Alice-Miranda in the Alps

by Jacqueline Harvey

  ‘Hurry up,’ a voice hissed.

  ‘It would help if it wasn’t so dark,’ another voice grumbled.

  ‘The others are coming with the lanterns, so stop your whining.’

  Lars could feel his heart pounding inside his chest. His breath quickened.

  ‘How did you find it, Marius?’ the first voice asked.

  The old man strained his eyes, peering into the darkness. He could hear things being shifted about.

  ‘What does it matter?’ Marius replied. ‘We have access now.’

  ‘Just as well you did,’ the first man said gruffly. ‘This shipment is far too big to have gone through the village, and now we will be able to handle so much more.’

  ‘Dante, are you there?’ another voice called.

  As more torches lit up the space, Lars could make out several silhouettes. There seemed to be seven or eight of them, loading boxes onto one of the handcars. His mind raced. He had heard stories of smugglers using the route over the mountains, from Cervinia to Zermatt, during the war. They had supposedly hidden millions of dollars’ worth of jewels and cash in Swiss bank vaults. But that was years ago and he had never really believed it.

  Lars felt a tickle in his throat. He clamped a hand over his mouth and turned to go back upstairs before it was too late. As he placed his foot on the first step, Lars sputtered then coughed. Suddenly, one of the torches swivelled to train a beam of light directly at him.

  ‘You!’ someone yelled. ‘What are you doing down here?’

  Two men rushed across the tracks and leapt up onto the platform. They grabbed Lars, covering his mouth while dragging him down into the cavern. Lars tried to resist but it was no use.

  Someone noticed the beam of light coming from the stairwell. ‘He must be the old man from the museum,’ he said.

  ‘I thought he had died,’ said another. ‘The museum has been closed for a year.’

  ‘No, someone found him on the mountainside last week – they said he was trying to fly. The old boy has lost his marbles,’ Dante said. ‘That’s not all he is going to lose, either.’

  Lars gulped. He knew exactly what that meant.

  One of the men ran up the stairs. ‘Hey, there’s a door up here. It must go into the museum,’ he called back. ‘There’s a key.’

  Dante leaned towards Lars. ‘Who else knows you’re down here?’ he hissed.

  Lars shook his head. ‘N-no one.’

  Dante nodded, then turned to yell up the stairs. ‘Lock that door and bring me the key!’

  All of the children had gathered in Alice-Miranda and Millie’s room for the slumber party. To make space, Hugh and Hamish had pushed the beds back against the walls and Caprice’s foldaway had been removed. Everyone was dressed in their pyjamas, sitting in a circle on the floor, on top of a mountain of fluffy duvets and pillows.

  ‘Seriously, I can’t believe the Baron is selling the hotel to Grouchy Doerflinger,’ Millie said, shaking her head. She took a sip from her mug of hot chocolate.

  ‘Me either,’ Alice-Miranda said.

  ‘Who is this woman?’ Caprice asked, exasperated. ‘Everyone keeps saying bad stuff about her, but what did she ever do to you?’

  ‘She’s … tricky,’ Lucas said diplomatically.

  ‘Her nose is too skinny,’ Sloane said, wrinkling her own.

  ‘Really?’ Sep stared at his sister. ‘That’s what you think is wrong with her?’

  ‘Well, it is,’ Sloane said, sticking her tongue out at her brother. ‘It’s so sharp she could probably cut cheese with it.’

  ‘What does she look like?’ Nina asked.

  ‘She walks around like this,’ Sloane said, getting up and stalking around the room. ‘She’s pointed and skinny, unlike her husband who’s really, really –’

  ‘Sloane, you don’t have to be unkind,’ Alice-Miranda chided. ‘Herr Fanger is very sweet.’

  ‘I don’t know what he sees in her,’ Jacinta said.

  ‘Hang on, I think I have a photo of her presenting the trophies at White Turf.’ Millie picked up her camera from the bedside table and switched it on. She walked over to show Caprice and Nina. ‘That’s her, there,’ she said, pointing at the screen.

  Caprice made a face. ‘Sloane’s right. She’s ugly.’

  Nina peered at the picture and frowned. ‘I’ve seen her before.’

  ‘Yes, she was staying here this week,’ Alice-Miranda said. ‘She went home this morning.’

