Surviving The Evacuation: Harvest Part 17

"You said youd help with dinner."

"Ill send someone," she said, and almost immediately forgot as she went outside. She heard the buzzing of the drone as it flew overhead, followed by the sound of children yelling and running after it. She found no cheer in the sound. They needed the food outside the castle walls more than ever, but for now it was safer where it was. She looked around. What should she do? What could she do? An idea came to her.

"Set a thief," she murmured, and went to find Chester.

He was where shed left him, sitting in the chair, surrounded by maps, his eyes closed.

"Nilda?" he asked, then opened an eye. "Yep. I thought it was you. You have this firm walk. As if youre determined to get somewhere, and the ground better play along or get out of the-"

"We have a problem," she interrupted.

"Another one?"

"A big one," she said. "Were missing food from the storeroom. A lot of food."

"How much?"

"Almost all of it. At best theres three days left. More likely its two. This is the list of everything thats come in and meant to have gone into the stores. Most of it came from Kirkman House. You see here, at the end, thats whats actually there. Theres a few bags of rice. A dozen tins. Some sugar. Not much else."

He took the list and glanced at it. "Well, it doesnt look good. But does it matter? Weve got all that stuff from the-"

"Chester, Listen! Im saying its been stolen!"

He looked down the list again. "Biscuits, icing sugar, nuts... its stuff people would have snacked on. Did anyone tell them not to?"

"Two things. First, they left the empty boxes in there. I mean, surely you cant be saying that people got peckish, went in, found the place nearly empty, and didnt say anything."

"Well, perhaps its-"

"Second," she interrupted. "Forgetting the fact that no one snacks on icing sugar, were missing at least twenty-five kilos of rice. Who eats raw rice?"

Chester glanced at the list again. "You cant eat raw rice. And you cant cook it without people knowing. Are you sure it was ever here?"

"Stewart says the list was written when they arrived from Kirkman House. You see here, thats the entry for the rice. Thats Hanas handwriting."

"So it almost certainly was put in there. Could an empty box have been put in there and marked as full? No," he said, answering his own question before Nilda could. "One box, sure. Two, maybe, but not all of them. Alright, so someone took it. They couldnt have eaten it all, so its been hidden. Not a bad idea that, the empty boxes. I take it these entries at the bottom are the things found more recently? And that food was actually there, right? And it was all near the door?"

"Yes. Exactly," she said.

"So were dealing with a professional."

"McInery?"

"No. I dont think so," he said. She was about to ask how he could be so sure when he continued. "Shed have added rocks to the empty boxes for that extra layer of authenticity. No, its not her kind of crime. Wheres the profit in it? Besides, she wouldn't have had the opportunity since she came back from the museum. Nor would Tuck, Jay, or the others."

"If not her, then who?"

"Well, I suppose Stewart is the obvious suspect."

"I honestly cant believe he would. Not with his obsession about calories and people not going hungry."

"Hes had the opportunity, and youve just given him motive. Perhaps hes been hiding it deliberately."

"No, I dont think so," she said. "He hasnt got enough neurons firing in the right direction to manage something that subtle."

"Perhaps not," Chester said, unconvinced. "Okay, so not him. Id say that leaves you as the prime suspect, squirrelling away food to keep your son from starving like you did back in Penrith, except I know youve not had the time either. And that leaves pretty much everyone else."

"That doesnt help. But if they werent eating it, why would anyone steal the supplies?"

"Either theyre doing it out of pre-emptive self-preservation, or so they can play the hero when we run out. Whichever it is, how much danger are you in?"

"You mean that weve got the food from the mansion, and youll soon be back with a boat laden with supplies? What if it keeps happening? What if it all goes missing during the depths of winter when no boat can reach us? What if you dont make it to Wales, what then?"

"Yeah, okay. You know, theres someone else who we can be certain didnt do it. Styles. Our very own Detective Inspector. This should be right up his alley."

