Fashion Fraud (6 page)

‘My fashion is art,' Alicia had said.

‘And now the art is her fashion,' said EJ. She had solved the puzzle. Alicia had stolen the paintings at the rehearsals for her shows, replacing them with computer-generated fakes, no doubt provided by
SHADOW
, and she was going to deliver the originals after she had used them in her fashion shows. While EJ still needed to find the paintings, she now at least knew what she was looking for.

She left the café, went back into the Alicia Noir boutique and, without anyone seeing, slipped through the door to the stairs up to the studio. Again she activated her skeleton charm key and unlocked the door. As she opened the door, the three little poodle puppies bounded up to her. She knelt down and the puppies climbed onto her knees, licking her. EJ laughed as she read their names from the little tags on their collars.

‘
Bonjour
Beret!' she said to the black poodle with the red ribbon. ‘
Bonjour
Éclair!' said EJ to the white poodle with the blue ribbon. ‘And,
Bonjour
Eiffel!' she said to the black poodle with the yellow ribbon. ‘Thanks for helping me before! How could anyone want to get rid of you three? You're not “last season”, you're cute! Don't worry I won't let you be abandoned but I need to find some paintings first.'

While the three puppies began playing amongst some rolls of fabric, EJ went straight to the long racks on wheels on which the dress bags were hanging. She unzipped one and inside was a full-length gown of soft, flowing silk, completely covered with glittering blue and green sequins.

‘Beautiful but not a painting,' said EJ and she began opening the other covers. She unzipped one after another but there was no painting. Had she been wrong? Then EJ saw Éclair pulling at one of the bags, its bottom corner firmly between her teeth.

‘Hey, what are you up to?' asked EJ. ‘Shall I look at that one? Okay.' She unzipped the bag and saw a dress of swirls of blues, purples and greens. It was dazzlingly pretty. Pretty as a picture. EJ touched the dress. It felt different to the silks of the other water lily collection dresses, somehow thicker.

Something clicked in EJ's mind. She raced to the box of spray cans near the empty spray can and this time picked up a can marked ‘Formula B'. She sprayed a little on the corner of the dress and waited. Before long, the piece of cloth had hardened again and EJ could feel the rough flecks of the paint. It was a picture. The painting had been turned into a dress that a model had walked around in. ‘Who would ever suspect?' EJ muttered to herself. ‘But there must be one more painting—one of a tower.'

EJ remembered she had seen a third little Madame Ombre bag being delivered. She looked around and saw it thrown on the same table on which she'd left her croissant device. She picked up the croissant half and reconnected it to the receiver. As she clicked them together, the device converted back to a charm, which she put back on her bracelet. Then she opened the Madame Ombre box. Inside, as EJ knew there would be, was an éclair, now half-eaten, and a thin curled-up piece of paper.

‘Alicia clearly doesn't suspect a thing,' said EJ. ‘She has just left the message here. Anyone could see it.' She unrolled the paper and looked. It was another picture puzzle.

Too easy again,
thought EJ, taking out her phone. She worked her way quickly through the puzzle but already from the first line she could see that this message was different from the first two.

That's not in English,
realised EJ as she worked through the rest of the message.
Maybe
SHADOW
suspects the last message was intercepted. She looked at what she had written.

‘Bien sûr!'
cried EJ.
That in-flight French training had come in very handy!
EJ knew the words were French and she quickly highlighted the words and ran it through her language app. Her screen flashed.

The tower! EJ rushed over to the drawings on Alicia Noir's easel. She turned to the page of the metallic and striking shapes. She looked at the sketches of the dresses and saw how they created a spiral, a tower shape on the model. It reminded EJ of something but she couldn't quite put her finger on it. As EJ studied it, the white poodle pawed at her legs.

‘Hello, Eiffel,' she said. Then she laughed as she stroked the puppy under its chin and looked out the studio window. The sun was beginning to set over the city but EJ could still clearly see the tallest structure in Paris, the most famous tower in the world, the Eiffel Tower. It was all fitting into place now.

‘Alicia's show is at the Eiffel Tower and
SHADOW
is going to collect the paintings after the show at 23 hours, that's eleven o'clock tonight,' said EJ. ‘And now I know what the fourth painting is, too.'

EJ opened the last clothing bag and saw the dress made up of criss-crosses of bold orange, yellow and greens. She took the spray can and sprayed a small corner. The fabric hardened, back into its original canvas. It was a painting but which one? EJ took her phone and keyed in ‘famous paintings Eiffel Tower images' and a rush of images appeared on her screen. One matched the dress. She clicked on the image and text appeared.

‘That's it!' cried EJ. ‘I've found it! This is the painting Alicia took when she took the ballerina painting. The one she didn't deliver to
SHADOW.

I know what and I know how and all I need to do now is to get these paintings out of here.' EJ was feeling pretty proud. A1 would be too.

‘Who are you?' said a sharp voice behind her.

EJ gulped. She recognised the voice immediately. It was Madame Ombre. EJ turned around and saw the chef with a woman on either side of her. Madame Ombre's nostrils flared as she recognised EJ.

‘You pesky girl again! I am sure my cousin would not want you interfering in her studio.'

EJ's eyes widened. ‘Your cousin? Alicia Noir is your cousin?'

‘Yes, I know, two creative geniuses in one family, it's freaky,' said Madame Ombre. ‘Quick, quick,' she said to her two assistants. ‘Take the dresses.'

‘But you can't,' cried EJ as the two women left the room with the dresses—including the ones that were paintings.

‘But of course I can, I just have,' snapped Madame Ombre. ‘You on the other hand will stay here; Z can decide what to do with you. Oh and I will have that special key you used to get in.'

