Alice-Miranda at Camp 10 (17 page)

Alice-Miranda snuggled into her sleeping bag and closed her eyes. So far she'd done everything possible to distract herself from thinking about Uncle Ed and the mystery of those paintings. She wondered if that's why she'd made so many mistakes with her camp activities.

The day's final disaster had left her completely mystified. How she'd managed to mix up the sugar and salt when she was making everyone's hot chocolates after dinner, she'd never know. The whole lot
had to be thrown out. Caprice then made a batch that was absolutely delicious. Something wasn't right with Millie either, Alice-Miranda thought anxiously. Maybe some fresh air might help.

She felt around for the torch, wriggled out of her downy cocoon then unzipped the tent flap and slid outside. The steady breathing of her fellow campers was punctuated by the odd grunt and snore. She tiptoed past the blackened ring of rocks where the children had toasted marshmallows and told ghost stories several hours before.

The clouds that had released a patter of fat raindrops earlier in the evening had cleared and the sky sparkled with millions of stars. Alice-Miranda could see the distant lights of Pelham Park twinkling in the darkness, and the occasional car on the main road beyond. Their camp site sat almost on the boundary of Pelham Park and Bagley Hall. Rufus was right that it was hardly remote. A road ran parallel to the fence between the two properties less than a hundred metres away. It led down to an ancient stone bridge and up over the rise to the farmhouses and cottages on the Pelham Park estate. Moonlight gleamed on the lake and the pretty stone summer house across the lawn behind the mansion.

A way off down the driveway, Alice-Miranda saw headlights and heard the drone of an engine approaching. It was probably one of the staff heading home after a late evening. A moment later, a van came into view, heading towards the river. Alice-Miranda expected it to keep coming across the bridge and over the hill to the cottages, but it didn't. It turned left and headed towards the summer house.

That was strange. Alice-Miranda decided to take a closer look. She scurried to the fence and clambered over, then darted towards the lake.

As she drew nearer, she heard voices. Two men.

Then she heard the van door slide open.

Alice-Miranda had no idea what they were doing out there in the middle of the night, but something told her that they shouldn't be there. She took cover in the trees.

‘Hurry up, Nigel,' one voice whispered.

‘I'm coming, Jezza. How about we have a break before we take this one down? It's blinkin' heavy and I've got a nice thermos of tea here. Wife's packed us some pikelets too,' the other man said.

‘Ooh, yeah, that'd be nice,' Jezza replied.

Alice-Miranda crept closer and wove her way in and out of the trees until she was within a few metres
of the van. Her foot crunched on a stick. The noise echoed in the still night air.

‘What was that?' Nigel hissed.

‘Nothing,' Jezza replied. ‘Probably just a rabbit or something – you're getting jumpy in your old age.'

Alice-Miranda looked at the name on the side of the van. Starchy Brothers Linen Services. If these fellows were delivering the linen for the nursing home, what were they doing parking so far from the house? And why were they working at half past one in the morning?

She dashed behind a tall oak tree and poked her head out. The men were dressed from head to toe in black. That wasn't a good sign.

‘Seems like a waste of time taking this one in tonight, given we're about to make a very large withdrawal,' one of the men said.

‘Well, we 'ave to put it somewhere in the meantime. And after that close call, when my old lady found the Monet and thought it was her birthday present, this place is safer than my flat. Yours isn't any better – it's like a refuge for delinquent children over there. Besides, it's not our job to ask questions. I'm very 'appy just to get paid,' the other man replied.

‘I wonder if the old man's noticed all the additions over the years,' the first gravelly voice said.

‘Nah, I heard he was losin' his marbles. Probably just thinks they're his. Anyway, he won't notice anything too much longer.'

‘I had wondered how we'd get it all out in one go but Nigel, my friend, you're a genius,' Jezza said. ‘That anniversary couldn't have come at a better time.'

‘Yes, Mr Goldsworthy's going to be very 'appy with us. There's a lot of interest on that deposit, if you know what I mean,' Nigel said.

