Читать книгу The Last Secret - Sophie Cleverly, Sophie Cleverly - Страница 13

Chapter Six

SCARLET

e ushered Ariadne inside and shut the door as quietly as we could. I went to turn the light on, but Ivy stopped me.

“Don’t!” she cautioned. “If Matron gets up, she’ll see it.”

I didn’t think this was likely, given how Matron usually slept like the dead, and it seemed incredibly late, but I supposed she was right. We shouldn’t risk it.

“Don’t worry,” Ariadne said. “I brought a candle.” She sat down on the floor and pulled out a small holder from her pocket, complete with a tealight. Then a match appeared in her other hand, and she struck it, the bright flame flaring against the wick.

“Where do you keep all this stuff?” I asked her.

“In my suitcases,” she replied. That made sense. She did have far too many suitcases. “I’ve been decoding it non-stop since dinner. It took hours.” She shivered. “I had to tell Ebony I was doing extra-difficult arithmetic for fun.”

We sat down beside her on the patchy carpet, huddling together for warmth. She laid out the pages and her translations.

I peered at them in the flickering glow. “So it was the old code?”

“Yes, thank goodness. That made it easier, but still time-consuming.” She pointed at what she’d written. “Start here.” I began to read it aloud, as quietly as I could.

1

We moved into the cottage today. I never thought that I would be back living so close to Rookwood School. Mortimer has no idea that this is where everything began. He doesn’t even know who I really am. Knowing that Rookwood is just a few squares away on the map … that he may still be there … it brings it all back into focus once more. I thought I could forget, but I cannot. The truth is there and it scares me. After all these years, I remember our old secret code. I think I have to write this down.

2

Things are clearer today. I spent all night torturing myself. I have been running from my past, hiding from it, for too long. It isn’t just my truth that has been covered. My darling Emmie was killed and for all I know her killer is still right there in Rookwood School, facing no consequences. Perhaps I have been thinking about this all wrong. Moving here may be my chance to set her free.

3

I went back to Rookwood village. I persuaded my husband, Mortimer, to take me, told him it would be nice for a visit. I wore gloves in a vain attempt to hide the fact that my hands were shaking. I left him talking to the priest in the churchyard and headed to the shop. I covered my face with my scarf, praying that they wouldn’t recognise me, but nobody seemed to. Speaking to some of the villagers, my worst fear was confirmed. He is indeed still running the school. The lady I spoke to first glanced all around as if he were about to jump at us from the shadows. They are almost as afraid as I am, though they seem not to know why. But they told me the rumours—

Ariadne had stopped there. I glanced up at her. “What happened?”

“She cut herself off,” Ariadne said, handing me another page. Ivy leant over to see it too. “Here you go.”

4

I am back. Mortimer interrupted my writing yesterday. Perhaps he cannot read this code, but I still do not want to take any chances. He would only ask me what I am working on. I hope to tell him the truth someday, but not today.

The rumours I was told concerned the headmaster (I do not wish to write his name). He continues to have a fearsome reputation. But they also say that he does not truly own the school, that he took it on false grounds! This is important. I must investigate further.

I looked up at the others. “Are you hearing this? Mr Bartholomew might not have been the real owner of the school! Which would mean that Henry wouldn’t have inherited it. This could change everything!” I felt amazed that we’d found a secret about Mr Bartholomew so soon after his death. It was just what we needed – almost as if our mother had known, somehow.

Ariadne nodded. “Keep reading,” she said.

5

I think the rumours might be true. I have done all the research I can. Rookwood was owned by an old family for centuries – how did it pass to him? One minute he was merely the headmaster; the next, I read in the newspaper that the place has always belonged to him. Something is very wrong here. I fear that the only evidence may be inside Rookwood.

6

I have made a grave mistake. I should never have gone back to that school.

Ivy gasped.

I paused and raised my eyebrows.

“She came back here?” my twin exclaimed. “I never thought …” She trailed off, speechless.

Mortimer agreed to take me there again. He thinks I have a strange fascination, but he didn’t argue. This time I left him at the Fox and Hounds with his friend while I went to the school. Walking down that long driveway brought back years of memories I had tried to forget. I told the secretary that I was a prospective parent and she let me look around. Every step along the corridor felt dangerous, but I had to search for evidence. I made it to the library and I found some documents on the history of the building. But that was all. I searched other places, even the secret places I had known long ago, trying to look like an interested parent whenever anyone set eyes on me. But there was nothing.

As I went to leave, I saw him – the headmaster, Mr Bartholomew. He was striding down the hallway towards me. He met my eye for a split second, and my blood turned to frost. I quickly faced away and ducked into a nearby classroom. I still do not know if he saw me, and if he did … whether he knew I was the girl that had challenged him all those years ago. The one witness to Emmie’s murder.

I am afraid, though, that he does know. I am afraid that he will find out who I am and where I live. How could I have been so foolish? This is not for me to solve, not now that I am happy and safe and married. If I am to defeat him, I cannot be reckless. I need to be stronger. I need a plan.

That was all she had written. There were no more pages of Ariadne’s translation. I frowned. “She had all of this, and she never managed to take Mr Bartholomew down?”

“But we did,” Ivy said.

I looked up at my twin. She wasn’t meeting my eye, but I could see a tear glistening on her cheek. I knew how she felt. We’d been the ones who’d got justice for our mother and her friend. We’d finally stopped him.

If only she could have known back then that she’d finally be vindicated. I hated the thought that she’d died without finishing what she’d started, feeling that she’d failed. I curled my fist tightly round the pages.

“This is important,” Ariadne said. “Perhaps your mother was on to something. If Mr Bartholomew didn’t really own the school, then who did it belong to? Could it have been this family that she talked of?”

“Hmm.” I sniffed. I was trying to pretend I wasn’t on the verge of tears.

Ariadne’s eyes glittered in the light. She pulled out the remaining pages – they must have been the documents that our mother had found. They were a little yellow, folded very small and covered with curly handwriting that looked many years old. “I read these as well. It wasn’t easy.”

I squinted at them. Even some of the spellings looked unfamiliar, but I could make out the word Rookwood. “Anything useful?”

“It talks about the Lord and Lady of Rookwood. It’s a bit of their family history and the history of the house, how it was originally built in the sixteen hundreds and expanded and changed over the years. It’s all rather fascinating—”

“Summarise?” I said impatiently. Ivy rolled her eyes at me.

“Well,” Ariadne said, “I think what your mother was trying to get across was that this same family, the Woottons, owned the house for many generations. It was always passed down to the eldest child or, if there wasn’t one, to a cousin. It was supposed to stay in the family. So how did it end up in the hands of Mr Bartholomew?”

“Perhaps there was no one else left,” Ivy suggested, running her fingertips over the paper. “And he was given it because he wanted to run the school.”

“It sounds like that’s what Mr Bartholomew wanted everyone to think,” I said. “But what’s the truth?”

Ivy smiled sadly. “It’s been so long. I don’t know if we’ll be able to find out.” Ariadne gave a silent nod in response.

I stared into the candle flame for a moment, and I felt a flicker inside myself too. A spark of something. Something that would never go out.

“No, come on,” I said, looking back and forth between my twin and our best friend. “This is us we’re talking about. If there’s one thing we’re good at, it’s finding the truth.”

“But after all these years—” Ariadne started.

“We’ve done it before and we’ll do it again. The Whispers. Miss Fox. Rose’s family. We’ve uncovered all their secrets, haven’t we?” I told them. A grin spread across my face. “The truth can’t hide forever.”