"And this is what you call safety, is it?" Styles snapped. "A toxic river and no fresh food, except it turns out theres no food at all because youve got a thief in your midst. Do the people in Wales even exist?"

"They do," Chester said.

"Frankly, Ill believe it when Im standing on the deck of a boat waving goodbye to this place."

"Look, Inspector," Chester growled. "You can complain all you like, but the children are safer here than in Kent. And itll be easier to get them out by boat when it comes."

"And it wont until you leave," Styles said. "And when is that going to be?"

"When weve got to the bottom of this," Nilda said. "Theres a thief here. Im certain of that. Or," she added, "perhaps its someone spun mad by the outbreak now driven to hide and h.o.a.rd food. It doesnt matter which. If wed not gone down to that farm, if Chester had gone north to get help from Anglesey, wed have starved before it arrived."

"Then go to Anglesey, see if they can bring some law and order to this place," Styles snapped.

"We dont need to go quite that far," Chester said. "Not when weve got you here, Detective Inspector."

"Right," Styles breathed out. "Yeah, okay. Who are the suspects?"

"Theres Stewart," Chester said.

"The cook?" Styles asked.

"If it was him, he doesnt know hes doing it," Nilda said. "Hes not... well, hes been pretty twisted by all thats happened since the event."

"He could have done it though?

"Hes obsessed with food. Making sure theres enough of it," Chester said.

"But everyones obsessed with that," Nilda said.

"Hes a cook. He has access," the Inspector said. "Right?"

"Yes," Nilda allowed.

"There you are then. He probably did it."

"Or possibly didnt," Nilda said. "But how do we prove it?"

"I dont see that as my problem," Styles said. "Ill take the children and our food, and well take over one wing of this place. Well hand out the supplies one day at a time until you come back with that boat."

"Your food is still mostly outside the walls," Chester said. "Even if it was inside, you cant stop us from taking it."

"I see. Its like that, is it?"

"And this is why we need to catch that thief. Look at us. Here. Now." Nilda sighed. "Okay. So how do we find out who actually did it? What about fingerprints? They put the boxes back, so whichever set is on every box has to be the thiefs."

"Possibly. I suppose so. But we dont have a kit," Styles said.

"Any fine powder will do," Chester said. "You must have been at least one crime scene where you ran out."

"I worked Special Branch, not robbery," Styles said.

"Special Branch? With the MET?" Chester asked.

"Out of Scotland Yard," Styles said.

"For how long?" Chester asked.

"For the last five years."

"I see." He stood up. "Youre not police."

"What do you mean?"

"Nah, you see, I thought I didnt recognise you. On its own it doesnt add up to much, but youre not like any rozzer Ive ever met. And Special Branch? You must have got that from the telly."

"What do you mean?" Nilda asked.

"They rebranded it as Counter Terrorism at the beginning of the century," Chester said. "So who are you?"

"Fine. Im not police. I was underground with a bunch of screaming children whilst some battles.h.i.+p was bombarding us. Being a figure of authority was a comfort to them. How was I supposed to know that Id end up stuck with them? The lie didnt matter. Of course it didnt. I mean, under what possible circ.u.mstances could it matter? And how does it matter now, since Im clearly not your thief?"

"Yeah, but out of all the professions you could have chosen, why police?" Chester asked. "After what they did-"

"Hes right. It doesnt matter," Nilda said. "Were all ent.i.tled to reinvent ourselves. But since everyone else actually thinks youre a detective, we might as well let the lie stand. It could be useful, though it doesnt get us any closer to finding out who did it."

"DNAs out. So is CCTV," Styles said, clearly eager to move the conversation along. "I suppose you could do fingerprinting. I mean, how hard can it actually be? But youd need to take everyones prints. And I guess the best way of doing that is when you interrogate them. But have you thought about what will happen when you start doing that? As soon as you announce theres a thief here, people will pick out their own favourite suspect, and those suspicions will linger long after you find out who did it."

