RUBY ARRIVED AT SPECTRUM she went over to Buzz’s circular desk.
Buzz was speaking Mandarin, and when she caught sight of Ruby she paused her conversation, and said, ‘Blacker wants to see you, he’s in the canteen.’
Ruby found him wiping soy sauce off his jacket.
‘So what have you got for me?’ said Ruby.
Blacker worked in decoding and for that reason he and Ruby had spent many long hours together poring over bits of paper in small rooms, donut boxes spilling out of the trashcan. Blacker gave the impression of a person who wasn’t really keeping his eye on the ball, but the truth was very different from the way it appeared. ‘Don’t underestimate Blacker,’ was something Hitch had cautioned her against right from the get-go. She never had.
Blacker leaned forward in his seat. ‘You’ve heard about these weird robberies, right?’ he said, pulling a newspaper cutting from his pocket. It was folded several times and looked like it had been read over and over.
The headline read, GHOSTLY CRIMES. It was a piece about the Okras and their missing book. The picture showed them clutching hands on the couch, looking stricken.
‘Sure I have, but why would Spectrum be interested in this?’ asked Ruby. ‘I’m as eager as anyone to know who this skywalker is, but Spectrum? I heard these burglaries were all domestic robberies, not important financially or security-wise.’
‘You think getting robbed doesn’t matter?’ said Froghorn, who had just that second arrived at their table. He sounded very pompous and puffed up about it. ‘Little Ruby Rich Kid doesn’t need to worry about losing a few hundred dollars because she’s got her millionaire mommy and daddy to fill her piggy bank whenever she wants a new ballet dress. . .’
‘What?’ said Ruby. ‘What are you babbling about ballet dresses? I’m raising a legitimate point here.’
Blacker looked at Froghorn. ‘Come on Miles, Rube is actually asking a fair question.’ Froghorn pursed his lips. ‘Look Miles,’ said Blacker, ‘why don’t you make a start on the data? It would be one big help if we could make a few inroads here. I gotta hand it to you man, the work you took on yesterday kept the whole showboat afloat.’
Froghorn was the one who fed all sorts of data into the computer-banks so he knew a lot about the various cases Spectrum 8 were working on. He was no slouch in the brain department either; you couldn’t dismiss him as a lightweight, nor an upstart, and his combative attitude made him a formidable intellectual opponent. It was just a shame he was such a potatohead.
Froghorn stood up, very nearly smiled at Blacker, and without speaking another word exited the canteen. That was the other thing you couldn’t but admire about Blacker – he was a diplomat.
Froghorn gone, he turned back to Ruby. ‘Let me explain. So as you know, a few days ago Mr and Mrs Okra had their ninth-floor apartment broken into. It would seem that the thief entered via the small bathroom window, which means he is pretty determined.’
‘It also means he is a heck of a climber too.’
‘And either very small or some kind of contortionist,’ said Blacker. ‘Not many people could fit through a window that size.’
‘I probably could,’ said Ruby.
‘Yeah, I reckon you could,’ said Blacker looking at her. ‘To answer your question, there are two really strange things about this crime which interest Spectrum, the most obvious being, why go to such lengths when all you intend to steal is a poetry book?’
‘Yeah,’ said Ruby. ‘The only thing I discovered is that the poet used to hang out at the Pagoda theatre.’
‘So we have a connection to the shoes at least,’ said Blacker. ‘Both are linked to the Scarlet Pagoda.’
‘And what’s the second thing?’ said Ruby.
‘Second,’ said Blacker, ‘Mrs Okra claims to have found something at the scene. At first she thought it had been left by the Crime Scene Investigation squad, but when she contacted them they had no knowledge of it.’
‘Knowledge of what?’ asked Ruby.
‘Well, Mrs Okra keeps a very orderly house, no dust, no clutter but she found something that doesn’t make any sense to her.’
‘Something the cops missed?’
‘Easy to miss.’
‘What was it?’
‘A card,’ said Blacker.
‘Like a postcard?’
‘No, like a calling card.’
‘So was there a number?’ asked Ruby.
‘No,’ said Blacker.
‘An address?’
‘There wasn’t one.’
‘A name?’
‘Uh uh.’
‘Nothing?’
‘It was blank.’
‘So why does Mrs Okra think this is important?’
‘Because it wasn’t there before.’
‘That’s a good enough reason, I guess.’
‘It is if you are Mrs Okra – boy is she tidy.’
‘So this thief accidentally left evidence?’
‘I wouldn’t say so. This card was very deliberately placed on top of a pile of books. It didn’t just land on the floor like it fell out of a pocket.’
‘A completely blank card?’ repeated Ruby.
‘Well, blank, as in nothing printed on it,’ said Blacker.
‘I don’t follow, is it blank or is it not blank?’
‘It has bumps.’
‘Bumps like Braille?’
‘Yes, but no.’
‘As in not Braille but possibly another form of touch language?’
‘Perhaps.’
‘You mean the thief is maybe deliberately leaving some kind of coded message?’
‘That’s exactly what I mean,’ said Blacker. ‘And that’s what brings Spectrum into it. That. . . and the fact that a similar break-in and robbery was identified at that DOD base, the item taken from a secure room, no one seen arriving nor leaving.’
‘So you think there is a connection?’ said Ruby.
‘Well,’ said Blacker, ‘could be. It’s too big a coincidence for there not to be a connection, don’t you think? The yellow shoes
