Gone In A Flash

Chapter Nine: Saturday (4)

Chapter Nine: Saturday (4)

Ruby's room was just as dark and messy as it had been the last time Hitch had been there. He switched on the light, and only just managed to catch himself before he tripped over one of the numerous novelty telephones that scattered the room.

He manoeuvred his way to the bed, sat down, and glanced around the room. He had no solid reason to be in here, having already searched the entire area twice with no results. But at this point there was nothing left he could do to help.

He picked up one of the numerous whodunnits Ruby was so fond of- this one was entitled 'THE SECRET OF THE SCREAMING BOOKKEEPER' and read through the first couple of pages before flipping straight to the end.

"Knew it," he said, and placed the book back on the shelf.

He ran his fingers along the spines of the ones on the level of the shelf he was at, stopping when he got to the end where a pair of sunglasses had been put into use as an impromptu bookend. He stared at them for a moment. Unlike the ones he had borrowed from Spectrum, they appeared to be perfectly ordinary sunglasses, like the type you would use on a very sunny day. Despite that, they had served to remind him of something.

He pulled out his own pair of sunglasses - the ones set to scan at infrared frequencies- and put them on, activating them. It took only a quick glance around the room to see what had previously been hidden.

There was a tiny drawing of a fly on the wall closest to the door and under that, a short, handwritten message- both of them glowing faintly. Hitch moved closer to read it properly.

If I'm not back by Friday, look in here. Sorry about everything. ~ Ruby

There was an arrow as well, pointing towards the doorjamb. Hitch wasted no time prying it open, and was entirely unsurprised to find that the hidden compartment within contained a single yellow notebook, labelled with the number 625.

He let out a sort of half-laugh of relief, sliding down the wall with it in his hands. She hadn't taken it with her, thank god. Hopefully now he'd be able to find out something about what was really going on here.

He flipped it open to the first page, and started reading.

Monday morning. Backtracking a bit. Somebody had taken a lot of information from Room 0 before I even got there, but there was enough left that I could find what I was looking for. Namely, the location of where the Count's hiding. I'm heading out there this morning - I'm not going in though, not yet. This is just a reconnaissance mission.

I haven't told Clancy yet. I don't think I should.

Monday afternoon. Turns out I couldn't get in even if I wanted to. The entrance would have been hard to find without GPS, but I did get there eventually. It's completely sealed - totally sealed. I can't see how the Count gets in.

Underneath this was pretty much the exact same diagram that she had drawn for Cogan.

I asked SJ to analyse some rock samples from there. I don't know how much it'll help, but it's worth a try. I'll sleep on it, I guess.

Tuesday morning. Looks like SJ won't get back to me on the samples for a while, but I think I've found another approach. There's a retired architect in Twinford who might be able to help me with getting into the Count's hideout.

Tuesday, 12am. SUCCESS! We can get in. Now to wait until Hitch gets back- I think he'll want to hear this.

The entry for Tuesday afternoon was a copy of the weather forecast for the upcoming week. The forecast for the evening that Wednesday had been circled twice in red marker.