  Nina shook her head slowly. ‘No, not just here at the hotel. I’ve seen her visiting Valerie. She lives in the flat next door to my piano teacher.’

  Millie and Alice-Miranda’s eyes widened. ‘Aunt Delphine!’ they exclaimed in unison, then quickly relayed their encounter with Valerie in the powder room.

  ‘How long has Valerie worked here?’ Sloane asked.

  ‘She wasn’t here last time we came and that was probably about a year and a bit ago,’ Alice-Miranda said.

  ‘And when did the hotel start losing business?’ Millie asked pointedly.

  Alice-Miranda nodded. ‘I was just thinking the same thing. I should talk to Mummy and Daddy.’

  ‘Am I missing something?’ Lucas asked.

  Sep slapped his forehead. ‘Do you think Valerie has something to do with there being no guests?’

  ‘Well, Frau Doerflinger is going to buy the hotel …’ Alice-Miranda said, her thoughts racing a million miles a minute.

  Giselle von Zwicky kissed Alice-Miranda’s cheeks and gave the child a hug. ‘Thank you for raising your concerns about Valerie,’ she whispered before drawing back. When Cecelia had said goodnight to the children, Alice-Miranda had quietly told her what Nina had said about seeing Delphine Doerflinger at Valerie’s apartment and her own suspicions about the timing of the woman’s employment. ‘Your mother and I telephoned some of our past guests last night. Everything Valerie had written down about their reasons for not staying this year turned out to be true, but I will ask her when she comes in this morning about her aunt.’ Giselle shrugged. ‘She is a very private person, so who knows? Families can be complicated.’

  Alice-Miranda smiled up at the woman. She wanted to believe it but she still had her doubts, and that niggling feeling simply refused to go away. ‘Will you and Uncle Florian come and visit us when you’ve sold the hotel?’ she asked.

  The Baroness nodded. ‘We would love to, my darling.’

  ‘Nina!’ Sebastien Ebersold called from the other side of the street.

  ‘Papa!’ the child called back as the man hurried across the snow-covered roadway to join them.

  ‘You look tired, Herr Ebersold,’ Alice-Miranda remarked.

  ‘I worked around the clock,’ he said. ‘We had problems with the funicular, but fingers crossed all will be well today.’

  Nina glanced over at their house. ‘I hope Opa is okay. I had a sleepover with Alice-Miranda.’

  Sebastien’s brow furrowed. ‘Your grandfather has been on his own all night?’

  Nina nodded. ‘But Frau Gisler made soup and he was having that for his supper. He is so much better, Papa. Yesterday he worked in the museum all day.’

  Sebastien’s face softened. ‘That is good news indeed, but we should get home and make sure that he is all right.’

  Nina and Alice-Miranda hugged tightly. ‘It has been so good to see you,’ Nina said, grinning.

  Alice-Miranda smiled and squeezed her friend’s hand. ‘I’ll write to you when I get back to school.’

  Marius packed the last of the bags into the trailer and climbed into the driver’s seat. ‘We must get going,’ he said tersely.

  The group of family and friends finished their goodbyes and piled inside. With a flick of the reins, the carriage moved off. Alice-Miranda leaned out of the window, waving to the Baron and Baroness until they turned the corner. Seeing them standing there in front of that beautiful building, she simply couldn’t imagine them anywhere else.

  While the rest of the group boarded the train, Alice-Miranda a
nd her mother dashed off to the nearby convenience store to buy some snacks for the journey.

  ‘I’m glad that I was wrong about Valerie,’ Alice-Miranda said, as the pair walked down the platform with their shopping bags, ‘but I still don’t understand why she would deny the fact that Delphine Doerflinger is her aunt.’

  Cecelia sighed. ‘People have their reasons and it’s not for us to interfere.’

  Just as they were about to step onto the train, someone called out Alice-Miranda’s name. They both turned to see Nina running towards them. Alice-Miranda frowned, wondering what she had forgotten.

  Nina reached the pair, puffing. Her face was red and she could barely get the words out.

  ‘What’s the matter?’ Alice-Miranda asked, putting down the grocery bags and clasping her friend’s hands.

  ‘Opa,’ the girl sputtered, struggling to catch her breath. ‘Opa is missing.’

  Alice-Miranda’s stomach twisted. ‘Perhaps he’s gone for a walk,’ she suggested, trying to comfort her friend.

