Darn it, thought Ruby, that watch sure would come in handy on a boring day like today — hey, I might even have been able to rappel out of there.
Ruby picked up a T-shirt from the floor — it bore the slogan what a total yawn.
Consuela clicked her tongue. “You wear that, young lady, and your mom’s gonna freak.”
“Yeah, you got that right,” said Ruby, throwing it back into the closet.
When the Redforts arrived at the Humberts’ impressive home, they were greeted enthusiastically. “How wonderful that you all could come,” and “Oh, Ruby, you look just darling in that dress!” and “Quent’s just dying to show you his new magic trick.”
The Humberts were really very nice people — it was just, well, they were also kinda boring.
Quent had invited a few of his friends over and Ruby found herself sitting at what was quaintly referred to as the “kiddie table.” If that wasn’t insulting enough then the level of conversation she had to endure during lunch was the final slap in the face.
“Hey, Ruby, can you do this?” Quent was holding his thumb in front of Ruby’s face and was bending it back and forth to show her how it could go in either direction. “It’s double-jointed! Isn’t that neat?”
“Neat!” said Ruby in an overly bright tone that anyone but Quent might regard as sarcasm.
Ruby strained to hear what was being discussed next door in the dining room. “Freddie has had quite the week, haven’t you, dear?” said Marjorie Humbert.
“I’ll bet he has,” said Brant. “This gold delivery must be big news for your team at the bank?”
“Oh, it’s big news all right but what I haven’t told you — and I say this confidentially just between us,” said Freddie Humbert, reducing the volume of his voice to a loud dramatic whisper. “Is that we have a threat to the bank’s security!”
“Oh, my good gracious — can this be true?” cried Sabina. “I heard that Twinford Bank has the safest safe in the whole of the entire country?”
“And so it has!” boomed Freddie. “But even so it has recently come to light that there is a sophisticated plot to steal the Twinford City gold the very night after it arrives from Switzerland.”
Brant was astonished. “No wonder you have been so on edge — I haven’t seen you on the golf course in days!”
“He’s been so busy,” exclaimed Marjorie.
“But how could anyone possibly find their way into the bank vaults? I thought they were designed like an actual maze,” said Sabina.
“That’s true,” assured Freddie. “Navigating your way through the basement is the first problem any would-be bank robber will encounter, and that’s before they even get to the safe.”
“I know all about that, Freddie,” said Dr. Gonzales, the museum curator. “The museum basement was designed by the very same architect, Jeremiah Stiles, and is almost identical to yours. Great idea to have a maze leading to your bank vaults but not so good if you are trying to locate antiquities in a museum!”
“Makes the buildings pretty impenetrable, though,” said Freddie Humbert. “You have to know the passageways like the back of your hand.”
“They don’t stand a chance,” said Marjorie earnestly. “Not with the security team Freddie has lined up.”
“Sounds like you could use some of the experts we have had working on the museum security,” said Dr. Gonzales, competitively. “We have gone very high technology.”
“Yes, that whole Buddha rising through the floor thing — that is impressive,” agreed Freddie.
“Not to forget the amazing display cylinder,” said Dr. Gonzales, proudly.
“Well, that’s not so impressive — it’s just glass,” scoffed Freddie. “One knock and it’s in pieces.”
“Not just glass, unbreakable glass,” corrected the curator. “And it comes with a unique locking device that will be delivered to me and me alone on the night.”
“How exciting,” said Sabina, who sounded like she was just about on the edge of her seat.
To Sabina, the Jade Buddha seemed a whole lot more thrilling than all that dreary old gold.
“Well,” grunted Freddie Humbert, “I can assure you, it is nothing compared to the Twinford City Bank’s security — no one will be breaking in, not if I have anything to do with it. Safest safe in the U.S.A., I promise you that.”
It ought to be, thought Ruby, with the whole of Spectrum working to keep it that way.
“So how about it Ruby? Ruby?” Ruby felt a tug on her arm,
“Huh?” said Ruby. Quent was pulling at her sleeve, trying to get her attention.
