Alice-Miranda in the Alps

by Jacqueline Harvey

  Sep and Lucas leapt down onto the tracks. At the end of the line was a large handcar with a seesawing handle.

  ‘Does this still work?’ Sep asked, jumping onto it.

  Nina’s grandfather nodded. ‘Be careful not to go too far. It is dark down there.’

  ‘This place is incredible. You have to reopen the museum and finish it,’ Alice-Miranda said. ‘People should see this.’

  Lucas and Sep stood opposite one another, pumping the handle up and down as the old carriage wheels grated on the metal, making the most hideous screech. Everyone cringed at the noise. The two boys soon disappeared out of sight, and the noise with them.

  ‘Come back!’ Jacinta called into the darkness.

  For a few moments there was nothing but silence.

  ‘Stop messing around,’ Millie shouted, her voice echoing back to her.

  ‘Perhaps they don’t know how to make the handcar go in the other direction,’ Nina’s grandfather said. ‘You have to pull the lever the other way, boys,’ he shouted into the tunnel.

  There was a clattering sound as the handcar came back into view.

  ‘Thanks for the tip, Herr Dettwiller,’ Lucas said as the contraption slowed to a stop. ‘We thought we were going to have to push it back.’

  ‘Can we all go for a ride?’ Millie asked.

  With a nod from her grandfather, Nina turned to the others with a wide grin. ‘All aboard the Monta Rosa Express!’

  The children returned from their adventure just after midday, bubbling with excitement. As the weather hadn’t improved, they were going to have lunch with their parents at a traditional Swiss cafe on the main street, not far from the hotel. The children gathered in the foyer to meet the adults when Alice-Miranda realised she’d left her earmuffs in her room.

  She ran upstairs to collect them. When the girl reached the first-floor landing, she spotted a familiar figure. ‘Frau Doerflinger?’ she called.

  The woman at the end of the hallway hesitated before slowly turning around. ‘Oh, you,’ she said flatly.

  Alice-Miranda smiled. ‘Hello. Uncle Florian mentioned you were here.’

  ‘I leave tomorrow,’ Delphine replied.

  ‘We’ve just had the most amazing morning,’ Alice-Miranda began, her eyes widening. ‘My friend Nina gave us a guided tour of Herr Dettwiller’s Mechanical Musical Cabinet Museum. We got to see the most incredible thing!’

  The old woman nodded and began to turn away.

  ‘You won’t believe it, but there’s an old railway station underneath the museum. Well, it’s actually under the road between the museum and the hotel. Nina’s grandfather told us that trains used to bring passengers all the way up here back in the early nineteenth century.’

  Frau Doerflinger turned back and stared at the child. ‘It can’t be …’

  ‘I told you you wouldn’t believe it,’ Alice-Miranda said with a grin.

  ‘Did you see it for yourself?’ the old woman asked.

  ‘Only half of it,’ the child answered happily. ‘The other side of the train track was boarded up, but Herr Dettwiller says there is another platform underneath this hotel – beneath our very feet! I can’t think where the stairs leading to it would be. Maybe Uncle Florian or Aunt Giselle will know.’

  ‘Really?’ Delphine said, arching an eyebrow. ‘That is amazing.’

  Alice-Miranda nodded. ‘We thought so too. Anyway, I’d better go or Mummy and Daddy will be wondering where I’ve got to. We’re going for lunch. Goodbye, Frau Doerflinger!’

  With that, Alice-Miranda skipped away to her room.

  Frau Doerflinger stood there, stunned. She still had to find the entrance but at least she now knew there was access via the museum across the road. Perhaps someone could find it from there. ‘I might as well employ that child,’ she muttered to herself. ‘She would do a much better job than the idiots who work for me.’

  Valerie Wiederman rubbed her eyes and pinched the top of her nose. She’d spent all morning on the telephone – or at least pretending to be – going through the list of past guests and writing down their reasons for not returning this season. There had been knee replacements and elderly parents, children who’d had accidents and businesses gone bust. She scratched her head and wondered what to put next. Creative writing had never been her forte.

  The telephone on her desk buzzed and she picked it up. Valerie listened intently, then, without saying a word, she replaced the handset and stood up.

  ‘Herr Schlappi,’ she called.

  The man was standing just inside the door, polishing its brass frame. He stopped and looked up at her. ‘Yes?’

