The House of Puzzles (7 page)

Ruby scooped up her pack, threw another disgusted look at her brother and set off
into the valley. Gerald stumbled after her. ‘What are we going to do if we don’t
have a tent?’ he asked.

‘We’ll have to find a barn or a tree to sleep under,’ she said, muttering more furious
thoughts under her breath.

‘Don’t be too hard on Sam,’ Gerald said. ‘I’ve got the tent poles in my pack. That’s
something,’ he said.

Ruby grunted. ‘True enough,’ she said. ‘At least I’ll have something to beat him
with.’

Gerald swallowed. He wasn’t sure that Ruby was entirely joking. And then, just to
ensure Ruby’s mood could sink no lower, it started to snow.

Heavily.

Chapter 6

Snow flew into their faces in thick, unrelenting bursts. The wind whipped across
the frozen ground as if running late for a funeral.

Padded parkas and gloves held out some of the cold, but the line of four hikers cut
a forlorn path across the open countryside as they trudged towards the wooded glen
below them.

Gerald’s teeth chattered staccato as he wiped the slush from his face. His head was
down and his eyes were trained on the back of Sam’s pack bobbing along in front of
him. Felicity followed behind Gerald, and Ruby brought up the rear. No one had said
anything, but it seemed to be decided naturally that keeping Sam and Ruby as far
apart from each other as possible was probably a good idea.

A shiver ran down Gerald’s spine. He glanced past Sam’s head. The trees leading into
the dark valley seemed no closer, and the day’s light was fast expiring. He reached
out and tugged on Sam’s pack. ‘We need to figure out what we’re doing tonight,’ Gerald
said. ‘We can’t just keep walking in the dark.’

‘Hey, I’ve got an idea,’ Ruby said, drilling a glare in her brother’s direction.
‘Let’s set up the tent and get nice and cosy warm inside.’

Sam stared at the ground. ‘I said I was sorry,’ he mumbled.

‘And yet that brings us precisely no closer to finding shelter for the night,’ Ruby
said.

‘And neither does all your complaining,’ Felicity snapped. ‘How about you give it
a rest?’ Ruby’s lips froze shut. ‘I’m cold, I’m tired and I’m hungry,’ Felicity said.
‘We’ve got about ten minutes of light left and I’ve had it with both you Valentines.’
She turned to Gerald. ‘I can’t imagine what you see in her.’

The wind whipped down from the hilltop, flapping the hood on Gerald’s jacket about
his ears. He couldn’t see the expression on Ruby’s face, but he had the feeling it
was not all warmth and sunshine.

‘Let’s get down into the valley,’ Gerald said. ‘Maybe we can find some shelter there.’

There was no debate. There was no other choice.

This time Gerald took the lead. He agreed with Felicity. Sam and Ruby could tear
each other apart—all
he wanted was to get out of the cold.

As they descended into the valley the snowfall intensified. Gerald stared into the
dying day.

His heart sank.

Beyond a line of stumpy trees, for as far as he could see, there was heather and
bracken beaten down by the Scottish winter into a brown carpet that was fast disappearing
under a smothering of white.

His shoulders dropped. He turned back to Ruby and Felicity.

‘Anything?’ Ruby asked.

Gerald shook his head. ‘We could try to build something under those trees but they’re
so stunted. They don’t offer much cover.’ A pit opened up in his stomach. People
died of exposure on nights like this.

‘Or we could try that house down there,’ Sam said as he joined them.

‘What house?’ Gerald said.

‘The one down there,’ Sam said, pointing into the gloom.

Gerald, Ruby and Felicity strained their eyes into the near darkness as the blizzard
swirled around them.

‘I can’t see a thing,’ Ruby said. ‘Are you sure?’

‘Of course,’ Sam said. ‘What’s the matter with you?’

‘Apart from my terminal lack of a tent?’

Gerald grabbed Sam by the arm before another domestic dust-up broke out. ‘Take us
there, will you? You and Ruby can yell at each other later.’

Sam shrugged agreement and led the way down a snow-covered slope. Gerald could barely
see. He felt a hand fall on his shoulder and realised Ruby had grabbed hold so she
wouldn’t get lost in the murk. He hoped Felicity was doing the same to Ruby. He reached
out and took Sam’s shoulder and, like a line of baby elephants walking trunks to
tails, they cut a path through the bleak night.

Before long, Sam stopped. Gerald walked right into the back of him. Ruby and Felicity
stumbled into Gerald. It was a four-body pileup.

‘Why did you stop?’ Gerald asked, pulling his face free from where it had buried
itself in Sam’s pack.

