A Surprise for Neptune King, page 32
“Will do. See yuh.”
“Bye.”
Shark telephoned Scotland Yard after Neptune hung up and asked for Superintendent Clairmont.
“Clairmont,” came a rather harried voice on the other end.
“G’day Super, Shark Johnson here.”
He heard the other’s quick intake of breath. “What are you doing ringing me here?”
“Don’t know where else ta ring yuh. Thought you might be interested to know who runs the baby snatching racket, and that we’ve located twenty-three babies that were stolen in America and brought over here, and Neptune is over in the States at this very moment locating the thirteen missing English babies.”
“What? There’s fourteen.”
“Thirteen. We’ve already given Mrs McPherson her baby back.”
“What!”
“Would yuh like to drop round, or should I come over there?” Shark grinned. Clairmont sounded shocked. Obviously he had no idea that babies were being stolen elsewhere.
“Y-you’d better come here. If you do have information about this I’ll need to get your statement recorded.”
“Sure. Be there in half an hour.”
Shark hung up and caught a bus to Scotland Yard. Clairmont was waiting for him near the front entrance. “What’s this about stolen American babies?” he asked as soon as Shark was in earshot.
Shark smiled. “English babies are being sold to Americans and American babies are being sold to English couples. They’ve already rounded up those involved over there, so now it’s time for you to do your bit.”
In Clairmont’s office, Shark insisted he call in a stenographer so he wouldn’t have to repeat himself. Then he gave them all the details of their investigation and their findings. “So all we need for you to do is arrest the Mackay’s, get Neptune’s money back, and collect the twenty-three babies so that the American parents can come and claim them.”
Clairmont was shaking his head. “We checked out the Mackay’s, they came up clean.”
“Well, they’re not. They tricked yuh. I reckon if yuh bring them in you should let the Sleggs know you have their bosses in custody. Tell the Sleggs that the Mackay’s claim they’re the ring leaders, that’ll make them talk. After all, they were just snatching on order.”
To his credit, Clairmont did not once complain how bad this would make him look in the eyes of Commissioner Talbot. He didn’t ask Shark to let him take the credit for breaking the case either, which was just as well as Shark had no intention of giving it to him. Instead, he collected up a couple of men, and with Shark coming along for the ride, arrested the Mackay’s. They tried to deny it but shut up when Shark asked them how their friend Jenkins was.
With the Mackay’s in custody, Clairmont then organized for the roundup of the babies to begin. Thanks to the work K&J and the Harts had done, it was just a matter of obtaining warrants. A special task force was setup to collect the babies, consisting of two policemen, a police woman, a doctor and a counsellor. They anticipated some difficulty during the collection. Shark was glad he didn’t have to be involved in this part of the operation. The babies, once collected, were to be taken to the children’s hospital and kept there until their parents arrived.
Shark telephoned Mrs McPherson at her sister’s in Nottingham and told her it was all over. She could return home if she wanted to. Then he rang Gleeson of the Times and offered him an exclusive. The evening papers and televised news were full of the story and its far reaching web. Shark told them the whole story. Mrs McPherson appeared on television holding baby Jessica and praising K&J Investigations for finding her when the police couldn’t.
Shark raised his cup of coffee at the television screen in a toast and said, “Wish I could see your face now, Talbot. Bet you’re spittin’ chips.”
“This is going to bring a lot of business your way, Shark,” said Becky who was sitting beside him.
“Sure is. The papers are full of it, too. Yuh can’t pay for publicity like this. I reckon I’m gunna be real busy, but that’s okay. It’ll make my savings grow faster.”
Ψ Ψ Ψ
With the help of Jacob, Mo, and Lance, Shark moved into his house. Becky wasn’t alone there when they arrived. Neptune’s two maids—Susan and Vanessa, and Vessa Kelly and her mother were also there. All were busy sweeping, scrubbing, and polishing. Mo and Jacob set to tackling the overgrown front and back yards, while Shark and Lance ripped up the mouldy carpets before unloading his furniture.
At lunchtime, Jacob unearthed a surprise—two loaded picnic baskets from Mrs Clover. It was a festive meal, and in fact, despite the hard work they all put in, a great day. Shark hadn’t hoped to get so much done so quickly.
“Thanks, everyone,” he said as he escorted them out at the end of the day. “This has been great. I owe ya’s.”
“Least we can do,” replied Mrs Kelly giving him a smile. “After all, what are friends for?”
Shark smiled and slipped his arm around Rebecca’s waist. “You’re all great friends to have.”
