I heard a sound behind me; it was the wall sliding open again. Ransom was on his way back. What to do? I could have stayed and confronted him, but I didn’t feel that I had enough information to act yet. I was still invisible, so I could easily have slipped past him, but I wanted to know where the passageway led to.
I hadn’t gone much further before I came to what appeared to be yet another dead end. I was convinced it must be another exit, but how to open the wall? I touched one stone after another, but with no success. Maybe the lanterns? I tried pulling on one of them, but it wouldn’t budge. I was running out of options. I tried the next lantern, and eureka, the wall slid open.
I emerged into a thick clump of bushes. As the wall slid closed behind me, I forced my way through the foliage, getting scratched several times for my trouble. Once I was clear of the bushes, I could see the rear of the manor house in the distance. In front of me was a large expanse of grass, which had probably once been a magnificent lawn, but had long since gone to weed.
Under cover of darkness, I made my way back to the car. When I arrived home, Jack was still up.
“How did it go?” he asked.
“Let’s just say it proved to be quite interesting.”
“How’s ‘her ladyship’?”
“Not great. I’ll need to go back there in the morning, and I’m going to need your help.”
Chapter 23
By the next morning, I’d formulated a fantabulous plan.
Once Florence had finished her breakfast and gone outside to play with Buddy, I explained to Jack what I needed him to do.
“I’m not sure about this, Jill.”
“Why? What’s wrong? It’s a fantabulous plan.”
“It’s dangerous.”
“I scoff at danger.”
“If anything goes wrong, I’m going to be left with some serious egg on my face.”
“You’ve already got marmalade all over it now, so what’s the difference?”
“This isn’t a joking matter. I may not be in the police force anymore, but I still have my reputation to think of. If this goes pear-shaped, I could end up being charged with wasting police time.”
“Come on, Jack. I know what I’m doing. I need you to trust me on this one.”
“Okay, but there’s still one big flaw in your plan.”
“What’s that?”
“Have you forgotten that it’s Saturday, and Florence has her dance class this morning?”
Oh bum! “Yes, I had forgotten.”
“We can’t let her down.”
“Of course not, but it’s okay, I’ve got an idea. Wait there.” I hurried through to the lounge and made a call. “Is that Donna?”
“Speaking. Jill?”
“Yes. Good morning. I’m sorry to call you so early.”
“That’s okay. There’s nothing wrong, is there? Is Florence alright?”
“She’s fine. I need to ask a really big favour of you.”
“Ask away. If I can help, I will.”
“Something urgent has cropped up that needs both Jack’s and my attention. I don’t want Florence to miss her dance class this morning, so I wondered if there was any chance you might be able to take her with you and Wendy?”
“Of course. No problem. I can pick her up on our way past if that’s okay?”
“That’ll be fine. I’ll be out, but Jack will be here. We were planning to drive into Washbridge afterwards, to buy Florence a bead kit like Wendy’s. Do you think Wendy would like to come with us?”
“I’ll have to ask her, but I’m pretty sure she will.”
“That’s great. We’ll get some lunch while we’re there.”
“Sounds good. Tell Jack I’ll be over in a few minutes.”
I went back into the kitchen and told Jack what I’d arranged. Then I popped out into the garden.
“Florence, Mummy has to go to work for a little while.”
“Aren’t you coming to dance class with me?”
“I can’t today. Daddy has to work too.”
“Aww! But I’ll miss dancing.”
“You won’t because Wendy’s Mummy is going to collect you. You and Wendy can go to dance class together.”
“Okay.”
“Afterwards, Mummy and Daddy will take you and Wendy to town, to get lunch and to buy your bead kit.”
“Wendy’s coming with us?”
“Yes, I think so.”
“I want chicken nuggets!”
“We’ll have to see what Wendy wants. She might not like them.”
“Everyone likes chicken nuggets, Mummy.”
“I have to go now.” I gave her a kiss. “Have a lovely time at dancing.”
***
I took a slow drive over to Tweaking Manor, and this time I parked straight in front of the house. I had serious doubts that Ransom would answer the door to me, so I tried a different tack. With the engine still running, I put my hand on the horn and held it there. The sound was deafening. A couple of minutes later, the front door opened, and a red-faced Ransom came charging out of the house, across the gravel, and thumped on the side window.
“Good morning, Ransom.”
“What
