The Ruby Redfort Collection: 4-6: Feed the Fear; Pick Your Poison; Blink and You Die. Lauren Child

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      Barbara gave an involuntary shiver. ‘Gives me the creeps,’ she said.

      Ruby said nothing the whole journey home. Her brain was trying to make connections and bring a little logic into the evening’s events. She listened to her parents’ conversation but they spoke of nothing more interesting than their appreciation of the canapés and concern that the valet parking was understaffed – they seemed to have forgotten about the Little Yellow Shoes already.

      Ruby took a juice from the refrigerator, bid her parents goodnight and climbed the stairs to her room.

      OK, so Red Monroe was about as gullible as they came and no one was more accident-prone, but it was weird that Red, the security guards and the model had all experienced something so similar; had all sensed a presence that they just couldn’t explain. Ruby might have been tempted to write this off: imaginations stirred by the theatre’s rumoured hauntings; the spooky sensations conjured by the noises and draughts of an old building. People could be pretty suggestible and once one person described a strange experience, often others would follow suit. Ruby had read all about it in Dr Stephanie Randleman’s book, I Think I Saw That Too.

      On the other hand, it was important not to dismiss a possibility just because it sounded like the far-fetched ramblings of a gaggle of highly suggestible folk. Was it possible that the rumours about the Scarlet Pagoda had some substance after all? Ruby remembered back to the case she had worked on involving the Sea Whisperer. In that instance, the people who had claimed they had heard a whispering sound coming from the ocean had not imagined it – it was absolutely true.

      She too had heard it, and even seen the creature the sound came from, but ghosts? Ghosts were a stretch – Ruby would need a lot more evidence before she concluded that something from the spirit world was responsible for stealing a pair of size 3s.

       She took out her key-chain

       and set about turning the

       five different keys. . .

      . . .in the five different locks. She pushed open the heavy door, stepped inside and closed it behind her.

      Someone was there.

      She knew instantly that it was him: she could smell the polish on his Italian leather shoes. He was in the apartment.

      She walked slowly along the corridor, her stiletto heels sharp on the marble floor. The door to her study was open and she could make out a shadowed figure sitting in the armchair in front of the window.

      ‘A long day at work?’ he asked.

      ‘You could say that,’ she replied. Her voice betrayed no fear, yet she was afraid.

       ‘By the way,’ he said, ‘red hair suits you. Does your accent match your new look?’

       ‘I didn’t want anyone to recognise me so I opted for another face.’

       ‘It’s very arresting and an interesting choice,’ he said. ‘People will think that they’ve seen a ghost.’ He paused. ‘But enough chitchat. I trust everything is proceeding as it should?’

      ‘I’m not sure,’ she replied.

       He smiled. ‘Oh dear, uncertainty is a terrible drain on one, isn’t it?’

      She said nothing.

       ‘Not knowing can make one horribly paranoid.’ He looked at her, his black eyes seeming to fathom her soul. ‘Best to fix the situation before sleepless nights set in. You don’t want to find yourself dead on your feet.’

      She knew what he was saying and she had no intention of finding herself dead on her feet or dead from a nasty fall for that matter. She would find the traitor and she would make him an offer. Life or death. There was no in between.

Chapter 11.

      FOR THE SECOND MORNING IN A ROW Ruby was woken by the sound of ringing. This time it was the phone and this time it was a good deal earlier than 11 am. Ruby checked her alarm clock but the numerals were fuzzy. She sat up and fumbled for her glasses. 7 am, brother!

      ‘This better be important buster,’ said Ruby into the receiver.

      ‘Sorta,’ said the voice.

      RUBY: ‘Oh, hi Red, I thought it was Clance.’

      RED: ‘It was in the paper. It means I wasn’t imagining it.

      RUBY: ‘What was in the paper? Imagining what?’

      RED: ‘The ghost.’

      RUBY: ‘What?’

      RED: ‘They confirmed it had to have been a ghost who took them.’

      RUBY: ‘Took what?’

      RED: ‘The Little Yellow Shoes – that’s what were stolen last night.’

      RUBY: ‘I already figured it had to be the shoes but how do you propose a ghost carries a pair of shoes?’

      RED: ‘It has arms, doesn’t it?’

      RUBY: ‘Ghosts can’t pick up solid items.’

      RED: ‘Well that’s not what the Twinford Echo is saying.’

      RUBY: ‘Hang on a sec Red.’ She replaced the receiver, hurriedly pulled on a pair of jeans that were sprawled next to the bed; found a cleanish T-shirt and moved to the bathroom. Plucking up the soap-shaped phone, she grabbed her toothbrush at the same time.

      RUBY: ‘You still there?’

      RED: ‘Uh huh.’

      Ruby began to brush her teeth.

      RED: ‘You sound funny.’

      RUBY: ‘I’m practising good oral hygiene.’

      RED: ‘Oh.’

      RUBY: ‘So how sure are they that the shoes are stolen rather than just missing?’

      RED: ‘Definite.’

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