  Tears welled in Nina’s eyes. ‘It’s my fault. I should have stayed with him last night,’ she sobbed.

  ‘It’s not your fault, Nina,’ Alice-Miranda said, shaking her head.

  Cecelia hurried onto the train to deposit the bags and speak with Hugh, who emerged onto the platform just a minute later.

  ‘Nina, has your father called the authorities?’ Hugh asked gently.

  The girl nodded, sniffling.

  ‘So the ski patrol and the police will be out looking for him,’ the man said.

  Nina nodded again just as the whistle for the train blew.

  ‘Mummy, what can we do?’ Alice-Miranda asked. She felt completely helpless leaving her friend at a moment like this.

  ‘You must go,’ Nina said, her voice wobbling. ‘I shouldn’t have worried you. I just hoped that maybe he was somewhere in the village and then I saw you on the platform.’

  ‘Of course you should have told us,’ Alice-Miranda said.

  ‘I’ll telephone the Baron,’ Hugh said. ‘I’ll ask if he can help to organise the search.’

  Nina wiped away her tears. ‘I thought Opa was getting better.’

  Alice-Miranda’s eyes widened. ‘Could he be downstairs?’ she asked.

  Her friend shook her head. ‘The door was locked when I checked and Opa has the only key.’

  ‘All aboard!’ the train conductor called, then blew his whistle again.

  ‘You’ll find him,’ Alice-Miranda said. The girls embraced one last time. ‘I’ll call you when we arrive in St Moritz.’

  Cecelia bent down and gave Nina a hug. ‘Be brave, darling.’

  Nina nodded and stepped back. As the last few passengers clambered on board, she turned and fled down the platform. Nobody saw the man racing for the engine at the end of the train. He leapt onto the step and hurled himself through the door as the train pulled out of the station.

  Alice-Miranda made her way down the aisle to her friends, her face ashen.

  ‘What’s the matter?’ Sloane asked as the girl took her seat. ‘You look as miserable as Caprice.’

  ‘I heard that,’ Caprice snapped, swivelling around to face them.

  ‘Nina’s grandfather has gone missing,’ Alice-Miranda said. She shook her head, still digesting the news. ‘We just saw her on the platform.’

  Millie looked up from her guidebook. ‘Hasn’t he wandered off before?’ she asked.

  Alice-Miranda bit her lip and nodded.

  ‘He’s probably just gone to the shops or bingo or something,’ Millie said reassuringly, though she wasn’t sure whether bingo was a favoured pastime of Swiss senior citizens.

  ‘I hope they find him soon,’ Sloane said. ‘Imagine being lost in the snow up there. It would be so scary, especially at night. I mean, he could easily fall down a ravine and –’

  ‘We get the picture, Sloane,’ Millie interjected.

  Alice-Miranda stared out the window, thinking about Nina and her father. Surely they had suffered enough tragedy in their lives. She hopped up and walked over to her parents, who were sitting with Pippa and Hamish.

  ‘Did you get hold of the Baron?’ she asked her mother.

  Cecelia nodded. ‘He’s mustered up a search party among their friends and the hotel staff to scour the village while the ski patrol and Sebastien’s work crews are on the mountain. Don’t worry, darling, there are a lot of people looking for Nina’s grandfather.’ Cecelia touched her daughter’s cheek. ‘I’m afraid there’s nothing more we can do, but I’ll let you know the minute I hear anything.’

  As the train chugged through the mountains, the children entertained themselves playing cards and I-spy.

  ‘Is the train moving a lot slower than when we came over?’ Sep asked the group.

  Jacinta shrugged. ‘I can’t remember. I was too busy looking at the scenery.’

  A young conductor walked into the carriage. ‘Hello again,’ he said, smiling at the children.

  ‘Herr Anton!’ Alice-Miranda smiled at the man. ‘Are you always on this train?’

  ‘A lot of the time,’ the man replied with a grin. The children handed him their tickets, which he examined before using a little holepuncher to mark each one. ‘Did you enjoy your time in Zermatt?’

  Alice-Miranda nodded. ‘It was wonderful. We had a great time skiing.’

  ‘And snowboarding,’ Lucas added.

  ‘How many carriages are there today?’ Sep asked.