“You up for a game of sardines?”
Oh boy, thought Ruby. Five eager faces were looking at her. “Yeah. Sure I am — nothing I’d like more.”
“All right!” shouted Quent triumphantly. “You wanna hide first?”
“Nah, it’s OK. You hide, Quent. We can all split up and find you.”
“You don’t want to team up?” asked one of the other kids.
“Nah, I’m better on my own — focuses the mind, if you know what I mean. Why don’t you guys team up and I’ll go solo.” She had her notebook with her and a list of things she needed to figure out.
One was:
What did Lopez see in the Mirror?
It seemed to Ruby that it was no accident that so little was known about Lopez; she had wanted it that way. But when you leave no clues, that in itself becomes a clue. As soon as she’d found a good hiding place, she took out her notebook and studied her questions.
QUESTION
Why did Lopez stake out the Fool’s Gold Gang?
ANSWER
Because her life lacked adventure
W
QUESTION
Why hadn’t she told anyone?
ANSWER
Because she was breaking the rules
...............
QUESTION
Was she spotted by the gang?
ANSWER
Certainly
...............
QUESTION
Did they think she was up to something?
ANSWER
There was no way of knowing.
Ruby had the foresight to bring the Spectrum dog whistle with her — she had a feeling it might come in handy. And she was right. Every once in a while, Ruby put the whistle in her mouth, inhaled, and shouted, “Where are you guys?” This gave the impression that she was moving around looking for them, rather than sitting on her behind in a cozy linen closet down in the Humberts’ laundry room.
At four o’clock Ruby went and found Quent and his friends, who by now had given up on the game and were desperately trying to find her.
“My gosh,” she said. “You are all so good at this, I couldn’t find you anywhere.”
That evening, at five minutes to six, Clancy Crew was leaning on the Redforts’ doorbell as if his life depended on someone letting him in.
“Hey! Where’s the fire?” said an irritated Consuela.
But Clancy just shouted “Sorry” as he ran up the stairs two at a time.
He burst into Ruby’s room and plopped himself into the huge beanbag and said, “So?”
“Jeepers, Clancy, take a breath.”
“So what were we doing yesterday in Everly?” he asked.
“Well, I sorta had this hunch that the code breaker I have replaced — well, am standing in for — had a secret.”
“A secret? How do you mean?”
“I think old Agent Lopez got bored of sitting at her desk cracking codes and started to wonder what it would be like to be an action agent. So one day there she is getting her nails done when bingo, she figures something out and rather than call one of the trained action agents she decides that she will go and stake it out herself.”
Clancy was impressed. “How’d ya figure that?”
“I got a little clue in the form of a pencil.” Ruby dropped the Fountain pencil in Clancy’s lap. “I found it behind Lopez’s desk, and then I figure
d she must have worked out that the fountain in the code was the Fountain Hotel.”
“Nice work, Rube.”
“So now I see why I can’t find the missing code in the files.”
“Why?” asked Clancy.
“Because it isn’t in the files, it’s on that little piece of paper that Lopez picked up.”
“But Felix said there was nothing on that piece of paper,” said Clancy.
“Maybe nothing you could see,” corrected Ruby. “But what if that was the point?”
“How do ya mean?” said Clancy.
“OK, so the lady writes something on the pad like so.” Ruby took out her ballpoint pen and wrote something on her notepad. “Then she tears off the top sheet and walks away, leaving the blank pad on the table for her accomplice to pick up.”
Ruby tore out the page and handed the pad to Clancy. “And I’ll bet if you rubbed a soft pencil over that blank sheet you would see the message.”
Clancy did as Ruby suggested and the impressions made by Ruby’s pen were revealed on the paper.
“Pretty smart,” said Clancy. “But how come Lopez didn’t tell anyone?”
“Because she didn’t want to get into trouble with Spectrum,” said Ruby. She paused. “And you see now I find myself in exactly the same position. What do I do? Should I tell LB how Lopez is not the goody-goody they think she was, or what?”
