Chapter 10

Basil had actually planned to follow Ratigan to San Francisco, but he discovered that the rat was actually headed back to the East Coast under the alias 'Jesse Kallaw'. So instead we traveled to Charleston, South Carolina, in hopes of catching him. Once there, we found that he took a passenger ship back to London using the same alias.

Flaversham had expressed worries about living in New York City once more, so he decided to move back to England. Dawson accompanied the Flavershams back to New York. I was confined to a wheelchair. It was determined that the trip would be too difficult for me, so I went with Basil back to London.

One day, as we were sitting out on deck, I asked Basil, "What happened to Childres' company, Standard Oil?"

He pulled out his pipe and lit it. "The American government raided it shortly after Matthew Childres' murder and shut it down. Apparently they found evidence that tied it to the Seven Plagues." He smiled grimly. "This was, of course, after I hinted to a Pinkerton detective friend of mine of a "hunch" I had about Standard Oil."

"Oh." There was a long silence. Basil seemed to be pondering something. "Basil," I ventured, "I must apologize."

He gave me a sharp glance, but went on smoking his pipe. "Whatever it is, I am sure I have taken no offense in it."

"Basil, I know I caused you so much trouble when I ran off after Childres," I said. "Especially after you trusted me with this job."

He started to cough, but quickly cleared his throat again. "Well I must admit, that didn't help matters. You could've gotten yourself killed!"

"I know," I said miserably.

His face softened a little. "Meg, I have a confession to make."

My heart jumped with the tone of seriousness in his voice.

"I sent you on a false trail."

I breathed a sigh of relief, but then I gave meaning to his words. "I beg your pardon?" I asked sharply.

He explained how he had exaggerated the situation between Flaversham and Childres when he had really expected nothing out of it. He then told me about wanting to protect me despite what had happened in Shanghai.

"Don't you trust me?" I asked.

"After what happened in Shanghai, or after what happened in San Antonio?" he retorted.

"Don't speak to me like that!"

"Listen to me for once!" he barked.

"How can I, when you..." I dropped off. We met each other's eyes. "No one's perfect, and I suppose you and I are no exceptions," I said.

He nodded in agreement. "I do not wish to give Ratigan an opportunity to harm you again."

"And I do not want villains like him to harm the people I care about."

We sat in silence a little longer. Then Basil said with a mischievous grin, "So, what do you propose we do to Ratigan when we finally catch him?"

I returned the grin. "Send him to the gallows."

"Perhaps, but it would appear to me that we were being too compassionate to him if we did that."

"How about we tie him to a rock and throw him into the ocean?"

"We could throw him back off Big Ben."

"We'll feed him to a cat!"

"I'd personally suggest sending him to the snowy mountain passages of Nepal and leaving him there to freeze to death."

"Basil? Do you believe that he will ever be beaten?"

"Yes. But you must give me time, you must give me time!"

Lizz: Awwwwwwww!

JWJ: What NOW? Lizz, you're the only one who says 'aw' anymore. Stop it!

Sarah: (To herself) Well, that's something we can use to drive him crazy.

RAEB: So I guess Ratigan got away again.

Meg: Yeah. I'm not as creative as other writers, I can't think up a new and totally awesome villain.

RAEB: Which explains why Childres was a wimp.

Meg: Exactly. Okay, I'm brainstorming another story. Perhaps I'll get it typed up sometime soon. Until then, adieu!

Leigh: Wait, that last line was from The Valley of Fear!

Meg: SO?

Leigh: So? You copied!

Meg: Oh, sorry Miss Sherlock Holmes.