‘Because we’re here,’ Sam said. ‘Why else would we stop?’

Gerald looked up and could just make out the outline of a two-storey stone building
against the night sky.

‘How did you even see this place?’ Felicity said. ‘You’re amazing.’ An inch of snow
had settled on her head and shoulders.

‘You can erect a statue to him after we get inside,’ Ruby said through chattering
teeth.

‘The front door must be round here,’ Sam said. He led the way up three steps to the
shelter of a covered porch. Gerald dumped his pack onto the stone paving. ‘We could
always climb into our sleeping bags right here,’ he said. ‘At least it’s out of the
snow and wind.’

Ruby tossed her pack next to Gerald’s. ‘I have
marshmallows,’ she said. ‘And I won’t
be happy until I’m toasting one over an open fire. Let’s get inside.’

The last of the day’s light disappeared, sinking them into abject darkness.

‘I can’t see a thing,’ Gerald said. ‘It’s like swimming in ink. Ow!’

‘What is it?’ Ruby’s voice came through the dark.

‘I banged my shin on something.’ Gerald held his glove to his nose and could barely
make out his fingers. ‘This is ridiculous.’ He scrabbled about and his hands found
a large iron ring. ‘I think I’ve found the door!’ he called out. He tugged on the
handle. ‘Locked.’ Gerald muttered an oath under his breath.

‘There must be a window we could try,’ Felicity said.

‘Ow!’ Gerald howled again.

‘Now what?’ Ruby asked.

‘Shin,’ Gerald said. ‘Something.’ He held his hands out in front and inched along.
‘Glass! I think I’ve found a window.’

‘Told you,’ said Felicity.

‘It’s locked,’ Gerald said. ‘Should we break it?’

‘Of course!’ Ruby said. ‘We could freeze to death out here.’

‘What can I break it with?’ Gerald asked.

There was the sound of someone rustling around in their pack. Then Sam said, ‘Here,
use this.’ Gerald waved his hand around until he felt a heavy cylinder fall into
his palm, like a relay baton.

‘Thanks,’ Gerald said. ‘This feels solid enough to do some damage.’ He gripped the
tube like a hammer and tapped it against the glass to get his bearings. ‘What is
it?’

Sam’s voice came from the blackness. ‘My torch.’

There was a long silence.

‘Your torch?’ Ruby said.

‘That’s right,’ Sam said.

‘You idiot.’

Gerald fumbled for a moment. Then a beam of light pierced the night, enough for everyone
to see Sam looking sheepishly back at them. ‘Whoops,’ he said.

Gerald shook his head and turned back to the window. A sharp tap with the metal torch
smashed a hole large enough for him to reach in and unlock the sash. A minute later
all four of them were inside.

Felicity and Sam ventured down a long hall while Gerald and Ruby gathered the backpacks
in the spacious entryway.

‘Nice job,’ Ruby said.

Gerald nodded a thanks, and then he saw it: a snowflake on the tip of Ruby’s nose.

The moment had arrived.

Gerald reached out his gloved hand and brushed the snowflake clear.

‘Oh,’ said Ruby in surprise. Her eyes smiled at him. A sudden warmth glowed in Gerald’s
chest.

Limerick time.

He cleared his throat.

‘There once was a girl named Ruby…’

A quizzical expression formed on Ruby’s face. Before Gerald could say anything more,
Sam rushed up to them. ‘Come and see what we’ve found!’ He grabbed Ruby by the hand
and dragged her. ‘It might even stop you whinging. And hating me.’ Gerald watched
as the Valentine twins scampered down the hallway. He sighed and trudged after them.

‘This must be a hunting lodge, closed for the winter,’ Sam said as he led the way
down the wood-panelled corridor. ‘Ruby, I think you’re going to like this.’

They burst through a doorway into a roomy lounge and came to an abrupt stop. A huge
smile spread across Ruby’s face. ‘Oh, this is perfect,’ she said.

A massive stone fireplace in the far wall was set with kindling and chopped wood.
The panelled walls were hung with mounted stag heads and stuffed trout. A brown leather
chesterfield, complete with tartan rugs, sat in front of the hearth like a tired
uncle after too much Christmas lunch.

Ruby looked at Sam. ‘You are almost forgiven,’ she said. ‘Almost.’

Within minutes, a fire crackled in the grate and Ruby and Felicity sat, legs outstretched
on the hearthrug, poking marshmallows onto long toasting forks. Their boots were
kicked to the corners and their wriggling toes defrosted in the glow of the flames.
Outside, the wind howled like a lovesick wolf.

