by Lauren Child
She walked to a place where it was possible to view the jewellery counter without making it obvious that she was watching. She studied people as they came and went. Shoppers moved like coral fish nibbling their way through the reef. They were drawn to each counter in turn: trying on sunglasses, jewellery and hats, applying make-up, creams and perfume before drifting towards doorways, darting into elevators out of sight.
She waited to see if the bird might appear, but it did not; perhaps it had gone for good. She had been in the store for some time and found her eyes constantly flitting to the perfume counters: there was something interesting about the way people picked up the decorative bottles and sniffed the odours they contained. Their facial expressions as they breathed in the perfumes belied their thoughts – happy memories, lifted spirits, revulsion, indifference. Her eyes drifted from one perfume concession to another, but it was the Scent Lab counter that particularly interested Ruby; here the fragrances were mixed freshly whenever a customer made a purchase.
Ruby peered through the bangle binoculars so she could see more clearly; she was fascinated to watch the woman work. All the ingredients were bottled and displayed on the shelves behind or kept in refrigerators in the back. People came and went, nothing unusual about any of them, until a businessman walked by, perfectly dressed, not a button out of line, his hair greying at the temples, thinning a little on top. His expression was that of someone who had time on his hands before an appointment – a lot of people used the store this way, a place to kill time until they had to get to their next meeting or lunch engagement.
When he passed the Scent Lab counter, he almost didn’t stop, but lingered just for half a minute as he took a cloth from his glasses case and began to clean his spectacles – it was just a very slight pause – before moving of to mingle in with the other drifting shoppers. There was nothing odd about the businessman’s behaviour, it was only that Ruby was sure that there was now something on the countertop that hadn’t been there before, a blue envelope.
Dusk was falling by the time Ruby reached home and, though she had had little in the way of lunch and no dinner, she wasn’t particularly hungry. She made herself a mug of Flu-Sip and piled some cookies on a plate – she also took an orange for good measure: she could use the vitamins.
She took out her list and looked again at what had been stolen:
A tiepin
A brooch
An earring
A pendant on a chain
All the pieces were small and all were created with blue gems. One was a very rare blue diamond. It was true the jewellers Katayoun & Anahita were famous for using blue gems, but there were other equally valuable pieces on display. If the thief was only interested in the blue jewels, then this meant the culprit had not picked the pieces at random, but had some sort of a plan for them.
But why only one earring? Is it the stones themselves the thief is interested in rather than the jewellery they are part of?
Why not take all the pieces on the same day Is this thief a thrill-seeker? Or does this thief enjoy outwitting the store security system?
Most importantly, how had the culprit made him or herself invisible? There was not one witness to the robberies and none of the door or window alarms had gone off, nor had the floor sensors picked up any movement – which meant the store security cameras had not been triggered by the intruder. Therefore, the only night footage recorded was when the security guard did his rounds. This happened once an hour. Ruby had been over the night footage so many times that she knew it by heart. The daytime footage was another matter; that played all day and she had not spent so long examining this, so she decided to look again.
She plugged in the microtape player and watched the store tapes, starting at the beginning when the jewels first arrived. Due to the arrangement of the counters, jewellery being next to perfume, it was possible to see the Scent Lab in most of the footage.
As she watched each boring tape, one after another, hour after hour, she began to notice something – it was becoming interesting. Ruby was seeing patterns; comings and goings. She began to see the same familiar silhouettes and faces, regular customers and passers-by.
There was that same businessman for instance; he clearly passed through the perfume department regularly. Sometimes he would take a perfume sample handed to him as a scented stick. He never, ever smelled them; he would just slip it into his pocket; perhaps he was just being polite, not wanting to offend the woman who worked there. He never did more than smile at her and he only so much as glanced at the jewellery next to the counter and appeared interested in neither perfume nor jewellery.
On one of the tapes Ruby noticed him drop a letter. It landed address side down and on the back it was stamped with a decorative seal that maybe looked like an eye, Ruby couldn’t quite tell. The assistant did not see the man drop the letter, but when she spotted it lying there on the floor she picked it up and put it behind the counter. Ruby wondered if it was still there waiting for someone to claim it, or had she perhaps mailed it on?
