by Carol Prior
‘I suppose we just go home,’ said Steph. ‘Look, there’s Ollie, come on, we’ll go, then you can explain exactly what you mean, Violet, when you say it wasn’t even Esmeralda.’
‘What do you mean, go?’ asked Luke. ‘We can’t go, we have to find Dan, or at least look for him. I don’t believe he would hand over his balloon to just anyone. No, there’s definitely something peculiar going on.’
Violet nodded her head, ‘Yes, I agree completely, that woman wasn’t Esmeralda, she was quite a lot older for a start.’
‘Well maybe they didn’t want to risk putting the real Esmeralda in a hot air balloon,’ said Lizzie, ‘perhaps she’s too valuable. Also, she didn’t look that surprised when she took off, did she? A real actress would have been much better at having a fit of hysterics. Look there’s Ollie.’
‘Come on, you lot,’ he said, ‘there’s nothing else to see. It’s over to the coastguard now. Perhaps they’ll catch up with her somewhere off the coast of France, you never know. Or maybe she will just float back like you did.’
‘That’s what I’ve been thinking,’ added Tom. ‘The question is do these guys know how to work the controls? And, more importantly, where is Dan?’
The crew were packing up now and the chauffeur had got into the limousine and was driving back across the field. It only took a minute or so to reach the road as just a few spectators were left.
Luke pointed, ‘Looks like that man is coming over here. I don’t know why he’s looking so put out with us; it’s not his field!’
‘Why are you kids hanging around?’ he asked angrily. ‘There’s nothing more to see, she’s gone, NOT COMING BACK, comprendo?!’
‘Yep, sorry mate,’ said Ollie. ‘Come on, like he said, nothing else to see.’
Violet hung back, ‘We’re looking for our friend…’ she began but Tom pulled her away before she had time to finish. ‘I don’t think we should mention that we know Dan. They look a bit ruthless, what if they came after us?’
‘It’s true, Violet,’ said Luke, ‘we don’t want to draw attention to ourselves. We should go now and decide what to do next.’
Steph frowned, ‘I’ve seen him somewhere before, do you remember him, Vi?’
‘Yes,’ said Violet, ‘I think he was hanging around the last time we were here. There’s definitely something very strange going on!
******
Grandma had been back for some time when they climbed the steep steps into Old Joll’s courtyard. Julia’s little red car was parked outside next to Grandma’s and another car they didn’t recognise. They could hear excited voices coming from the west wing.
‘I can’t believe we’ve got our own secret room!’ that was Julia’s.
‘And two ancient antiques, a smugglers lantern and an old rowing boat. They could be over a hundred years old!’ exclaimed Grandma.
‘Oh, much more than that!’ said a third voice. ‘Now where’s the tunnel under the garden wall, Mary? And aren’t you lucky having so many grandchildren? Come out, Rose, you don’t want to get stuck in there like Luke and Tom did… hahaha...’
‘Yes, we’ll have a quick look then I’ll make some tea,’ that was Grandma again. Then they went down the stairs and out into the garden through the old door that Ollie had managed to open and their voices faded.
‘I hope I have such a good time when I’m that old,’ said Lizzie. ‘Shall we be helpful and get the tea. There’s some cake in the larder, I wouldn’t mind some.’
‘They’re coming back now,’ laughed Steph about ten minutes later.
‘These are the co-owners of Old Joll,’ announced Grandma. ‘Julia, you’ve already met her lots of times, and this is Rose, and Hattie, I’ve been showing them your discoveries.’
‘Yes, we’re so impressed,’ said Hattie. ‘What an exciting day all round! That poor girl, I hope they find her before it gets dark. What a terrifying experience!’
Grandma raised her eyebrows at Lizzie, Tom and Luke, ‘Yes, it most certainly is,’ she agreed. ‘Balloons seem rather unreliable, no brakes. I always think that about horses too! Now when I was younger…’
‘Can we be excused?’ asked Steph. ‘It was lovely meeting you all.’
‘Of course, off you go, and thank you for getting the tea!’ said Grandma, and she turned back to the ladies and continued her tale of the runaway horse.
‘I think this could be quite a dangerous situation,’ remarked Ollie.
