They walked back into the common room, where the guests were dispersing. Rupert Thwack had indeed showed up and after wishing Amanda happy birthday, cleared the food with his assistant’s help. The décor gremlins insisted on putting the room back in order, and in no time had restored it to its previous state.
Now Editta was the only guest left, and out of the blue she made the oddest comment.
“You know,” she said to Amanda, “the charm I gave you will help keep you from losing things. I should have given one to Mrs. Bipthrottle in the library. That way they wouldn’t have lost that book.”
Amanda and Simon looked at each other. “What book?” said Amanda.
“The one from the library,” said Editta.
“You can check books out of the library,” said Simon. “That doesn’t mean they’re missing.”
“This one is,” said Editta.
“You mean a reference book?” said Ivy.
“Yes,” said Editta. “The ones you can’t check out.”
“That isn’t unusual, is it?” said Simon. “Maybe it’s on one of the desks. Does it matter?”
“Oh yes,” said Editta. “Lots. You see, I counted all the books in the library on the twenty-third of March and there were 4,273. Then when I got back from the break I counted them again. There was one missing. There’s a cage area that has a key to it and you have to get permission to go in. I didn’t go inside because I could see to count from the outside. But there was definitely a book missing. I could see where it went. The only way you’re allowed to take books out of there is if you fill out a special card. I did it once. But there weren’t any of those cards on file. I looked three times.”
“Why is this so important?” said Ivy.
“The books in the cage are there for a reason,” said Editta. “They’re super important, and in a lot of cases, rare. They have to protect them.”
“So are you saying you think this book is critical to the detectives, or just to the curriculum?” said Amanda.
“The detectives,” said Editta. “Have you ever looked at what’s in there? There are a lot of important secrets in those books.”
The three others looked at each other. Well, Ivy didn’t, but she sat up straight and they knew that meant the same thing. Secrets. Of course. The missing book was the whatsit!
They got up and ran to the library, pulling Editta along with them. “What are you doing?” she said.
“Just come with us,” said Amanda. “Show us the place where the book is missing.”
“There,” she pointed when they had reached the cage. There was a large empty space on the top shelf of the bookcase farthest from the cage door.
“Well spotted,” said Simon. “I never would have noticed that.”
“As I said, I counted them,” said Editta. Amanda wondered if Simon was regretting teasing her about all that counting. “I knew from that first. Then I went back and saw the spot.”
“And there’s no checkout card?” said Ivy.
“Uh uh,” said Editta. “Look, here’s the place where they go.” She led them to a small metal box marked “Special Collection.” It was empty.
“But there must be a catalog card for it,” said Amanda. “All we have to do is look by the classification number. It should be somewhere between HV and QA.”
“Weird them still using a hard copy catalog,” said Simon.
“I’ll say,” said Amanda. “But in this case it should help us.”
The four of them went to the card catalog, which was really two catalogs. One was arranged by main entry, that is, author, or if no author, title. The other went by subject. They opened the drawer in the latter that held cards for the middle of the alphabet, which covered HA through QZ. Then they checked the cards for the books on either side of the empty space. There was no card between them, not for H, I, J, K, L, M, N, O, P, or Q. They even looked at a few cards before and after the place where the card should have been. Nothing.
“Oh great,” said Amanda. “There’s no card.”
“We might be able to guess the topic, though,” said Editta. “The book on one side is A History of Codes and Ciphers and the other is A History of Scandals. Oh dear, that doesn’t make any sense. I have no idea what it could be.”
“Let me think this through,” said Amanda. She considered the books on either side. They were both history books, but on two very different topics. What could the connection be between scandals and codes? Of course. They both had to do with keeping and revealing secrets. A code protected a secret, and a scandal made it public. There were those secrets again. They were a big deal to the detectives. Everything seemed to revolve around them.
