The Ruby Redfort Collection: 4-6: Feed the Fear; Pick Your Poison; Blink and You Die. Lauren Child
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together.
‘So look,’ said Clancy, ‘don’t tell anyone about this, OK?’
‘Why not?’ said Elliot, ‘what’s the problem with people knowing?’
‘Because it’s my problem,’ said Clancy, ‘nobody else’s, and I’m going to deal with it my way. Plus,’ he added, trying to appeal to Elliot’s cowardly side, ‘I don’t want anyone else to get this creep’s attention. It’s on me and I’m gonna sort him out my way.’
‘What about Ruby, you gotta tell her, don’tcha?’
‘Definitely not Ruby. You know what she’s like, she’ll only end up trying to punch him and I really don’t think that’s a good idea – I don’t think her arm’s strong enough after the break. You gotta promise me, OK, don’t tell Rube.’
‘If you say so Clance,’ said Elliot, ‘but let me know if you need a buddy to step in to defend you and I’ll try and find a candidate – hey, maybe Cassius Clay would be interested.’
He was back.
The smell of shoe leather,
the not-quite silence,
it filled the apartment. . .
She braced herself and strode into the dimly lit room. He looked up.
‘So who are you today, dear thing?’ He was smiling, a questioning sort of look playing in his eyes as if he might really be interested. ‘You seem to have such fun; you see a future in all this. I remember those days – just.’ His smile faded and a sadness fell across his face. ‘I try to see the point in it all but after a while it all becomes so –’ he gestured with his hand – ‘samey.’
She almost felt sorry for him; he did look so disappointed.
‘Murder, kidnap, theft? What really lies beyond this, kicks-wise, I mean?’
‘World domination?’ she ventured.
‘A pipedream,’ he said. ‘I mean does one really ever dominate the world? Can it be done?’
‘Well. . .’ she began.
He looked deep into her eyes, the cold black of his stare holding her, fixing her, she could not look away. ‘I hope you are not double-crossing me, my dear. I should hate to sever our friendship.’
‘I would never,’ she said, ‘never.’
‘Then prove it. Bring me the 8 key and the other trifle or I will have to assume the worst.’
ON HER WAY INTO SPECTRUM, Ruby took 4th Avenue, which ran close to Radio Street. It had been named that way many years ago, when the big technology boom took hold and one by one all the stores in that street became suppliers of radios, cameras, TVs, stereos and the like. It was cameras that Ruby was interested in today. She stepped off her board when she reached Photo Cam, a store that specialised in Polaroid instant cameras. She wasn’t too bothered about the quality, though she figured it was worth getting a good one. She took the advice of the man behind the counter – he seemed to know what he was talking about. She bought several packs of Polaroid film and stuffed her purchases in her backpack. Then she continued on her way to Spectrum.
Ruby went straight down to the lab and asked SJ if she could study the card. Then, when it was lying on the counter, Ruby loaded the film into the camera, held it above the card and pressed the button. The camera flashed and spat out a small square photograph. Ruby waited for the required three minutes before pulling off the paper to reveal the print. Ruby wasn’t actually expecting it to work, it was what’s known as a stab in the dark, but now she was seeing things – what had been invisible was now visible.
What had been a total blank was now a card stamped with three words – or rather, the same word, written three times.
TAP
TAP
TAP
Plus, of course, the ‘loyalty card’ design that had been revealed by the warmth of the lamp the previous day, and the Braille-like code. One card, seven black lines, three TAPS, a whole lot of bumps.
‘This guy seems to have access to some pretty sophisticated materials,’ said Ruby. ‘I mean this ink? Where would one lay one’s hands on such an item?’
‘Beats me,’ said SJ. ‘I haven’t seen it used before, he’s either some sort of hotshot who’s managed to develop a flash-sensitive ink. . .’
‘Unlikely,’ said Ruby.
‘Highly,’ said SJ, ‘or he has access to a place where this ink is being produced.’
‘Where does that lead us?’ asked Ruby.
SJ shrugged. ‘Nowhere that I’m aware of. I’ll report it to Spectrum 1, see if they can find a connection – something’s always going down somewhere.’
The TAPs meant something, clearly, but she had no idea what. The bumps: well, she had no idea what they meant either. They looked like Braille, but the configurations bore no relation to the Braille she had studied. The picture that kept coming into her head was a corridor. It was not like the corridors of Spectrum, but rather was scruffy, with flaked paintwork and chipped stone floor. The image kept coming in and out of focus, then shoes popped into her mind. Shoes, she thought. Why? The thought connected with the Little Yellow Shoes, but was not the Little Yellow Shoes. The ones she saw were black, men’s shoes, work shoes. Not fancy, not scruffy. Then something else. A hand, a piece of paper. A small white piece of paper. Blank.
Ruby opened her eyes. She stared ahead of her, unblinking and then suddenly activated her watch transmitter and buzzed for Hitch. He responded on the second ring.
‘Redfort?’
‘We gotta speak to the security guard,’ said Ruby.
It didn’t take more than ten minutes to get the answer to her question.
‘It seems you were on the money,’ said Hitch. ‘What you saw the security guard at the Scarlet Pagoda pick up was a card, just like the one found at the Okra apartment. He’s had it in his pocket since the night of the costume show, didn’t think anything of it – why would he?’
‘So we have two,’ said Ruby. ‘Are they exactly the same?’
‘I guess we better take a look,’ said Hitch. ‘I’ll go pick it up and bring it on back to the lab. I won’t be more than twenty minutes.’
He was true to his word and only a half-hour later, Blacker, Hitch and Ruby were gathered in the lab studying the new card as SJ went about her business.
‘Same results as the other card,’ she said. ‘We got the grid of lines and see here, in the Polaroid shot, we have the taps – but this time only two.’ She laid the shoe card next to the poetry card and they all stared down at them. Both had embossed dots and bumps; both had the grid lines. Next to the cards the two Polaroids. On one, three words revealed and on the other just two. All the words were the same – TAP.
Hitch and Ruby were staring at them; it was a breakthrough.
RUBY: ‘So one has to wonder, why are there two stamps on the card found at the