It was one week after the third body had been found, and the Pack really couldn't care less.
The hotel was reaching critical stages, and none of them had the time or energy to focus on another corpse showing up. Jack, Oliver, Alfie, Fredrick and Ned were all working as fast as possible to get the pool completed. Byron was clearing away mud to make more roads, and Buster and Patrick were moving in minutes after him to lay the concrete. Isabella, Nelson, Max, Monty and Magenta were being given so many errands that more than one tyre had burst. Only Kelly had been having an easy time. There wasn't that much for a crane to do, so he spent most of his day resting or doing small jobs, like clearing away fallen trees and helping out around the railway. He felt bad for the others, being stuck with all the difficult jobs, but he was enjoying his time before he had the difficult task of doing the frame, which would require a lot of skill.
So one week after the discovery, Kelly was having an early snooze in his shed as the sun began to set over in the horizon. There was the sound of vehicles rushing past the yard, their owners speeding to get home. Kelly was trying to ignore them, but there was a familiar toot and a screech of tyres, and he sighed and opened his eyes. Nelson was coming in, with Jack and Alfie on his back. All three of them looked exhausted.
"Rough day?" Kelly asked. They didn't answer, instead all three of them glared at him. As Jack and Alfie rolled off the transporter, Isabella, Magenta, Oliver and Patrick rolled in, looking equally as tired.
"So, anyone want to share their day's stories?" Kelly said, and got more dirty looks, and the crane decided to stop talking and reverse. There was another clunk of tyres and Byron rolled up, with Miss Jenny riding in his cab.
"Good work today guys!" She said happily, but the machines just groaned. As she got off, Miss Jenny noticed Kelly and walked briskly over. "Kelly, I am pleased to say that we have finished the foyer and ground floor to the hotel, and we now require you to lift up the scaffolding and many important bits of the structure."
"That's great, I've been getting bored." Kelly said, and Miss Jenny beamed and walked off. Isabella and Magenta rushed over, giggling too each other as always.
"What are you two laughing about?" Kelly asked. Isabella and Magenta stopped laughing and stared at him.
"Nothing that concerns you!" Magenta said.
"We are allowed private conversations, aren't we?" Isabella said, and the two rolled quickly away, laughing again. Kelly rolled his eyes and ducked back into the shed. It seemed no one was up to talking tonight, so he might as well go to sleep. He needed all his strength and mental health if he was doing the frame tomorrow.
The next day, Kelly headed off towards the hotel site. He was surprised when he arrived there to see how well it was doing. There was a new gateway with a low brick fence surrounding the area. Lots of branches from too tall trees had been cut away, casting more sunshine into the area. Behind a clearing, Kelly could see that the arcade had been completed, and that a mini roller coaster was being assembled. The car park and the surrounding plants were all finished, and Isabella and Magenta were taking up a number of supplies to finish the golf course area. All the diggers were straight over to complete the pool with Max and Monty, and Patrick and Buster were working on some pathways, leaving Kelly with Nelson and Byron.
"What are you two doing today?" Kelly said in a friendly voice. As no one was tired, they were all more up to conversation than previous night.
"I think I am digging a trench to help stop flooding." Byron explained.
"I have to go and collect Thumper now." Nelson said gloomily. "I wish we had some time to relax."
"Well, we better get to work then." Kelly said, smiling, and they said their goodbyes and parted. Kelly moved a short way down towards the actual hotel. The current four walls were cream coloured and had brown corners. Men were working on a sign nearby and bricks and plants were being arranged for the decoration.
"Ok Kelly, we need you to start by lifting some wooden up to help assemble the scaffolding." The Foreman said, signalling towards where a pile of wood was stacked. Men were assembling the bottom of the scaffolding, and Kelly was happy to start off with a small job. He rolled over and lowered his hook, scooping up the chains around the wood and heaving them up onto the scaffolding. As he unhooked them, Kelly went to move forwards again, and found that there were about ten more packages of wood ahead of him. He sighed and hooked up the next one. It seemed the day would be long and boring.
