Chapter 22
Sunday was the big day, but Olivia and Basil still had a few hours to themselves, so Olivia took this opportunity to ask more of his life. She did know that he observed Sherlock Holmes, the Master Basil called him, maybe when he was a youngster.
However, something did puzzle her, she was curious of how the feud between Basil and Ratigan, and probably Rosenberg, started. She decided to look at the portrait of Ratigan on the mantle above the fireplace, except it wasn't there.
"You looking for something?" Basil asks from behind her.
"Um...Elliott, what happened to Ratigan's portrait? And those mementos you had?" she replies, pointing to the empty mantle.
"I threw it out after the case ten years ago," Basil answers, but Olivia started to dread about asking the next question. "It's all right love, you can ask me why I had that portrait in the first place," he said.
"Are you sure? I mean, I have a feeling that he did something terrible to you," Olivia replies, but Basil sits her in his chair. He takes out a box from a drawer in the side table and unlocks it. Inside were newspaper clippings of the various activities Ratigan did, but Olivia notices they were from many years before she was born and when Basil was a youngster. She then sees a clipping of a detective, much older than Basil, but she recognizes the name.
"Detective Henry Walker?" she speaks of the name of the detective before Basil. "I heard of him!" she exclaims, but then quiets down when she sees the look in Basil's eyes. "He was your mentor?" she asks.
"One of the best," he replies and takes out a clipping which featured a very young Basil. The headline said: DETECTIVE AND APPRENTICE UNCOVER POLITICAL CORRUPTION. Olivia looks it over, the crime was that some British politicians of Mousedom were abusing funds for the poorhouses and prisons and giving it to various criminals, including Ratigan after they made threats against the politicians and their families.
"I was quite fond of Walker and his family," Basil begins and continues, "In fact, I thought we go into business together and we would've been the best of all Mousedom."
"Did you...I mean, Walker had a daughter, did you like her?" she asks, but he doesn't answer. She then remembers that the Walker family were victims of Ratigan and his gang.
"The feud between me and Ratigan began on a dark night. Ratigan swore that he would hurt Walker in a terrible way. He took them when they left from the theater and abused them, the youngest wasn't even 10. Henry and I were away on an assignment," Basil said, but Olivia didn't want him to hurt himself by reliving such horrible memories. "Ratigan didn't just abuse them psychically, he..." Basil trails off, but Olivia understood.
"Elliott, you don't have to say it," she insists and then he fishes out a clipping from the bottom of the box. Olivia looks at the picture, she recognizes the young Basil, but he was cradling an arm and there appeared to be blood on his shirt and his face showed horror and pain.
She looks at the headline: DETECTIVE AND FAMILY KILLED IN EXPLOSION, APPRENTICE ONLY SURVIVOR
"My mentor swore to find his family alive. We followed a lead to one of Ratigan's hideouts, but it was all a set-up. He..." Basil stops to fight some tears. Olivia takes him in her arms.
"Elliott, I didn't know you were close to him, I'm so sorry," she said and they gently settle on the floor. "I'm sorry for upsetting you," Olivia adds, but Basil shakes his head.
"No, I think it's good to relive memories, especially bad ones," he said and breathes in a little. "I kept Ratigan's portrait as a reminder that he was still out there. Doing dreadful things, not just to adults, but to children as well. That's why...that's why I didn't..."
"You wanted to distance yourself from me," Olivia replies and he looks into her eyes. "You were afraid of falling in love and that the criminals would hurt me or your loved ones. Hence why you don't talk to your siblings very much," she adds and he nods.
"You know, I'm glad Fidget kidnapped your father, otherwise you wouldn't have sought me out," he said and she smiles at this. The two shared a tender, but silent moment on the floor of the living room.
They regained their composure and Basil helps her up. He places both his hands over Olivia's cheeks and says, "If you promise me to pass all these classes, then I swear that I'll never make one mistake on a case."
She chuckles and replies, "Not sure if that'll work, but I'm going to work very hard on my studies."
"I'm curious, what classes are you taking?" he asks.