Alice-Miranda could hardly believe her ears.
Goldsworthy.
Could it be Addison Goldsworthy? She was sure that Alethea's father was still in prison for tax evasion and a dozen other things. Even behind bars he was up to no good. But who was the old fellow they were talking about?

‘I always liked the old boy, you know. Strange one, though. He never sold any of them. Took 'em as payment for work done – I s'pose that's the sort of payment you're likely to get when you represent dodgy blokes like our boss,' the first man said.

‘Who you callin' dodgy, Jezza? I'm a very respectable citizen, I am. When I'm not doin' jobs for the likes of Addison Goldsworthy,' Nigel laughed.

‘Well, Mr Goldsworthy will be forever in the old bloke's debt for providing the most perfect hiding place. It's just lucky we remembered it when the old fella retired. You finished that tea?'

The other bloke handed his cup over.

‘Well, come on then.' Jezza threw the thermos and cups into the van. ‘Put your gloves on. Don't want prints on anything.'

A few seconds later, the two men heaved and hauled and eventually pulled out a very large painting. It was at least a metre across and wrapped in a white cloth. Alice-Miranda squinted. The cloth fell to the side, revealing a heavily gilded frame and inside it a portrait of a woman. What were they going to do with it?

The pair strained as they lifted the piece.

‘Careful, Jezza,' Nigel said as he repositioned the cloth. ‘We'd better not damage her.' They shuffled over to the summer house, opened the door and vanished.

Alice-Miranda was about to follow them when she heard a faint whisper in the darkness. ‘Alice-Miranda, where are you?' It was Millie.

She didn't dare call back in case the men reappeared. Alice-Miranda ran as lightly as she
could through the trees and to the fence, looking over her shoulder to see if the men had returned.

Nimble as a cat, she hopped up and over, and saw Millie looking towards Pelham Park.

‘I'm here,' she whispered.

‘Where did you go?'

‘I couldn't sleep.' Alice-Miranda looked back towards the summer house, her mind racing.

‘Are you okay?' Millie asked.

Alice-Miranda nodded. In the moonlight she could see Millie's eyes were puffy and it looked as if she'd been crying, which was very strange indeed.

‘But I was going to ask you the same thing,' Alice-Miranda said.

‘I'm okay,' Millie said.

‘That's not true. I know you,' Alice-Miranda said seriously. ‘We're best friends, remember? I've had a strange feeling that something hasn't been right for the past couple of days. Have you been crying?'

Millie couldn't keep Caprice's evil blackmail to herself any longer. ‘You're not going to want to be my friend when you hear this. But you have to promise not to do anything and you can't tell the teachers.' Millie's face crumpled.

‘What's the matter? What are you talking about?' Alice-Miranda reached out and squeezed Millie's hand.

Fat tears rolled down the girl's cheeks. She brushed them away. ‘Promise you won't hate me,' Millie begged.

‘I could never hate you,' Alice-Miranda said.

Millie took a deep breath. ‘Caprice said that if I didn't do everything she told me to, you would get hurt.'

‘What? That's ridiculous.' Alice-Miranda shook her head.

‘You don't understand. She's crazy. She said that she had to leave her last school because she pushed a girl down the stairs,' Millie sobbed.

Alice-Miranda put her arm around Millie's shoulder. ‘That's terrible. But you should have told me.'

‘The accident at archery. She meant for that to happen. She told me next time things would get messy. I was terrified that she would do something awful – or worse, set me up to do it.' Millie fished around in her sleeve and pulled out a tissue.

‘I knew there was something wrong. Millie, we're a team. We would have figured it out,'
Alice-Miranda said. ‘So I didn't really mix up the sugar and the salt?'

Millie shook her head.

‘And I wasn't going mad when I thought I'd put those tent pegs in?'

‘No, that was all me.'

‘But the fire?'

Millie sniffed. ‘I swapped your dry sticks for green ones. Are you angry?'

‘Of course not. You were only trying to protect me.' The two girls hugged each other tightly. ‘Don't worry about Caprice. We can deal with her later. But I have something to tell you too.'