As the sun shone down upon them all, there was a triumphant cheer from near the pool. They had finally finished digging the majority of the pool, and everyone was pleased.
"It's been a rough week, but we're finally done!" Jack boomed, and everyone honked and cheered.
"What about that ramp bit?" Ned said, looking towards the mud ramp that they used to get in and out each day.
"It is being turned into stairs after they have levelled it out divvied it up." Oliver explained, and Ned nodded thoughtfully.
"I'll go and get Buster and Patrick." Alfie said, and he rushed off up the ramp. Jack wanted to stay and continue to chat with the others, but there was the sound of a soft motor and they all looked upwards. A familiar Chrysler limousine had pulled up, and the familiar black polished leathers shoes stepped out.
"Hello there machines." Cedric said to them all, and they all forced smiles, but exchanged disgruntled looks as he walked off. Miss Jenny rushed over and shook his gloved hand.
"I didn't realise you were coming today." Miss Jenny said.
"I wanted to give a surprise visit, see if everything was up to scratch." Cedric replied snobbishly, and stared down into the pool. "You have finished digging, that's good."
"Yes, and our crane, Kelly, is starting work on the hotel walls today." Miss Jenny said. Jacob had just got out of the car, and he scowled down at the machines, and Ned shivered slightly. There was a toot in the distance and Miss Jenny gasped and looked down.
"Jack, that is Elizabeth, she is bringing some of the bricks for the pool, could you go and collect them?"
"Of course Miss Jenny." Jack tooted, and raced up the ramp and turned left. Cedric had started walking, and Miss Jenny had to take several large strides to catch up. Jack clunked over the railway tracks and headed over towards the driveway, where Elizabeth was waiting.
"Hurry up, I don't have all day!" She snapped, and Jack rolled his eyes and sped up.
"Sorry, I was all the way over there." He said, and indicated towards the swimming pool.
"I saw that fancy limousine passing me on my way up." The lorry said, staring over at it. "What is that doing here?"
"It belongs to Mr Berrob, you know him, right?" Jack asked, as he began to unload.
"I have heard of him, and I have heard he may be connected to something." Elizabeth said. Jack raised an eyebrow and he reversed and put down some of the bricks. Elizabeth saw this and smiled. "You want to hear, don't ya?" Jack nodded, and the lorry beamed even wider. "Well, I am not sure if it is true or not, but I heard from Bertie down at Knapford, who heard from Madge at Wellsworth, who heard from Trevor, who overheard Edward talking to Boco, who had heard it from Gordon, who had overheard The Fa-"
"Will you get on with it!" Jack snapped, and Elizabeth gave him a grumpy look.
"You should count yourself lucky I am telling you after that rudeness! But, anyway, Gordon overheard the Fat Controller having a rant because that corpse that was found by your lot last week has apparently gone missing."
"Missing?" Jack gasped, dropping some of the bricks.
"Yes, missing. Snatched from the coroners. And, the other two you guys found may be missing as well. And the Fat Controller was saying that Cedric knows all about it but won't tell anyone." Elizabeth said, pleased about Jack's shocked look. Jack scooped up the last of the bricks and put them down.
"I'll back with the rest later, goodbye." Elizabeth said, and she reversed, turned and headed off down the driveway. Jack began to move with some of the bricks, and watched Miss Jenny and Cedric chat. Was Cedric connected to the bodies, and had they really been stolen? Who would steal corpses anyway? Whatever was going on, Jack knew that there could be one way to find the answers.
The safe.
Kelly finished lifting up the last pile of wood, by which time the scaffolding had finished been erected.
"Right Kelly, we now need you to start lifting up the walls." The Foreman said, and Kelly saw that a trailer of wall sections was waiting for him. Kelly began to lower his hook towards the chains when he realised that Miss Jenny and Cedric were watching him. Kelly stopped lowering his hook and gulped, but Miss Jenny gave him a look to keep going and he quickly picked it up. It was a bit too fast, and his hook swayed and the chains fell out and the wall landed with a clunk.