"The mans got a point," Chester said. "We could say that this is a stock error. A miscalculation, and because of it were going to have to keep far tighter track of food from now on. Keep it under lock and key, and give fewer people access. And make sure those are people you know you can trust."

"No," Nilda said. "If we cant find the thief, then I think I have a better long-term solution, but we shouldnt give up. Chester, how would you do it?"

"Steal it, you mean? Well, getting it out of the stock room isnt hard. The difficult part is moving it to somewhere it wont be found."

"How do you know that?" Styles asked.

"Ive got a lot of experience with law enforcement," Chester said.

"So you think itll be hidden in the castle?" Nilda asked.

"I doubt it," Chester said. "You have to a.s.sume that Fogerty knows every tunnel and secret pa.s.sageway. Theres too great a chance hed stumble over it. If he did, then everything would be discovered. So, if I was hiding it inside, Id have to kill the old soldier. Since hes still alive, Id say the food was outside."

"Surely wed have noticed someone going out with a full bag," Nilda said.

"Clearly not," Chester said. "But if it was me, Id move it at night."

"Tuck sleeps on that tower, shed have seen."

"Only if she was awake and only if our thief went over that section of wall. And why should they? You know, the more I think about it, the more that makes sense. Why is it that there are more undead around in the mornings than in the evenings? They must hear something at night."

"Well, where outside could they be stas.h.i.+ng the food?" Styles asked.

"It could be anywhere," Chester said. "A restaurant, an office, one of the churches, or anyplace really, but wherever it is, it wont be far. Somewhere you can walk to from the castle, get inside, and then get back, quickly. Itll take a while to find it, and we want this over with tonight. Well have to lay a trap and thatll be simple enough, but youre right, when people are told, theyll need proof. Something that will allow them to believe its over, that the thief is caught and it wont happen again. Fingerprinting might be a bit beyond us, but I think we can manage CCTV."

First, they enlisted the help of Jay and Tuck. When they told them what had happened, Jay didnt want to believe it. Tuck didnt seem surprised.

After the evening meal, Jay stood up to propose that due to their suddenly increased numbers, any personal stashes of food should be handed in to be added to the stores. He also suggested that as soon as they gathered the food from outside, they should conduct a more thorough inventory. Then they should bottle, pickle, or smoke as much as they could. When the s.h.i.+p from Anglesey arrived, they could then trade for supplies, even if it was only with a token gesture.

The idea was met with almost universal enthusiasm. When Nilda saw this, and that most people did want to stay in the Tower and try and create a functioning society, a small glimmer of trust was restored.

After people had brought their few private supplies to the kitchen, and after Nilda had sent Stewart to get some sleep, they hid the drone with its camera facing the doorway. It couldnt be left in the storeroom itself since there was no light in there. There was usually none in the kitchen at night, save that from the dying embers of the fire. They left a solitary lantern on an empty table that would, they hoped, give enough illumination to make the face of the thief visible on the recording.

They then retreated up to the second storey above the dining hall to wait. Jay sat with the laptop on his knees. Chester, Nilda, and Styles peered over his shoulder. Tuck looked relaxed, leaning against a wall, only the hand occasionally dropping to the hilt of her bayonet betraying any tension.

"I think," Jay said, "that the battery might last for another four hours. What do we do if no one comes?"

"Whatever happens, Im leaving with the morning tide," Chester said. "If it wasnt for the children, Id say you should all come with me."

"But the children are here," Styles said.

"And we cant leave them," Nilda added. "If we dont catch someone, well say it was a stock keeping error and keep the food under lock, key, and guard."

Tucks hands moved.

"Whats that?" Styles asked.

"If no one comes tonight, then we find more cameras," Jay said. "We keep watch every night because this wont just stop."

After that, they sat quietly, watching the small screen.

25th September It was nearing two when a shadow appeared.

Nilda nudged Chester.