Where is Ruby Redfort - every smart kid's smart kid?
One thing's for sure - she's definitely not where she should be.
If Ruby was here right now, Hitch's job would be a whole lot easier, her best friend might not be panicking, and the Count mi...
When Hitch looked into Ruby's bedroom through an open door that evening, he experienced a brief moment of complete and utter panic when he saw the window wide open and no trace of Ruby in sight. It was only when he heard the shifting of tiles on the roof above that he realized she hadn't probably gone off to kill a psychopath again, and had just decided to take the most direct route up to the top of the house – namely, through her bedroom window.
He grabbed the blanket that had been folded neatly on the end of her bed, and headed up to the more sensible means of roof access – the ladder leading up to the locked hatch in the centre of the second floor.
He cracked open the roof access hatch very slowly, and glanced through the gap to see what was happening.
Ruby was seated on the highest part of the roof with her knees up to her chest and her hair falling down in a tangled mess down her back. She was wearing a loose, worn jumper, and was staring up at the stars like they held the answers to all of her problems. Her glasses weren't on, and it didn't look like she had her contact lenses in either.
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Hitch pushed open the hatch fully, and emerged up onto the roof. He didn't miss Ruby's tiny flinch as his shoes made contact with the tiles, and how her hands bunched up in her jumper tightly. He pretended to, though, and cleared his throat as if making his presence known for the first time.
"Got you something," he said, tossing the blanket at her. She ducked, reaching out an arm blindly in order to knock it out of the air and to her feet.
She stared at it blankly for a second.
"It's cold tonight," he said by way of explanation, and closed the hatch, sitting down on top of it.
"Thanks," she said, shaking out the blanket and draping it over her knees. She took several moments to tuck the edges in around her feet, creating a sort of impromptu cocoon.
"Blacker says hi," Hitch offered. "He also said you could stop by anytime. Something about a D'Aga-something Cipher."
"D'Agapeyeff," Ruby corrected, after a moment of thought, and then she laughed. "Yeah, probably not. Experts have been working on that one for years."
"Well, if anyone can work it out, I think it'd be you, kid."
Ruby smiled – soft and self-deprecating, completely unlike her. "We'll see, I guess."
Hitch glanced over at her, but the sky was quickly clouding over, and the light from the moon and stars was fading. Her face was wreathed in shadow – it was impossible to read what she was thinking.
"So, LB got fired," he said conversationally, turning to regard the empty streets below them.
"Inevitable," said Ruby, echoing their earlier conversation with Clancy. "Wait, but – what's going to happen to her?"