"Sorry." He stuttered, and he quickly lifted it back up. Cedric muttered something to Miss Jenny, and the two stood up and headed towards the arcade area. Kelly let out a sad sigh and lifted up the wall section.
For the next hour, Kelly had to lift up the four sections for the outer walls of the first floor. He had to wait as each section was secured placed in before proceeding. He was now lowering the different sections that would make up the walls for each hotel room and the leave room for the elevator. Just as Kelly began to lower down one particular section, there were the toots of horns and he turned and reeved forwards, narrowly avoiding being hit by a racing Max and Monty. There was a crunch and a crash as Kelly smashed into the scaffolding. A metal pole smashed Kelly's windscreen, and he shut his eyes to avoid several shards striking his eyes.
"Max, Monty, look what you did!" The Foreman yelled.
"Not our fault, it's his!" Monty snorted.
"He hit the scaffolding, not us!" Max added. There were footsteps and Miss Jenny and Cedric rushed forwards, with Jacob in front to make sure there was no serious damage.
"I should've known." Miss Jenny said, sighing. "You two move over there, I don't have time for you at the moment!" Max and Monty quickly scampered away, and Cedric scowled slightly.
"I think I have seen all I need to today." He said.
"What about the golf course, or our work down at the cave?" Miss Jenny said, sounding worried.
"No, no, I am quite happy with this." Cedric said, and began to walk away without another word. Jacob shot Miss Jenny a scowl and he rushed after. Miss Jenny sighed and walked over to talk to the dump trucks. Kelly reversed away from the poles and sighed as well. He wasn't coping well with all the stress, and his job required him to be calm and move slowly. Kelly reached into the hotel and picked up the wall section, breathing deeply and trying to get back into his usually calm nature.
It was much quieter down near the cave. Byron was using his blade to shovel all of the fallen dirt and rock out of the way so that a small lane could be laid. Buster and Patrick were waiting over in the shade of a tree for the men for to mark out where to start work. Nelson was unloading Thumper near a roped area.
"This is all so boring." Patrick huffed. "I wish we could find another bod-"
"Keep your voice down!" Buster hissed. "What if someone hears us?"
"Who really cares, we can't exactly get into trouble." Patrick said. Buster growled and moved so that he was directly in front of the cement mixer.
"Last time I checked, hiding a body may be against the law."
"Some old man died, big whoop!" Patrick snapped. "There is something dodgy going on here that is a lot bigger than this old man."
"Everyone on the Island knows that, but I still think what we did was wrong."
"If we find out that the body is connected to all this and we find a way to get some glory out of it, we'll go back to that bridge and hand it in." Patrick explained.
"You want to get glory out of this?" Buster said, looking appalled. "That is just-" But before he could finish his sentence, there was a yell and Buster saw someone waving at him. "I suppose I have to start smoothing out the lane. But we will continue this when I get back!" Patrick pulled a face and Buster rolled his eyes and moved away.
Unbeknownst to the two of them, a worker had been standing behind the trees, pretending to be digging up some weeds. He had been listening intently to every word that Buster and Patrick said, and was now pulling out an old cell phone and speed dialling 1.
"Thievery." He whispered.
"Password accepted."
"It is Number Six. I have just heard something the boss might want to know."
Jack had been waiting for Elizabeth to return with more of the bricks for the pool when the Chrysler sped past him, causing him to reverse and smash into a tree trunk.
"Careful there clumsy." Isabella teased as followed after.
"Where are you two going?" Jack asked.
"Need to get more walls." Magenta said, and the two rushed away, heading in the opposite direction to the limo. Jack watched them go and then rolled forwards and went back into his position. He waited for another five minutes, dwelling over Cedric, the bodies, the safe, Duke's story and how everything was connected. He was making any headway and angrily tooted his horn.
"Keep the noise down!" Jack turned as Alfie and Fredrick came towards him, looking concerned.
"Sorry, I am just a bit frustrated." Jack said.
"We thought you were having trouble with Elizabeth's load, but where is she?" Alfie asked.
"I don't know, she must've been held up." Jack said.