Clancy was torn. He understood the problem: never rat on a friend or ally — that was his rule. He would rather die a thousand horrible deaths than betray a comrade.
“I can see another problem,” said Clancy.
“Yeah, and what’s that?” said Ruby.
“You are going to be in same trouble yourself if you tell Spectrum how you know what you know.”
“You’re not wrong there my friend, I just gotta get some proof and then they’ll listen.”
“And if you can’t?” said Clancy.
“Then I just have to convince them with the old Redfort gift of the gab.”
“Good luck with that,” said Clancy.
When Clancy and Ruby walked into the living room they were greeted by a smiling Mr. and Mrs. Redfort, who were sitting on lawn furniture while Hitch set up a brand-new slide projector. Hitch gave her a look which Ruby took to mean, “Better you than me.”
“I’ll make some popcorn,” she said, and she and Clancy disappeared into the kitchen. Clancy chatted excitedly while Ruby set up the popcorn popper.
“Hey, you two,” called her mother. “Almost ready!”
“Just coming,” said Ruby, adopting the face of a condemned prisoner.
“Hey, Clancy,” came Brant’s voice. “Come and tell us what you have been up to — we haven’t seen you for a while.”
Clancy reluctantly slipped off his stool and went into the living room.
While Ruby waited for the corn to pop she felt around in her pocket, pulled out the key ring, and started sliding the rainbow colored letter tiles up, down, and across. Maybe it transforms into something cool, she thought. But no, it really did seem to be just some dumb old puzzle. She had made a word: FLY.
Big deal, she said to herself.
From the kitchen she could hear Clancy doing his best to fake enthusiasm. “Wow, Mrs. Redfort, that looks like a great portrait of your shoes.” And, “Nice close-up of your thumb,” and, “Gee, Mr. Redfort, that’s a very snowy picture of snow.”
“Isn’t it?” Brant Redfort beamed proudly.
“And what’s that one, Mr. Redfort?”
“Oh, that’s the tile floor of the airport.”
Ruby started making the drinks; she took a long time about it. As she turned the blender off, she could hear her mother saying, “And this is us at the airport, just before that funny little man with the mustache spilled his drink over me.”
“Oh, there he is, honey,” said Brant Redfort. “Boy, was he in a hurry.”
Ruby turned the blender on again. How am I gonna explain Clancy to Hitch? she wondered. But maybe I don’t have to. Clance won’t blab. Hitch never needs to know. Ruby poured the liquid into highball glasses and put them on a tray. The conversation hadn’t gotten any more interesting.
“And who are these people?” asked Clancy, in a desperate attempt to sound interested.
Bad move, Clance my old pal, said Ruby to herself. Cause now they’re gonna tell ya.
“Well,” started Sabina, “that couple there, they’re the Zimmermans, and that’s Mr. Rodrigez, and let me think, oh yes, the blond couple must be the Summers, and the redhead in the background there, did we meet her, honey?”
“No, darling,” replied Brant.
Oh, boy! Poor Clance. Better get him outta there before he loses his mind.
Ruby entered the room, all smiles. “Fruit drink anyone? Hey, where’s Hitch?” she said, looking around. “I thought he wasn’t leaving until eight?”
“He looked at his watch and suddenly decided that he had to go out and fix something in the yard,” said Clancy pointedly. “It seemed kinda urgent.”
“I’ll bet it did,” said Ruby, glancing up at a slide that showed her mother and father looking into each other’s eyes while biting into the same strudel.
RUBY GOT UP VERY EARLY THE NEXT MORNING, walked into the bathroom, looked in the mirror, made a face at herself, and said, “Ruby, my old pal, you look terrible.”
Her mind was buzzing with thoughts — she had not been sleeping well.
She went downstairs. Hitch was in the kitchen drinking a cup of coffee. “Hey,” she said, “that was a neat trick you pulled last night, disappearing at the last minute.”