Millie wiped her face. ‘What's the matter?'

‘You know Uncle Ed has come to sort out Granny's art collection?'

Millie nodded.

‘Well, this morning he took me downstairs to have a look and we discovered something very strange,' the child began.

‘What was it?' Millie asked.

‘One of the paintings I saw was
stolen
,' Alice-Miranda whispered. ‘Uncle Ed said that it wasn't the only one. Detective Freeman was with us, but I don't think she saw anything.'

‘But shouldn't you tell her?' asked Millie.

‘That's what I said, but Uncle Ed wants to go through the rest of the collection first,' Alice-Miranda replied.

‘Your grandfather was rich. It's not as if he would have needed to steal art.' Millie chewed her pinkie nail as she thought it through.

‘That's the thing. The painting I saw was stolen only a few years ago. It couldn't have been Grandpa at all. He's been dead for more than twenty years.'

‘Then who?' Millie asked. ‘Could it be someone in the house?'

‘I don't know. But I just saw the strangest thing.' Alice-Miranda told Millie all about the two men and the van and what they had said about making a withdrawal. She was afraid they were planning to steal all of the paintings.

Millie's eyes widened. ‘You don't think your uncle could believe that your parents are responsible, do you?'

‘I don't know what he's thinking but I need to get back to the house and find out what else he's discovered as soon as possible. Mummy and Daddy are away until Saturday morning and then they're coming to the fair. I just hope Uncle Ed gets to the
bottom of things before then,' Alice-Miranda said breathlessly.

Alice-Miranda and Millie weren't the only campers awake. Caprice had hopped up to go to the toilet. As the girl was about to return to bed, she thought she heard voices in the distance. When she had realised it was Millie and Alice-Miranda, she had sneaked over and crouched down behind a tree.

Millie held Alice-Miranda's hand. ‘I'm glad everything's okay with us.'

Alice-Miranda smiled. ‘Me too.'

Caprice could feel her heart pounding. That little brat Millie had better not have said anything – or else.

Friday dawned bright and clear. Ed Clifton jolted awake and rolled over to look at the clock beside the bed. It was just after seven. He'd only had a few hours' sleep as his mind had been racing all night. He had replayed the discoveries he'd made downstairs, and kept wondering ‘how?' and even more urgently ‘who?'.

Of the sixty-eight paintings he'd examined and catalogued, five were stolen. He wasn't even halfway through the collection, which made him wonder what
other surprises were in store. Three of the missing works had disappeared more than thirty years ago but two had come from much more recent thefts. As far as Ed understood, only he and his brother knew the combination for the vault.

Ed pushed back the covers, stretched and then headed into the bathroom. His breakfast tray was waiting for him when he came out of the shower. He found it slightly unnerving that someone had a key to his room and was happy to let themselves in. He hoped it was only the matron. It got him thinking about keys – Matron Bright had mentioned that she'd lost a set when Pelham Park first opened.

Ed opened the door and almost bumped into Matron Bright.

‘Good morning, Mr Clifton,' she sang.

Ed nodded. ‘Good morning, matron. Thanks for breakfast.'

‘My pleasure. I suppose you're off to the cellars now?' the woman said.

‘Yes, I'll be there all day. I hadn't realised Mother had such an extensive collection. When Alice-Miranda's group arrives today, would you bring her downstairs? She was very helpful yesterday and I could do with another pair of hands.'

‘Oh yes, of course, so long as it's all right with Mr Plumpton. I don't imagine he'll mind.'

‘Thanks.' Ed grinned tightly. ‘If you could just let her through the locked doors. I know she'll find her way from there.'

‘Certainly, Mr Clifton.' She took a large key out of her pocket and unlocked the door to Ed's room. ‘I'll just take your tray.'

Ed almost flew downstairs. As he opened the vault door and looked about, his head began to spin and he thought he might lose his breakfast.

‘How on earth?' he breathed. Before him was a painting he certainly hadn't seen the day before. He recognised it immediately. How could he not? It had been stolen from The Met a couple of months ago. He knew all about it, because it was one of his own.

