Archie's Battleflat Adventures: The Harriman Mystery by Rebecca King Page B

downstairs?” Archie asked, glancing at Sammy
and Ben who lay sprawled in sleepy abandon across the wide bed. “I
won’t be able to sleep with you standing on guard like
that.”
    The
cottage was only three bedroomed. His parents had one bedroom, his
sisters shared a bed in the second room, and Archie and his
brothers shared a bed in this room. There was nowhere else to sleep
except for either the sitting room downstairs, or the front
room.
    Jack
frowned at them. He knew they could be trusted, but was wary of
leaving them alone downstairs with a murderer on the loose. Still,
it would help if they were within calling distance if anything
untoward happened.
    “ Alright,” Jack said with a sigh, wondering when the boys had
grown up so quickly. “Go and settle in the front room, but leave
the door open in case something happens.”
    Archie
gasped and stared in dismay at his friend. With the door closed,
they could make the quick trip to tavern and back without anyone
being any the wiser. With the door open, it would be obvious that
they weren’t in the front room. The opening and closing of the
front door would undoubtedly get them caught, even if Archie’s dad
stayed upstairs on watch.
    Gathering up their blankets and pillows, Edward and Archie
made their way downstairs and settled in the front room. Despite
his dad’s warning to leave the door open, Archie closed it while
they spread their blankets out on the floor. He could feel Edward
was bristling with questions, but motioned for him to remain quiet
- for the time being at least. If he was honest, he was frantically
thinking of a way they could get out of the house without being
seen by either the man keeping watch out back, or his dad who
appeared to have taken watch in order to protect his family and
home.
    As it
was, events unfolded around them without warning, and handed them
the perfect opportunity to escape on their daring
adventure.
    They had
no sooner settled on the blankets, quietly discussing what they
could do, when Archie’s dad tiptoed down the stairs. Archie lifted
his head. His gaze met and held his dad’s stern look, and he knew
without asking that the killer had moved toward the house again.
This time though, his dad was ready for him, and immediately lit a
spill, using the twisted paper to light several candles in the
sitting room, along with several more in the kitchen. The loud
cough his dad gave was most definitely masculine. Archie had never
heard a cough be threatening before and knew Edward was impressed
too, by the astonished lifting of his brows and respectful look he
threw at Archie’s father.
    “ I’ll go and check upstairs,” Archie whispered, tugging Edward
behind him. Together they made their way to the shutters in
Archie’s bedroom. One glance was all it took to reassure themselves
that the man had once again taken to the protection of the shadows
beneath the old tree.
    “ Let’s go and tell your dad,” Edward whispered after several
minutes, when it appeared that the man wasn’t going to move again
for a while yet.
    “ He’s back under the tree,” Archie whispered when they were
downstairs.
    “ Good, let’s leave him there. Go to bed, boys, I’ll stay and
keep watch down here,” Jack announced, settling down in one of the
chairs beside the table, and propping his booted feet on a second
chair.
    Edward
and Archie glanced at each other, unsure whether to go back
upstairs and keep watch for a while so they could forewarn their
father of another impending visit, but decided against it. If they
had any chance of getting outside, they needed to be
downstairs.
    Edward
yawned, wondering if they would get any sleep at all that night. He
glanced longingly at the rumpled comfort of the blankets and wished
he was back at home with his mum and dad. Although he worshipped
Archie, this was too mad, even for him. With a sigh, he followed
Archie’s lead and settled down on the blankets, fervently hoping
that this time he would be