Chapter 37

Scarborough

The train arrived in the town of Scarborough just the sun was peeking over the horizon. The four adult mice donned their disguises again, but Basil felt that once they were away from the station, they would be safe.

They locate a trolley that would take them to Aunt Sophie's summer villa, nicknamed 'The Hill of Adventure' by the mice folk as many mice children often played on the hill over looking the North Sea.

The town was crowded with many people and mice as the summer season was drawing to a close. Basil takes in the new scenery, he thought he was going be away from the ocean, but he found himself near it, again.

"We're here," Olivia said and they jump off the trolley. She points to the top of the hill where the house was. It was surrounded by tall grass, but the four mice walk through it with no problems.

When they reached the front door, it was shut tight, so Basil had to push on the door hard after unlocking it. Once the door was fully open, they saw how dusty the place was.

"No one has set foot in here for eight years you said?" Basil asks Olivia.

"That's what Uncle Stewart said, I actually haven't been here since the case we had, now it's been eleven years," she replies and he nods.

"Oh, looks like I got my work cut out for me," Mrs. Judson said, but Basil places a hand on her shoulder.

"We'll all pitch in," he replies and the housekeeper smiles back. Before getting to work, they cover their mouths and noses with thick cloths and begin to work on the ceiling, which was covered in cobwebs and dust.

The babies, with their forming lungs were with Olivia outside as her husband, Dawson and Mrs. Judson were at work in cleaning the house. She looks at Basil from the doorway and she saw him sneeze a few times.

Olivia then sees a group of young male mice coming up the hill. They stop when they see her. "Uh, hi ma'am," one of them said, "We thought this place was empty."

"It was, my great-aunt bestowed it upon me. My husband is cleaning it out," Olivia replies. The young male mice see the twins and grew excited.

"Awe, they're cute," the youngest said and he and Leana lock eyes. She grew excited and was reaching out to him. "Hi there baby," he said and Leana smiles. "She's really cute, what's her name?"

Olivia wasn't sure if she should give her daughter a false name, but then Basil steps out. "Who's this?" he asks his wife.

"Don't know, they haven't introduced themselves," Olivia answers and the boy mice look up at Basil.

"I'm Matthew," the oldest said, "And this is my brother Louis, but he prefers Louie." The youngest then nudges him with his shoulder. Matthew introduces their friends, Harry, Oliver and Frankie. "We usually come to this hill to play pirates," Matthew said.

"Yeah, the hill is a nice lookout," Harry said and he places a hand over his eyebrows, "There she blows!" he adds in a pirate accent. Basil and Olivia laugh at this.

"Indeed, this hill would be a great lookout for incoming pirate ships," Basil replies and pulls out a coin from his pocket. "I will find that treasure! Now where's me map?" he said in a pirate accent and the boys laugh.

"Hey mister," Louie said and points to the open door, "Are you cleaning out? No one has set foot in it for a long time."

"Yes we are, my wife's great-aunt gave it us and we figured we could use the sunshine while it's still summer," Basil replies and then Matthew pulls his brother and friends in a huddle. Basil was curious as to what they were saying and looks to his wife, who shrugs.

Matthew and Louie then look up at him, "Why don't we help?" Matthew asks.

"Yeah, seeing that this place is so big, you could use more hands," Oliver replies, but Basil wasn't sure, seeing how young these boys were.

"Don't worry mister, our mums work at the hotel, so we pretty much know how to clean," Frankie said and the other boys nod.

"Are you sure? I would hate for you to get a nasty illness if you breathe in too much dust," Basil asks, but the boys were eager. He shows them the way in, but Matthew stops his brother.

"You watch the babies, with the lady," Matthew orders, but Louie growls at him.

"Yeah, I think the girl likes you," Harry teases. Louie looks back at Leana, who was trying to reach for him. Basil leans down to kiss his daughter, but notices her attention for Louie.

"How very odd," he said, "Well, she is certainly the most curious." He leans down into Olivia's ear, "I feel like I can trust these boys. We can tell them our names," he whispers.

