The Complete Ruby Redfort Collection. Lauren Child

main course and part way through dessert.

      ‘Hey! How about we have some kind of lucky draw,’ said Sabina, ‘you know – put your name in the hat and you get the chance to look the Buddha in the eye on the stroke of midnight!’

      ‘Like a lottery? Buy a ticket, win eternal youth?’

      ‘You got it.’ Sabina could hardly contain herself.

      ‘I think it’s a swell idea,’ said Brant. ‘What do you think, Ruby honey? Swell idea or what?’

      Ruby didn’t answer; she was miles away.

      ‘Ruby?’

      ‘Huh? What?’ said Ruby with a start.

      ‘Your father and I were just wondering if there should be a Jade Buddha lottery with one lucky winner.’

      ‘Lucky winner of what?’

      ‘One lucky winner to look the Jade Buddha in the eye at midnight!’

      ‘Why would they want to do that?’ asked Ruby, genuinely bewildered.

      ‘Ruby, are you quite OK?’ asked her mother. ‘You don’t seem to have heard a word we have said.’

      ‘Sorry,’ said Ruby, ‘just a bit distracted I guess.’

      ‘I’ll say,’ said her mother.

      ‘Well,’ said her father. ‘I think I might just go and call Marjorie and Freddie – they’re gonna love the idea.’

      ‘Oh yes, do, do, do!’ said Sabina. She was quiet for one split second and then exclaimed, ‘I am wondering if it isn’t time we talked about canapés – what do you think Ruby? Maybe serve ice-related canapés, on account of the Buddha being found in an iceberg?’

      Ruby, desperately wanting not to get stuck at the table talking to her mother about the mind-numbing subject of iced finger food, decided to make a swift exit.

      ‘Mom, just gotta walk Bug.’

      ‘But I already walked him an hour ago,’ said Sabina.

      ‘Oh yeah, well, I promised him,’ called Ruby, already halfway down the stairs.

      ‘Who promises a dog?’ said Sabina.

      On the way back from her walk Ruby made a stop at the tree on Amster Green. She wanted to see if Clancy had left something for her. He had. A coded note, folded in two.

      It translated as:

      ‘Are you in some kind of trouble? I saw that butler guy of yours and his fancy car –

      I don’t trust him.’

      Ruby felt a pang of guilt as she carefully refolded the note and put it back in the tree as if she had never read it.

      Back home she rather dejectedly climbed the stairs to her room. She closed the door firmly behind her and her thoughts returned to the watch. She knew it was safe inside her jacket pocket – the only thing was, where was her jacket?

       Mrs Digby had woken to the unmistakable sound of a knife ripping through white designer couch. . .

      Luckily for her, Mrs Digby had taken to sleeping at the far end of the warehouse in the Redfort’s guestroom bed. She had always wanted to try it out – the mattress was pocket sprung.

      She pulled on her robe and tip-toed silently along the far side of the warehouse, where she was hidden from sight by huge cargo crates. From here she had a goodish view of what was going on and she did not like what she saw one bit. There were several thuggish-looking men tearing at the furniture, pulling open drawers and cupboards, opening jars, ripping into feather cushions. Mrs Redfort’s jewellery boxes were simply tipped upside down and emptied onto the floor. None of the thugs seemed at all interested in the contents once they had rummaged through them, yet these jewels were worth many thousands of dollars.

      Mrs Digby, who was finding it hard to restrain herself from marching right out there and giving them a piece of her mind, was relieved to hear a woman’s voice shout out, ‘Just what do you numbskulls think you are doing?’

      About time someone saw sense, thought Mrs Digby.

      The woman continued. ‘We are looking for something very small and highly valuable, how are we supposed to find it if you have turned the whole place on its head!’

      Silence from the numbskulls.

      Couldn’t have put it better myself, thought Mrs Digby. She couldn’t see the woman from where she hid but she guessed she must be quite a force to reckon with, since for the next eleven hours the men went painstakingly through every item of the Redforts’ home, picking it up, opening it, inspecting it and then replacing it.

      What in tarnation are those creeps looking for? wondered Mrs Digby.

      Whatever it was, it seemed they didn’t find it.

       Chapter 15.

      Strictly confidential

      RUBY GOT HERSELF UP AND READY nice and early. She was looking forward to going back to Spectrum and finding out more of its secrets. But first she had to find the escape watch, which meant locating her jacket. She was pretty sure that she must have left it in Hitch’s car, in which case it was safe but what if he had found the jacket and been through her pockets? She wouldn’t put it past him – in which case she was in big trouble.

      But when she got downstairs Hitch was in the kitchen quietly studying a piece of toast.

      ‘Is that piece of toast private or can anyone eat it?’ she said.

      He looked up. ‘Strictly confidential,’ he replied, hurriedly biting into it. ‘So, you excited about your first day as a code breaker?’

      Ruby gave him a withering look.

      He winked at her, ‘Just pulling your leg kid, I know you’re far too cool to get excited about things.’

      She gave him another withering look and started for the back door.

      ‘Where you going?’

      ‘To get my bike – I might as well leave now, I can pick up breakfast at the Diner.’

      ‘No, that’s not how it’s going to be kid. Strict instructions from the top, I’m going to drive you in to the Spectrum office each day and I’m going collect you when you’re done.’

      ‘Oh man!’ Ruby rolled her eyes. ‘I don’t need you driving me around – I’ll take my bike, OK?’

      ‘Not OK, said Hitch firmly. ‘I gotta make sure no one tails you and I need to make sure you are all present and correct in one piece – if I’m not available then someone else will drive you home.’

      Ruby opened her mouth to argue but Hitch simply held up his hand. ‘This is non-negotiable.’

      Ruby said nothing.

      ‘Get yourself in the vehicle pronto, we need to get going.’

      ‘But I haven’t had breakfast!’ protested Ruby. ‘Most important meal of the day and all that.’

      ‘We’ll pick something up on the way, OK? Now scram. I’ll be with you in a split second.’

      Ruby got into the car and was relieved to see her jacket crumpled on the floor behind the passenger seat. She felt around in the pocket until her fingers closed around the cold metal of the watch – got you, you weasel.

      She looked at it. Of all the things she’d ever owned this was certainly the best – only thing was, she didn’t own it and sooner or later someone was bound to discover it was missing, along with the whistle and the keyring. It wouldn’t take a master sleuth to figure out who the culprit was. What was happening to her? This was