‘He can’t have. He’s been in that office all the time,’ said Izzy.
‘Get the others and come with me. Now!’
‘We’re in the middle of dinner!’
‘Well, get them to do you doggy bags! This is urgent! And be subtle! Don’t draw attention to yourselves! The smuggler, over there, and that guy in the black suit, over there, must not suspect we know the truth!’
Izzy hurried back to Susan’s table. She spoke to them for a minute or two. They all gasped loudly and stared at me. With a hurried shifting of chairs and a burst of excited chatter, they jumped up and raced across the room. Everyone in the restaurant watched them go, including Moss and Black Suit Man.
‘I said don’t draw attention!’ I hissed.
‘This is really great!’ giggled Susan. ‘Diamond smugglers! And on my birthday!’
‘Shhhhhh!’ I said. ‘I’ve told you before, this is not a game! If I didn’t need witnesses, I’d . . . Oh, never mind, come on.’
I led them back to reception.
Susan’s mum wasn’t exactly keen on the idea of us all going into the office and confronting Bryan Beeks. She was even less keen on the idea of her coming in there with us.
‘But this is important!’ I protested. ‘If I’m right, we’ll be preventing a major crime! No, two major crimes, because we’ll have got a shipment of stolen diamonds back from those smugglers as well!’
‘And if you’re wrong?’ said Susan’s mum.
‘I’m not wrong,’ I said, hoping to goodness that I wasn’t wrong.
I opened the door of the admin office. There was Mr Beeks, sitting at the nearest desk exactly as expected.
‘Sorry to disturb you, Bryan,’ said Susan’s mum, ‘but Saxby here thinks you’ve nicked a load of diamonds.’
Mr Beeks laughed heartily. ‘Really? That’s interesting! I’ve never been a desperate criminal on the run before. When did I make off with the loot, then?’
‘About twenty minutes ago,’ I said.
He laughed again. ‘Wow! And how did I do that, then, when I haven’t left this office for over an hour?’
‘That’s true,’ said Susan. ‘We could all see him from the restaurant. He was in here all that time.’
‘Ah,’ said Beeks, ‘looks like you’ve spotted the fatal flaw in your friend’s argument, Susan. I have a perfect alibi.’
‘Yes, rather too perfect,’ I said. ‘You’re in here, with orders not to be disturbed, guarded by Susan’s mum on the desk out there and clearly seen by every last person in the restaurant across the courtyard. An absolutely, totally, one hundred per cent watertight alibi.’
‘I’m afraid so,’ chuckled Mr Beeks. ‘Now, if you don’t mind, I’ve still got work to do. You kids run along and play your games somewhere else, eh?’
‘One hundred per cent watertight,’ I said, ‘thanks to that.’ I pointed up to the projector attached to the ceiling, the one I’d noticed when I’d first visited the office, the one that was just like the equipment at school.
‘I think the sequence of events went like this,’ I said. ‘A while ago, you planned to rob the diamond smuggler you knew would be in the hotel this evening. You knew you’d need an iron-clad alibi to escape suspicion when the smugglers started looking for who’d stolen from them. So last time you were in this office, you recorded a video of yourself working at that desk, including the sounds you made typing at your laptop.
‘Tonight, you put a Do Not Disturb sign on the door. You sat working at the desk for a short while. Then you got up and closed the blinds. I saw you do that from where I was sitting in the restaurant. In the thirty seconds this room was hidden from view, you turned the projector so that it was facing the window. You set up a screen of some sort, linked your laptop to the projector and started showing the video you’d taken of yourself. You even thought to reverse the image so that it would appear normal from the other side.
‘You opened the blinds. From across the courtyard, nothing appeared to have changed. Except that we were watching the video, not the real Bryan Beeks. You were now free to leave the office with your alibi in place. However, you still needed to get past Susan’s mum and anyone else who happened to be in the reception area. If someone saw you leaving the office, your alibi would be useless. And this is where you needed an accomplice, a helper.’
Beeks laughed softly to himself. ‘You’ve got imagination, kid, I’ll give you that.’
Everyone else was looking back and forth between me and Beeks. Except for Susan’s mum, who was looking straight at me with an expression which said, ‘Yes, you really are as strange as I first thought.’
