A Murder Shall Commence.

Chapter 4

"Good find, Fisher" Newham praised. "I assume these were what you were hoping to find, Allie?" he added. I nodded.

"They're almost perfect."

We joined Fisher in his rummaging through the pile, and eventually found some things that might fit us. Both men looked amazedly at me as I pulled out a pair of trousers.

"What?" I asked, looking incredulously at their disbelieving faces. "I'm not wearing any sort of dress! I've got a cap to hide my hair, as well. I'll make an excellent boy."

The two of them exchanged glances, but kept quiet. We changed swiftly, leaving our clothes hidden amongst the costumes. I found stuffing my hair into the hat rather more difficult than I had imagined, and in the end had to secure it in a bun on the top of my head before I could get the hat on. It was a flat cap, but you couldn't really see the bun poking up, and it was also a little small, meaning I could ram it on my head tightly without it falling off.

"Shall we?" I asked Newham and Fisher, who were waiting by the door.

"Come on, then" Newham sighed, making back down the corridor, the dirty shirt and knee-length short trousers he wore making him look ten years younger. As we scrambled back out of the kitchen, and the two men forced the door shut again, I was feeling a little nervous as I locked it behind us.

Nobody saw me pocket the keys.

"Er... Allie?" Fisher asked, as we came out onto the road that ran parallel to Praed Street, behind the theatre.

"Kit" I corrected him swiftly. "From here on in. I'm supposed to be a boy."

"Er....awright, Kit?" Fisher tried again. "Ow are we gonna get ta Whit'chapel?"

Newham and I both raised an eyebrow. The little Deputy Inspector had, rather unknowingly I imagined, slipped into a worryingly flawless London twang. Deciding not to comment, I shrugged, as my eye was caught by a certain hansom cab driving at quite the pace towards us.

"Catch a lift, I 'xpect" I replied, trying to mimic the voice I had just heard. What concerned me, though, was the little flinch Fisher gave as he seemed to realize how he had spoken.

I reckoned Newham wouldn't have spotted this, though, as the hansom cab passed us and I ran at it, leaping up to grab onto the back as it rattled away. My fingers wrapped around some of the decorations on the back, and I hauled the rest of my body up until I was hanging rather precariously from the rear of the cab, like I had seen many street boys do every day.

"Kit!" I heard Newham yell, as he gave furious chase with Fisher. I laughed loudly as the cab turned on to the main street, now amongst many others. As I was carried away, I saw Fisher beckon to Newham, then the two of them leapt onto a carriage, a couple of metres behind, the former looking suspiciously more comfortable than the latter. I watched them both clamber onto the roof as their carriage began to catch up to mine. As we passed, Newham stretched his hands down to me, to pull me onto their carriage and without hesitation I jumped to catch them.

It was during this action that I put my foot through the glass window of the carriage.

Hearing the smash of glass and the scream from inside our carriage, Fisher swore quietly before helping Newham haul me up to join them.

"We've gotta move!" the little police inspector shouted at us, grabbing my hand as we began to draw some serious attention. We jumped across a three-foot gap to a little cab just as the carriage we were on screeched to a halt, and briskly, Fisher pointed across to where there was a rather violent bend in the road.

"When we get ta there, jump" he ordered harshly. "Don't wait-"

He was interrupted by the cab we were on skidding to a halt, and without warning he half dragged me across to another, Newham just keeping his balance in time to follow us. It occurred to me how well built Fisher was for this sort of action. Small, slight, and agile, he was, unlike Newham, who despite being perfectly in shape carried a lot more muscle than the weedy policeman, which in this case wasn't exactly working in his favor. The worrying thing was-Fisher seemed to know where his natural talents lay. And he knew how to use them.

"Jump!" Fisher yelled suddenly, giving both Newham and I a violent shove in the back as the cab lurched around the tight bend. Somehow we both cleared the low wall lining the street and landed rather awkwardly in a dingy back alley. Fisher hadn't followed us, it appeared. I reckoned it had been too late after he had forced us to jump.

The landing had hurt, lots. My back felt like it had jarred, and I had scrapes down my shoulder and side where I had landed on the rough ground, and there was a nubbing pain in the shoulder that had taken most of the force of my fall.

"Allie?" Newham gasped. From the sound of his voice, I reckoned he was winded. Ignoring my own minor injuries, I scrambled over to his side.

"Breathe" I ordered breathlessly, which was rather ironic considering my order. "Don't try to speak. Just get your breath. I reckon we'll need it."

Trying to be as comforting as possible, I laced all of my fingers in his as he lay on his back, breathing raggedly as I sat with him on the floor. Eventually, he propped himself up on one elbow and stared at me, shaking his head.

"The hell was that?" he murmured. I looked at him confusedly, fingers of one hand still entwined in his.

"Fisher, I mean" Newham carried on. "The hell was he up to?"

"I..." I began waveringly.

"He could have killed us" Newham added. "How was he to know what was over that wall? It could have been a sixty foot drop!"

"I...I think he did know" I murmured. "I..."

"The hell's that supposed to mean?" Newham blurted, still sounding a little out of breath. I steeled myself.

"It's not important" I lied. "Not now, anyway. What's important now is that we get out of here."

"What's important now is that we get to Whitechapel, Allie" Fisher corrected, stepping out of the shadows suddenly, looking decidedly better off than Newham and I did. Newham opened his mouth, but a sharp squeeze of his hand with mine silenced him.

"Do you know the way?" I asked calmly.

"I do" Fisher replied. "The Blue Bull isn't far. But then not far for me could be quite the journey for you two."

"Let's walk" I said decidedly. "We don't have much time."