"Well, why don't you go and investigate?" Fredrick suggested. "We need those bricks to help progress and complete the pool." Jack was going to reply, but he suddenly came up with a brilliant idea.
"Of course, Alfie and I will go and do that." Jack said, grinning.
"We will?" Alfie said, slightly surprised.
"Yes, we will. Now wait here, I need to ask Fredrick something." Fredrick looked equally as surprised as Alfie as Jack lead him behind some trees, away from view.
"I need you to go and get the safe and put it in a more accessible area." Jack explained.
"What!" Fredrick exclaimed, and Jack glared at him. "What?" He said, quieter.
"I need to check something about that safe. If you don't get the chance to do it, than it is fine, I'll do it when I get back." Jack explained, and went to move, but Fredrick blocked him with his scoop.
"I don't think that this is a good idea, what if we are seen?"
"It's not like there are spies watching us." Jack chuckled, and he quickly reversed and ploughed through some bushes.
"So, are we going then?" Alfie said.
"Yep, Fredrick is going to tell Miss Jenny." Jack said loudly, and Fredrick groaned as he emerged from the bushes.
"Youth." He sighed, as Jack and Alfie raced off, and turned left, taking the route of the Chrysler and not of Isabella and Magenta. Fredrick raised an eyebrow, but he had gotten used to realising that Jack was the sort that didn't really give people the full story.
Half an hour later, Kelly was the only machine up near the actual hotel. He had seen Jack and Alfie leave, and Fredrick had idled out of sight soon after, but he hadn't noticed anyone else pass him. The men were moving quickly, wishing to have everything laid in fast so that the hotel could actual head towards completion, as the opening date was drawer closer and closer. So Kelly had managed to get all the room walls lowered in by midday. Men were now securing the walls, though Kelly wasn't quite sure why the walls appeared to be just blocks of wood put together.
"They have to attach in the wires and plumbing." Miss Jenny chuckled when he asked. "After they do that, they cover them up and you have a wall." Kelly nodded, though it still seemed rather silly.
"I don't understand what these people do; they are working above my line of sight, I can't even see them!" He replied, and Miss Jenny nodded, though she turned away and continued to chortle. Kelly watched as she left, with her black Labrador following after her. He remembered several years ago when the dog had just been a puppy, and the Pack consisted of just Kelly, Byron, Oliver, Alfie and Isabella. Times seemed so much more relaxed back then. But now Kelly was under pressure to start lifting up the floor sections, lowering them down and starting making the second floor. He could hear lots of hammering and shouting from the floor, and men were standing on rebuilt scaffolding and directing telling which way his arm should be going. He had lowered down three of these sections when there were two familiar toots. Kelly groaned and looked around as Isabella and Magenta screeched to a halt.
"We have more building blocks for you." Isabella said.
"Joy, please stand back." Kelly said, and he began to lift up the next roof section.
"What's got your winch in a knot?" Magenta asked.
"I am just a bit tired." Kelly said.
"How can you be tired, we've been working our back bumpers off for ages while you've been relaxing?" Magenta snorted. Kelly rolled his eyes and began to lift up the section.
"He hasn't really been relaxing, he has done work." Isabella said.
"But he still had tons of free time!" Magenta insisted. "To stay inside the shed, having an extra rest, dream about a certain someone." She added, smiling widely.
"Ooh, who?" Isabella asked. "I've always known he's had a crush on someone, who is it?" Kelly let out an angry cry and swung his arm in rage. It smashed into the wall facing the golf course, knocking it over and destroying the hotel room walls. The crane dropped the roof section, and it landed on the scaffolding and destroyed it, causing men to jump as the plans smashed under their feet.
"I've had enough!" Kelly growled, and he reversed and then sped off, blinded with rage and heading towards the forest.
"KELLY!" Isabella yelled, and made to move after, but the scaffolding blocked her way. Magenta moved up with her, looking concerned.
"Was it something I said?"
