Lauren Child - The Complete Ruby Redfort Collection - Look into My Eyes; Take Your Last Breath; Catch Your Death; Feel the Fear; Pick Your Poison; Blink and You Die

‘So would you believe it, Hitch, I take my little Oscar Birdet jacket to the drycleaners – you know, Grosvenors on Harling Street? And what do they say? ‘ Sorry Mrs Redfort but we won’t be able to fix this, it’s too delicate .’ Can you believe it? What kind of drycleaning service are they?’

‘Well it is an Oscar Birdet, maybe they felt a little out of their depth.’

‘You know Oscar Birdet?’

‘Sure I do.’

‘Aren’t his designs exquisite?’

‘Divine. Look, leave it with me, I’ll take it to my drycleaner tomorrow, he knows what he’s doing,’ said Hitch. ‘And if he can’t fix it, he’ll send it to someone who can.’

‘Boy, I can’t wait for Mrs Digby to meet you.’

‘Mrs Digby?’ he asked.

‘Our housekeeper. We had a misunderstanding, I expect she’s still at her cousin Emily’s cooling off – she’s going to just love you.’

Ruby wasn’t so sure. Mrs Digby ‘couldn’t abide fools’, and as far as Ruby was concerned this guy struck her as a prize turkey.

He was busy unpacking something from one of his bags.

‘Hey, how cute – you travel with your own toaster,’ exclaimed Sabina.

‘Well,’ said Hitch, placing it on the countertop. ‘It’s a good one, and who doesn’t love toast?’

There it was again, the little flash of pain, vivid just for a second when he lifted his right arm.

‘I can’t argue with you there,’ nodded Sabina.

‘That’s some butler,’ said Ruby’s father, impressed.

Ruby made a face. ‘Because he carries a little toaster every place he goes?’ Had the body snatchers broken in and removed her parents’ brains?

She went up to her room and pulled out her yellow notebook – she was thinking about what Hitch had said about his previous employers. Who are these people who can just up and tour India for several years on elephants? And why at such short notice? Ruby couldn’t help feeling this Hitch guy wasn’t telling the whole truth about the Wellingfords, if indeed the Wellingfords ever existed. And what if they did?

Probably cast them adrift in the middle of the North Sea and stole all their money . No, there was something about the timing of his arrival which made the hairs stand up on the back of Ruby’s neck. It reminded her of Mary Poppins – the way he had just arrived out of thin air.

Only thing was, Hitch was no Mary Poppins.

Ruby thought about RULE 29: JUST BECAUSE A LION SAYS IT’ S A MOUSE, DON’ T MAKE IT A MOUSE.

All evening Ruby waited to hear again from the mystery caller – but the phone didn’t ring and that night Ruby lay on her makeshift bed running over the conversation again and again in her mind.

Why did the caller hang up? You want a person to crack a code – why not give them the code? Geez! There were some strange folks out there .

But then, when the hands of her watch reached 4.43am, Ruby sat bolt upright.

Of course! How could she have been so dumb – the mystery caller had given her the code! The whole conversation was code!

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