After they left, he and Becky surveyed the house. “It already looks better,” said Becky, “although I can’t wait to start repainting it.”
“Me either. It’ll be handy livin’ here now because I can work on it in my spare time.”
“And I’ll be around to help. It’s going to be the best house in England.”
“Yep.”
She looked up at him, noting the pride in his voice and eyes. He had every right to feel proud. “You’ve achieved an awful lot in two years, Shark.”
“Hmm?”
“You told me how in August ’61 you were broke and facing the prospect of living on the streets. You’ve come a long way from there.”
Shark smiled and nodded. “Yeah, who would’ve thought I’d have mi own business, mi own house, and be engaged to the most gorgeous girl in England.”
“I’m glad you threw in that last bit.” She reached up to kiss him.
They spent the rest of the afternoon making decorating plans, but Becky started yawning by nine and decided to call it a night. Shark was also exhausted, but happily so.
ΨΨΨ
On Monday when Shark went to open the office, he was surprised to find a crowd of people waiting outside the door. As soon as they saw him, they all started talking at once. Shark raised his hand. “Hold on there, folks. One at a time.”
“Where are our babies?” cried one woman.
“It said in the paper that you had recovered all the stolen babies,” added another man.
Now Shark knew what they wanted. These were the parents of the stolen British babies. “Uh, yeah but they’re still in America. My partner called last night to say they had them and he was organizing to bring them over.”
“You’ve really got them?” asked another woman anxiously.
“So he said.” He finished unlocking the door and the people swarmed in after him. He wasn’t quite sure what to do with them, so told them how they went about locating the babies. He was grateful when the telephone rang.
“K&J Investigations. Oh, G’day, Neptune. Did yuh bring the babies?”
“Yes, Shark. Rachel and I are at the airport. We’ve got all the missing babies with us. Two FBI agents also came with us. They want to coordinate their efforts with our police. I’ve already called Clairmont and he said for us to take the babies to the Children’s hospital. Now all we have to do contact the parents of these babies.”
“No need. They’re all here at the office. I’ll bring ‘em to the hospital and meet yuh there.”
“Great. See you soon.” Neptune hung up.
Shark smiled, he could hear squealing babies in the background, and Neptune sounded a little flustered. He wondered how they managed to bring across thirteen babies. “Folks,” he said to the waiting people. “That was my partner. He’s recovered your babies. They’re being taken to the Children’s hospital so I recommend we all head on over there now.”
As soon as they left, he rang Gleeson to ask him if he wanted to get some pictures of parents being reunited with their babies. Gleeson gave a whoop of delight and promised to head for the hospital straight away. More free publicity for them.
The hospital foyer was swarming with people.
Shark spotted Clairmont and several uniformed police officers trying to restore order, as the American parents jostled each other trying to get past them to see their babies.
Now he knew how Neptune managed to bring all the babies over because he and Rachel weren’t alone.
“You did good, Neptune,” he said by way of greeting.
Neptune grinned at him. “Actually it was mostly the FBI that did all the work. We just sat back and reaped the benefits. New York was amazing. I would love to go back again someday. Did Clairmont give you any trouble?”
“Nope. Haven’t heard from Talbot either.”
“I doubt if we will.” Neptune held up a copy of the previous day’s newspaper that he carried. “Your handiwork?”
“Gave Gleeson an exclusive. He’s on his way out here now to cover this as well. Good publicity don’t yuh reckon.”
“Very good. K&J will profit very nicely out of all this.”
“In more ways than one,” said Shark.
Neptune nodded.
Several hours later they posed for a picture in front of a group of thirty-six pairs of grateful parents all holding their babies. Neptune also answered Gleeson’s questions about what transpired in America. It was mid-afternoon before normality returned to the hospital as the parents slowly dispersed. The FBI agents went with Clairmont to Scotland Yard, and Neptune promised to drop by the next day and give him his official statement.
They didn’t bother going back to the office, deciding to take the rest of the day off. Shark didn’t mind, he wanted to buy the paint for his house.
As Neptune and Rachel waited at the taxi rank in front of the hospital for a cab to arrive, Rachel said, “It was rather nice having those babies around, wasn’t it?”
“Uh, it was interesting, but um, I don’t know that I’d want so many at once. One’s enough.”
Rachel rubbed her abdomen. “Soon.”
He wrapped his arms around her. “I can hardly wait.”
The boys go from strength to strength as K& J Investigations cashes in on their growing fame as private investigators. Catch up on their continuing adventures in
The Friends of Neptune King.
Magda Jozsa, A Surprise for Neptune King
