The Black Crow Conspiracy Read Online Free PDF Page B

from Monty’s cheeks, but Alfie’s warning had come too late as, with a brief nod of his head, Drake gestured to the nearer of the two constables. Acting swiftly, the man promptly clapped his handcuffs around Monty’s outstretched wrist.
    “What is the meaning of this effrontery?” Monty spluttered, staring down at the handcuffs in disbelief as the policeman twisted his wrist to secure the other hand inside. “This is preposterous! Do you not know who I am?”
    Watching with a growing sense of horror, Penelope’s heart raced in anticipation of the inspector’s reply.
    “I know exactly who you are, Mr Flinch,” Drake said as the police constable roughly shoved Monty back into his seat. “Or should I call you the Black Crow?”
    Penny gasped in surprise, the sound of this drawing the inspector’s suspicious gaze.
    “And who exactly are you, miss?”
    For a moment, Penelope was lost for words, her thoughts a swirl of confusion at what she had just heard. The Black Crow was the villain from a story, not some real-life criminal. Surely this detective wasn’t so simple-minded that hecouldn’t tell the difference between a fictional character and its creator. But inside her confusion, a seed of hope grew too. If the inspector didn’t know who she was, then perhaps Montgomery Flinch’s secret was still safe after all. She needed to find out what was really going on here.
    Smoothing the pleats on her skirt, Penelope met the inspector’s gaze with a simpering smile.
    “I’m Miss Penelope Tredwell,” she replied primly. “Montgomery Flinch is my uncle and I can assure you, inspector, that he is an innocent man. This must all be some terrible misunderstanding.”
    “Quite right,” Monty grunted as he glared up at them from the chair. “What kind of cock-and-bull crime are you accusing me of anyway? If this is anything to do with my bar tab at the Athenaeum, then I assure you it is my intention to pay the bill in full.”
    Peering out from his sharp face, Drake’s dark eyes flashed in anger.
    “Do not mock me, Mr Flinch,” he said in a warning tone. “You know full well the treasonous crime of which you stand accused: the theft of the Crown Jewels from the Tower of London itself.”
    Monty laughed in disbelief.
    “But that’s just a story,” he cried. “You can’t arrest me for writing about a fictional crime!”
    Drawing himself up to his full height, Drake towered over Monty as the actor shrank back into his seat. The detective leaned forward untilhis face was only inches away from Monty’s own.
    “You might think you’re clever, Mr Flinch,” he hissed, “hiding your crime in plain sight, but your arrogance will be your downfall. Now tell me, where have you hidden the King’s crown?”
    For a moment there was silence, and then Alfie’s voice piped up from the door.
    “But surely if the Crown Jewels had been stolen it would be all over the newspapers by now? After all, the King’s got to use his crown for his coronation next week.”
    “And that is why there has been no report of this crime,” Inspector Drake replied, keeping his gaze fixed on Monty’s face as he watched a bead of sweat slide down his brow. “If news of the theft of the Crown Jewels was to get out, there would be uproar: questions in the House, protests in the streets, the police and army pilloried for our failure to protect the King’s crown. How could the coronation go ahead in such circumstances?” He leaned in even closer. “Now, tell me, Mr Flinch, how exactly did you think you would get away with bragging about your crime in the pages of
The Penny Dreadful
?”
    As Monty squirmed in his seat, Penny stepped into the breach. Tapping the detective on his shoulder, she fixed her face in a disarmingly attentive expression.
    “Excuse me, inspector, but if the Crown Jewels have been stolen as you say, why on earth do youbelieve that my uncle is responsible? Surely the more logical explanation is a copycat crime. Some