Death in the Devil's Den Read Online Free Page A

underbelly of London. Richard wouldn’t know what it was like to be hunted through the streets or across the rooftops of the city. It would be just a
game to him. ‘That fella’s got a knife,’ he added.
    The boy, however, seemed quite unworried and continued to study Alfie with a smile, until a slight sound from below made him peer down at the pavement.
    ‘He’s coming after you. What a lark,’ said Richard with a chuckle. He leaned over the parapet and peered down. ‘Found himself a ladder, too! I wonder how he managed to
get hold of that? It’s kept in the gardener’s shed at the back of the yard. How would he know about that? And how did he get a key to go into the yard? It’s always locked at
night.’
    Alfie joined him and peered over the edge of the parapet; but Richard suddenly drew well back.
    ‘Oh my sainted aunt,’ he said under his breath. ‘I know who that is. I can’t be wrong. I know those hunched-up shoulders – I should do. I spend enough hours staring
at them while we’re rehearsing in the Abbey. He’s disguised himself, though. He doesn’t really have a beard, or a scar, or those bushy eyebrows. He must be wearing some sort of
mask.’
    ‘Who is it?’ asked Alfie in a whisper.
    ‘Boris Ivanov, the organ master at the choir school. I’d stake a penny on it. Never seen that fur coat before, but I’m sure that it is he. I’m in terrible trouble if he
finds me on the roof in the middle of the night. He’ll flog me if he catches me.’
    ‘He’ll certainly kill me,’ whispered Alfie back; but his heart was beating hard with excitement as he followed Richard along a gulley that lay between two sections of the
roof.
    ‘Boris Ivanov . . .’ Alfie tried the words on his tongue. ‘Sounds funny!’
    ‘Oh, he’s Russian,’ Richard replied.
    Alfie’s eyes widened. What was it Inspector Denham had said?
    ‘ . . .passing secrets and plans about a new weapon, a splendid new gun, to our enemies, the Russians .’
    And the man had been to the Russian Embassy. Things were starting to fall into place!

CHAPTER 8
S ANCTUARY F OR A LFIE

    ‘Yes, he’s a Russian. He’s always talking about Russia; tells us that he had no parents, no brothers or sisters – just Mother Russia,’ whispered
Richard over his shoulder as he led the way. ‘Funny old cove – great musician, though. You should hear him play the organ. Be careful here, this roof is very slippery.’
    ‘Anything the matter, sir?’ The voice rang out clearly in the foggy air.
    Alfie groaned to himself as Richard muttered, ‘The copper! Now we’re in trouble. Edge up here; careful of that gutter – it’s broken. Don’t put any weight on it. Get
behind this chimney.’
    Alfie did what he was told. His bare feet were proving to be more useful than Richard’s gleaming black leather boots.
    And then the shrill note of a policeman’s whistle split the air and Richard moaned. ‘That’s torn it. The coppers will surround the Abbey. Quick, follow me. Boris will have some
explaining to do and that will give us a few minutes’ start on them.’
    ‘It’s a boy, a boy selling newspapers, stole my purse.’ The Russian organist sounded flustered.
    Alfie clambered over the head of a stone lion and crouched down beside Richard, whose white teeth flashed a grin in the moonlight. A cool customer, thought Alfie admiringly.
    ‘That boy over there?’ asked the policeman. ‘Come back, you young villain; come back, I say!’
    The policeman was shouting at another boy, down below, and Alfie recognised Tom! He realised that his cousin must have come back to Westminster, instead of going back to the cellar in Bow
Street. So now Tom was making a run for it – and, knowing Tom, he would be trying to take the newspapers with him.
    Alfie’s heart lurched. Tom could be annoying, but Alfie’s mother had been very fond of him and she had told her son to look after his cousin when she died. He imagined her above in
the heaven of his