The other regular who showed up on the tapes was a tall young man, much younger than the businessman, who occasionally walked through the store, perhaps on his way to the coffee house, always dressed in jeans and a casual-looking shirt. He did not look like a Melrose Dorff customer; perhaps he worked there in the maintenance department. When he passed by the counter, the Scent Lab assistant would usually speak to him, sometimes even giving him a small sample of scent – perhaps, Ruby mused, she had a crush on him.
There was a knock.
‘Yuh huh,’ called Ruby.
Her father stuck his head round the door.
‘Ruby, you’ve been up here for hours. Do you maybe want to say hello to your old dad?’
‘Hello Dad,’ said Ruby, not shifting her gaze from the screen.
‘How was your day?’
‘Ah, hot,’ he said. He peered at the grey image. ‘What is it with you kids?’ said Brant. ‘Seems like you could watch just about anything. I mean what kind of show is this Rube?’
‘It’s interesting once you get into it,’ replied Ruby.
‘By the way, if you’re planning a dip, do be careful,’ said her father. ‘I think your mother might just be right about that hippo; most of the water seems to have ended up slopped over the patio.’
When Ruby called Clancy for a late-night chat, she mentioned what her father had said.
‘So you’re saying there is a hippo?’ said Clancy.
‘No bozo, I’m saying no one saw a hippo. I think they’re both hallucinating.’
‘So I’m right,’ asserted Clancy, ‘a simple case of double heatstroke!’
‘But that doesn’t explain why there was a whole lot of water slopped around the pool,’ said Ruby. ‘Something was in there, but what?’
‘Maybe it was the pig?’ said Clancy.
‘The pig is the hippo,’ snapped Ruby.
‘I’m hanging up,’ said Clancy.
Chapter 32.
Beggars can't be choosers
RUBY’S COLD WAS MOVING INTO A NEW PHASE: was it worse or better? She couldn’t say. She felt like her head was stuffed with sponge and her nose was so blocked now that she couldn’t even smell Bug and he really needed a bath. She reached for the garment on top of the pile of clothes on the chair in the bathroom. It was the red and black dress she had worn to the perfume launch. She could no longer smell the residue of 1770 fragrance nor the underlying smell of mothballs.
One of the things she liked about this dress was that it had deep pockets, big enough to take useful things. She took the yellow notebook from the doorjamb and slipped it into the left pocket and then went to her desk, opened the drawer and took out the tube of ground glows. She hadn’t had a chance to try them out yet and she was itching to see how they worked. She dropped them into her right pocket.
The squirrel phone rang and she answered.
‘Hippo control. We will lasso any hippo, no matter how small.’
‘Huh?’ came the voice.
‘Go ahead caller.’
‘Ruby? It’s Red, what’s going on?’
‘Not much,’ said Ruby, ‘slightly bored.’
‘No kidding,’ said Red.
‘What’s going on with you?’ asked Ruby.
‘Same really, my mom’s all jumpy because that forest fire west of Great Bear is blowing this way and my grandma’s been evacuated,’ said Red.
‘That’s too bad,’ said Ruby. ‘Sounds kinda serious.’
‘Yeah, well, my mom thinks so. She wants me to wait by the phone so I just wondered if you wanted to come over?’ said Red. ‘Any time is fine.’
‘I would,’ said Ruby, ‘but I’m not feeling so super. I might try and lay low. I mean I oughta if I wanna shake this thing.’
‘Yeah, you’re probably right. Take it easy,’ said Red, ‘feel better.’ She hung up.
Ruby was fully intending to, but the world had other plans for her.
When she at last made her way downstairs, she went to find the housekeeper. She was sitting in her apartment watching a morning horror flick, The Cave of Forgotten Terror. Ruby had seen this particular movie many times; so had Mrs Digby and she was easily able to follow the plot while she worked on one of her sewing projects.