“Maybe the book has to do with secrets,” she said. “That would make sense. Secret communications are vital to detectives. So are breaking criminals’ codes. That must be what it is, and if it falls into the wrong hands the criminals will know how we formulate our codes. But why would such a book be in the library, where anyone, including Mavis Moriarty, could find it? If it’s that important, wouldn’t it be under lock and key, and if it isn’t important enough, why are the teachers panicking?”
“I don’t know,” said Ivy. “Those are good questions.”
“If it is about that,” said Simon, “Scapulus could help. Codes are his thing. It’s too bad he isn’t speaking to us anymore.” He looked right at Amanda. She was not going to comment. She was not about to tell him about her aversion to the Holmes family. Only Nick knew about that, and she shouldn’t even have told him. Let them think what they liked.
“But here’s another question,” she said, ignoring Simon. “Do you think it was stolen? It could have been lost. That wouldn’t be such a big deal, would it?”
“I don’t think we have any way of knowing what happened to it,” said Simon. “But we have to assume the worst. We have to figure the Moriartys have it. Anything less wouldn’t be such a disaster.”
“The Moriartys again,” said Amanda.
As they left the library, they ran into Holmes. “Hey, old lady,” he said to Amanda.
“Excuse me?” she said, glaring at him.
“You’re over the hill now,” he said unkindly.
“No more than you,” she said.
“Yeah, but I’m a guy,” he said. Ivy’s mouth dropped. Even Simon looked askance at him.
“So what?” said Amanda.
“So guys can get as old as they want and no one cares,” said Holmes. What in the world was up with him? This didn’t sound like him at all.
“That party was lame,” he said. “You need to have a real party, off-campus. You know, a wild party with beer and cigarettes. None of this namby-pamby stuff.”
“Have you lost your mind?” said Ivy. “Have all those aftershocks gotten to you, or are all those ones and zeros warring in your head?” This didn’t sound like Ivy either.
“Do I take that as a no?” said Holmes.
“You do,” said Amanda.
“Suit yourself, Goody Two-shoes,” he said, and left.
“What was all that about?” said Amanda.
“I have no idea,” said Ivy. “He’s usually so nice and polite.”
“I think—” said Simon.
Just then Amphora appeared. Her eyes were wild and she looked like she’d just seen another dead body.
“Are you all right?” said Amanda.
“No,” said Amphora. “I just overheard Thrillkill. The Moriartys have escaped!”
23
Phone Calls
The Moriartys out of prison? They’d joked about it, even half considered it, but Amanda had never actually believed it could happen. Blixus and Mavis Moriarty were considered the most dangerous criminals around. They were in a high-security facility. There was no way.
“What are you talking about?” said Amanda.
“The aftershock,” breathed Amphora. She could barely catch her breath. “It damaged the prison so much that they escaped.”
“This is terribl
e,” said Ivy. She moved closer to Nigel and hugged his neck.
“We have to find that book,” said Simon. He stood up and started to pace.
“What if it isn’t the whatsit?” said Amanda, rising as well. She walked over to the window and looked out, but nothing registered. This definitely would not have been the time for one of Professor Sidebotham’s quizzes. She couldn’t have said what the weather was or whether it was night or day. “If we look for it and it isn’t, we could just be wasting time.”
“You don’t suppose Blixus already has it, do you?” said Amphora, following Simon with her eyes. “The thing went missing before he was caught.”
“Oh great,” said Amanda, whirling around to face the others. “If you’re right and he’s out, he could be on his way to get it right now.”
“I don’t think we have any choice,” said Simon, slowing down. “We have to find him, the missing book, or both.”
“That’s a good point,” said Ivy. “If we’re worried about the whatsit falling into his hands, we need to see what he’s got. If he doesn’t have it, we’re probably safe.”
“Do you think he’d return to the factory?” said Amanda. “OMG, if he did, he’d find the crystals.”
“We don’t know that there are any there,” said Ivy.
“But there might be,” said Amanda, taking her seat again but sitting on the edge. “So now we have two reasons to go.”
