Читать книгу 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 - Lauren Child - Страница 114

THE HOUSE WAS QUIET – Ruby’s parents must be out at their tennis club, unaware that their daughter had almost been swallowed by a whole batch, shiver or mob of murderous sharks.

It had been a sobering experience and it made Ruby want to talk to one person above all. She dialled the number, but it went straight to voicemail.

‘Look Clance, sorry for what I said, OK? Sorry for being a complete pain in the behind and a total duh brain. No excuses, just sorry. Call me.’ She replaced the receiver and went to change her clothes. Before she had made it four steps across the room, the telephone rang. She picked up the donut phone.

‘Hey Rube, you’re forgiven, wanna hang out?’

‘Sure I do Clance my old pal. What have you got in mind?’

It was Elliot’s idea. Cycle out to Far-West beach and spend the night telling ghoulish stories under the stars. No one took a whole lot of persuading, but it was Elliot who was the true campfire kid – he liked nothing better than collecting driftwood and frying things out in the open.

Elliot, Mouse, Red and Del were already there by the time Clancy and Ruby arrived. It had been a last-minute sort of plan, but like all the best last-minute plans it had come together easily. There was no danger of running out of supplies since Mrs Digby had packed them off with way too many home-made burgers, ingredients for hot chocolate, marshmallows and everything else that made an evening cookout satisfying.

It was a pretty perfect night for such a plan and once they had got themselves settled, they rolled out their sleeping bags and sat warming their hands by the fire’s glow. Gradually, the talk moved from school to current Twinford events, the fleeing crabs, the dangerous dolphins, the confused sharks and the sea strangler that had killed the fisherman. All of Twinford had read about it in the papers – it was big news.

‘Who do you think he is?’ asked Elliot.

‘Or she,’ said Mouse.

‘Yeah, that’s right,’ agreed Del. ‘It could be a female strangler.’

‘How do you think she does it?’ asked Red.

‘Or he,’ added Clancy.

‘I reckon she or he climbs aboard the boat while the victim is looking the other way and takes the poor old fisherman by surprise,’ said Del.

‘I don’t think so,’ said Elliot, shaking his head. ‘It’s just not realistic. The strangler’s already in the boat – hiding under a tarpaulin or nets or something.’

‘So what’s the perpetrator’s motive?’ said Mouse, finally asking the question no one had got around to asking.

‘He’s a psychopath,’ said Clancy firmly.

‘Or she’s a psychopath,’ said Red.

‘Did anyone ever think,’ said Ruby, the merest hint of drama in her voice. ‘Did anyone ever think that this he or she might be an it?’

Her words hung in the air. No one had thought this thought because it didn’t really seem possible.

‘What,’ said Clancy, ‘like you mean some kind of creature?’

‘What kind of creature?’ asked Del.

‘I get it,’ said Mouse. ‘I see where you’re coming from, like maybe this creature they talk about in the legends of Twinford.’

‘That kinda thing,’ said Ruby.

‘Wow!’ said Red. ‘You really mean there’s an actual sea-strangling monster!’

A short grunting snort came from Elliot’s nose, then silence. His face was contorted, his eyes shut tight. There was a twenty-second pause before Elliot Finch finally erupted into uncontrollable giggles, barely audible at first but gathering volume.

‘You mean…’ He was almost unable to string the words together as he gulped in air. ‘You mean you think… You think the strangler has to be some kinda…’ He fell off the rock he was perched on. ‘Giant squid or humongous lobster or something? Oh boy, I think… I think I’m gonna pass out.’

‘Laugh all you like, sucker, but I don’t see you getting in a boat and heading out to sea.’ Ruby had had a great deal of practice when it came to keeping a straight face around Elliot – it wasn’t easy, Elliot’s giggles were very infectious and sooner or later they would get you.

‘I think Ruby is most probably right,’ said Red, trying hard not to succumb to the Elliot influence. She had great faith in Ruby: Ruby knew most things and was right about a lot of things. That said, Red liked to believe in monsters and ghosts, pixies even; she was what some would describe as fanciful, but others might describe as gullible. To her this was not far-fetched – she was quite prepared to believe in a monster squid or a humongous lobster. For this reason she wasn’t exactly helping Ruby’s argument.

‘Could you put a sock in it bozo!’ Ruby threw a burger bun at Elliot. ‘I’ve been reading up on all this stuff at the City Library and it’s all beginning to hook together. The Twinford treasure – I reckon that’s true. I reckon the Seahorse went down exactly where Martha Fairbank said it did. So what if she was also telling the truth about the sea monster?’

‘Wasn’t she like four years old when that happened?’ said Mouse.

‘Yeah, but she was the smartest kid around, that’s well documented – besides, everything she described is actually so.’