Ruby looked over Mrs Digby’s shoulder to see what she was doing. ‘What’s it gonna be?’ asked Ruby.
‘A feather brooch,’ said Mrs Digby. ‘I’m going to attach it to my good hat.’
‘Did you buy those feathers,’ said Ruby, ‘or pull them off some smart lady’s wrap?’
Mrs Digby sniffed. ‘I found them, fair and square, in a park, practically tore my dress to shreds on a rose bush trying to reach them and then that fountain got me. I’ve a mind to call the mayor. Soaked through to the undergarments I was.’ She carried on with her task.
Mrs Digby could turn her hand to most things and creating jewellery from discarded feathers seemed to be yet another of her talents.
Mrs Digby looked up. ‘What are you doing wearing broken glasses?’
‘I can’t find my unbroken pair. Have you stumbled across them?’
‘I have as a matter of fact and you were lucky they didn’t end their short life sucked up the vacuum,’ said the housekeeper, pouring some more tea from the large silver teapot.
Ruby looked at her more closely. ‘You know you look kinda stylish today.’
The housekeeper squinted and put down her teacup. ‘What are you after, child? Puts me off my lapsang souchong when you pay compliments.’
‘Nothing, Girl Scouts’ honour and all.’
‘You’re no Girl Scout,’ said Mrs Digby.
‘You just look kinda smartened up,’ said Ruby.
‘That’s because I’m going out.’
Ruby peered a bit closer.
‘You aware your earrings don’t match?’
‘I know,’ said the housekeeper.
‘They don’t match a lot,’ said Ruby, getting even closer. ‘And one looks kinda, well, cheap.’ This was true. While both earrings were blue, one of them looked like an expensive gemstone and the other was scratched plastic.
‘That’s because it’s from out of a cereal packet,’ said Mrs Digby. ‘At least I imagine it was, but beggars can’t be choosers.’
‘You begged for them?’ asked Ruby.
‘I found them in the hedge,’ said the housekeeper.
‘So they belong to someone?’
‘Who leaves their valuables in the hedge?’ said Mrs Digby.
‘No one I know,’ replied Ruby.
‘So there you are,’ said Mrs Digby firmly. ‘Finders keepers, losers regreters.’
Ruby had a few more questions on this topic, but she was interrupted by the sound of the doorbell.
‘You go,’ said Mrs Digby, turning back to the TV screen. ‘The cave creature is about to devour the explorer and it’s my favourite part of the movie.’
‘Ah, come on Mrs Digby, it’s bound to be for you.’
‘I’m lying low.’
‘So am I,’ said Ruby.
‘You go and I’ll guarantee you’ll find your other glasses,’ said the housekeeper.
‘You may be elderly, but you drive a nasty bargain, you know that?’
‘It’s not because I’m elderly, it’s because I’m experienced,’ said Mrs Digby. She turned the volume right up so she could properly hear the screams of the explorer.
Ruby went up the stairs to answer the door and found her glasses there on the letter table and Mrs Lemon on the stoop.
‘Oh, hi Elaine.’
Bumping into Elaine Lemon on the front step wasn’t worth the recovery of a pair of good glasses. Mrs Lemon was no doubt requiring emergency babysitting. Ruby could tell by the way she was smiling and frowning at the same time. A sort of pleading, desperate, hopeful look.
‘Ruby! Just the teenager I was hoping to speak to.’ Mrs Lemon always sounded slightly patronising when she was talking to what she would term ‘a young person’.
‘Nice to see you Elaine, and ordinarily I would love to chat, but I am just scooting from the family home to get my lenses fixed.’
‘Can I hear screaming?’ asked Mrs Lemon anxiously.
‘That’ll be Mrs Digby,’ said Ruby. ‘She’s in a weird mood, probably something to do with the temperature.’ Ruby ran down the front steps before Mrs Lemon could manage to squeak another word.
Chapter 33.