"Don't be surprised, but I'm taking Introduction to Political Theory, Law in Society, Political Philosophy and this one is just for a little fun Criminal Justice Theory," Olivia answers and Basil's brain begins to process.
"That much? Will you be all right on your finals?" he asks, but she gives a serious nod. "I personally believe you would be a great politician," he adds.
"I'm just more into why we need a government, seeing how criminals take or kill to get what they want," Olivia said and Basil nods.
"Indeed, this is a dangerous world we live in," he replies.
"I did thought of psychology, but I wanted to pursue something more similar to you," Olivia adds and Basil nods again.
"Elliott," she said and he listens, "Can you take me to Toby's grave, if there is a grave."
"Yes, his grave is out back," Basil replies and takes her by the hand. Dawson notices them leaving the house and follows them. Basil leads Olivia through some tall grass and they come upon a stone.
The stone had an inscription and Olivia reads it, "Here lies Toby, a great dog with a great nose. Farewell beloved friend."
Olivia looks around and finds a little periwinkle and places it on the stone. She kneels down, closing her eyes and whispers to the stone. She was hoping that Toby and her father were getting along in the afterlife. She then makes a silent vow, telling Toby that she will not let him down by studying hard and protecting Basil, his true master.
A little time passes and Olivia bids one final farewell to Toby. Basil and Dawson also bid farewell to Toby and return to the house. Mrs. Hudson was waiting for them, she had the luggage ready for them.
"Mrs. Silverman just called, you can head on over whenever you are ready," the housekeeper said and the two nod. They decided to leave, just to get settled in their new living quarters. Olivia bids goodbye to Mrs. Hudson and Dawson, although she believes she'll run into him when Basil would take up a case.
"Now you work hard and pass those classes, I would hate for you to fail at least one," Mrs. Hudson said and Olivia nods.
"I'm going to work really hard," she replies and she and Basil leave the house.
They take one good look at the house at Baker Street as they walk towards the trolley. The sun was shining bright again and they took it as a good omen. They take a seat at the trolley's mice compartment as it heads to Westfield College.
No one paid any attention to the mouse detective or his fiancee, so it gave them a peace of mind. They look out the window, watching the humans pass by. Then the trolley stops at the street where the college was and they step off.
Olivia leads Basil to Mrs. Silverman's home, which was not too far from the campus. It was a beautiful Victorian home and Olivia knocks on the little door. Mrs. Silverman answers and was surprised to see them.
"Ah welcome!" she exclaims and lets them inside. The house was bright with burning oil lamps and Mrs. Silverman leads to Basil's new living quarters in the upstairs area. To their surprise, the room that Mrs. Silverman lead them into was just humongous compared to Basil's bedroom back at Baker Street.
"Figured you needed all this, just to think and such," she said and Basil shakes her hand.
"Mrs. Silverman, I can't thank you enough," he replies and sets his baggage at the base of his new bed. It was the same size as his old bed, there was a desk that had a view and he looks through the window. It had a view of the campus, which gave him a sense of peace.
"Um...Mrs. Silverman, I didn't ask how much would you charge me," Basil said, realizing that this couldn't possibly be free.
"Oh, I suppose I could..." she trails off and begins to think, "I don't want to be greedy, but since I'm housing you just so you can be close to Miss Olivia and I will be handling all the food and such. How does 10 shillings sound?" she asks.
"I can offer you more," the detective insists, but Mrs. Silverman didn't seem to take it. "Here's this, I'll pay 10 shillings a week, but if I am on a case, I'll pay you 100 from that case and so forth," Basil offers and the teacher begins to think again.
"All right, I suppose you'll be away on some cases," she said and they shake hands on it. "Oh, but Mr. Basil I insist you keep things down a little. I am a light sleeper and if I hear you pacing, then it might be an issue," she adds and goes over some house rules. Mrs. Silverman would allow clients to enter her home, but not to let any of the "terrible" kind.