‘Your accomplice,’ I continued, ‘is currently in the restaurant. He’s the man wearing the smart black suit. I still can’t for the life of me work out where I know him from. Anyway, he arrived at the hotel at a pre-arranged time, shortly after you’d shut yourself away in here. He waited until the reception area was empty, except for Susan’s mum. Then he “accidentally” knocked over the display stand out there. While Susan’s mum was busy putting things back, you had a chance to sneak out of the office, unseen by anyone except Black Suit Man.
‘You went upstairs, to room 217. I don’t yet know how you got into the safe. I can only assume you have some device or other which will read the combination. But in any case, you stole the diamonds.
‘You then unexpectedly ran slap bang into me. Your alibi would stick if you’d simply passed someone in a corridor on your way back – they would be unlikely to remember you if asked. But as it was me – someone who knows who you are – things might get awkward. However, you didn’t worry too much. It would have been your word against mine and with all those witnesses in the restaurant, the alibi was still pretty safe.
‘Of course, you needed to get back into the office. So you called Black Suit Man. I saw him answer his phone when I returned to the restaurant. You told him you were ready to return. So out he went to reception again and, making sure only Susan’s mum was around . . . oh what a clumsy clot, he sent that display stand flying again. Susan’s mum, really cross this time, was looking the other way when you slipped back to your desk.
‘I’d suspected that you’d left this room, because the Do Not Disturb sign had been, er, disturbed. That probably wouldn’t have happened unless the door had been opened and closed.
‘Once you were back in the office, you closed the blinds. You switched off the projector, turned it to face the other way again, put the screen away, and reopened the blinds. And there you were once more, in this office, working away, as if nothing had happened, in full view of everyone in the restaurant. Perfect alibi.’
Beeks laughed and clapped his hands. ‘That’s ingenious,’ he chortled. ‘I wish I’d really thought of that.’
‘Some very simple things, done in a very roundabout way, to produce an apparently impossible result,’ I said.
While I’d been talking, Izzy had been examining the room. At that moment, she reached behind one of the piles of cardboard boxes that littered the room and pulled out a large sheet of thin paper. It was pinned to a narrow wooden frame with small hooks attached at one side.
She turned it over for a few seconds, frowning at it. Then she raised it up and neatly hooked it to the top edge of the office window. The view of the dark courtyard and the brightly lit restaurant beyond was precisely covered up.
Everyone turned to look at Bryan Beeks. Any hint of laughter had drained from his face.
‘Just because something is possible,’ he said, ‘doesn’t mean it’s true.’ He turned to Susan’s mum. ‘Mel, are you going to let this kid accuse me of robbery?’
For the first time, I couldn’t work out what Susan’s mum was thinking. ‘I’m going to let him have his say,’ she muttered.
‘You have no proof!’ cried Mr Beeks. ‘Where are these diamonds, then, eh?’
‘You needed a really good hiding place,’ I said, ‘in case something went wrong. If the smugglers found out about the robbery too
early, anything might happen. You needed to be sure that your alibi would hold up and that the diamonds wouldn’t be found on you. If we hadn’t come in here now, you would have passed the diamonds to Black Suit Man when – oh, what a coincidence! – you left the office just as he left the restaurant. Black Suit Man would then have walked out of here taking them with him. After that, it wouldn’t matter what the smugglers did. They’d have no reason to suspect you and the diamonds would be long gone.’
Beeks snorted and shook his head. ‘So where is this hiding place, then?’
I picked up the walking stick that was propped against the desk. The moment I touched it, the expression on Beeks’s face changed.
The handle was screwed on tightly. I struggled with it at first, but then it snapped loose, like the top coming off a jar of chutney.
A horrible thought suddenly occurred to me. What if I was too late? What if he’d already moved the diamonds? What if he’d transferred them to some other hiding place? I’d have no proof. None at all – or at least nothing beyond a few coincidences and possibilities.
Beeks would get away with it. I’d look like a total idiot.
With trembling hands, I placed the handle of the walking stick on the desk. I tipped up the long, tubular section.
I tipped it some more. Nothing was coming out. I got a cold, creeping feeling down my spine.