Mr Plumpton yawned as he emerged from his tent. He looked as if he'd fought ten rounds with a tiger. His shirt buttons were mismatched and his trousers crumpled.

The children were all up and engaged in various jobs. Several had gone to collect kindling for the fire
and others were down by the creek washing their faces. The shovel had disappeared too.

‘Good morning, Mr Plumpton,' Alice-Miranda greeted the teacher.

‘Good morning to you too, young lady. Did you sleep well?'

‘Not especially.'

‘Me neither,' Mr Plumpton confided. ‘I'll be glad to be in a bed again tonight. I really don't think my old bones are cut out for camping.'

‘Mr Plumpton, you're not that old,' Alice-Miranda said with a grin. ‘Do you know what time we're going to Pelham Park today?'

‘Hang on a tick.' The teacher consulted the revised timetable that Miss Reedy had given him the day before. ‘It looks like you're due over there at ten, then back to Bagley Hall early in the afternoon for an extended choir practice with Mr Lipp.'

Mr Plumpton was very pleased that his entire group belonged to the Winchester-Fayle Singers. He was looking forward to a cup of tea and a nap while the children rehearsed.

‘Thank you, sir,' Alice-Miranda replied.

It didn't take long for the children to eat breakfast and get the camp site packed up. Millie groaned
when Beth told the children that the paddling groups were to stay the same as the day before. Her arms ached at the thought of it.

‘Isn't it lovely to be together again?' Caprice asked, smiling at her two companions.

‘Do you think you could help us paddle this time?' Millie grumbled.

‘I paddled yesterday,' Caprice bit, then turned and smiled at Figgy.

He was more gaga over the girl than ever and leapt to her defence. ‘Millie, leave her alone. She was paddling every time I looked.'

‘You're so blind, Figgy. She was sitting behind you and only paddling when you turned around.' Millie shook her head and stomped over to load the canoe. She didn't notice Caprice following her.

‘Have you forgotten our deal?'

Millie whirled around to face her. ‘No, of course not.'

‘I'm going to win that medal,' Caprice whispered, her eyes narrowed.

‘Won't that feel good?' Millie said. ‘Knowing that you've made your competition look bad. You make me sick!'

‘Aren't we brave all of a sudden?' Caprice hissed. ‘I hope you haven't forgotten our little arrangement.'

Millie sighed. ‘I don't know how you sleep at night.'

‘Maybe I don't.' Caprice raised her eyebrows. ‘You never know what sort of things you might hear in the woods after midnight.'

Millie gulped. Could Caprice have overheard her and Alice-Miranda talking?

The return trip along the river was much faster than their extended journey out. Before they knew it, they'd rounded the bend and were back at home base. It was just after nine thirty.

‘Okay, everyone. You've got ten minutes to put your sleeping bags and clothes back in your rooms and brush your teeth,' Beth instructed.

The Barn Owls scattered. Mr Plumpton walked into the teacher's lounge to deposit his things and make a quick cup of tea.

Miss Reedy looked up from where she was sorting through a pile of paperwork. ‘Good morning, Josiah. How was your camp-out?'

‘Hello Livinia. It was no more exciting than I had anticipated, although a few of the children surprised me.' He walked to the sink and filled the kettle. ‘Would you like tea?'

‘I'm fine for now. Which children?' asked Miss Reedy.

‘For a start, Rufus Pemberley has a future as a pyromaniac. You should have seen the size of the fire he was building.'

Miss Reedy grinned and shook her head. ‘Who else made an impression?'

‘Sep Sykes – he's a star, that lad. And Caprice was outstanding too but I was surprised at Alice-Miranda. She made quite a hash of things yesterday. That's not like her at all,' Mr Plumpton said with a frown.

‘You know, we do place very high expectations on her. Nobody's perfect,' Miss Reedy replied.

‘Yes, you're right, but this is Alice-Miranda we're talking about. I just can't shake the feeling that there's more to it.'