Ruby Redfort - Any Last Words?

Part 3: Covering it up - somehow...

"Ruby..." Mrs Digby finally murmured. "How, why and where is is... SPECTRUM equipment from? Glider wings, ground glows, invisibility skin?! You better start explaining yourself, missy," she muttered fiercely, keeping her voice low, not taking her glance off Ruby for a moment.

Ruby gulped, and inwardly cursed. Why hadn't she taken that darned equipment with her and left it with Agent Blacker?

Since there was no hope of Hitch making a cover up, she had to think of something - and fast. Luckily, Ruby had no trouble bending the truth to make it sound believable.

Gulping, she forced herself to plaster an assuring smile on her face and spoke in a soothing voice. "Well, it's like this, Mrs. D. Clance and I entered an exclusive Crazy Cops competition, only open to the select people who knew Detective Despo inside out, which is why very few people knew about it, and it wasn't publicised. Clancy and I came first, and er, they gave us these very realistic weapons that they often use on set - as souvenirs of winning the competition, and I was gonna surprise you, Mom, and Dad at dinner! So, uh... surprise!"

"Mm-hm. I don't know if you've met me young lady, but my name is Myrtle Digby and I have known you since the day you were born, and you certainly aren't stupid enough to hide a prize under your covers so don't try to pull the wool over my eyes. We Digbys can sniff liars out from a mile away, and I can't abide them." Mrs. Digby reprimanded with a stern glint in her eyes.

Great! Ruby thought. Now I'm gonna have to spill faster than a jelly donut. "OK. Mrs. D. What I'm about to tell you, you also may not believe... " Ruby began chattering animatedly to Mrs Digby about her time at Spectrum, and the cases she had endured and eventually had managed to crack, she told her that the only other person who she had told was Clancy Crew, and Hitch... er.

Better not involve him yet, Ruby thought. All the while, Mrs Digby's piercing blue eyes were growing as large as saucers, and her eyebrows were so raised they were in danger of disappearing from her face. "Well... it DOES sound very far fetched still, but even a very imaginative girl like you would find it impossible to make this whole situation up. Heavens above, child, why haven't you told your parents? In fact, if you're too afraid, I can tell them for you...", Mrs. Digby called, already making an attempt to bustle out of the room.

Was she afraid of Ruby now? Why was she being evasive? "Mrs Digby!" Ruby said fiercely, pulling her aside. "If I swore old Clance to secrecy, you sure are gonna be too. If you even accidentally let even a single word out about this whole business, I could wave bye bye to my job, but worse than that, it could put all of us in grave danger. You don't know what I'm up against, but for the time being, I'm begging you to keep it zipped. Okay?"

Mrs Digby's eyes narrowed. This girl, Ruby Redfort who she had met every need of for 13 solid years, she had never talked to her like this before. This must be serious. Mrs D. pulled herself together and solemnly nodded.

-

Hitch was due back today. Good. She was more than glad he had left the secret toast fax machine with her in case Spectrum happened to need her - she would have gone crazy if she wasn't involved in her spy career .

Ruby had only known about the world of Spectrum for six months, yet she felt she had been part of it all her life. Absent-mindedly, Ruby put a waffle in the toaster, realised her mistake and hurriedly pulled it out again. (Normally she wouldn't mind waffles, but these were Sabina's new horrifying recipe, low calorie, gluten free, sugar free, fat free waffles for breakfast - flavour free too, in Ruby's opinion).

After picking it up, she saw a faint half of a message was engraved into it, so she promptly put a piece of bread in the toaster and read the entire thing. For the second time that day, her heart sank. SECURITY HAS BEEN BREACHED it read. REPORT TO SPECTRUM IMMEDIATELY.