Chapter 39
221B 1/2 Baker Street, London
The train arrived in London a little later in the afternoon, but Basil felt happy to be home in his beloved city, although he knew this before when he came home with his newborn children from Linlithgow.
As they walk towards the house, Basil was the first to see a crowd of mice, much bigger than before. As they got closer, he sees his siblings with their children, some of the Flaversham's, including Aunt Hannah and Uncle Logan, and to Basil's shock, he saw the king.
"There they are!" he hears Emma call out and they cheer. The crowd of mice welcomed the detective, his family and friends home. The twins grew excited at the crowd and then the king, Edward hushes everyone.
"Mr. Basil, you gave us quite a scare when you left London so quickly. Luckily, your sisters here were able to decipher the coded message you sent," he said and continues, "I did make it a priority that anyone affiliated with Ilse Altendorf or her devil offspring was questioned for their activities. It appears that no one will not harm your children, but if one scoundrel dares to lay a finger on them, I will have them drawn and quartered!"
"I appreciate the help, Your Majesty," Basil said, but adds, "Although the punishment sounds harsh."
"Well, I wasn't planning on doing that. Perhaps solitary confinement in a jail cell or house arrest," the king replies, but notices the twins. "Oh goodness, I never got the chance to meet these two!"
Basil shows him Leana, who gave a big smile and the king shakes her little hand. "She is adorable!" he said and Olivia shows him John, but the baby boy seemed a little afraid. "Hmmmmm, I thought he would be brave as his sister," the king said, but John seemed to understand this and gives him a smile.
The Basil family then set foot in their home, it was just the same when they left it last month, but Basil's siblings said they kept it tidy while he was gone.
He goes into the babies' room and was surprised to see the window replaced and two new cribs in there. The whole room was refurbished with newly painted walls and new bedding in the cribs. "Oh this is perfect!" Olivia exclaims and sees the many toys on the book shelves. John was trying to reach for a sailboat toy, but Olivia examines it. She recognizes her father's craftsmanship, as with the carousel and notices that the other toys were also done by him.
She turns to see Uncle Logan in the doorway. "Kendrick and Stewart kept the toys that were not damaged from...last year. They thought that when you have children, they would want something of their grandfather," Logan said and Olivia gives a smile with tears in her eyes.
Basil sees the carousel on the shelf and winds it up. It played beautifully and he was overcome with ease. Uncle Logan leaves the couple and Basil pulls his wife and son into his embrace.
"You said your father and Henry stopped Ilse from stabbing our children. If they are here now, I can't thank them enough," he said and Olivia nods and then looks at him.
"You did say Henry awoke you in a dream," she said and he nods. "I would like to meet him someday, when I sleep that is," she adds and Basil smiles.
"I'm sure he will," he replies and they join the others with the twins. They thanked each and every other mouse who came by and fixed the babies' room and also kept the house safe.
"Next time," Oscar said to his brother, "Try not to disappear with your children, again. We are always here to help you."
"You're right, but my instincts told me to take them far from here," Basil replies, but Oscar shakes his head. Olivia finds the wedding photo and Basil places it on the mantle above the fireplace and begins to think.
"We need to take a family photo someday," he suggests and Olivia liked the idea, but then finds Claudia.
"How about we start with some baby pictures of these two?" she asks and places the twins on the couch. Claudia had her camera and the adults call out for John and Leana, the twins look at Claudia and she takes a few pictures.
"I should have these ready in a few days," she said and Olivia smiles.
The sun was setting when everyone decided to head home, but the king remained behind for a little bit. "If there's anything you need, you have friends in Buckingham Palace, Mr. Basil," he tells the detective and heads on out. Basil and Olivia change into their robes, it felt good to finally settle in their home again.
The twins were fed and cleaned before they settle in their own cribs. Basil was still unsure if his children would be safe during the night, but what the king told him, no one would be going after them. That is, perhaps for some time. Basil learned from the Rosenberg case last year that the rat waited ten years to extract his revenge, so any criminal would wait to carry out any deeds. For now, the detective was happy to be home with his family and friends.
As the clock was nearing 10 at night, he and Olivia were ready to head off to bed, but then there was a knock at the door. "Now who could that be?" Basil asks and Dawson volunteers to answer.
He opens the door and to their shock, the three cronies that came with Ilse Altendorf last month were standing on the stoop. "YOU!" Dawson shouts, but the three crooks raise their hands up.
"Look, we're unarmed!" the lizard cries out and his two mice friends nod.
"What is it you want?!" Basil shouts and marches up to them.
"Listen, we prefer we talk inside," one of the mice said, but Basil refuses to let them in. "We don't mean any harm, we swear," the mouse said. The detective, after thinking for a minute lets them inside.
"Now why are you here?" Basil asks, again.
"We came here to apologize," the second mouse answers.
"Yes, and we wanted to tell you that you won't hear from us, again," the first mouse adds.
"We sort of turned over a new leaf," the lizard said and his two mice friends nod. "We will be leaving for the United States soon, there's plenty of new opportunities there," he adds.
"I don't know, would America take in former criminals?" Olivia asks and Basil was also curious.
"That we're ready to find out," the lizard said and clears his throat, "By the way, I'm Bill and these are Christopher and Otto," he adds, introducing his friends.
"Listen Mr. Basil, what we said that night last month, we really didn't want to kill any baby, but our lady went mad after she heard her son Erich Rosenberg was killed in Germany. In fact, she went insane when her eldest son's body was brought home that night after exposing the assassination plot," Christopher explains.
