As readers of The Adventures of Xavier & Vic
know, my sleuths acquire the most interesting employees. Today, I want to discuss the smallest
employee: L’il Pete. The adorable boy is 9 years old, but honestly most 7 years
old can take him down in a fight. He’s small for his age.
The first time we meet L’il Pete is in book 2 and
2.5 when Pete tries to claim a fortune by sharing what he knows about a
one-eyed begger man. I think Book 2.5,
Jacko’s love story, has the better version of the story:
When Jacko arrived at
his office, a young boy sat on the floor outside, his small foot thumping like
a rabbit. Upon sight of Jacko, he jumped up. “I been waitin’ nearly an hour to
collect me fortune!”
Jacko opened the door
and ushered the boy in. He would gladly give the boy a fortune for the return
of Xavier, but he had little hope finding his friend would be so easy.
“Watcha got?”
“Give me my ten
thousand pounds first.” The boy bravely held his ground, his grubby small hand
stretched forward, palm up.
Jacko admired his
pluck. “That’s not the way it works. You tell me what you know and then I
decide if it warrants the money.”
The boy’s brow
furrowed. “And what if you decide it don’t?”
“Then I’ll pay you what
I think it’s worth.”
The boy jammed his
hands in his pockets as he stared at his feet muttering beneath his breath.
“What’s your name?”
His head tilted up and
his eyes narrowed. “What’s it worth to you?”
The kid reminded him of
himself as a scrappy boy. “It could be worth a regular job.”
The boy’s eyes widened
as he yanked his hand from his pocket and extended it to Jacko. “People call me
L’il Pete. So do I get the job?”
Jacko shook his tiny
hand. “I’ll give you a try.” He walked to his desk, grabbed a pencil and paper,
and wrote his boarding room address. He handed the slip to the boy. “I’ll pay
you two shillings a day to sit in a chair in front of this room and bring me
messages from people who stop by. Any tip they give you is yours to keep.”
L’il Pete’s eyes
narrowed. “That’s it? Just sit in a chair?”
“You can even sleep if
you like.”
The boy shook his head
as he wiped his nose on his sleeve. “I wasn’t born yesterday. What’s the git?”
“The ‘git’ is you must
keep to your schedule and never lie to me.”
The boy’s head tilted
in confusion. “That’s all?”
“Sounds simple, but
I’ve yet to find a boy who has the character to do it.”
The small fellow jutted
out his chest and snared his thumbs through his belt loops. “I got tons of
character. Everybody says so.”
Damn, but he liked this
boy. “Which is why you are getting the job. And when you go back there today,
if a boy named Elwood shows up, tell him he’s fired.”
“Elwood…” The boy’s
face scrunched up as he rubbed his chin with grimy fingers. “How big is he?”
“Good point.” Jacko
wrote on another slip of paper, ‘Elwood, you are fired—Jacko.’ He gave it to
the boy. “Just give him this.”
The boy nodded and
slipped it in his pocket.
“Now what do you have
for me?” Jacko had little hope the fellow had any news of value, but he’d give
the lad a listen.
“I heard the one-eyed
beggar man was in Dragon’s Cloud.”
“Old news. The Dragon’s
Cloud was torn down last night and no one-eyed beggar man was found.”
The boy cocked his
right eyebrow. “That’s because they moved him.”
Jacko knelt down,
eye-level with the boy, his heart pounding in excitement. Was it possible this
L’il Pete was the answer to his prayers? “Moved him where?”
His cockiness
disappeared. “I’m not sure.”
Jacko’s frustration
rose and he raked his hand through his hair. Someone in this damn town has to
know where Xavier was. He took a deep breath and calmed himself. “Well then,
what did you see?”
“I saw four men
carrying a body out the back of Dragon’s Cloud and down the alley around six
last night. He had a black patch over his left eye and was dressed in rags.”
This might be the break
they needed. “Which way did they go, east or west?”
The boy gave that some
thought. “I was hiding in the garbage on the opposite side of the Dragon.” He
then pointed left. “They went that way down the alley.”
