting him in jail. What’s worse is that he’s committed this time at the hands of Sheriff Willox, who specifically instructed me this morning that we must sit on this case.
The Home Office issued a new paper the day before yesterday saying that a low prosecution rate would be detrimental to the image of the Metropolitan Police and that we should aim for a 100% prosecution rate.
And you know how that old bastard Willox is, if we screw up and discredit his glorious honor roll, we might get sacked along with him.
My wife is about to have a baby, and I can’t afford to lose this job. But I can’t watch little Adam get killed just the same!”
“Sentenced to death? What crime did he commit this time? Murder or arson?”
“Neither.” Tom shuddered, “He just stole a lady’s umbrella.”
Tony was relieved to hear this, “Tom, can you talk without a fuss. How much can an umbrella be worth? The magistrate will more than likely sentence him to a year in jail, just get him a nice place to go, no big deal.”
Tom was shaking all over, “No, Tony, it was a very fine lace-edged parasol worth seven shillings and sixpence.”
“Seven shillings and sixpence?”
Tony exclaimed in alarm, “Damn! More than five shillings and you’re going to the gallows! Even if the magistrate and the jury were lenient, he’d be banished to Australia for seven or eight years. A nine-year-old boy, banished to Australia? He’ll probably die on the boat before he gets there.”
Tom breathed heavily, “If …… if it’s not possible …… I …… I’ll simply fight that old bastard Sheriff Willocks! up! It’s God’s will that I, I should be all right.”
Just as Tom clenched his fists with the intention of going out to fight, Arthur’s hand rested on his shoulder.
It was a warm sunny smile.
And behind Arthur’s smile, Agares also revealed a satisfied smile.
“Wow! Arthur, it’s as if I can already see your naked bad intentions.”
Arthur said, “Tom, I’ll take care of things here, you can go back to your duty. I assure you, little Adam will be fine.”
Tom looked surprised, “You came up with the best of both worlds? Whoa! Geez! I knew it! After all, the smartest head in all of Scotland Yard is standing right here!”
He clenched his fist and swung it hard toward the sky, “Arthur! Go and show them that your four years of college weren’t for nothing! Oxford and Cambridge aren’t worth as much as a leg up from the University of London!”
Arthur looked at the excited Tom and just calmly took off the blue and white armband on his left arm and handed it to Tom.
His low voice was as if the devil was murmuring.
“And by the way, say hello to Sergeant Willox for me, and tell that uneducated mongrel that Inspector Constable of the Greenwich District of the London Metropolitan Police, Arthur Hastings, isn’t going to fucking do it.”
(End of chapter)