Page 52

Kelly couldn’t help laughing. After a brief glare, Esmeralda rolled her eyes and laughed too.

‘Thought you’d be used to all that,’ Kelly said. ‘Not a fan of a bit of your own medicine?’

‘I don’t know what you’re talking about,’ Esmeralda said.

‘Look. I’ve been having a poke around in my room, and I’ve discovered one or two things.’

‘Have you really?’

‘Yes, I have. And if you don’t want me to mention them in my review of the inn that I’m going to write for my newspaper, I suggest you do me a favour.’

‘Are you trying to blackmail me?’ Esmeralda said.

Kelly just grinned. ‘You can label it however you want.’

‘What do you want me to do?’ Esmeralda said. ‘The boss would be mortified if all his tricks were discovered because then he’d have to change them all around.’

‘All I want is a master key,’ Kelly said. ‘I need to check another guest’s bedroom because I think they might have picked up one of my bags by mistake.’

It wasn’t a great excuse, and Esmeralda didn’t look all that convinced. But after Kelly reminded her that there was a secret that she would soon reveal, the girl gave a reluctant nod.

‘But I’ll come with you,’ she said. ‘I can’t have you snooping around in other people’s rooms, but I can allow you to open the door long enough to check to see if they’ve got what you want. Which room is it?’

Kelly grinned. ‘Number thirteen.’

Esmeralda sighed. ‘All right. Hang on a minute.’

She went and retrieved a key from a safety box and followed Kelly upstairs.

‘This one,’ Kelly said, pointing to the door at the top of the stairs. ‘Just open the door for me so I can have a quick look. I won’t be long.’

Esmeralda unlocked the door.

Kelly looked inside the Littleslades’ room, but at first she felt a little disappointed. It looked just like a regular bedroom, no different really to her own except that it had a larger bed.

There were a pair of suitcases at one end of the bed, and to her surprise there was an urn, the kind one would use to store someone’s ashes, standing on the window ledge. The window overlooked the same area of garden as her own, although, Kelly noted, there was no toad outside this one.

Otherwise, the room was empty. The beds were neatly made, although one of the wardrobe doors was slightly ajar.

The Littleslades’ wardrobe was on the far side of the room away from the door, and Kelly wondered, perhaps, if Miranda was hiding in there waiting for the couple to return, so she went over to the wardrobe to have a quick look inside.

‘What are you doing?’ Esmeralda hissed from the doorway. ‘You can’t go looking in there!’

‘Just a moment,’ Kelly said, opening the door as a thud came from downstairs.

‘They’re back!’ Esmeralda hissed. ‘Quick!’

Kelly caught a brief glimpse of what looked like a wedding dress hanging up inside the cupboard. Then she jerked the door shut and hurried back to the doorway.

Voices came from the hall downstairs as Esmeralda shut the door.

‘Quick. We can hide in my room,’ Kelly said.

Like two naughty children about to get caught out stealing sweets, they hurried to the end of the corridor, Kelly pulling Esmeralda behind her. They slipped inside Kelly’s room just as they heard footsteps on the stairs.

Kelly closed her door, then grinned at Esmeralda, feeling a rush of excitement after their lucky escape, even if she’d not managed to solve any mysteries.

Without doubt, the Littleslades were an odd couple, though. To have both an urn and a wedding dress in the same room felt rather unusual, but there had been no evidence, that Kelly had seen at any rate, that they were involved in Clive Dawkins’ disappearance.