I only called the house management agency a few hours ago, they said no one would be available for weeks, how did you…’
‘I returned from London unexpectedly two hours ago. My previous employers, Lord and Lady Wellingford, suddenly decided to tour the palaces of India and no longer required my services.’
‘But surely they will be back in a few weeks?’
‘Not for three years,’ he replied quickly.
‘It takes three years to tour the palaces of India?’ said Sabina.
‘They are travelling by elephant.’
A likely story, thought Ruby. I’ll bet he got fired.
‘So, do you want to see my references? I don’t think you’ll be disappointed.’ He winked at Sabina and she giggled.
‘I’ll bet I won’t!’ said Sabina cheerily,
Oh brother! thought Ruby
‘I’m so glad you’re here, Mr Hitch.’
‘Just Hitch – that’ll do fine.’
‘Oh of course, that’s a butler thing isn’t it, calling yourself by your last name.’
‘Well in this instance it’s more of a me thing, it’s my only name – only my mother calls me anything else.’
‘Oh, and what does she call you?’ asked Sabina.
‘Darling, usually.’
‘Well, you can call me just Sabina – or darling – no just kidding…’
Ruby looked at her mother. Something strange had happened. Why was she giggling like an idiot?
‘Anyway, I don’t mind telling you, Hitch,’ Sabina went on, ‘things have been none too pleasant around here lately, no siree Bob. First the airline totally lose our luggage, and now look – we have been cleaned out.’
Sabina babbled on excitedly about the tomato incident and Hitch listened. It was if she had fallen under some kind of spell.
What is this guy, some kind of hypnotist?
Sabina was interrupted by the ring of the telephone.
‘At least we still have the telephone!’ cried Sabina, delighted that one small possession had escaped the burglar’s grasp. ‘I expect that’ll be the airline! Get that would you Ruby?’
Ruby walked over to the phone and picked up the receiver. ‘Chucks Cheesery, you want cheese we aim to please.’
But for the third time there was absolutely no one on the end of the line. She hung up and was about to dial Clancy’s number when the phone rang again.
‘Look buster if you ain’t gonna talk, why call?’
‘I’m sorry?’ said a low, gravelly voice.
‘What’s with all the heavy breathing and hanging up? It is considered rude you know,’ snapped Ruby.
‘I have no idea what you are talking about – I am not in the habit of calling people with whom I have no intention of conversing,’ replied the voice.
So who called me those other times?
‘I am looking for Ruby Redfort,’ said the voice.
‘Well you found her,’ replied Ruby.
‘Good, so now I’ve found you, all you’ve got to do is find me.’
‘Excuse me?’ said Ruby, ‘what is this, quiz night?’
‘Well,’ the voice said, ‘a little bird told me that you notice everything – but do you notice everything Ruby Red?’
‘The name’s Ruby Redfort.’ Ruby didn’t like her name to be messed with.
‘As I was saying,’ continued the voice. ‘I hear that you are quite the code cracker, that you are capable of noticing the smallest things, the tiny details and how they connect. I bet you can see when something is plum square in the wrong place, while everyone else just walks on by. You can see that something ordinary might mean something extraordinary once it’s put in context. Am I right?’
‘I can crack a code,’ said Ruby struggling to sound more confident than she felt.
‘Good,’ said the voice, and the line went dead.
‘So what’s the code, buster?’ said Ruby to no one but herself. She slowly put down the receiver.
Now what?
Hitch meanwhile, true to his job description, had been managing the Redfort household. By the time Brant Redfort walked in the door Hitch had brought in some of the lawn furniture, conjured camp beds from nowhere, and ordered sushi for dinner. Sabina was leaning on the countertop, and chatting as if she had known him a good deal longer than one hour and forty-two minutes. Though Ruby observed that the conversation was not exactly scintillating.
‘So would you believe it, Hitch, I take my little Oscar Birdet jacket to the drycleaners – you know, Grosvenors on Harling Street? And what do they say? ‘Sorry Mrs Redfort but we won’t be able to fix this, it’s too delicate.’ Can you believe it? What kind of drycleaning service are they?’
‘Well it is an Oscar Birdet, maybe they felt a little out of their depth.’
‘You know Oscar Birdet?’
‘Sure I do.’
‘Aren’t his designs exquisite?’
‘Divine. Look, leave it with me, I’ll take it to my drycleaner tomorrow, he knows what he’s doing,’ said Hitch. ‘And if he can’t fix it, he’ll send it to someone who can.’
‘Boy, I can’t wait for Mrs Digby to meet you.’
‘Mrs Digby?’ he asked.
‘Our housekeeper. We had a misunderstanding, I expect she’s still at her cousin Emily’s cooling off – she’s going to just love you.’
Ruby wasn’t so sure. Mrs Digby ‘couldn’t abide fools’, and as far as Ruby was concerned this guy struck her as a prize turkey.
He was busy unpacking something from one of his bags.
‘Hey, how cute – you travel with your own toaster,’ exclaimed Sabina.
‘Well,’ said Hitch, placing it on the countertop. ‘It’s a good one, and who doesn’t love toast?’
There it was again, the little flash of pain, vivid just for a second when he lifted his right arm.
‘I