EJ stared back defiantly but Madame Ombre leant over and ripped the key charm from EJ's bracelet.

‘Enough chitty chatty, EJ12. Another family triumph awaits.'

And with that Madame Ombre strode out of the studio, closing and locking the door behind her. Four storeys up with no skeleton key, EJ12 was trapped.

EJ was locked in Alicia Noir's studio. She looked out the window. It was a long way to the ground, too far to climb. Just as she had worked out what Alicia was up to, she couldn't do anything to stop her. She took out her phone and updated
SHINE
on her situation. Having to tell A1 she was stuck made her feel worse. EJ really needed a friendly voice. She took out her phone and opened her BEST app. BEST stood for Brains, Expertise, Support and Tips. It was a support network for agents and they could upload their friends, once they were security-cleared and sworn to secrecy, to help them on missions. Emma pressed Elle's image and her friend answered immediately.

‘Hey Emma, I mean EJ. What's up?' Just hearing a friendly voice made EJ feel a little better.

‘I think I've really messed up, Elle,' said EJ. ‘I've worked out what
SHADOW
is up to …'

‘That's amazing!' said Elle. ‘You're doing a great job, EJ!'

‘Not really,' said EJ glumly, ‘because now I am locked in a fashion studio, without my key charm, and I can't do anything.'

‘I can give you a lift,' said Elle happily.

EJ smiled. She knew her friend would try to cheer her up, she always did, but she was not sure it would work this time.

‘Thanks, Elle, but I think I need more than a pep talk,' said EJ.

Piinngg!

‘Hold on, Elle. I've got a message from
SHINE
.' EJ looked at her screen.

EJ hit the translate button.

‘Elle, I've got to go.
SHINE
is coming.'

‘Okay, EJ. Good luck. See you soon,' said Elle.

EJ moved to the large window at the end of the studio and tried the latch. At least that wasn't locked. EJ unlatched it and pushed open the window and looked down. There was a wide ledge under the window where she would be able to wait for the
SHINE
transport. EJ wondered whom they would send. Would it be KM12? She was one of the fastest agents in the transport division and had rescued EJ out of quite a few sticky moments OM. It was nearly dark now but in the distance, EJ saw a small flashing light and, as it came closer, she could just make out what it was, a
SHINE
mini-chopper, a cross between a tandem bike and small helicopter. EJ had been on one before on a previous mission and they were perfect for moving on both land and in the air.

It will be KM12
, thought EJ. Then her mouth opened wide in surprise as the chopper came closer. It wasn't KM12. EJ recognised the curly hair of the agent steering the mini-chopper immediately as it approached.

‘Elle?'

‘Well, strictly speaking, EK12,' said her friend, smiling. ‘I told you I'd give you a lift.'

‘Wow!' said EJ as the mini-chopper hovered in front of the window ledge. ‘How did you get to come OM so quickly?'

‘I'm not really OM,' explained EK12. ‘I've been recruited to the transport division.'

‘That figures,' said EJ as she climbed aboard. ‘You're fast even without an engine!'

‘Thanks,' said Elle, grinning. ‘Anyway, I was on an orientation camp and was being taken on a ride on the new supersonic jet and we arrived in Paris when
SHINE
got your message. What a coincidence! A1 thought this was a perfect opportunity for a transport run. She says you're a great leader.'

‘Thanks,' said EJ, blushing slightly. ‘Well, we need to move quickly.'

‘OK,' replied EK12. ‘Beret helmet on, EJ, and tell me where to go!'

EJ pointed across the river to the Eiffel Tower that stood in the centre of Paris, now lit up against the night sky. ‘Straight ahead,' she said. ‘And then sharp up!'

It was dark now and the city lights flickered below as EJ and EK followed the river, past the large cathedral on the island in its middle, past the Louvre, past the Tuileries Gardens and the Musée d'Orsay. The river turned to the left and the Eiffel Tower was now directly ahead. As they flew closer to the tower, EJ could see that it had three levels with both stairs and elevators to take people from top to bottom.

‘We need to know where on the Eiffel Tower the fashion show is and, more importantly, where the models are,' said EJ. ‘The stolen paintings have been turned into dresses and Madame Ombre has delivered them to the tower for the show so they will be in the models' dressing room. Can we fly up to the top and take a look from there?'

‘Rosie that, EJ,' said EK. But there was plenty for EJ and EK to see. The second level had shops and cafés but now, at night, everything was closed except for the large restaurant and this had been converted into a huge open dressing room for the fashion show models. EJ could see the elevator shaft that would take the models down to the next level.

‘Let's go down a level,' she told EK.

The first level of the tower was the main viewing platform and it was here that an enormous marquee, black-topped with clear sides, had been erected for the fashion show. As EJ and EK hovered, they could see that a catwalk had been set up. It led from the elevator entrance and stretched around the entire first level and back to the elevator. Chairs had been put in the middle so the audience would view the fashions against the magnificent backdrop of Paris at night.

‘It's pretty awesome,' cried EK. ‘Imagine being the models! You would feel like you were walking in the sky!'

‘Hmmm,' said EJ. That had given her an idea. ‘Let's go back up to level two.'

They headed back up and to the other side from the restaurant entrance.

‘EK, I need to get off and get into those dressing rooms and I'm going to need your help.'

‘You are?' asked EK. ‘Well, I can auto park the mini-chopper down below. We can call it back by remote control.'

‘Great work, EK!' said EJ, impressed. Her friend was a quick learner and she knew EK12 would be up for what she had in mind. EJ sent a message to
SHINE
for clearance to take EK OM. She smiled at A1's reply.

EJ texted back. It was always good to have support.

‘EK12?' asked EJ, turning to her friend with a smile. ‘Are you ready? I've got a plan.'