  ‘Could you listen out for the telephone?’ she asked, smiling sweetly. ‘I have to make an inventory of the housekeeping cupboard upstairs. I won’t be long.’

  The man nodded and returned to his polishing.

  Valerie rode the lift to the third floor, walked to the end of the hall and rang the bell. The door opened and she walked inside. The young woman smiled and went to kiss her aunt’s cheek, but the older woman ignored her and turned on her heel.

  ‘Aunt Delphine, is something the matter?’ Valerie asked. She had barely seen her aunt since the woman had arrived, as Delphine had a habit of disappearing for hours on end.

  ‘Of course something is the matter,’ the old woman snapped. ‘You know very well the deal I had hoped to close last week is now in ruins.’

  Valerie gulped. ‘I did everything you asked. There are no guests … I have told so many lies.’

  ‘And you will tell many more before we are done.’ Frau Doerflinger sighed and rubbed her temples. ‘Stop being so nice to everyone too. I heard you going gaga over those brats.’

  ‘I like children,’ Valerie swallowed.

  ‘You will learn,’ Delphine scoffed.

  Valerie wrung her hands together. ‘I promise, Aunt Delphine, I will be the best manager the Grand Hotel Fanger has ever seen.’

  The old woman’s eyes flickered up at her niece. ‘The Grand Hotel Fanger,’ Delphine repeated, enjoying the way it rolled off the tongue. ‘I hadn’t even thought of changing the name, but of course we will. Fanger’s is a much more reputable brand. Valerie, if you want to be the manager anytime soon, you must find the hotel blueprints.’

  Valerie bit her lip. ‘I have never seen them. If I were to hazard a guess, I would say the Baron most likely keeps them in the safe in his apartment.’

  ‘Then I need the key too, unless you happen to know where the entrance to the phantom railway station under the hotel is.’

  ‘Actually, I do,’ Valerie said, her eyes lighting up.

  ‘What?!’ A wave of crimson crept up Delphine’s neck. ‘Why haven’t you told me before now?’

  ‘You never asked,’ Valerie said, fidgeting nervously. Her mind raced. As far as she knew, the old station had been boarded up for decades. The woman wondered what it could possibly have to do with her aunt’s acquisition of the hotel but she knew better than to ask. ‘It’s in the basement. There’s a door at the back of the boot room, but I don’t think it has been opened in years.’

  ‘How do you know all this?’ her aunt demanded.

  ‘The Baron told me,’ Valerie replied with a shrug. ‘He said he planned to reopen it one day, to entice guests back to the hotel. I was worried that he might do it, so I took the key and hid it.’

  Her aunt grabbed her by the arms and shook her. ‘Do you still have the key?’ she asked, her eyes were wild. ‘Tell me you have the key!’

  Valerie nodded frantically. ‘Y-yes. It’s old and I knew that he would never be able to find another like it. He seems to have forgotten about it, anyway.’

  ‘You are a genius, my dear girl. A genius!’ Delphine kissed the girl’s cheek and hugged Valerie so hard she almost squeezed the life out of her. ‘Bring it to me. Bring it to me now!’

  The children entertained the adults with tales of Lars Dettwiller’s museum over schnitzel and strudel. But it was the story of the secret beneath the bui
lding that had them completely entranced.

  ‘That’s incredible,’ Hamish said, shaking his head. ‘Why doesn’t the Baron renovate his side too? It would make for a terrific attraction.’

  Hugh scraped the last of his dessert onto his spoon. ‘My thoughts exactly. I wonder why he’s never mentioned it.’

  ‘I think Herr Dettwiller has been working on it for years, Daddy. It would cost a lot of money to fix it all properly,’ Alice-Miranda said.

  ‘Well, the Matterhorn Museum was fascinating too,’ Hamish said. ‘I think all of you kids should take a look before we go home. There are artefacts from the first successful ascent of the mountain and parts of the rope that broke on their way down.’

  ‘Did they all die, Daddy?’ Millie asked.

  ‘No, but four of the party did. It’s no wonder, given their rope was only a bit thicker than twine. I can’t imagine what they were thinking,’ Hamish said, shaking his head.

  ‘I’ll go,’ Sloane said.

  The others stared at her in astonishment.

  ‘You hate museums,’ Sep said.

  Sloane shrugged. ‘Isn’t a girl allowed to change her mind?’

