Malice (9 page)

1:26 pm

One by one, the three of us squeezed through the narrow cleft hidden by the overhang of the cliff, carrying our gear. Repro had chosen to stay behind, allegedly to guard Perdita from any further intruders.

Boges had helped Ryan make waterproof lights by sealing our torches in tall airtight jam jars with ropes attached to them.

‘They'll float, too,' Ryan said, ‘so we won't lose them. I'll get proper waterproof lights just as soon as I can.'

It was cold inside the cave and the water
swirled underneath the rocky ledge. Chinks of light shone like tiny spotlights onto the roiling water. I angled my jar torch hanging from my neck to light up the back of the cave and revealed the three smaller tunnels leading down into unknown darkness. Boges had the folded diagram protected in a plastic sheet. ‘Whatever we're looking for,' he said, jabbing at the diagram in the torchlight, ‘is right at the back of the far cave, through that middle tunnel. Who's game enough to go first?'

‘Me!' Ryan and I yelled together, then laughed, the sound of which echoed through the underground caverns. I jumped in, Ryan right behind me and Boges bringing up the rear. The water was freezing and deeper than I expected, and I couldn't touch the bottom. I squealed and again the sound bounced around the walls of the caves.

Away from the boulder-blocked main entrance, it was very dark and only the beams from our jar lights penetrated, illuminating the rocky walls and making the low ceilings of the middle tunnel glisten. It was easy swimming. Small crabs scuttled up the walls and shiny black sea snails clustered in groups. One day, I thought, we would explore the whole system.

The current was stronger where the water was being forced into the narrower channel, pushing us through until we came up into the middle cave. Our torches bobbed along on the currents in their watertight jars, throwing light onto starfish and tiny sea creatures. We swam through and into a wide cave, assisted by the current.

‘Oh, wow!' I said, as I trod water and directed my light around a round cavern the size of a tennis court. The boys came splashing in behind me and the domed roof lit up with their extra lights. The ceiling dripped with stalactites of strange sea plants and pale crustaceans scurried into their hiding places.

We found that the cold water was only fractionally warmer than the freezing air of the cavern. I looked across at Boges and Ryan, their teeth chattering in their heads just like mine. My fingertips ached with the cold.

We searched all around the alcove marked with the W, and although I hadn't really been expecting to find a shipwreck just sitting in the cave, it seemed like there was nothing there at all, except the sea creatures.

We turned our attention to the stunning roof of the cavern and I gasped as we all saw it together. We focused our lights on something wedged firmly into a cavity high up on the back wall of the alcove, right up near the ceiling. We swam closer, peering up to try to see what it was.

‘It looks like an old cashbox—you know, those
old metal boxes with locks that people used to keep money in,' said Boges.

‘Looks like it's been pushed into a crevice. If Captain Greenlowe put that in position a hundred years ago and it's still there,' I said, ‘my bet is that it's very firmly wedged in.' In spite of the freezing water, and my chattering teeth, thrilling excitement was coursing through my blood. Everything we'd done so far had worked towards this exhilarating moment. I realised I was kicking my legs underwater in crazy excitement, like a little kid. There was something else too, above the crevice where the metal box was wedged—it looked like someone had carved a square into the rock that formed the roof of this huge cave.

‘There's no way we can get up there,' said Ryan, who had been swimming around, trying to find a way to approach the wall. ‘It's way out of our reach. You'd have to be Spiderman to get up there.'

‘There's got to be a way. How else did Captain Greenlowe manage to get it up there in the first place?' I asked. The frustration was crushing.
We'll never find out the truth
, I thought, my spirits dampened.

12:02 pm

Brain churning desperately, I directed my torch light around the walls of the cave, trying to find some handhold, some way to get up to where the box was wedged.

That's when I noticed a very clear high water mark, about a metre beneath the crevice holding the tantalising box.

‘Of course!' I cried, swinging my torch light all around the circular walls of the big cavern. ‘We just have to come here at high tide! We'll probably have to swim underwater through the tunnel to get into this big cave. That way, when we surface, we'll be really close to the crevice. I bet if we bring the right tools, we'll be able to dislodge that box!'