After travelling for half an hour, Jack found the Chrysler limo parked outside a fancy looking white cottage with a blue tiled roof. Jack and Alfie were progressing slowly towards it. Jack had told Alfie that they were going slow in case Elizabeth had come off the road, but the front loader had been searching for this limo. He wanted to see if he could find any evidence against Cedric, but Jack had been hoping for something more exciting that the limo parked outside the cottage.
"What are we doing all the way out here?" Alfie said, looking around. "I don't think Elizabeth would come along here." Than the excavator turned and saw the limo. "That belongs to Cedric, doesn't it?" He looked over at Jack, who was looking disappointed. Alfie gasped and Jack shushed him.
"Why are you gasping?"
"You aren't looking for Elizabeth, you wanted to find Cedric!" Alfie said, sounding appalled.
"So what if I did, there is some stuff I want to know about him." Jack said, and went back to watching. There was some movement behind the silk curtains, and Jack could make out the silhouette of a rather burly man, most likely Jacob.
"I want to leave, this is really stupid." Alfie said, rolling his eyes.
"I want to know where these bodies are all coming from and why some are disappearing." Jack hissed. "You found one, you should be interested in this!"
"Technically I didn't find one; I uncovered its burial place." Alfie corrected. Jack rolled his eyes and went to retort, but suddenly something rammed into him.
"What the hell?" Jack said, as a man appeared between them, and briskly attached hooks to their arms. The man rushed backwards, giving Jack and Alfie time to exchange looks before being yanked backwards. They moved for about five metres, eventually stopping behind several larges trees. The man came back and unhooked them. Jack and Alfie had the chance to examine him, and saw that he was wearing a black sort of suit, though without a shirt or tie, white gloves, black shoes and was covering his face with a bowler hat.
"I am sorry for dragging you two away, but I needed to do this in secret." The man said. "Now, I cannot reveal my name, but I am a member of an elite organisation, and…"
"Oh hurry up Alpha, I don't have all day!" Jack and Alfie looked behind them and saw a black 2008 Nissan Titan Ute smiling at them. The man, Alpha, sighed and dropped his secretive attitude.
"Meet Canton, my assistant, if you will." He said, and Canton gave a slight toot of his horn. "Anyway, as I was saying, I work for a secret organisation, and I have been assigned the task of investigating a certain man."
"Ooh, who?" Alfie said, but Jack knew the answer.
"It's Mr Berrob, isn't it?" He said, and Alpha nodded.
"I have been on this case since before you received your contract, but the case against Cedric has gotten steadily stronger since the first body was found." Alpha explained. "I cannot reveal the full details of my assignment, though you are free to take any sort of guess. However, we believe he is connected to the bodies that were found, and that there may be two more bodies left to uncover."
"Maybe he was behind the bomb blast!" Alfie said.
"Well, actually, that was us." Canton said calmly.
"WHAT!" Jack and Alfie yelled, and Alpha looked strict and they remained quiet.
"On that night, we decided to try and put you off the contract, make you think that someone was out to get you. My worries about Cedric back then are nothing compared to what they are now. Yes, we planted a bomb to try and scare you, though we didn't intend for Isabella to get stuck. We also started a fire near your yard, though our sign was burnt too quickly."
"How do you know Isabella's name?" Jack asked suspiciously.
"I know everything there is to know about the Sodor Construction Company." Alpha said. "But I must deliver our warning: drop the contract and leave the Arlesdale Forest. Preferably demolish the hotel in the process."
"We can't leave, this is a major contract!" Alfie said.
"If you don't leave, you'll probably all be turned into teapots." Canton growled.
"I will try and contact you all again, but we must leave in case Cedric comes back this way." And Alpha rushed over to Canton and climbed in.
"But wait, we have questions!" Jack said. But Canton was already reversing. With a last smile, the Ute turned around and raced away. Jack and Alfie remained still, not bothering to chase after. They remained silent, and after a minute, exchanged looks and began to head back, their minds reeling with new and old questions, and a feeling of dread that may have something to do with the mention of teapots.
Isabella and Magenta had tried looking for Kelly all around the construction site, but even if he had lowered his arm, he would be easy to spot, and there was no sign of him anywhere.
