56. The Clipboard
In which MyrtleLion has authority…
The Bluestocking patrons arrived at the depot a little after two and stopped at the gate.
“Just you two,” Gosie said to MyrtleLion and @Hedgehogforshort. “The rest of you wait here.”
Nobody argued. Gosie led the way in through the roller door with Hedgehog and @EmpressaurusKitty behind her, and MyrtleLion came last, holding the clipboard against her chest. She looked once along the length of the depot, then walked straight towards the back.
The four women in grey jackets were lifting and scanning. The nearest one stepped back from her work to let MyrtleLion pass, and so did the next and the next as if in a choreographed ballet. Nobody asked who she was.
The crate stood against the back wall. Kitty was lying along the lid, full length, one paw still touching the broken violet seal. She opened her eyes as MyrtleLion reached her and jumped off the crate, then sat at MyrtleLion’s feet and began to purr.
MyrtleLion looked the crate over from one end to the other. Then she made a small tick on the blank sheet of paper. Hedgehog and Empressaurus stood either side of the crate.
One of the women in grey jackets came over with a sheet of paper and held it out. MyrtleLion took it and clipped it to the clipboard without reading it. The woman went back to her scanner.
“What is that?” said Hedgehog.
MyrtleLion lifted the corner and read it. “The manifest. Four panels, leaded glass, for conservation. Consignee 3859.”
“Nothing about where they came from?”
“No.”
A second woman approached them with a handheld scanner, pointed it at the label on the side of the crate and waited. The scanner gave its two short notes. She turned the screen towards MyrtleLion, who looked at it and nodded, and the woman went away again.
Somebody set a cup of coffee on the lid of the crate at MyrtleLion’s elbow. None of them saw who. MyrtleLion drank some of it.
“Thank you,” she said.
Signe came out of the office and stopped in front of MyrtleLion. She looked down at her, and then at the clipboard. “Collection or delivery?” she asked.
MyrtleLion considered this as though it had several possible answers. “Neither,” she said.
Signe looked at her for some time. “You are from the lawyer,” she said.
MyrtleLion made a tick on the clipboard.
“I’m a solicitor,” said Hedgehog.
“Yes,” said Signe, without looking at her. She spoke to MyrtleLion. “You have not asked me anything. The only people who come in here and ask me nothing are the ones who already know.”
“Really?” said MyrtleLion.
Signe looked at Kitty, still sitting at MyrtleLion’s feet, and then at the crate. “Four panels, leaded glass, for conservation. You have the manifest.” She said it in the tone she used for the opening hours. “It is being collected today. If you want to sign for it now, you can.”
MyrtleLion made another tick.
“Your collection is at four o’clock,” said Signe, then she went back to the office.
“Does the manifest say who is collecting it?” asked Hedgehog.
MyrtleLion unclipped the manifest and read it out loud again. “No, nothing, just Four panels, leaded glass, for conservation. Consignee 3859.“
“They must be the panels returned from US Customs to Fenella Burnish and then sent on to Sweden,” said Hedgehog. “Norwich, Carlisle, St David’s, Sainte-Chapelle.”
“She said I could sign for it,” said MyrtleLion.
“Then do that,” said Hedgehog. “We could take them home.”
“But then nobody collects the crate at four o’clock,” said Gosie, “and whoever was coming for it will want to know where it’s gone.”
“And if we take the crate,” said Empressaurus, “we will never find out where it goes next. Signe doesn’t know. Nobody does. The only way to find out is to let it be collected and follow it.”
“I agree,” said Hedgehog. “But we also have to find the other crate with the gerbils in it.”
“If their crate has the same number as this one,” said Gosie, “it will be delivered to Pernilla Ågren’s studio first.”
“Then some of us must go to the studio,” said Empressaurus, “and some of us will have to stay here to follow the crate.”
“I’ll stay,” said MyrtleLion, and made a tick.
“Empressaurus and I will go to the studio,” said Gosie. “Pernilla knows us.”
“And I’ll tell the others,” said Hedgehog. “If a van takes this crate, somebody needs to be in a car behind it.”
She set off towards the roller door. Kitty got up, jumped onto the lid of the crate and lay down along it again, one paw over the violet seal.
Hedgehog had not quite reached the door when a grey van reversed up to it, and the four women in grey jackets put down what they were holding.
Signe came out of the office and looked at the clock, and then at MyrtleLion.
“Your collection is early,” she said.
https://myrtlelion.substack.com/p/56-the-clipboard