They were sitting on the steps in the courtyard, all except for Luke who was lying flat on his back and looking into the sky. ‘I wonder where the balloon is now, at this very moment?’ he said thoughtfully. ‘And the Crown Jewels have gone too, good thing it was only a little tiara and not some great jewel encrusted crown.’
‘It’s still covered in real diamonds,’ declared Steph. ‘They’re very valuable even without the historical connection.’
Tom yawned, ‘It’s all very suspicious, a missing hot air balloon that’s a new invention and worth lots of cash, and a missing girl…’
‘A star of stage and screen,’ put in Violet.’
‘Yes, exactly,’ continued Tom. ‘And a missing scientist, and if that wasn’t enough, a missing tiara, part of the Crown Jewels, that is usually kept in the Tower of London. The question is what shall we do about it?’
‘Do about it? Are you mad?’ spluttered Ollie. ‘These people are obviously dangerous criminals, in my opinion anyway. What makes you think you can do anything about it. Honestly, Tom, you’re as bad as Luke! Just keep clear of the whole thing.’
‘But what about the Professor?’ asked Lizzie, ‘he could be in terrible danger, and Esmeralda?’
‘She could have been kidnapped. And even if I’m mistaken and that was the real one in the balloon, where is she now?’ asked Violet.
’It doesn’t look good, does it?’ Steph shook her head. ‘We can watch for the balloon tonight, it might come back.’
‘Yes, that’s all you can do, leave it at that,’ said Ollie, he looked at them each in turn, ‘I mean it, seriously!’
SUNDAY
CHAPTER 16
Back to Cornypie
On Sunday the newspapers could talk of nothing else. ‘Famous Actress Lost in Balloon Tragedy’, read the headlines, and ‘Esmeralda Missing in Balloon Flight Over English Channel’. One newspaper was even offering a reward for information.
The more important papers concentrated on the loss of a valuable artefact from the Tower of London and asked why part of the Crown Jewels was used just to advertise a cake in the first place.
‘I know we’ve been told not to interfere,’ complained Luke ‘but actually we have very important information. We know that the Professor was hoping to patent his new invention and that he wasn’t anywhere to be seen.’
The others agreed, ‘And,’ said Steph, ‘we also know that the balloon always travelled between the town fair and Cornypie House, morning and night, so shouldn’t we be telling someone that it may just have gone back there? Or maybe go and take a look; we wouldn’t be interfering too much so I don’t see why anyone would object.’
It was raining again and the unmade road
was muddy and full of deep puddles. They knew the way this time and soon reached the flat land beyond the footpath. They could see Cornypie in the distance; it looked somehow menacing in the rain, squat and grey against the undercliff.
‘What now?’ asked Lizzie, her hair was wet and straggly and she had mud on her chin where it had splashed up from the road.
They stood by the gate for about five minutes trying to decide what to do.
Steph shuffled her feet, ‘Well, it’s no good just hanging around here,’ she said.
‘What do you suggest then?’ asked Luke. ‘We can go back having found out nothing at all, that’s one option, or we could walk around and try to see over the wall, that’s another.’
‘There is a third though,’ said Lizzie. ‘We could ring this bell again and see if Dan comes to the door.’
<
br /> ‘No Lizzie!’ cried Tom as she grabbed the bell pull and swung on it.
‘No… not again, Lizzie!’ said Luke, ‘What have you done this time?’
‘Run,’ yelled Steph as the front door opened and a blond woman carrying a large black umbrella came striding towards the gate. She didn’t look happy at all!
They crouched down behind the wall as the gate swung open.
‘It’s her!’ whispered Violet, ‘I’m sure it is, the woman who went off in the balloon. I was right, it wasn’t Esmeralda!’
‘Well I’m going to ask her where Dan is,’ said Lizzie and before they could stop her she’d marched around the corner. The woman was standing outside the gate; she had a frown on her face and was looking around for the person who had rung the bell.
‘It was me, I rang the bell,’ announced Lizzie to the surprised woman.
‘Are you here alone?’ she replied.
Lizzie smiled sweetly, ‘Um… yes, of course, just me!’
‘And me,’ said Luke appearing from the shadow of the wall.