“Well, it wasn’t planned. I got a strange signal on my watch — flashed up for just a second. Didn’t make any sense — like a call from beyond the grave.”
“Huh?” said Ruby.
“It was a signal from a non-existent agent,” explained Hitch.
Ruby paused before dropping some bread into the toaster. “Meaning, an extinct agent?”
“Yeah, he’s dead all right — though there’s not a soul in Spectrum who doesn’t wish he wasn’t. I had to check it out, though of course it was nothing.”
“This dead agent, he wouldn’t be this guy Bradley Baker would he?”
Hitch flinched, almost imperceptibly, but Ruby caught it. “It’s confidential,” was all he said.
Ruby let the subject drop. She was thinking about another extinct agent — just what had happened to poor old Lopez?
But all she said was, “Well, call it what you like but I figure you were saved from a fate worse than drip torture.”
“I’m glad you survived it, kid. So you know I’ve got to ask you — you going to have anything to report tomorrow?”
“Maybe,” said Ruby. “I just need to check out a couple more things before I know for sure — but I’m close.”
“That’s not what Froghorn said — he seemed to think you’d struck out.”
“Yeah well, you know Froghorn — always likes to rain on someone else’s parade.”
Ruby’s toast popped up and Hitch slid it on to a plate.
“Looks like you’re out of time, kid — LB wants to see you today.”
Ruby looked down at the plate and instantly lost her appetite.
Redfort, report to Spectrum at 0800 hours
When they arrived, Buzz informed them that LB was giving a briefing to some of the Spectrum staff.
“She’s in the screening room — looking at key suspects for the City Bank robbery.”
Hitch led the way down a black-and-white tunnel until they reached the circular doorway of the screening room.
“You better wait here, kid, this is highly confidential — I’ll call you in when we’re done.” Hitch entered, and the door locked shut behind him.
Ruby stood around gently kicking at the wall until she heard footsteps running down the passageway. Agent Blacker appeared, out of breath and even more crumpled than usual.
“You meant to be at this thing too?” he wheezed
.
“Yeah,” replied Ruby. “I forgot the password — talk about dumb!”
“No worries,” said Blacker. “We can probably slip in unnoticed if we sit in the back — I know all this stuff anyway so I’m not missing anything.”
He tapped in the password and they crept in silently; a projector was whirring, and grainy pictures were being thrown up on to the screen. Twenty or so people sat listening as LB talked. Ruby caught sight of the back of Hitch’s head and sank as low as she could into her seat; Agent Blacker made himself comfortable, propping his feet up in front of him. The image being projected was of a big, thuggish man in a raincoat.
“I wouldn’t like to meet him on a dark night,” whispered Ruby.
“I wouldn’t want to meet him on any night,” replied Agent Blacker.
The next picture came up: a strangely comical face — ugly, sinister even, but definitely comical.
There was a wave of muffled laughter from the Spectrum audience.
“I see you have taken an instant liking to our dear friend Hog-Trotter,” said LB. “Not as funny as he looks, I’m afraid.”
“Is he as stupid as he looks?” said a young man in the front row.
“Oh, never underestimate this portrait of crime — where Hog-Trotter is concerned it’s always wise to bear in mind the cliché “never judge a villain by his face”— however ugly that face may be. He is strangely good at second-guessing people and quite the intellectual. I wouldn’t rule him out.”
LB clicked the button again.
“Wow, he doesn’t look like the criminal kind,” whispered Ruby, peering at the green-eyed, sweet-looking man who filled the screen.
“Ah yes, Baby Face Marshall — now he always surprises everybody,” replied Blacker.
“He’s dangerous?” said Ruby doubtfully.
“Quite the cold-blooded killer,” hissed Blacker. “You see Baby Face, don’t bother calling for Mommy — run!”
Ruby gulped. She was used to the baddies she saw on TV. There the murderers always seemed to have a hump, or a hooked hand, or half a dozen gold teeth, something to give them away, but this guy looked like he might run the local pet store. The projector clicked again, and up came the face of a woman.