‘I wouldn’t fancy camping in a tent on a night like this,’ Sam said from a plush
armchair. His face was suffused with utter contentment. ‘Lucky I found this place,
isn’t it?’ He paused for a moment as the girls turned the marshmallows on their forks.
‘Imagine all those sorry sods between here and the checkpoint, freezing in their
tents. Who’d want to be in a tent tonight, eh?’

There was a long silence, broken only by the crackling of the fire.

‘Tents—’ Sam continued.

‘All right!’ Ruby said. ‘You’ve made your point. Well done. Congratulations. Leaving
that tent behind was an act of genius. What do you want? A medal?’

Sam leaned back in his chair, his hands clamped around the back of his head, exuding
smugness.

Felicity popped a toasted marshmallow into her mouth. ‘This is so good,’ she said.
‘Do you want one, Gerald?’

Gerald knelt at a coffee table where he had set up their camp stove. A pot of baked
beans was just beginning to bubble. ‘Yes please,’ he said, stirring the brownish
goop with a wooden spoon. ‘There might be no electricity but we’ve got candles and
beans. What more could you want?’

Ruby tossed a toasted marshmallow to Sam and prodded another onto her fork. ‘Do you
know what this reminds me of?’ she said. ‘That night in the caretaker’s cottage at
Mt Archer in California. All of us bunking
down in front of a fire while a blizzard
raged outside.’

Gerald scooped a spoonful of beans onto a plate. ‘At least this time
we’re not on the run from a bunch of gun-toting kidnappers,’ he said.

Ruby laughed. ‘That was Christmas Eve,’ she said. ‘That was a fun night.’

‘It was,’ Felicity said, ‘Right up to the moment when the bandits attacked.’

Gerald felt the warmth spread through his chest again. That was also the night that
he and Ruby had somehow ended up in each other’s arms when the lights went out. He
took a plate of beans across to Ruby and sat beside her.

‘Thanks,’ Ruby said, smiling at him.

Gerald cleared his throat.

The time was right.

‘There once was a girl named Ruby—’ he began.

Ruby looked mildly concerned. ‘What are you doing?’ she asked.

Then the door to the lounge room exploded open, the force almost knocking it from
its hinges. Ruby dropped her plate and cried out.

Standing in the doorway was a tall, silver-haired man with a gun in his hand.

Gerald recognised him in an instant.

‘Good evening to you all,’ said Sir Mason Green.

Chapter 7

The fire smouldered in the grate, sending fingers of smoke twisting up the chimney
to the frigid night outside.

There was no such easy escape for Gerald, Sam, Ruby and Felicity. The four of them
stood in a tight huddle on the hearthrug.

Sir Mason Green held the pistol in a steady hand. He was a desperate man on the run
from the law, wanted on two continents for murder, forced into a life of skulking
in shadows. Then why, Gerald wondered, did Mason Green look like he had spent the
past month lazing by a tropical lagoon? He was positively aglow.

‘You—uh—look well,’ Gerald said, not sure of the etiquette for coming face-to-face
with someone who had
tried to kill you on half a dozen occasions.

Mason Green stepped into the room and leaned with theatrical flourish on his walking
cane. ‘Do you know something, Gerald? I
feel
well. I’ve shed a few pounds, I go swimming
every day, and I take an evening walk to soak up the last of the sunshine. I can’t
remember the last time I felt so alive. And I have you to thank for it, my boy.’

Gerald did not try to hide his displeasure at hearing this news. ‘Me?’ he said. ‘What
did I do?’

Green waved towards the couch. Gerald, Ruby, Felicity and Sam looked at each other
uncertainly, then squeezed onto the chesterfield.

Green smiled down at them, creasing his suntanned face. ‘You freed me, Gerald,’ he
said. ‘Freed me from the daily grind of the city, of pursuing riches as a pastime.
For that, I thank you.’

Ruby glared at Green through narrowed eyes. ‘Aren’t you meant to be hiding from the
police?’ she said.

Sir Mason settled in an armchair opposite them. ‘That is what I find so invigorating,
Miss Valentine. There is nothing better to sharpen your wits than keeping a step
ahead of Constable Plod. It’s quite liberating, in every sense of the word.’ Green
placed his gun on a table by his elbow and clasped his fingers over the handle of
his walking cane. ‘And, I believe, I owe you an apology.’

Ruby shifted in her seat and eyed the man cautiously. ‘What for?’ she asked.

‘The rather unfortunate behaviour of my former associate, Tycho Brahe. I do hope
you are all right. Such a frightful experience.’