“It’s not going to be easy,” said Simon, speeding up. “Maybe we should search the school again before we worry about that.”
“That’s a tall order,” said Ivy.
“We didn’t know what we were looking for before,” said Simon. “This time it should be easier. If we see a book, we’ll know it’s a possibility. Anything else we can forget about.”
“Assuming it’s the whatsit,” said Amanda, getting up again. She moved behind Ivy and rested her hands on the back of her seat.
“Assuming it’s the whatsit,” said Simon, playing games with his feet. He was touching the toe of one foot with the heel of the other each time he moved forward now.
“So we’ve got to search all of the rooms, closets, and cupboards as well as the tunnels,” said Amphora, who seemed mesmerized by Simon’s feet.
“What about the teachers’ offices and quarters and the kitchen?” said Amanda, looking where Amphora was looking. There was something steadying about watching Simon’s OCD behavior.
“I don’t think we need to bother with those,” said Ivy. “The teachers will have taken care of their own spaces and the staff’s.”
“What about the students’ rooms?” said Amphora. “We’re not supposed to know about this. Is it possible the teachers have been searching our rooms without our knowledge?”
“Wouldn’t we catch them at it?” said Amanda.
“Maybe not,” said Amphora. “They might think it’s safe to do it when we’re in class.”
“Considering the gravity of the situation, you wouldn’t think they’d do nothing,” said Simon, stopping in front of the others. He reached out and gave Nigel a tousle. “They probably have.”
“I say they haven’t,” said Ivy. “It’s too sensitive. Doing that implies that they don’t trust us. I think the parents would be pretty upset if they knew that.”
“Let’s forget about the students’ rooms for now,” said Simon. “We can do them later if necessary.”
The others agreed, and in the morning they began a systematic search of the school—again. This time they needed even more help if they were to cover all that ground so quickly, so despite his weird behavior of late, they asked Holmes to join them. When he heard that an important book was missing he became agitated and agreed at once. He even said that he was happy to be invited. Seeing these sudden changes in him, Amanda wondered if he might be bipolar.
They split up, with Simon taking the basements, Ivy and Amphora the top floor, and Amanda and Holmes the other floors. Amanda wasn’t happy that she was stuck with Holmes again but figured there was no point arguing with something so important at stake. He seemed to be a good searcher—very thorough—but she couldn’t bring herself to compliment him. He still irritated her.
As they were combing the classrooms, he raised the issue of the film. “When do you think we can show it?” he said.
“I’m having trouble with the audio,” she said. “Also, I keep getting distracted, so I don’t know.”
“Can I help?”
“Do you know anything about audio or compositing?”
“Not really, but if you show me I can learn really fast.”
“I don’t have time to show you, Scapulus. I don’t understand why Thrillkill didn’t assign someone who already knew this stuff.”
“Hey,” he said. “Shut up.”
This astonished Amanda so much that she clamped her mouth shut and stared at him. “What did you say?” she said when she had recovered enough to speak.
“I said shut up. You know what you need? You need a good comeuppance. You’re rude and bossy. And I’ll tell you what else. I’m tempted to do it myself.”
This outrageous behavior so infuriated Amanda that she picked up a blackboard eraser and threw it at him. It hit him in the shoulder and spewed so much chalk dust that both of them sneezed.
“And another thing,” he said, “you’re not that good.”
Amanda froze. “What do you mean I’m not that good?”
“I mean you’re not as good a filmmaker as you think you are.”
Amanda was shocked. How dare he say such a thing? Was this payback for her outburst that first day? Sure, she’d been thoughtless, but he was being cruel. There was a huge difference.
“That’s rich coming from someone whose ancestor was a smug drug addict,” she said. “What could you possibly know about making movies?”
Holmes looked horrified but said nothing.
“Struck a nerve, did I?” she said. “How does it feel to be hit where it hurts?”
A million different emotions seemed to pass over Holmes’s face. He turned and stormed out of the classroom.