With a sudden rush, a glittering flow of light dropped out on to the desk in front of me. There must have been several dozen diamonds, all of them sparkling brightly in the glow from the overhead lighting.
Susan and the others wow-ed and hey-ed and holy-cow-ed. Izzy’s face was a mask of astonishment.
‘Bryan,’ said Susan’s mum quietly, ‘I think you’d better stay right where you are. Girls, don’t let him leave this room.’ Susan and her friends blocked the doorway, arms crossed.
‘We need to stop Black Suit Man,’ I said, ‘before he leaves the hotel. We may never trace him if he gets away.’
‘I’ll go and have a word with Vernon and Susan’s dad,’ she said. ‘We’ll find a way to keep him here until the police arrive.’
‘Don’t alert him,’ I said. ‘And don’t alert Mr Moss, the smuggler, either. There’s an entire organisation behind that guy. We must leave him to the cops – it could get dangerous.’
Susan’s mum gave me a nod and disappeared. I turned to Mr Beeks as I rummaged in my pocket for my phone.
‘How did you open the safe?’ I said.
Beeks reached over and picked up the handle of his walking stick. He clicked a tiny catch at its end and opened it up into two halves. Inside was a device which looked a bit like a small pen.
He took it out and placed it on the desk. Then, with a violent crunch, he smashed down on it with his fist. Izzy and the others flinched. He swept the broken bits in to the waste paper basket.
‘Temper temper,’ I mumbled.
Now that the case was concluded, I turned my attention to the mysterious texter. I switched on my phone and sent him/her a brief message:
Robbery foiled. Diamonds in my possession. Police being called.
I pressed Send. Ha! Whoever the texter was, he/she would be hugely impressed with me. They’d also be shaking in their boots, because they’d realise that if I could wrap up this case so efficiently, then I’d be hot on their heels and discover their identity before you could -—
BEEP. A-ha, an answer. Congratulations, no doubt!
I leaned over to Susan. ‘Er, I don’t suppose the restaurant could warm up that curry for me? I’m starving.’
Then I held up my phone,
No!!! Told you to prevent robbery only! Told you not to interfere! Smugglers’ meeting MUST take place at 9 p.m. Codename Heather is NOT a smuggler, is an UNDERCOVER MI5 AGENT. Heather will arrest Moss when sees Moss has diamonds. Moss MUST not suspect. Entire MI5 operation at stake, months of investigation.
Oh dear.
Remember that cold, creeping feeling I got down my spine when I opened the walking stick? I got it again.
The time was eight twelve p.m.
CHAPTER
SIX
‘OH NOOOOO!’ I WAILED.
‘What’s the matter?’ said Izzy.
‘Arrghh! Why didn’t Mr Bloomin’ Mystery bloomin’ well tell me?’ I cried.
‘Tell you what?’ said Izzy.
For a second or two, I was so frozen with terror and indecision that I think I could hear my brain ticking. Then I hurriedly gathered up the diamonds.
‘We’ve got to move quickly! It’s . . . eight thirteen p.m. We have forty-seven minutes, maximum.’
‘To do what?’ said Izzy.
I ushered her out into the reception area, leaving Susan and the other girls to keep watch on Beeks.
‘To get these diamonds back into the safe in room 217, without Moss the smuggler knowing about it and before his contact turns up.’
‘Why?’ said Izzy.
I told her. She nearly went ‘Arrghh!’ too.
‘We need Muddy,’ I said, finding his number on my phone. My conversation with Muddy went like this:
Me: Muddy! Can you open a locked safe?
Muddy: Hmmm. What sort of safe?
Me: Number combination, the kind you reset, like you find in hotel rooms.
Muddy: Hmmm. Not sure. Let me go and see what I’ve got in my Development Laboratory. Hang on.
Me: No, wait! We can’t wait while you root around in your garage! Yes or no? Quick!
Muddy: Then yes. Well . . . probably.
Me: Great! Get over here now! I’m at the Regal Hotel!
Muddy: Forget it, matey, you’re on your own.
Me: WHAT?
Muddy: I’m not turning up to Susan Lillington’s girlie sleepover! If one of those girls has locked her make-up or something in a safe, you can deal with it on your own.