  ‘Of course,’ Cecelia said. She noticed Caprice fidgeting with her napkin. ‘Now, Caprice, I’ve spoken to your mother again and she has to head home for some urgent work. I know that you were supposed to be going with her but she can’t wait another day. I’m sorry to disappoint you but, until the weather clears and we can meet your father and the boys, you’re going to have to stay with us.’

  Millie almost choked on a mouthful of strudel.

  ‘Oh, I’m not disappointed,’ Caprice replied cheerfully. ‘That’s the best news I’ve heard all week.’

  Sloane and Jacinta exchanged horrified glances.

  ‘I knew we were going to end up with her,’ Millie whispered to Alice-Miranda.

  ‘She’s been fine today,’ Alice-Miranda pointed out.

  Millie gave her a look. ‘Leopards don’t change their spots.’

  ‘What does everyone want to do after lunch?’ Cecelia asked the table.

  ‘Ice-skating!’ Sloane said.

  There were nods all round.

  ‘We’ll come too,’ Pippa said, glancing at her husband.

  ‘I hope I don’t fall over,’ Millie said. ‘You should see the bruise on my bottom – it’s so gross. First it was purple but now it’s yellow and green. I’ll show you.’ The girl began to lift up her top.

  ‘Millie!’ her mother exclaimed.

  ‘Eww.’ Sloane wrinkled her nose. ‘You can keep your pants on, thanks.’

  Millie grinned. ‘I was just being cheeky.’

  ‘We love you, Millie, but seriously we don’t need to see your cheeks,’ Lucas teased.

  Sloane rolled her eyes and groaned. ‘Have you been taking comedy lessons from Sep?’

  ‘I think we might come skating too,’ Cecelia said, changing the subject.

  Hugh nodded. ‘Florian and Giselle have gone down the mountain for the rest of the day, so I think we can take the afternoon off.’

  The group finished their desserts and headed down through the village to the skating rink on the edge of the river. The wind whipped huge flat flakes into their faces.

  ‘It’s like having a floating slurpee.’ Millie stuck out her tongue and caught a snowflake. ‘Just without the flavouring.’

  The other kids laughed and everyone started doing it – even Hugh and Hamish.

  ‘Stop it,’ Cecelia chided. ‘You all look as if you haven’t been fed.’

  The rink was almost deserted as the group changed into their skates and hit the ice.

  ‘Do you think the weather will clear up tomorrow, Daddy?’ Alice-Miranda asked, the pair skating hand in hand.

  Hugh nodded. ‘I hope so. Your mother and I would love to get up there for a bit too.’

  ‘Will the Baron and Baroness be all right?’

  Hugh looked at his daughter. ‘It’s hard to say. There has to be some logical explanation for what’s going on. People don’t just stop coming to one of the most beautiful hotels in the village for no reason.’

  Cecelia skated up to them and took Alice-Miranda’s other hand in hers.

  ‘Perhaps there’s a saboteur in their midst,’ Alice-Miranda said, thinking aloud. ‘There are lots of new staff members since we were here last time.’

  Hugh and Cecelia looked at one another over the top of their daughter’s head. ‘Stranger things have happened,’ Cecelia admitted.

  ‘I hope for their sakes you’re wrong, darling,’ Hugh said, a grim look on his face.

  But Alice-Miranda had a strange feeling. It was nothing she could put her finger on exactly, but she couldn’t help wondering if foul play was to blame.

  The afternoon passed in the blink of an eye. Before they knew it, the bells on the town clock were striking four. Hamish and Millie skated over to the edge of the rink to join the others and hit the barrier with a thunk.

  ‘I don’t know about the rest of you, but I’m going to head back and have a nap before dinner,’ Hamish said between breaths.

  Hugh nodded. ‘I’m with you.’

  ‘Look at you old guys,’ Lucas teased. ‘I hope I’m not having grandpa naps at your age.’

  ‘Can we stay a little while longer?’ Millie pleaded. Jacinta had been teaching her to pirouette and she was just beginning to get the hang of it.

  Despite the cold, the entire group had enjoyed their time on the outdoor skating rink. Caprice had especially appreciated the chance to show off her skills. Everyone had admired her leaps and twirls until a younger girl arrived and began to jump and spin like a gold medallist. Caprice had stormed off in a huff, saying that she’d twisted her ankle. She’d made a big show of heaping snow on her foot and elevating it on the bench, but when everyone’s concern began to wane, she made a miraculous recovery and put her skates back on.