"Where could he have possibly gone?" Magenta said as the cousins met near the hotel. The scaffolding was being rebuilt and Miss Jenny was trying to sort things out.
"I checked the pool, and the arcade, and a bit down the railway." Isabella said sadly. "Wait a minute, we haven't checked the cave!"
"Do you think he would have gone there?" Magenta asked.
"It's our last shot, let's go!" Isabella said, and the two rushed off. They sped past the railway line, hastily replying to Frank's friendly toot. The lorries rushed along the new road leading towards the lane, and after half a minute of green, they emerged out, speeding quickly, the cave entrance in their-
"WATCH IT!" Isabella braked hard, and Magenta smashed into her back bumper. Patrick was in front of them, concrete pouring out of his mixer into a boxed area
"Sorry, didn't see you there." Isabella said apologetically. Patrick grunted, and the two lorries quickly reversed and moved around. They were surprised to see that the barrier for the cave had been moved, though it confirmed their suspicions. Isabella gave Magenta a look, and she nodded and they went in.
Light disappeared quickly, and the lorries turned their own headlamps on as they entered.
"This place is really creepy!" Magenta whispered.
"Ssssh…. I think something is in front of us." Isabella said quietly, and she moved slightly. The beam of light caught a tyre, and she reversed slightly and caught a moustache and the light was reflected.
"Fredrick!" Magenta gasped. Fredrick gasped and quickly moved around, covering up what he was doing.
"So you were the one who moved the barricade." Isabella said.
"Well, no, actually, um, it was moved when I arrived." The digger flustered.
"Did you see Kelly enter?" Magenta asked.
"No, but I saw him move in this direction. I was held up chatting to Buster." Fredrick explained. Isabella tried to see what he was doing, but the only clue she got was some dirt trickling out of his scoop. But before she could question him, there was the sound of an engine reeving, as if a vehicle was trying to get out of mud.
"Kelly!" Isabella said excitedly, and she rushed forwards, with Magenta moving just as quickly. Fredrick moved to avoid them, but Magenta smashed into his back tyre, and the force of her speeding caused Fredrick to jolt, and his scoop smashed into one of the wooden supports. It snapped in two and fell, causing the wood it had been holding to come loose.
"This doesn't seem good." Magenta said.
"The roof will cave in!" Fredrick gasped. He reversed back slight and shovelled some dirt over the safe, being careful so that Isabella and Magenta didn't notice.
"We need to move, now!" Isabella said, as there was a crack above them. The three began to move forwards, but the tunnel was too narrow for all of them to pass at once, and they jammed up… right under the damaged section!
"One of has to back down!" Isabella yelled.
"Your old Fredrick, sacrifice yourself!" Magenta snapped.
"Never, I am too valuable to this project!" Fredrick replied indignantly. "Why not you, we can just get Elizabeth to replace you!"
"What! Well up yours you wretched old-"
"AAAAAAAHHHH!" Isabella screeched, as dust and rocks trickled down on them, and the cracking rocks became louder.
"We have to move!" Fredrick yelled. There was a different noise behind them, but none of them had space to see what the source was. Suddenly, the rocks above them began to tip. They all yelled and shut their eyes, expecting the worse.
But it never came.
Isabella was the first to dare open her eyes, and was shocked to see a light in front of them, but quickly realised it was the cave entrance. She then looked upwards and saw that a crane arm was up high, stopping the roof collapsing.
"Kelly." Isabella whispered.
"Go, quickly!" Kelly said. Due to this lifeline, Fredrick obliged to move backwards, allowing Magenta to speed forwards, and than the digger followed. Isabella went to turn, but Kelly had been prepared.
"Leave, I am fine, just go!" Isabella froze, about to turn around, than she stifled a sob and rushed forwards. As she burst into daylight, she found that Buster, Patrick and Byron had gathered around, questioning Fredrick and Magenta. Isabella turned around and looked into the cave, and saw Kelly speeding towards her. The tunnel was collapsing behind him, and everyone cheered as he sped out, a cloud of dust chasing him. His crane arm looked a bit bent, and his front bumper had fallen off, but Kelly didn't seem to care, and just shut his eyes and breathed deeply, and Isabella knew that she would have to leave him in peace, for now.