"Now I suspect there will be rowdy ones who demand your services, but I would hate for any who are in the wrong crowd be in here," she said and Basil nods. "I will allow you to smoke your pipe, but do be careful with matches and such," she continues and they go further down. She then comes upon one last rule, "I will allow Miss Olivia here to come spend the weekend with you, but try not to be rough with her."
"Rough?" Olivia asks, but her teacher looks at her with a smile. "Oh! Mrs. Silverman, we won't-" "Nonsense Miss Olivia! I did tell you that it is fine to engage in sex to maintain a healthy relationship," the teacher cuts in and adds, "I certainly wish my late husband was still around."
"Mrs. Silverman, thank you again," Basil said and escorts Olivia out of the house towards her dormitory. She didn't speak for much of the walk. "Are you all right?" he asks.
"I actually never thought Mrs. Silverman would allow us to do something like that," Olivia answers.
"I suppose she accepts these changing times, in fact, she did tell me she was a bit of a rebel in her family, but she was excommunicated from her family after her divorce from her first husband," Basil explains and Olivia nods.
"She did mention that, I would hate to lose contact with my family for some new ideas," she said and adds, "But a marriage can be hard, especially if both spouses don't like each other or have a falling out. I hate the fact that a lot of mice and even humans still relay on old beliefs."
Basil listens to her and he begins to process this information. There were plenty of mice, like the Flaversham's, who preferred the old ways, but have a hard time accepting new ideologies.
Then, he notices that they came upon Olivia's dormitory, but he was not allowed to go in. "I'll be a minute," she said and rushes inside. He takes the time to look at the campus, it was a beautiful place and he replays some of Olivia's words in his mind, especially when she mentioned that male mice would sneak onto the campus grounds. He wasn't sure if those male mice were looking for a mate or possibly a lady to...He removes that thought from his mind. These lady mice were smart and Olivia would be able to fight an intruder.
Olivia returns and they share a moment before Basil had to leave, it was getting late. "Tomorrow's a big day," he said with excitement. "Now as I said-" "I know, if I work hard and pass my tests, then you won't make any mistakes on your cases," Olivia cuts in and he chuckles. "But I will miss you," she adds.
"I will miss you too," Basil replies and they share a kiss. After a minute passes, Basil caresses Olivia's cheek with his thumb, "I'll be at the Silverman house, but I'll come to you if I am assigned a case," he said and she nods.
"As I said before, try not to take the most dangerous ones," she replies and leans her head against his chest, hearing his heart beat.
"I can't make promises as I mentioned, but I'll try," he said and he had to go. Olivia watches as he walks across the grounds and out the gate, while turning back to her every few seconds and waving to her.
Basil settles in his new living quarters, having dressed in his robe and staring out the window to look at the campus. Mrs. Silverman had offered some food, but he touches a little of it. He was fond of the fried chips, it gave him some sense of comfort as he was lonely.
"Don't worry so much, Mr. Basil," Mrs. Silverman tells him as she collects the serving plate. "The weeks will go by and Miss Olivia will be with you for good," she adds, but hears the front door knock.
She answers and then brings in Dawson and a young couple to Basil's new quarters. "Basil, this couple is in need of our services," Dawson said and Basil summons them inside. Mrs. Silverman shuts the door, but she was curious of the case Basil will have to handle.
The young couple explain that someone broke into their safe and took all their life savings, including some valuable jewelry. Basil begins to think about the theft and in no time, he accepts the case.
He and Dawson decide to go to the couple's home, just so Basil could see the crime scene. The couple leads them back to their home, but he looks at the campus, he hoped that the case wouldn't take long. He then prays for Olivia's success in her studies and gives a little smile as he and Dawson follow the couple to their home.
From the author: Just more talking and such, but we're at a testing point for Basil and Olivia as they tackle their own obstacles. At least, they will be close by for sure.
There's more on the way, but do expect some delays as this pandemic is causing some frustrations in my work and personal life. See you soon!
I want to ask this mysterious guest reviewer: How would you like to make an account on here? Don't need to write stories, just provide some support and share ideas. Would like to know what other ideas you have.
