‘Some other time?’ ventured the boy.
‘Maybe,’ said Ruby. ‘I’m not making any firm plans today because I got a lot on my mind.’
‘Sure,’ said the boy. ‘By the way, what’s your T-shirt about?’
Ruby looked down; she had forgotten which one she was wearing today. It read: did you spot the gorilla?
‘It’s to remind me of something,’ she said disappearing around the corner.
SO RUBY HADN’T BEEN EXACTLY STRAIGHT UP WITH BEETLE – she was not heading home but was on her way to Spectrum to see how the investigation was going. Although she was hoping to eat, she did have something particular in mind and happily she found it in the Spectrum canteen.
After wolfing down her burger she hurried to the violet code zone. As usual, Froghorn was in room 324 (the Frog Pod, as Blacker called it). This was where he spent most of his time when at Spectrum; his work involved entering all available data into the Spectrum computers. Newspapers, crime reports, police records, you name it.
Froghorn had been tasked with searching through the records of all crimes committed in Twinford City, looking for robberies which might bear close resemblance to the crimes Spectrum were already investigating. If they could figure out when and where the mysterious thief had first struck, they could recover the first loyalty card and hopefully then decipher the code.
Froghorn didn’t acknowledge Ruby’s arrival but Blacker gave her a smile and a friendly greeting.
‘Hey Ruby, just the person we need on this.’
‘You found something?’ she asked.
‘Froghorn has,’ replied Blacker. ‘Fill us in why don’t you, Miles.’
Froghorn cleared his throat and began.
‘Well, I brought up the robbery cases and set aside all the unsolved or unexplained. Of the ones I printed out, the only burglary that made any kind of link with the Little Yellow Shoes and the book of poetry was a break-in at Mr Baradi’s place, on the twenty-sixth floor of the Lakeridge Square apartment block, though nothing has ever been reported missing.’
Ruby remembered hearing about this on the cab driver’s radio the day she had her cast removed. ‘I heard about it,’ she said.
‘As far as the way the break-in was conducted,’ said Froghorn, ‘it’s identical to the Okra burglary.’
Blacker was looking at the report. ‘I visited the scene this morning. Everything about the break-in is the same, so it would suggest that the crimes are connected, though why did the thief not take anything? Did he change his mind?’
‘Maybe not,’ suggested Ruby. ‘Maybe he did take something, but Mr Baradi still hasn’t figured out what it was.’
‘Or, just say,’ said Blacker, ‘that the robber made a mistake. Imagine you are two hundred feet up in the air, dangling from a piece of string. . . I mean, it would be pretty easy to lose your bearings, take the wrong turn, get the wrong floor, come in the wrong window. The Lakeridge Building is huge. Maybe he was trying to target a different apartment, say on the twenty-seventh floor rather than the twenty-sixth, maybe he just counted the floors wrong.’
‘So you’re saying, maybe he broke into Mr Baradi’s by mistake?’
‘Yep.’
‘So. . . what?’
‘So maybe he realised his mistake,’ said Blacker. ‘And maybe he corrected it. Climbed back out the window, climbed up or down to the right level – maybe the twenty-fifth or twenty-seventh – and went back in, stole what he was after, then strolled on down and out the door of the building.’
‘With the first item. . .’ said Ruby.
‘Yeah.’
‘So how come it hasn’t been reported?’ asked Ruby.
Blacker shrugged. ‘Could be the owner of the apartment is away or if he is anything like me then he wouldn’t notice a break-in – I’m telling you my place is real chaotic.’
‘You surprise me,’ said Froghorn in a sarcastic tone. ‘I had you pegged as Mr Tidy.’
‘No, Miles, it looks pretty much like a dump.’
‘So how sure are you that the thief comes in at the window and leaves by the door?’ asked Ruby.
‘Pretty sure,’ nodded Blacker. ‘There are marks on the outside of the Okras’ window frame, like someone spent a while trying to get the thing to open – he had to force it – and, well, the front door was unlocked from the inside. Mr Baradi’s window was found open even though he swears blind that he is an air-con-all-the-way sorta guy.’
‘You don’t think he could have opened it?’ said Ruby, ‘and then forgot that he opened it?’
‘I have to say, I’m inclined to believe him when he says he never ever opens a window; it was kinda fuggy in there.’ Blacker made a face at the memory of it. It was then that Froghorn’s phone began to ring and he signalled that they should continue without him.
‘And the door?’ asked Ruby.
‘The door was unlocked from the inside,’ said Blacker, ‘though we have no actual proof that Mr Baradi didn’t unlock it himself.’
‘You think he could be an attention-seeker?’ asked Ruby. ‘Just made the whole thing up?’
‘He doesn’t seem the type,’ said Blacker, ‘he’s kinda straight-forward, meat and potatoes all the way. It’s possible, of course, but my instinct tells me no.’
‘And the Little Yellow Shoes robbery?’
‘If they are linked to the Okra robbery then how the thief entered the building is more of a mystery,’ said Blacker.
‘You don’t think he came in through the window?’
Blacker frowned. ‘The thing is although there is a window in the safe-room at the Scarlet Pagoda theatre and although it is easy to open, there is no way a grown man or woman could make it through – it’s too small. You’d have to be some kind of contortionist.’
They were silent for a minute, until Blacker added, ‘What we do know is this thief goes to a lot of effort getting in but doesn’t seem to waste energy making his escape.’
‘Why bother climbing down a building if you can walk out the door,’ said Ruby.
‘Agreed,’ said Blacker. ‘But this guy must be pretty confident that he won’t get seen exiting the premises.’
‘So I guess the doorman’s always on duty? This is a fancy apartment block the Okras live in, right?’
‘Totally,’ said Blacker. ‘There are cameras, so anyone using the backstairs would be picked up on film.’
‘And Mr Baradi’s place?’
‘Not so much,’ said Blacker, ‘but what it lacks in fancy it makes up for in nosy neighbours. Mr Grint on the ground floor spends his whole time in the lobby watching people come and go.’
‘And what does Mr Grint say?’ asked Ruby.
‘He didn’t see any strangers that evening, not a one.’
‘So what’s your theory?’
‘The investigators think the thief must hang out somewhere