‘Totally! That's perfect, Winter!' said Boges. ‘I just wonder if we can do it in one breath? I guess we can only try.'

‘Although there's still a gap between the high tide mark and the box,' Ryan added. ‘I wonder how someone got it up there? Maybe we need to wait for a really strong tide to get close enough.'

‘We can do that,' I agreed. We took a few more minutes to explore the big cave but I could tell the boys were as eager as I was to plan our second visit to uncover this underwater secret as soon as possible.

Perdita

8:33 am

Next morning, we were busy working out our next adventure to the sea caves system. The old house was buzzing with excitement and I had stunned Repro by grabbing him and dancing with him around the room.

Boges had searched online for the high tide information and had downloaded a chart for the next few days.

‘Great,' I said. ‘that's sorted. We'll wait for a day with bigger swells, then go in at high tide, surface nice and close to where that box is wedged, and work on it until we free it. Then we bring it home and see what we've got. I can hardly wait!'

‘It might be full of gold,' said Ryan, ‘or jewels.'

‘Could be,' said Boges. ‘I bet it's more likely to be a treasure map.'

‘But Boges,' I said, worried now, ‘if it's a map, wouldn't it be rotted by now?'

‘The old charts were all on vellum—like the Ormond Riddle. Vellum lasts for ages. And the metal box is above the high tide mark.'

‘If it's the map leading to the Windraker,' said Ryan, jigging with excitement, ‘we'll be able to find the shipwreck!'

A noise outside the front door made all of us swing round.

‘What was that?' I asked.

‘Someone's here! I can hear them running away. Come on!' said Ryan racing outside.

We fanned out in all different directions, but I soon slowed, and then stopped. I noticed that the others had too. It was no use. The spy had escaped.

‘He could have heard everything about the sea caves and the Windraker,' said Boges.

‘What if it's a she, not a he?' Ryan asked. ‘I'm just saying it's possible.'

I remained silent. I really didn't want to think of Harriet as someone who snooped around, eavesdropping. If she turned out to be an enemy, I'd be hurt as well as angry. ‘We've still got the advantage of knowing how to get into the sea caves,' I said. ‘No-one else knows that and they don't know exactly where the metal box is. It's
going to take anyone else a while to work all that out. We're still ahead of the game. And anyway, we can't go until the tide is right.'

‘There's something else I want to do,' said Boges. ‘I'm launching Skyshadow over that mansion so we can keep an eye on movements along the coast,' Boges said, bringing out his new device.

We crowded round to see what Boges had made. He'd adapted a novelty seagull toy to house a mini camera. Both the tiny motor and the camera were powered by battery. ‘This will send back a live feed to my computer for at least two hours,' he explained. ‘We might get an idea of what's going on there and a better look at punk woman.'

‘Skyshadow?' Repro asked. ‘I could use something like that.' Repro was keen to come with us as we went to the edge of the cliff to watch the launch. The bird took off beautifully, propeller spinning invisibly and soared up and away while Boges steered it with the remote joystick.

A few moments later, and it was indistinguishable—just another bird almost out of sight like the dozens of others that swirled around the beach.

‘I'll stay here,' said Boges, ‘and keep an eye on that house.'

‘Come on, guys,' I said to Ryan and Repro, ‘we're running out of food. Let's go into town and ask a few more questions. Boges, can I borrow your truck? I drive better than you anyway,' I laughed.

Abercrombie Village

10:42 am

I headed into the village with Repro—Ryan had decided to stay back and continue clearing out more of the grove.

The little township was quiet at this mid-morning time, just a few people shopping, cars parked along the edge of the road, kids running around free from school for the holidays. I headed straight for the general store. I was sure Rose could tell us a lot more. Repro stepped ahead of me at the doorway, gallantly holding back the plastic strips that kept the flies out of the shop so that I could walk through.

Rose looked up from her weather charts and a shy smile lit up her face.