Olivia was curious about something and decides to ask, "I'm not sure if you are able to answer this, but Ilse was believed to have been killed in 1882. Where was she hiding and did her sons know she was alive? And who was it that really died from the building collapse?"
"Oh she planned to trick the world into thinking she died. She killed some homeless rat and had the body placed in the building. It was ready to come down anyway, so she had Henry Walker follow her, but she was able to escape from the building in time with help from Ratigan. The papers said that Ilse Altendorf was dead, but the fact was she went to her eldest son's hideout after the structure collapsed," Otto explains and Christopher takes over.
"So she would hide in London and go to Berlin if things would heat up. In fact, she went to Berlin when her youngest, Erich was severely injured from falling from Lichtenhain Falls. She stayed there for a while and Ratigan also stayed for a bit to care for Erich, but she and Ratigan actually formulated the plan to take over Mousedom by installing Ratigan as the mouse queen's heir. Ilse was ready to make herself known when Ratigan would introduce her once the false queen Mr. Flaversham created would hand over the reigns, but all that changed when you exposed the plot and saved the real queen," Christopher said.
Bill then steps forward, "We were there when some of the crew who escaped from the police brought Ratigan back to the hideout, all his bones were broken, but I think his broken neck killed him. Ilse went mad with grief and she sent a message to her youngest Erich in Berlin. She was hoping that Erich would be able to take over the criminal empire she created, but his brain injury made him slow and unable to process information.
"However, he did tell his mother to wait until things were calm enough for everyone to think that no threat would come to you and the Flaversham's. We didn't think it would be ten years until he set his plan into motion," Bill said and continues, "We really didn't think that you two would marry and have children, but...it's silly, but I had a feeling that you Miss Fla...I mean Mrs. Basil had somehow changed the Great Mouse Detective's attitude."
Olivia blushes a bit and Basil places a hand on her back and pulls her towards his body. "Let me ask you this, what crimes did you take part of?" Basil asks the three, for some reason they didn't fit the profile of being a criminal.
"Oh, little things like stealing from the market to feed our comrades, but we hated the things Ratigan did," Christopher said and his two friends nod.
"Yeah, we did say we tried to talk Ilse out of killing your babies. Baby killings just make us sick," Bill replies with a shiver.
"Some of the things they did were absolutely horrifying," Otto adds, but Basil was curious about something.
"If you were horrified of the things they did, why did you three stay?" he asks. The three crooks look at one another and sigh.
"It's because our families were friends with Ilse and they expected us to...well follow in their footsteps," Otto answers and his two friends nod.
"What really shattered our faith in Ilse's empire and maybe her and her sons' stability was that Ratigan fed our good friend Bartholomew to his cat Felicia. He...he had a thing for alcohol and unfortunately, he said something that made Ratigan really mad," Bill said and they sniffle a bit.
"Hmmmmm, I can make a good guess of what your friend said. Ratigan despises being called a 'rat', but I am having a hard time understanding why," Olivia said and her husband was stumped too.
"That we can't answer I'm afraid," Otto replies and his two friends nod.
Bill looks over to the clock and sees the time. "We should be heading out, the boat will be leaving first thing at dawn," he tells his friends and they open the door.
"Wait!" Basil shouts and the three look at the detective. He takes out a few gold coins and gives them to Bill. "If things don't go your way in America, although I believe it will be all right for you, but use it when needed," he adds and shakes their hands. "Even though you tried to tell your mistress otherwise, I would've told the judge to grant you immunity if you were arrested," he said and they nod.
"We deserve to be punished, but perhaps starting a new life will turn things over for us," Otto replies and the three former criminals bid Basil farewell.
"If you find yourself in the United States, you can look us up," Christopher said, "I will be trying to make it to the big top. That is being the best attorney somewhere, maybe Philadelphia, I always wanted to see the city where the fight for America's independence started."
"Yeah, but I heard the west has plenty of opportunity. Although someone mentioned that the Pacific Northwest is beautiful. I really want to see the city of Portland in Oregon," Bill adds. Otto laughs for a bit.
"Well, I think that leaves me in the middle part of the country. The Mississippi River sounds exciting to me," he said and his two friends nod. They shake hands with Basil, again and bid a final farewell. They take their bags of meager belongings and waved as they rush down Baker Street.
Olivia and Basil watch as the three disappear into the night. "I think everything will work out for them," Olivia said to her husband, who nods and they enter back inside the house.
"They might've done a few terrible things, but I have a feeling that the American mice will be friendly towards them," Basil replies and they settle in the living room by the fireplace. Olivia stares up at the ceiling, she was still processing the information that was told to them. "What's the matter?" Basil asks.
"You know, I can't help but feel how sick and twisted Ilse's mind was and she passed it on to her sons," she replies, "Sometimes I feel that some living beings are not born evil, but I wonder if Ilse was the offspring of the devil."
Basil takes her into his arms and whispers, "Perhaps somewhere down the road, we will discover more of the twisted family tree Ilse Altendorf was part of. Maybe there will be answers to her mental state and her sons, too."
The two then head off to bed, but checked on the twins. They were sound asleep and the proud parents settle in their own bed. It did feel good to be home at Baker Street and the couple dozed off with smiles on their faces.
From the author: Well my friends, I hate to draw this story to a close, but as I said, many great stories usually come to an end. Prepare yourselves for the epilogue. It might be a tearjerker.