Me: Forget the sleepover! This is urgent! I’m on a case!
Muddy: Nope. You got yourself into it, you can get yourself out.
I squeezed my eyes tightly shut. I was going to have to tell him the truth. He would go bananas.
Me: Please?
Muddy: Nope. You won’t get me within a mile of that girlie sleepover, and that’s my final word.
Me (deep breath): MI5 is involved. Truly. I’m not joking.
Silence.
Muddy: I’ll be there in ten minutes.
Nine minutes and forty-two seconds later, he came hurtling into the hotel, gasping for breath, with a large grubby bag of assorted gadgets slung over his shoulder.
‘Where are they?’ he said. If his eyes had been any gogglier they’d have dropped out of his head. He scampered about like a puppy that’s been promised a new squeaky toy.
‘On their way,’ I said. ‘In the meantime, we have work to do. Well, you have work to do.’
The time was eight twenty-four p.m. Susan’s mum reappeared from the direction of the restaurant.
‘Sorted,’ she said. ‘Vernon’s accidentally on purpose spilled gravy down Black Suit Man’s trousers. They’ve got him in the kitchens, apologising and soaking out the stain.’
‘Brilliant,’ I said. ‘Izzy, keep an eye out for Moss the smuggler. We have to be finished before he returns to his room. He’ll go back upstairs as soon as he’s polished off that gigantic free dinner. Call us the moment he passes through here.’
Muddy and I raced for the stairs. Then we raced back again. Susan’s mum handed us a duplicate keycard for room 217. Then we raced for the stairs.
Two minutes later, we were in the smuggler’s lair! The curtains had been drawn and a briefcase had been dropped on to the bed.
I opened the wardrobe. The squat metal hatch of the room safe was firmly shut.
‘Why couldn’t Beeks have left it open?’ I muttered to myself.
‘Good thing he didn’t,’ said Muddy cheerily, ‘otherwise you wouldn’t have needed me.’ He pulled a couple of electronic gizmos out of his bag. He clipped one end of the first gizmo to the safe and list
ened carefully to the other as he made delicate adjustments.
‘Spies!’ he giggled happily. ‘Real spies! Just like I’ve always wanted!’
‘Yeah, OK, calm down,’ I muttered. ‘You and Susan seem to be finding this case highly entertaining.’
‘I always told you to be more spyish,’ said Muddy, turning dials on a homemade oddity he’d constructed out of an old pocket calculator. ‘Haven’t I always told you to be more spyish?’
‘Detective work is nothing like being a spy,’ I insisted. ‘I am not a spy. You are not a spy.’
‘Sooooo, we’re doing something a spy would do and there’s a spy coming here soon, doing undercover stuff like spies do . . . but we’re not spies.’
‘No. It’s just this one time, OK?’
‘If you say so.’ Muddy grinned. ‘You see this lock-picking gear I’m using?’
‘Yes?’
‘I bet spies use stuff like that.’
‘Oh, get on with it. I wish I’d never told you.’
The time was eight thirty-six p.m. Moss the smuggler could arrive at any moment.
Muddy listened as the machine beside the safe click-bleep-blipped. He switched it off and slung it back into his bag.
‘No good, I’ll try something else.’
The seconds ticked away. I glanced around. The room felt gloomy and cold. I closed my fists to stop my hands shaking. My heart was pattering like a drum roll.
Why did I get myself into this? Exactly how much trouble would we be in if this all went wrong?
CLUNK!
‘Done it!’ cried Muddy. The safe’s door swung open.
My phone warbled. It was Izzy.
‘Get out of there!’ she said. ‘Moss has just passed us. He’ll be at his room in seconds!’
Sitting inside the safe was a little black drawstring bag. Fumbling awkwardly, my pulse beating against the sides of my head, I took the bag and filled it with the diamonds from my pocket.
‘Shall we keep one?’ whispered Muddy.
‘No!’
‘Just one?’
‘No!’
I kept glancing at the thin bar of light that showed under the door of the room. We wouldn’t hear Moss approaching, not with those thick carpets everywhere. I slipped the bag back into the safe and closed it up again.
Secret of the Skull Page 8