Just as Holmes was leaving, Amanda’s phone rang. Her friends rarely called her, so it was probably Thrillkill. She was in no mood to talk to him, but she thought she’d better answer anyway. But when she looked at the caller ID, she saw that the number was unknown. Oh great. Should she answer? Chances were that if she didn’t know the caller she wouldn’t want to speak to him or her. On the other hand, you never knew with this detective business. She should at least see who it was. She could always hang up.
“Hello?” she said.
“Amanda!” screamed a woman whose voice she didn’t recognize.
“Who’s this?” said Amanda tentatively.
“It’s your cousin Despina, dear,” said the woman. “Hill and I are at the guard gate.”
“Excuse me?” said Amanda.
“Your dad’s cousins, Despina and Hillary Lester. From Liverpool. We’re here to show you around the Lake District.”
For about the millionth time that day, Amanda’s jaw dropped. She had no idea who “Despina and Hillary” were and had no time to waste with them. They were at the guard gate? Was the woman nuts? You don’t just drop in on someone you don’t know like that.
“I’m sorry,” she said coldly. “Do I know you?”
“Of course,” fawned the woman. “We visited you in Los Angeles when you were six months old. What a pretty baby you were.”
Amanda gagged. Where were her gingersnaps?
“I’m sorry—is it Despina?”
“Yes, darling. Despina and Hill.”
“I’m sorry, Despina, but I’m in the middle of something.”
“But we’re here, dear,” said Despina. “Oh, and I must tell you about your cousin Jeffrey. You know he’s a detective inspector now. And guess what: he was just transferred from Brixton to Scotland Yard. Isn’t that wonderful?”
Amanda had no idea who Jeffrey was, didn’t care, and was losin
g her temper. But before she could say anything, Despina said, “You need to come to Liverpool, dear. We have so much to show you.”
“I can’t,” said Amanda. “Please go away.”
This rejection didn’t faze Despina one bit. “Oh my. Sorry this isn’t a good time, dear. We’ll come back later.”
Amanda shut off the phone without saying another word. She’d never have to deal with those bozos again. Who cared what they thought? Still, she was shaking. Whether it was from the bust-up with Holmes or the call from her so-called relatives she didn’t know. Why was everyone being so difficult?
Then her phone rang again. Oh no. Not Despina again. She looked at the phone and saw that this call was from her mother. Could the day get any worse?
She answered the phone and in a hostile tone said, “What!”
“Amanda, is that you?” said her mother. “Why do you sound like that?”
There was no point starting an argument. “Sorry, Mom,” said Amanda. “I was distracted. A mouse was nibbling at my foot.” Oops. Wrong thing to say.
“What?” screamed Lila. “There are mice at Legatum? I’m going to call Headmaster Thrillkill at once.”
Amanda recovered quickly. “It’s not a real one,” she said. “It’s a toy.”
She could hear her mother let her breath out. “Oh,” she said. “That’s all right then. But it sounds frivolous. Who’s got a mouse toy? There’s studying to do. Maybe I should contact the headmaster after all.”
“No, Mom, you don’t need to call,” said Amanda. “It’s an experiment. Everything’s fine. We’re all studying hard.”
“Oh, an experiment,” said Lila. “I’m glad. Listen, Amanda, I’m terribly worried about you. You heard about the Moriartys, didn’t you?”
Oh brother. Now her mother was going to be hovering. “Yes, we heard.”
“Darling,” said Lila, “I want to make sure you reread the guide I wrote for the police. That awful Moriarty and his dreadful wife are dangerous. Your father and I are hiring bodyguards, so you’re not to worry about us. Your father still isn’t that well, but he’s under a nurse’s care. And by the way, the nurse is fabulous. She’s read every one of my books and loves them! Oh, and I’m sending you a copy of my new book, which has a lot of tips and tricks in it that could be helpful to you.”
Amanda Lester and the Orange Crystal Crisis Page 24