Hansel and Gretel
SINCE SHE WAS NOW OUT AND ABOUT, and unable to return until the coast was totally clear, Ruby decided she might just as well go call in on Clancy. She was feeling a little revived, but not nimble enough to make it all the way there on foot so she waited for the bus.
When she arrived at the Crews’ place, she found Clancy sitting on his bed, reading.
‘Good morning Ruby, what an unexpected pleasure. What brings you this way?’
‘I had to get outta the house quick.’
‘Do enlighten me,’ said Clancy. ‘I am, as you see, all ears.’
‘Why are you speaking like that?’ said Ruby.
‘Like what?’ asked Clancy.
‘Like you’re about a hundred and sixty-five years old?’
‘Must be the book,’ said Clancy, putting it down. ‘It’s set in the eighteen hundreds and I think I’m taking on the personality of the main character.’
‘Well, try not to,’ said Ruby, ‘it’s already beginning to irritate.’
‘So why did you have to flee the Redfort abode?’
‘Elaine Lemon,’ said Ruby, slumping onto the bed.
‘She required you to mind her offspring?’ asked Clancy.
‘I didn’t wait to find out. Any chance of a beverage?’ asked Ruby.
‘I’ll call for my house servant,’ said Clancy, picking up the phone. ‘Olive,’ he said dramatically, ‘do you want to know how it feels to have twenty cents in your pocket. . .? Very good, well, bring up two iced Coca-colas and the money will be yours.’ He replaced the receiver.
‘Nice going,’ said Ruby, nodding.
Five-year-old Olive tottered into the room twenty minutes later with two less than full glasses of Coca-cola. It was clear that she had been sampling the drinks during the long journey to the third floor. Still, it was better than having to get up and make the drinks themselves, so they paid her the meagre wage and she left them, smiling and skipping all the way back to the kitchen.
‘So what’s going on at your place? Any big news?’ asked Clancy. The Coca-cola seemed to have magically cleared up his nineteenth-century speak.
‘Mrs Digby’s got all dolled up for her poker game,’ said Ruby, ‘my dad’s playing tennis again, my mom’s at the gallery and Mrs Lemon’s on the loose.’
‘Sounds boring,’ said Clancy.
‘Yeah,’ agreed Ruby before sneezing at least seven times.
‘Man, you need to take some vitamins or something,’ said Clancy. ‘If you got lost in the wilderness now, you’d perish for su
re.’
These words made Ruby remember something and she patted her pockets and pulled out a tube of mints or, on closer inspection, ground glows.
‘What’s that?’ said Clancy, peering at the tube.
‘Something I wanted to show you!’ said Ruby, sneezing again.
‘Mints?’
‘You may think they’re mints, but let me demonstrate.’ Ruby rummaged for the shoe activator attachments and with not too much difficulty fastened one to the sole of her Bradley Baker sneaker. It was small and pretty much invisible.
‘Here, give me yours,’ she said to Clancy. He handed her his shoe and she attached the other activator to its sole.
‘Now wait, give me around ten minutes and then see if you can find me.’
Ruby left the room and made her way down the long winding corridors of the Crew home. She went up the main staircase and down the back staircase; she went from floor to floor, right to the top of the house. As she went, she dispensed the flat discs that were the ground glows – they took on the colour of the floor they fell onto and became perfectly camouflaged and impossible to see. Once Ruby reached the roof, she pushed open the attic window, pulled off her sneakers and went and sat on the sloping tile roof. It was beautifully warm and the heat from the tiles soothed her healing foot.
The ten minutes were up and Clancy went to find her. He was amazed to see small buttons of light appearing as he walked. He turned around and saw that the light disappeared once he was more than a foot or two from the glow. It was easy to track her.
‘Pretty cool,’ he said as he pushed his way through the open window.
‘Cool is not the word,’ said Ruby. ‘Lifesavers is what they are. I hadn’t tried them before now, but yeah, I think they might just change old Ruby Redfort’s fortunes.’
‘But only if you have to retrace your steps,’ said Clancy. ‘If you have to get from A to B and back again, then fine, but what if you have to get from A to B to C?’