“I just wanted to get your attention.”
“I would imagine you’ve got the attention of everyone within a five-mile radius. My sister needs rest. How is she supposed to sleep with that racket? What do you want, anyway? I told you never to come back here again.”
“I thought it was time that you and I had a little chat.”
“About what?”
I climbed out of the car. “Let me think. Oh yes, I know. How about legends?”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about. Get back in your car and leave.”
“Don’t you find the legend of the parchment fascinating?”
He seemed taken aback for a moment, but he quickly regained his composure.
“That’s just stuff and nonsense. Everyone knows that.”
“Really? What about the vault that’s mentioned in the legend? Do you think that’s real?”
“Of course not. There is no vault. It’s just a myth.”
“We’ll see about that, shall we?” Before he could react, I sidestepped him and ran towards the house.
“Hold on! You can’t go in there!” He came after me, but I already had several yards start on him.
By the time he’d caught up with me, I was standing at the end of the corridor where I’d been the previous night.
“So, Ransom, is there anything you’d like to tell me?”
“I have nothing to say to you. I want you to leave this house right now.”
“I assume you’ve heard the rumours that Mulgrave knew the whereabouts of the vault?”
“I never listen to rumours.”
“Okay. Let’s talk about the goblet, then.”
“What about it? Mulgrave took it. They found it in his room.”
“I’m talking about the night you were playing billiards with Dominic. The night you knocked it onto the floor and the base came off.”
“This is getting tiresome. I won’t tell you again, it’s time for you to leave.”
“When the base dislodged, you thought you’d found the combination to the vault, didn’t you? Was that the deal you made with Mulgrave? He would show you where the vault was and in return, you’d share the combination?”
“I still have no idea what you’re talking about. There is no combination and there is no vault. I’ve asked you nicely. Now I’m telling you. Leave now or I will personally throw you out of that door.”
“No vault, you say?” I pulled on the lantern, and the wall slid open behind me. “Whoops-a-daisy!”
His expression now was one of pure hatred. “You should have left when you had the chance.”
“Why? What are you going to do to me, Ransom? Murder me, like you did Mulgrave? That’s what happened, isn’t it? Once he’d shown you where the vault was, you no longer needed him, did you? Why share the treasure with him?”
“Come here!” He started towards me.
“Stay right where you are.” I held up my hand. “If you come any closer, you’ll be sorry.”
“Don’t make me laugh.” He scoffed. “I dealt with Mulgrave, and I can certainly deal with a little girl like you.”
He was quicker than I’d given him credit for, and before I could block him, he’d pushed me backwards into the passageway. I almost lost my balance but managed to recover my footing. He followed me inside and the wall closed behind him.
“Before you do anything you might regret, Ransom, there’s something you should know.” I took out my phone, with the intention of telling him that the police had been listening in to our conversation.
Before I got the chance, he laughed. “That won’t do you any good. You can’t call anyone for help. There’s no signal down here.”
I glanced at the phone; there were no bars whatsoever, and the call I’d been on had disconnected. I turned on my heels and ran down the passageway. Only when I reached the vault did I stop, turn around, and face him.
“You do realise you’re on a fool’s errand, don’t you, Ransom?” I pointed to the pile of papers on the desk. “How many combinations have you tried so far? A thousand? Ten thousand? You’ll be an old man and you still won’t have found the correct one.”
“Shut up.”
He threw a punch, which I ducked easily. Before he could throw another, I’d cast the ‘power’ spell, grabbed his arm, and pushed it up his back. When he began to struggle, I pushed him face first into the stone wall, and he crumpled into a heap at my feet.
Although Ransom was a large man, the ‘power’ spell meant it was easy for me to carry him back to the hallway, where I laid him on the floor and waited. A few minutes later, I heard the sound of sirens and two police cars skidded to a halt on the gravel outside the house. Three uniformed officers got out of one car, a plain clothes officer and Jack got out of the other. Jack came running over and took me in his arms.
“Are you okay?”
“I’m fine. Did you hear Ransom’s confession?”
“Yeah, we did, but when the line suddenly went dead, I thought something had happened to you.”
“There’s no reception down in the secret passageway.”
“Where is he?” the detective asked.
“In the hallway, spark out. He’s probably going to need an ambulance.”
***
We’d not been back at the house for very long when Donna arrived with Florence and Wendy.
“Thank you very much for doing this, Donna,” I said. “I owe you one.”
“No problem.”
“Was Florence okay?”
“She was. They both had a lovely time. Are you sure it’s okay for Wendy to go to town with you?”
“Absolutely. We’re going to get lunch and then buy the bead kit for Florence. And, if it’s okay with you, I’d like to buy Wendy a little something too.”
“You don’t need to do that, Jill.”
“I’d like to, by way of