"I don't know Elliott, would they tell their parents?" Olivia asks. She was thinking that Scarborough would have a few bad mice that would send word to London.

"We won't tell our parents, that is if you don't want strangers coming here," Louie said, having heard Olivia.

"Well Louie, we certainly don't want the wrong type of mice folk coming here," Basil replies and Louie begins to think.

"Are some bad mice looking for you?" he asks and Basil nods. "Don't worry, the mice here look after one another. If there's a bad apple, we tell the police here. However, my mum and dad said there hasn't been a bad apple here in many years."

The detective nods and decides to go back in the house. Olivia and Louie play with the twins outside, but Leana was crawling all over Louie. "She seems to like you," Olivia said as Louie tickles the baby. "I'm Olivia by the way," she adds, "And these are John and Leana."

"Leana, that's a pretty name," Louie said and the baby girl gives the cutest chuckle. "When were they born?"

"August 1st," Olivia answers and Louie smiles.

"I've seen a few twin babies, but not up close," he said and pulls out a blade of grass. He places it in his mouth and makes noises with it, making Leana giggle. John, on the other hand, didn't like the noises and was fussing.

"Sorry," Louie said, but Olivia calms her son down.

Inside the house, the boys took all the bed covers and cushions outside and begin to hit them with carpet beaters. Mrs. Judson, who was pleased with the help, begins to wash the sheets and was shocked to see her own employer working at the wringer.

"Who taught you to do that?" she asks and he laughs, but doesn't answer.

Inside the house, the boys, who finished beating the covers and cushions, take wet cloths and begin to clean the wood floors. Dawson was surprised to see how fast they worked, but also diligently.

The cleaning took the entire day, but when they were done, the house was spotless. However, the big issue now was food as the ice box was bare, not even a block of ice was in it.

Matthew, Louie and their friends, however, decided to change all that. They rush back to their homes and a half hour later, a crowd of mice came. Basil figured that these mice were their families.

One of the adult male mice brought a chunk of ice and took it to the ice box. "That's my pop," Harry said, "He sells iced treats at the beach, but he mainly does ice runs for those who have ice boxes."

Then, one of the boys' family brings in a crib for the twins and a few baby blankets. They settle it in the empty room next to the couple's room where Basil and Olivia plan to sleep in.

The other boys' families introduce themselves and Basil smiles at them. Matthew and Louie's father then introduces himself, "I'm Patrick Finely, I work for the local market here."

Basil begins to process this and asks, "So you see a surge in the summer time, but what happens when the season is over?"

Patrick chuckles and replies, "We have a few tourists coming here in the off season, but it's true that a whole lot come here in the summer. If there's plenty of money brought in during the summer, we usually survive all winter until the season starts again." He has a few of his colleagues bring in food into the house.

Mrs. Judson was happy to see the kitchen all nice and tidy, including the ice box that had plenty of food now.

Patrick then gathers everyone and they all look at the newcomers. "Don't be surprised when I say this, but you are Mr. Basil of Baker Street," Patrick said and the detective was shocked. "I recognized you from the papers. Scarborough usually hears word from London and you have been the entertainment here," he adds and his two sons look up at their father.

"Dad," Louie said, "They said that some bad mice were looking for them." Patrick nods and so do the other mice.

"Well, we are not sure if anyone is looking for us, but we had a terrifying time last night," Basil said and explains to everyone of what happened, including Ilse Altendorf's attempt to kill his children.

A few of the mice murmur and a few showed angry faces. "No baby should die at the hands of a crook," Frankie's father said.

"Yes, I always get angry when that horrid Ratigan killed a young soul," a woman mouse replies. Patrick then quiets everyone and looks at them in the eye.

"My friends, I have known you for the entirety of my life here. Now, I know that you will not rat out someone famous who is residing here, but we have a special case," he said and continues, "From here on out, we will be cautious of anyone suspicious who comes to our town. We will not say anything of Mr. Basil and his family being here, we will use aliases for them and stir away any curious eyes."