‘Good morning, Rose,' I said, looking at some highly polished apples piled in a basket on the counter. ‘I'll take six of those, thanks,' I said, pointing to them. Then I lowered my voice. ‘Rose, I need your help. Can you tell me anything you might know about the Windraker? I got the feeling you were going to tell us something last time before we were interrupted.'

Rose's face paled.
Wrong question, Winter
, I scolded myself. But as I was kicking myself for scaring Rose, Repro had leaned an elbow on the counter as if he owned the place, winked at Rose in what he must have thought was a most alluring manner and asked, ‘Can you tell us anything you know, ma'am? Anything you might know about that old house, Perdita, and ghosts and secret passages? Any local knowledge about shipwrecked treasure?'

I kicked him hard on the ankle, frowning fiercely, my eyes messaging—
Shut up, Repro
, as a slight movement of the curtain behind Rose alerted me to the fact that someone was there … again.

‘What was that for?' he asked, looking very hurt.

I did my best to cover up Repro's words. ‘My friend is talking about a comic book he's reading. It's full of secret tunnels and ghosts and pirates and things.'

‘I am not! I don't read comics—' I kicked him again, really hard this time. Repro got it. ‘Oh,
that
comic? The one about the pirates?'

But it was too late.

No-one came out from behind the curtain—instead, I got the sense of a fleeting figure behind it, and heard a door slamming out the back somewhere.

I grabbed Repro firmly and dragged him, protesting loudly, out of the shop.

‘Just sit here,' I said, squashing him down onto a bus stop seat near the shop. ‘Don't move and don't say a word to anyone until I get back.'

I took no notice of his muttering, ‘bossy boots woman … pushing a fellow around'. I ran as fast as I could, around the corner, desperate to see who had run out the back of the shop. But when I pulled up at the end of the lane and the back of the shop, no-one was there, just the back gate swinging on its hinges. Whoever had been listening to us had vanished. Then from somewhere ahead of me, I heard the sound of a powerful car engine revving up and screeching off.

Then this too, faded into the distance. I immediately thought of the petrolhead in the red sports car. Disappointed and still angry with Repro, I stomped back to the bus stop, to find him sitting there, dejected, and fiddling with his red and green scarf.

‘I didn't know,' he tried to explain. ‘I thought I was being helpful. Putting her at ease, so that she'd open up.'

‘Come on, let's go get those apples,' I said, ‘and some more sausages. And some fresh bread.'

When we went back inside, Rose's manner was
very different. This time, there was no smile and she avoided eye contact as she got the supplies. She looked scared, shrunken. No way was she going to say a word about any secrets today. I paid and we left.

We pulled up outside Perdita and Ryan showed us where he'd started to clear a path through the grove.

‘Great progress,' I said, ‘better than us. We didn't do much good in town. But I've got sausages for lunch.'

‘Cool. I'm going to keep going out here, so call me when they're cooked. And Boges is back too.'

Perdita

1:05 pm

As we came into the house, Boges was downstairs like a shot from the lookout room.

‘Prepare yourself for a shock,' said Boges. ‘I've got some good news and some bad news. First, the good news. Mission accomplished. Skyshadow is safely home. Come upstairs and have a look. Bad news, we are in big trouble.'

‘What is it, Boges?' I asked, now very alarmed.

‘Just come up to the lookout room and you'll see what I mean.'

Repro and I followed Boges up to the third floor, and peered at the screen of the laptop, seeing the aerial view that Skyshadow had sent back.

‘Spit it out, Boges,' I said. He paused, for dramatic effect.

‘I've ID'd the woman in the mansion.'

‘You know her?'

‘I wish I didn't. Take a look.'

Boges clicked on a new screen and the face of the spiky haired woman appeared in grainy low resolution. But it was unmistakable. I gasped. ‘
Oriana de la Force!
That's who we're up against?' I stood there, with my mouth open. Finally I was able to mumble. ‘She's supposed to be in jail!'

‘That's what I thought. But I did some research. She's been released pending a judicial inquiry into her case. She's alleging that she's victim of a mistrial. It's all there on my computer. You can read it for yourself.'

I slid down the wall to the floor. ‘So she's behind all this. She must have been employing Curly and that other person, the driver of the sports car, whoever that is. Plus security guy. Somehow, she's found out about the shipwreck.'