“West.”
The boy’s hands settled
on his tiny hips. “West then.”
“That’s a dangerous
place. What were you doing there?” Jacko asked, worried the boy might be making
it up.
“I can’t say.”
“Pete, you work for me
now, remember?”
L’il Pete smiled.
“Right. Mr. Denny paid me a half-penny to hide in the alley and describe the
men who came in the back with packages.”
Jacko tried to hide the
rage he felt towards Charles Denny. He caused more boys’ deaths than any man in
the docks. “I don’t want you taking any more jobs from that scurf. He’s not
paying you a fair wage for the danger you take on.”
Pete frowned. “How much
should I get paid to hide in garbage?”
Jacko stifled his
desire to laugh at the boy’s earnest question. “That depends where the garbage
is. Since the job could have easily cost you your life, you shouldn’t take less
than a million pounds.”
The boy’s eyes rounded
in wonder. “Somebody’ll pay me a million pounds to hide in garbage?”
“No. That’s just what
the job’s worth. Denny can always find some young boy who doesn’t realize he
won’t live more than a few days on the job. He’ll tell the boy to report his
findings every day, but delay paying him until the end of the week, which means
Denny rarely has to pay the boy at all.”
L’il Pete’s mouth fell
open. “That ain’t right!”
“No, it’s not. Which is
why, I want your word you won’t do any more jobs for Mr. Denny.”
The boy nodded, but
then pouted. “What about the pence he owes me?”
“Write it off as a
lesson learned.”
***
(This
scene will come back to haunt Jack in book 4)
The great Victorian sleuth Xavier Thorn and his
partner Vic Hamilton take a case close to home. Their youngest staff member,
L’il Pete, discovers his mother murdered in the alley. Jacko is called up from
the country to assist in solving the crime. The good woman’s murder proves to
be tangled up with a much larger and shocking list of crimes perpetrated by a
powerful man who may truly be above the law. Making matters more complex: Vic
discovers her recent weight gain may be the result of a condition that could
destroy her life and everything she loves.
Book 4
Well Kept Secrets
Free with Amazon Kindle Unlimited
Need to catch up?
Book 1
Book 2
Book 2.5
Book 3
All Xavier books Free with Amazon Unlimited
Liza O’Connor was raised badly by feral cats,
left the South/Midwest and wandered off to find nicer people on the east coast.
There she worked for the meanest man on Wall Street, while her psychotic
husband tried to kill her three times. (So much for finding nicer people.) Then
one day she declared enough, got a better job, divorced her husband, and fell
in love with her new life where people behaved normally. But all those bad
behaviors have given her lots of fodder for her humorous romances. Please buy
these books, because otherwise, she’ll become grumpy and write troubled novels
instead. They will likely traumatize you.
You have been warned.
Mostly humorous
books by Liza:
Ghost Lover—Two British brothers fall in love with the
same young woman. Ancestral ghost is called in to fix the situation. And
there’s a ghost cat that roams about the book as well. (Humorous Contemporary
Romance)
Untamed & Unabashed—The youngest of the Bennet sisters, Lydia,
tells her story. A faithful spinoff from Pride & Prejudice.
A
Long Road to Love Series: (Humorous Contemporary odd Romance)
The
Adventures of Xavier & Vic Sleuth series: (Late Victorian/Mystery/Romance)
The Missing Partner — Opps! The greatest sleuth in Victorian
England goes missing, leaving Vic to rescue him, a suffragette, and about 100
servants. Not to mention an eviscerating cat. Yes, let’s not mention the cat.
A Right to Love — A romantic detour for Jacko. Want to see how amply rewarded
Jacko was when he & Vic save an old woman from Bedlam?
The Mesmerist — The Mesmerist can control people from afar and make them murder for
her. Worse yet, Xavier Thorn has fallen under her spell.
Well
Kept Secrets — L’il Pete’s mum is murdered, and
discovering who & why reveals a great deal of secrets.
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