‘And us,’ added Steph.
The woman looked at them in turn, ‘Why are you here?’ she asked. ‘What do you want?’
‘Our friend Professor Dan McDonald lives here,’ said Violet, ‘and we’re hoping to see him. Is he in?’
‘Never heard of anyone of that name,’ she snarled, ‘so no, he isn’t in. Why would you want to see him anyway?’
Then a big man with his hair tied in a ponytail appeared at the front door. ‘What’s going on, Dinah?’ he yelled. ‘What do those kids want?’ He walked towards them, ‘Don’t I know you?’ he asked sneering at them with a weird crooked smile. ‘Yeah, of course, you were at the fair, weren’t you? Bunch of trouble makers, clear off and don’t come back or I’ll set the dogs on you!’
‘Lizzie,’ moaned Luke as they headed off across the field, ‘it wasn’t a good idea to ring the bell. You’ve blown our cover for sure. We’ll never be able to get anywhere near the place from now on!’
‘We’re certain that something isn’t right though,’ said Steph. ‘The Prof has disappeared and we know for a fact that he lived there.’
‘We’ll just have to tell the police then, I suppose,’ suggested Tom. ‘We can’t do anymore. I don’t like the sound of their dogs at all.’
‘I don’t think they’ve got dogs,’ said Violet. ‘I didn’t hear any barking, they’re just trying to scare us.’
‘I hope no one tells Grandma we’ve been here,’ muttered Luke. ‘Now she can be really scary!’
They splashed across the courtyard and in through the front door. Grandma was singing ‘Some Enchanted Evening’, and it felt warm and smelled of fruitcake; or something delicious, thought Luke.
Ollie was waiting for them just inside the door. ‘Where were you?’ he asked. ‘I hope you haven’t been hanging around that house again?’
Luke looked defiant, ‘What if we have? There’s no harm in looking.’
‘Are you back?’ called Grandma from the kitchen. ‘Take your boots off and come and warm up. I’m making cakes.’
******
It was much later when they got the chance to decide on what exactly they should do next. Ollie had been annoyed because they ignored his warnings but luckily he didn’t tell Grandma.
‘There is a second option,’ said Tom. ‘Do you remember, Luke? You suggested we walk around the walls and try to look over.’
‘Of course,’ cried Lizzie, ‘why didn’t we think of it before? They can’t stop us doing that, and there’s sure to be a way into the garden just as there is here!’
Steph agreed, ‘Lizzie’s right, the houses are identical so there’s sure to be a way in and out of the garden. And I wouldn’t mind betting it will be the same as here, a sort of stone mosaic with letters on it, but do we dare? What if they catch us? They’ve already threatened us and I’m sure they’ve kidnapped Esmeralda and the Professor.’
‘We have to rescue them in that case,’ Violet had a very determined look on her face, ‘if we don’t who will? And they’ll get away with it!’
‘Of course, as I said before, we could try the police first,’ suggested Tom.
‘But we don’t have any evidence,’ said Luke. ‘They think it’s all been a terrible accident, just a lost balloon with someone in it. Looks like we’ll have to go for it! We’ll try to get in the garden, and then see what we come up with!’
Lizzie grinned, ‘Tomorrow, then, haha… battle stations! I can’t wait!’
MONDAY
CHAPTER 17
Off to rescue the Professor!
Grandma went out early the next morning to buy milk and she came back with the newspapers.
‘Look at these, it’s dreadful! I wonder if they’ll ever find her, it’s been two days now!’ She held one up for everyone to see.
‘WHERE IS ESMERALDA?’
‘STILL NO SIGN OF THE HOT AIR BALLOON!’
screamed the headlines, followed by a long account of her disappearance.
The famous star of ‘Here and Everywhere’ is still missing after a publicity stunt on Saturday that went tragically wrong…
‘Poor girl, she’s no age at all and lost at sea. And that balloon was a wonderful thing… oh dear, such a shame!’
‘I think she might still turn up,’ said Luke and he winked at the others. ‘We’re going for a walk this morning, Grandma. Is that alright?’
‘Yes, of course, it’s a lovely day, just stay out of trouble. At least I know you won’t be going up in any hot air balloons this time. What if it had happened to you? I can’t bear to think about it!’