‘She was onto the mystery of the Ormond Singularity way before we were,' said Boges. ‘She's got her ways of sniffing out money.'

‘Boges, I'll bet she was the one who organised the private detective to break into my place. I
couldn't read the signature on that cheque when we searched his office, but I remember thinking then that there was something familiar about the handwriting. Oriana organised to steal the Perdita file. She's never forgiven us for beating her to the Ormond Singularity and she blames us for the fact that she ended up in prison. Not to mention the indelible cat's whiskers drawn on her cheeks, although that really wasn't our fault. I doubt she cares! We need to be very careful. Oh no, do you think she could have sent
the Drowner
note? It would be just like her to do something like that to put us off the scent! She wanted Cal dead. We have to warn him. I'll call him now.'

‘Do you think that's a good idea?' Boges asked. ‘It'll only make him worry like crazy. He won't be able to do anything and he can't leave that residential school without blowing the whole course. He needs to be calm for the exams.'

Boges had a point. ‘I guess we can handle this,' I said, ‘but I should ring Cal—he'll be wondering why I haven't.'

‘That woman. She's got worse since she's been in prison. I'll bet she's learned some very crooked new skills inside,' Repro said. Then he noticed the heavy old chest near where I was sitting on the floor. ‘That's a very nice piece of cedar,' he said. ‘What's inside it?'

‘The jigsaw was in one drawer,' I said. ‘Don't know what else is in there. The bottom drawer's jammed.'

‘These fancy fingers of mine,' said Repro, flexing his skinny digits in the green mittens, ‘don't know the meaning of the words “jammed” or “locked”. Let's take a look.' Repro examined the stuck drawer from every angle, muttering to himself. Finally, he spoke. ‘It's been pushed in incorrectly,' he announced, ‘you can see that uneven angle across the top.'

He disappeared downstairs for a moment, and returned bringing his old bag with him, selecting some of his locksmith tools. He did a little filing and poking around with a fine chisel and within minutes, the stuck drawer was free.

‘What's this?' he said, lifting out an old book. Its covers had been water-damaged and they curled back, revealing damage to the interior pages.

‘It's a photo album,' I said, taking it from him, wrinkling my nose at the smell of rotting paper and damp. Sadly, it was almost totally destroyed and fell into useless lumps. But one page at the back of the album was still intact.

The picture was a very old sepia portrait of a beautiful young woman with a high collar, tiny seed pearl earrings, and her hair pinned up.
‘Perdita Blanche Greenlowe, aged nineteen,' I read on the back.

It was very precious to have a picture of Captain Greenlowe's tragic young daughter. In spite of my really good friends, my deep friendships with Cal, Boges, and lately, Ryan, there was still an ache in my heart for family. Even though it was just a house, I felt a strong connection to Perdita, and having a picture of its namesake was amazing. I didn't know whether to cry with grief for her, or jump up and down with happiness at finding it. I felt someone slip an arm around me, and looked up surprised. Ryan.

‘I came inside to see what had happened to the sausages,' he said, ‘and then realised everybody was up here. I know you're sad, Winter,' he said, ‘but this picture is a really beautiful gift. One of this old house's good secrets.'

I thanked Repro for opening the jammed drawer. Carefully, I took the old photograph and propped it up in my bedroom near the French windows.

I called Cal. I told him about finding the photograph, and about Repro's visit and how he had worked out the secret to the sea caves map and that he was now working hard on the jigsaw wpuzzle. I brought him up-to-date with almost everything, except the fact that his old enemy, Oriana de la Force, was only a relatively short distance away, and up to no good again.

Soon it was Cal's turn. ‘They've kept us insanely busy here,' he said. ‘I've been working from about seven in the morning to eight at night, as well as flying five times a week. I'm cramming now for the test tomorrow morning.' Just before he rang off, he asked, ‘Winter, are you OK? You'd tell me if there was something wrong—you promised, remember?'

‘Of course,' I said quickly. ‘Good luck in the exams and I'll see you soon.'