symbol for loyalty and when he unfolded it the note said:
If anything happens to me, blab to the butler.
It was hard to know whether Ruby had written this as a joke or if she had actually had some premonition that something dark was coming her way.
But it was all he needed.
Clancy ran to the nearest phone booth and dialled the number on the card – his call was answered after the first ring.
‘She told me about her work with you and Spectrum, she didn’t want to, but I wouldn’t let it go, she had to.’
‘It doesn’t matter about that, not any more,’ said Hitch. ‘Just tell me what you know – Ruby said something about a redhead, you saw this woman, right?’
‘Yes,’ said Clancy, ‘I did, we both did.’
‘Meet me at 101 Maverick Street,’ said Hitch. ‘Can you do that?’
‘I think I can find it,’ said Clancy.
Clancy arrived at the Spectrum office twenty-five minutes later. He was out of breath and thirsty, but when Hitch answered the door Clancy forgot all about that.
‘It was me who spotted her,’ said Clancy.
‘We’re talking about the redhead?’ said Hitch.
Clancy nodded. ‘When I spotted her in Twinford Square, I knew I had seen her some place before but I couldn’t think where.’
‘So you followed her?’
‘Yeah, we followed her to the Grand Twin Hotel and we managed to get into her room.’
‘What did you do then?’
‘Well, Ruby started going through a stack of photos she found on the desk.’
‘And you?’
‘Well, I noticed that the woman had all these glasses, huge glasses, tinted, sorta like sunglasses but not, ’cause you could wear them indoors.’
‘So?’
‘So,’ continued Clancy, ‘Ruby pulls out this photo from the stack of pictures and I remember where I’d seen the redhead – she was in the Redfort’s slide show, in the background of one of their vacation pictures.’
‘They didn’t know her?’ asked Hitch.
‘No, they didn’t. Anyway, then when we are outside the Double Donut, I see Ruby is staring at me because you see I have forgotten to take off the lady’s glasses.’
‘And Ruby recognises them?’ suggested Hitch.
‘Yeah,’ replied Clancy, ‘but she didn’t say why.’
Hitch reached behind the file shelf and the bookcase slid to one side, revealing a passageway. ‘Come with me kid.’
‘Hey, that’s kinda corny!’ said Clancy.
‘Corny it may be, but Ruby never found it,’ replied Hitch.
Hitch led Clancy down to the cinema room deep underneath the office. He switched on the projector and clicked though the slides until he got to the one of the woman stepping out of the jewellery store.
‘I know the picture’s black and white but could this be the woman?’
Clancy looked up at the image: the woman in the photograph had the same elegance, the same style, the same mean look about her. The main difference was that this woman wasn’t wearing huge tinted glasses, so you could clearly see her heavily-lashed eyes.
‘It does sorta look like her,’ ventured Clancy, ‘but the woman I saw had a big scar across her left eye – I only saw it for a couple of seconds, but you couldn’t miss it.’
Hitch felt his blood run cold: now he was sure. It was Nine Lives Capaldi who had taken Ruby, and he knew there was not much chance of finding her alive.
‘What is it?’ said Clancy.
‘This is Valerie Capaldi – we call her Nine Lives. The last time she crossed my path we got into a fight – I left with a torn up leg and she left with a nasty gash to her left eye. I haven’t seen her for a couple of years,’ added Hitch, staring at the screen, ‘but if Nine Lives is involved then Ruby is in a lot more trouble than I had thought.’
Sabina heard the front door open and the heavy footsteps as Hitch climbed the stairs to the living room.
‘So where’s Ruby?’ she called, adjusting her dress.
‘Don’t worry about Ruby, I’ll make sure she is there on time.’
Brant breezed into the room smiling. ‘That daughter of mine around? I hope she’s not going to be late – she has a terrible problem with punctuality.’
‘She’ll make it, I promise you that – everything is going to be all right,’ said Hitch. ‘You can count on it.’
Sabina looked at him. ‘Darling Hitch, no need to be so dramatic,’ she laughed. ‘You’re almost worrying me – she’s not going to wear one of her awful T-shirts is she? I’m not saying I wouldn’t mind because you know I would – but nothing can ruin tonight for me – nothing.’
A colony of vultures
RUBY SAT UNCOMFORTABLY IN A LARGE SHABBY CHAIR. A chair that might well have belonged to Dracula himself, with its dragon feet and blood red fabric. Her wrists and ankles were bound and her mouth gagged, a blindfold across her eyes. She could hear sounds, mutterings, heavy objects being dragged across a stone floor. She could sense that something – several somethings were in the room even if she couldn’t see them. She felt as if she were surrounded by vultures… a colony of vultures! That was the collective term for them – fine time to remember that.
Then, suddenly, light.
Someone removed the silk scarf and Ruby found herself once again staring into the pretty eyes of Baby Face Marshall. He really did have a very sweet face. It was hard to believe what Agent Blacker had said about this clean-cut guy with his tidy features and straight teeth.
‘Got something to say cutie?’
Baby Face ripped the tape from her mouth. Her eyes began to water.
‘Oh now don’t cry – tell me what I need to know and you can run along back to Mommy and Daddy.’
‘Look, first of all I don’t cry – least not because some schmuck with a face like a baby is giving me grief, and second of all, as I was saying to those cronies of yours before they stuck packaging tape over my mouth, I don’t know anything.’
Baby Face didn’t like the line about his having a face like a baby, Ruby could tell – his voice got a whole lot harsher.