  ‘It’s a long train,’ Anton replied. ‘Seven cars plus the two engines.’

  ‘Seems slow,’ Sep said.

  ‘I thought so too,’ the man agreed. ‘We had better find a way to get up more speed. The Glacier Express might be the slowest express train in the world but we are always on time. Enjoy the rest of your journey.’ The conductor gave them a friendly wave, then moved on to the next group of passengers.

  ‘What are we going to do with him?’ Andreas said, gesturing to the old man.

  ‘We should have left him where we found him,’ Marius replied, shaking his head. ‘No one would have questioned a heart attack at his age.’

  ‘Well, you had better come up with something – he cannot be here when we reach our destination.’

  ‘I know that,’ Marius snapped.

  ‘This train is too slow,’ Andreas said. ‘We cannot be late or there will be questions.’

  Marius rolled his eyes. ‘What do you propose we do about it?’

  ‘We should split the train. I have already spoken with Franz and he agreed. He knows we cannot risk any officials checking the weights.’

  ‘Where will you do it?’ Marius asked.

  ‘Disentis. We will split the engine and the two goods cars here at the back, then the train will continue on its way,’ Andreas explained.

  ‘And what about him?’ Marius pointed at the old man, who was bound and gagged.

  Andreas grinned. ‘I have an idea.’

  Lars Dettwiller gulped and made a silent prayer.

  The train pulled into the snow-covered town of Disentis, with its pretty gable-roofed houses and majestic Disentis Abbey, now home to the Fanger’s Chocolate factory. The children grabbed their coats, hats and gloves and exited the carriage, after promising to return five minutes before the train was due to depart.

  ‘I wish we could visit the chocolate factory,’ Millie said, glancing at the clock above the station.

  ‘We don’t have time,’ Alice-Miranda replied, knowing they were due to leave again in half an hour. The children walked along the platform to the front of the train, past Anton, who gave them a wave. Then they turned around and walked back again.

  ‘So there are four passenger cars, split by a dining car in the middle then two goods cars,’ Sep said, counting them off.

  Sloane rolled her eyes. ‘Seriously, are you becoming one of those dorky trainspotters?’

  ‘What if I am?’ Sep replied. ‘Everyone has hobbies.’

  ‘Boring!’ his sister quipped, and everyo
ne laughed.

  ‘I wonder if Nina’s grandfather has been found yet,’ Alice-Miranda said as she watched an elderly couple helping each other along the platform.

  Millie caught sight of a man exiting the engine at the back end of the train. ‘Hey, isn’t that the cranky driver we met on the way over?’

  ‘Andreas?’ Alice-Miranda said, craning her neck to spot him among the crowd.

  Millie nodded. ‘The one who looked like Rotten Marius.’

  The children turned to walk away but Alice-Miranda couldn’t take her eyes off Andreas. The man had his coat collar pulled up around his neck and was wearing dark glasses and a hat. She watched as he hurried past the goods carriages and slipped in between them and the first passenger car.

  Alice-Miranda scurried along the platform, making sure to keep her distance. As he turned around, it suddenly hit her. It wasn’t Andreas at all. It was Herr Roten and there was no doubt in her mind that he was up to no good.

  ‘What do you mean it’s Rotten Marius?’ Millie exclaimed after Alice-Miranda rushed over to tell her friends what she had just witnessed.

  ‘What’s he doing on the train?’ Jacinta asked.

  Millie frowned. ‘Are you sure it was him? He and that Andreas guy look a lot alike.’

  ‘I saw him – it wasn’t Andreas,’ Alice-Miranda insisted. ‘I think he was unhitching the goods wagons from the rest of the train.’

  ‘Maybe they do that all the time,’ Millie said. ‘I mean, they could be loading Fanger’s Chocolate for all we know.’

  Alice-Miranda bit her lip, unconvinced. ‘He was acting like he didn’t want anyone to see what he was doing,’ she said, almost to herself.

  ‘Let’s go and look,’ Sep suggested. ‘It does sound suspicious.’

  The children turned around and made their way back across the chilly platform. There was no sign of Marius but there were lots of passengers from the train milling about and taking in the fresh air.

  Sep peered at the end of the first goods carriage. ‘It’s unhitched,’ he confirmed.

  Sloane jumped at a thumping sound close by. ‘What was that?’