Daisy and Bernard (The Blind Sleuth Mysteries 3)

Chapter 15

Jonathan was panhandling at the entrance of Aldgate Tube station, drinking yet another beer, hiding the can between his raised knees after each sip. He'd first spent an hour or two near that crazy building they'd entered, then he'd started worrying that they might leave by another entrance, so he'd hurried back here, assuming Mummy at least would be taking the Tube again. Lunchtime had gone by and he'd become hungry, so he'd bought a couple of sandwiches, and those beers. Then he'd waited, wondering if his mother would ever show up.

"We'll see," he muttered to himself, "we'll see." He'd been waiting for hours now, but at least it gave him something to do. He had plenty of time to spare. Time was the only thing he had plenty of. Suddenly Jonathan perked up. "Here they come, the two of them, at last!"

She was still with that ugly mug in the wheelchair, not with the pinstripe and bowler hat. Unbelievable! But wait a minute, this time the ugly man was in front, looking straight in his direction, Mummy walking behind. On the other hand, they were still far off, and he himself was in the shadow of the entrance, but they were coming his way. Nowhere to hide. No good darting off, either, that would only draw the chap's attention. So Jonathan quietly pulled his blanket from under him, wrapped it around his shoulders and lay down right where he was, with his face to the wall, resting his head on his folded elbow. He lay still, pretending to sleep.

At length they entered the Tube station. Jonathan could hear his mother's voice, utterly familiar. They walked by, just ten feet from him, and he heard Mummy saying, "It's not a problem at all; we've done it before..." The man muttered something in response to that, and then they were gone. Their voices receded as they proceeded further into the station.

Now that they had their backs turned to him, Jonathan looked up and saw them standing at the top of the stairs talking to some passers-by. After a while two young chaps lifted the wheelchair-bound man up and carried him down the stairs to the platform. What a freak show! Jonathan hated this; he had a mind to walk over to those two right now and tell them what he thought of them making such an exhibition of themselves. His whole life he had been ashamed of going out with his blind mother; he'd hated it when she cajoled or hectored complete strangers into helping her, when he himself had refused to do it—rightly so. Besides, why didn't she use a guide dog like other blind people!

The two of them got on the westbound Circle Line, and Jonathan boarded the next wagon as inconspicuously as he could. They got off at Sloane Square Station, and this time they were able to take an escalator up, the man clinging to the rubber handrails like an orang-utan. He looked exactly like King Louie in Jungle Book! Jonathan had been to that flick with his mother when he was ten years old: he'd loved it... Mummy too; they'd both loved it. Now it turned out that he himself was a lot like Mowgli: a defenseless orphan, and Shere Kahn was baying for his blood. He'd have to flee the jungle as soon as possible. "I'm fed up with life on the streets, anyway."

After leaving the Tube station, the two of them walked for about a mile in the direction of the Thames, ending up on the Embankment, and entering a very posh building there. Jonathan wondered: could it be that Quasimodo actually lived here? Was he Mummy's new lover after all? She'd had lovers before. She'd never made a secret of it. And he'd hated them all with a passion. He now had the disturbing feeling that this could well be the place she had been visiting so often lately. "All right, we'll see." It was still early in the afternoon. Jonathan settled down for another long wait.

Daisy and Bernard were sitting side by side at his desk in the office corner of his living room. Once again Daisy was reading a bulky Braille document held together by a heavy ring binder, slowly going through a thick stack of embossed paper. Then at length, when she'd come to the last page, Bernard asked eagerly, "What do you think? Is it right?"