As the sun set over the hotel, Nelson prepared to take Kelly to the works to have his repairs done.
"I am sorry for doing this to you Miss Jenny." Kelly said.
"It is alright Kelly, I understand the stress you were under." Miss Jenny said warmly, though she did look very worried. Isabella and Magenta were waiting nervously alongside. Kelly looked over at them and smiled.
"You two shouldn't feel guilty, it was my decision to go into the mine."
"We heard something reeving, was it you?" Isabella asked.
"Yeah, I went in to do some thinking, and my wheels got stuck when I tried to get out. When I did, I heard the screaming and rushed over."
"Very noble." Magenta said. "But I still feel guilty."
"Well, as I saved you, I think you can repay me by not being giggly around my again, agreed?" Kelly asked.
"Agreed!" Isabella and Magenta chorused, and the three chortled.
"I am ready to go when you are Kelly." Nelson said, as he stopped winching the crane up. Kelly nodded and looked down at the girls.
"See you when I get back, and don't give the crane too much hassle." Isabella and Magenta laughed, and Nelson began to head off.
"Bye!" The lorries called, and watched as Nelson sped down the driveway and disappeared. Everyone else started coming near the car park, and Isabella and Magenta didn't want to be questioned and decided to head home.
"Bye girls." Miss Jenny said as she passed. Then, she saw Jack and Alfie in deep discussion. "Boys, I head you went looking for Elizabeth." The two froze, looking reasonably worried.
"Um… we really want to finish the pool." Jack said quickly.
"I can understand that. But I had received a call that Elizabeth had broken down, and when I came out to tell you, you'd already left." Miss Jenny chortled, and Jack and Alfie laughed loudly and fakely.
"How ironic!" Alfie said, and the two continued to laugh and turned, preparing to head home. Miss Jenny watched them for a minute before sighing.
"My machines are so weird." And she turned and walked off. Jack and Alfie made sure she was out of earshot before talking.
"Are you going to tell me what this is all about or what?" Alfie asked. "If I am going to help you snoop about Cedric again and risk getting blown up, I need all the details." Jack pondered for a minute, and didn't see why he had to keep secrets from his best friend, and let Fredrick, Buster and Patrick know everything.
"Ok, I'll tell you everything I know, though it may take a while." Jack said, and as the two friends headed home, he began to tell Alfie everything.
The only light inside the small hotel room came from a thick, cream coloured candle. It sat on the corner of an oak desk, alongside books, maps, pieces of paper, pens- all in a neat and immaculate manner.
Cedric sat in his cosy armchair that he had had brought with him from London. He was staring at the upmost piece of paper on his desk. It had five names on it: Clarence Richards, Vernon Green, Albert Freeman, William Baker and Robert Rutherford. A neat red line had been ruled across the three names. Cedric put the piece of paper down and picked up a map, unfolding it with such care you'd expect it to turn to dust at any moment. But it was a fairly recent map of the whole of Sodor. A pentagon had been drawn around the Mid Sodor area. Three of the lines were in red, the other two in pencil. Attached to the map were more detailed maps of certain sections, such as the Mid Sodor railway, the castle ruins, Thomas' branch line. Cedric stared at the map briefly before folding it back up, yawning and scratching his chin.
"Sir?" Cedric turned his head slightly and saw Jacob standing by the candle, looking excited.
"Speak, quickly." Cedric said.
"I have just received a call. One of our informants called and said that some of the machines hid William Baker's body." Cedric looked up, mildly interested. "And they have just found it and dug it up." Cedric didn't say anything, except for grabbing a red pen and a ruler.
"Thank you Jacob, you are excused." Jacob nodded and left. Cedric picked up the list of names and began to update it. He was getting closer to finding the final body, and even closer to finding the treasure than ever before. All he had to rely on was a little bit of help from the Pack.