  ‘All right, then, who wants to stay?’ Pippa asked.

  Millie, Alice-Miranda, Sloane and Jacinta raised their arms as high as they could, wiggling their fingers.

  ‘I think I’d like to go back and have a swim,’ Lucas said.

  Sep nodded. ‘Me too, and then I might have a nap.’

  Caprice rolled her eyes. ‘I suppose I’ll stay here with you lot. At least it’s better than hanging out with my brothers. They don’t even speak to me.’

  ‘Who could blame them?’ Millie said, much louder than she’d intended to.

  Caprice’s jaw dropped.

  ‘Stop that, Millie, or you can come with me,’ Pippa scolded.

  ‘Sorry, that was mean and I shouldn’t have said it,’ Millie apologised. She hated that Caprice brought out the worst in her.

  Cecelia and Pippa decided to have a wander around the shops and instructed the children to meet them back at the hotel by half past five at the latest.

  ‘I wish I could do that,’ Millie said as she watched Jacinta gracefully skate in a circle on one leg.

  ‘I could show you,’ Caprice offered.

  Millie looked at the girl warily. ‘Are you going to make me crash or something?’

  ‘Well, as much as I’d like to, I probably won’t,’ Caprice replied.

  ‘You’ll be fine,’ Alice-Miranda reassured her friend, hoping that was the truth.

  In the past half-hour the lights in the village had come on and the clouds had completely enveloped the surrounding mountains. Alice-Miranda was skating on her own, trying to master a camel spin, with one leg outstretched behind her, when a figure on the other side of the rink caught her eye. She glided past Millie and Caprice, who actually seemed to be getting on for once.

  Alice-Miranda squinted at the woman dressed in a thick black coat, furry hat and sunglasses. Her suspicions were correct – it was Frau Doerflinger and she was entering one of the cafes that overlooked the rink. The child was about to call out to say hello when she spotted Marius Roten heading to the same place. It could have just been a coincidence except that Andreas, the eng
ine driver on the Glacier Express, appeared seconds later. Alice-Miranda watched as the two men shook hands before walking into the cafe together.

  The girl’s brows knotted as she replayed the conversation she’d had with Herr Roten. The man had told her that he didn’t know anyone on the train, but that clearly wasn’t the truth at all. More importantly, Alice-Miranda thought, why would Marius Roten lie?

  Alice-Miranda pulled back the curtains, flooding the bedroom with light.

  ‘What does it look like out there?’ Millie asked, yawning and stretching her arms up above her head.

  Alice-Miranda turned around and smiled. ‘Acres of blue sky,’ she announced.

  ‘Yes!’ Millie exclaimed, pumping her fists.

  Caprice threw herself back on her pillow. ‘Argh! I’ll have to go back to Daddy now,’ she moaned.

  ‘Oh well, all good things must come to an end,’ Millie said brightly.

  ‘I suppose you’ll have a much better time without me, anyway,’ Caprice sulked.

  ‘Stop doing that,’ Millie groaned. She knelt on her bed and looked down at the girl, who was lying there with her eyes scrunched tight.

  Caprice sat up to face Millie. ‘Stop what?’ she retorted.

  ‘I know you’re just trying to make us feel guilty so you get invited to stay,’ Millie said.

  Caprice eyeballed the girl. ‘I guess you’re not as stupid as you look.’

  ‘That was a horrible thing to say, Caprice,’ Alice-Miranda chided as she ran a brush through her unruly curls. ‘Why don’t you want to go back now? Your mother has already left to go home, so you’ll get to stay and ski anyway. Isn’t that what you wanted?’

  Caprice’s eyes began to well up.

  Alice-Miranda shook her head. ‘Stop that, Caprice. No tears and no tantrums,’ she said firmly. ‘Just tell the truth.’

  Caprice brushed her eyes and sat up. ‘Well … I was mad with Mummy about the stupid show and I didn’t want to go back home with her, but when you found me I wasn’t angry about that. My instructor told me I wasn’t trying hard enough. And I was!’ she said, scrunching her duvet cover between her fingers. ‘But she wouldn’t let up and told me I couldn’t enter the Ski School Cup competition if I didn’t do better. I told her that was stupid because I won a race last year. So I took off and left her and skied over to Zermatt.’