Patrick continues to talk to his friends for a while, but he was persistent of them in not revealing the hiding place of the famous mouse detective. He turns back to Basil and asks, "How long do you wish to stay?"

"Don't know, a month or two, I just want things to settle in London first. I really don't know if any affiliates of Ratigan or his partner Rosenberg would be looking for us in London," Basil answers and Patrick begins to think.

"We could have someone here go to London to see how things are," someone suggests.

"Or maybe wait until the newspapers bring in a story," another replies.

Basil listens to their suggestions and smiles at this. "You are all very kind, but my main agenda is to keep my family safe," he said and many of them nodded. "However, we do need income and something to keep our brains working. So I will take up a job for the time being," he adds and a few of the mice begin to think.

"We do have a few mysteries that needed to be solved here," Matthew said and his father looks at him.

"Matthew, the point here is that we need to keep Mr. Basil safe. That means we can't expose him to the tourists who will probably send word out," Patrick replies, but Basil begins to think. Solving crimes was his forte and there must be a few cases in Scarborough that he could attend to.

"Mr. Finely, I think it would be all right if I were assigned a few cases, that is if they are not dangerous," Basil said and the mice begin to think, but Patrick looks at him in the eye.

"I must ask you this Mr. Basil, do you believe in the supernatural?" he asks, but a few of the mice gasp.

"You mean ghosts?" Basil replies and Patrick nods, "I used to not believe in the supernatural, but I..." he trails off, wondering how he should explain his encounters with the ghosts of Hiriam Flaversham and his mentor, Henry Walker.

"It's all right Mr. Basil, you don't have to explain. I, too, can't explain a few things," Patrick said and then, lowers his voice, "There's a couple things here in this town that not even the police can explain."

"If it's something that'll keep our brains working, then I will take up on these cases," Basil replies, but Patrick chuckles.

"Don't worry about it so much, I'm sure there's a logical explanation, but I will bring someone who is in desperate need of your services tomorrow, if you like," Patrick said and Basil nods.

"I can't thank you enough Mr. Finely, it seems that everyone here in Scarborough looks out for one another," the detective said and the crowd of mice chuckle at this.

"Well, it is true, we hate to see someone vulgar come to our town," Patrick replies and turns to see the sun go down. "You can rely on us, Mr. Basil. We'll keep watch," he adds and bids the Basil family a good night. The crowd of mice bid them good night, but Louie sees Leana fussing in her mother's arms.

"Don't be sad," Louie said to her, "I'll come back tomorrow if you like." Leana snorts in response and Louie bids her good night and leaves with his family. His brother Matthew begins to tease Louie about him liking Leana.

"I think Leana likes Louie," Olivia said to her husband and he nods.

The four adults settle inside their new, but temporary home. Mrs. Judson points out to Olivia some beautiful glass work on the windows and she sees some butterfly patterns.

"Oh yes, Aunt Sophie's husband, Uncle Jacob, he use to be a glass blower. In fact, he made some of the glass work here," Olivia explains and Basil looks at the windows. He also notices some of the vases and they were beautiful to look at.

"Olivia, your family has some talents," he said and they settle for dinner. They ate some haddock and potatoes and then settle for the night. They set the twins down in their new crib, but Basil wasn't sure on of leaving them in their own room.

"Elliott, the mice here will look after us," Olivia said, "I actually trust them."

"I find it hard to find trustworthy mice, but that would be in London. Maybe here in Scarborough there are good folk here," he replies and they settle in their new bed.

Basil then kisses his wife all over her face before kissing her lips. Olivia felt the urge to make love, but she was tired and her husband felt this. "It's all right," he said, "A few days rest should give us the urge."

"I sincerely hope so," Olivia replies, "You are rather good at turning me on." They laugh and then settle down to sleep. The house was quiet and it was obvious that no threat would be coming during the night.


From the author: So the Basil family and their comrades have settled in a temporary location. At least they are safe for now.

There's more on the way! See you soon!