******
‘OW! Oh! Ouch!’
‘Shhhh… Be quiet Lizzie, we don’t want anyone to know we’re here.’
‘It’s alright for you, it’s me who’s getting stung by horrible nettles, look they’re everywhere!’
Steph bent down and picked a Dock leaf, ‘Here rub this on it, I told you not to wear shorts! Quick, we have to catch up with the others, we’re getting left behind!’
‘Come on, you two,’ whispered Luke, ‘we think we’ve found it!’
Violet and Tom were pressed close to the wall almost hidden by foliage.
‘I’m not going in there,’ declared Lizzie stubbornly, ‘those nettles are really vicious!’
‘Keep your voice down,’ whispered Tom, ‘if anyone hears us we’re for it! Look we’ve found the stone slab with engraved letters on it, quite hard to see though because the stones are all dusty and quite worn.’
Violet rubbed the letters with a handful of grass. ‘You can just about read them,’ she said softly, ‘it’s very lucky that we know what they are already. See, it says JOL LYO LDP IEC ORN and underneath ‘you’ll never find me’ those smugglers were very clever.’
‘They must have thought it was all a big game,’ whispered Tom, ‘but a dangerous one, you could be put in prison for a long time, or worse!’
‘Do you think it will work?’ asked Lizzie. ‘After all, this wall is in a worse state than Grandma’s, look it’s all crumbly.’
‘Well, try pressing the stones,’ murmured Luke impatiently, ‘then we’ll soon see if it’s going to work. And if it doesn’t we’ll think of something else!’
‘At Grandma’s the password was Cornypie so I think we should try Old Joll here,’ said Violet.
‘Yeah, well which O, Vi? There are three?’ asked Tom.
‘It doesn’t have to be that complicated, not like today when everyone has passwords for everything. Just try the first O, that’s what we did before,’ whispered Steph. ‘Move over, I’ll do it this time. Right, O, then L, then D; I think the stones are moving! And J, O, L, L, yes, hooray, stand back, it seems to be working!’
The giant stone slab swung back with a loud grating sound and they all dived for cover.
Steph peered up from behind a bush that was covered in dark shiny leaves, ‘Do you think anyone heard that? It was so loud, sounded just like a plane landing! Ow…
and I’ve got a prickle in my head from when I threw myself under that holly bush.’
‘No, only sounds loud if you’re standing right next to it,’ said Luke, ‘the people in the house are much too far away.’
‘Perhaps it would be sensible to stay hidden for a while,’ suggested Violet, ‘just in case.’
‘Not much point in that,’ said Tom, ‘if they didn’t hear the slab opening they’d have been sure to hear Steph yelling about holly prickles sticking in her head! Come on, let’s go in!’
‘It’s all slimy and mossy,’ murmured Violet, ‘and look at the size of that beetle!’
‘Shhhh… Vi, don’t look,’ whispered Lizzie, ‘just pretend you’re on that TV program, you know, I’m a Celebrity, Get Me Out Of Here!’
‘I am trying Lizzie, but it’s not easy to walk with my eyes shut!’
Luke climbed up and looked out. ‘All clear, you can come out. Anyone want a hand?’
The garden was very overgrown and even wilder than Grandma’s, and completely silent apart from a chirruping blackbird high up on the wall. They tiptoed softly between the trees stopping every now and then to listen for voices.
‘The arch through to the courtyard is blocked off,’ whispered Violet. ‘Can you see it? There’s a gate with a big padlock. Oh…’ she gasped ‘there’s Dan, he’s over there on the bench, he looks very sad.’ And she left her hiding place behind a big tree and ran over to him.
‘Come back, Vi!’ called Steph as loud as she dared, ‘someone will see you!’
Dan jumped when he saw Violet. ‘Where did you spring from?’ he asked.
Violet just smiled and took his hand leading him away from the house and down the garden, while the others looked on in horror.
Dan stared at them in amazement, ‘It’s very dangerous here! I hope no one has seen you!’ He stared back at the house with a frightened look on his face. ‘I can’t leave, they’ve blocked the gate to the courtyard and the garden has a high wall all the way round, so how did you get in here?’