Agent Crew

A big 'don't know'

Mrs Digby was not at home. This became apparent the moment Hitch stepped into the kitchen and was met with... nothing. No classic radio tunes, no delicious smells, and worst of all, no incessant chatter.

Not that Mrs Digby was what he would call 'chatty' exactly, but she certainly wasn't one to let her opinions go unaired.

No, Mrs Digby was not home and by the looks of things, she wouldn't be anytime soon.

"Looks like we're on our own, kid," he said, turning to Clancy behind him. Clancy's eyes went wide, and his left arm starting twitching a little. Hitch tried not take this personally. Clancy could just be worried about Mrs Digby, didn't mean the kid had been counting on her assistance.

"What are we going to do?" asked Clancy. "Ruby said Mrs Digby would find her."

Hitch resisted the urge to say that Ruby hadn't written that exactly. Instead he flashed Clancy what he hoped was a reassuring grin.

"Who needs a house keeper when you have a secret agent, hey?" he joked.

Clancy didn't look convinced, and now Hitch was starting to take it a tad personally.

"We can check the notebook ourselves. Worry about Mrs Digby later." Hitch felt bad just saying it, but he figured Mrs Digby was a lot better at looking after herself than Ruby.

He pulled the yellow notebook out of his pocket, and opened it to the first page.

As Clancy leaned over his shoulder, Hitch scanned the page. Ruby had written it all right; he recognised her handwriting. But the date at the top of the page suggested it was from last month.

Below the date was a list of mundane observations of the happenings on Cedar Wood Drive.

Vaguely, Hitch remembered seeing a pile of notebooks like this - all bright yellow - a few months back. Ruby had been going through them with Bradley, trying to figure out the mystery of the Count once and for all. Hitch hadn't really thought about them since; it all felt so long ago.

"What is this?" asked Clancy, snapping Hitch out of his hazy memories (everything relating to Bradley was hazy, it was easier that way).

"Observations," answered Hitch. "Better flick to the end."

He flipped through pages - some dense with notes, some almost bare - until he got to a blank page a third of the way through the notebook.

He turned to the page before it.

"What I know," Hitch read the title of the page aloud. It was something different, and different was almost always promising.

After a nod from Clancy, Hitch continued to read aloud from Ruby's bullet-pointed list:

- Someone doesn't want the museum to open
- This someone is connected to Spectrum
- Spectrum hid or removed all records of this someone
-Mrs Digby knows who this someone is

For a second, Hitch could only state at the list. It was too much and not enough at the same time. At a nudge from Clancy (which might have just been a stray flapping arm), Hitch continued.

What I don't know, the next line said. Below it was another list:

-How Mrs Digby knows this someone
- What spectrum has done with their records
-Why they don't want the museum to open
- Who this someone is

"That's a pretty big 'don't know', Rube," muttered Clancy. Hitch had to agree.

He turned back another page, hoping there would be more. But Ruby was back to her observations.

Too much, and not enough by far.

"Okay," said Hitch, trying to calm himself as much as Clancy. "Let's take this logically. I think we can both agree this revolves around the museum opening."

This, it turned out, was the wrong thing to say.

Immediately, Clancy started flapping in earnest, his eyes wide with panic.

"Not again," he muttered. "This cannot be happening again."

It hit Hitch too late. The Buddha. This was just like the Buddha, only this time they didn't even know who to blame.

"Clancy," said Hitch firmly, taking the panicking boy by the shoulders. "Just breathe, okay? I'm going to rescue Ruby, but I need you to help me figure this out. Can you do that?"

After sucking in a deep breath, Clancy nodded. His flapping slowed down.

"Mrs Digby knows who took Ruby," Hitch muttered. "But Ruby didn't know? How?"

"Maybe she was snooping in Mrs Digby's room?" suggested Clancy, sounding a little ashamed of the idea.

Considering Ruby's track record, Hitch had to admit it sounded likely.

For a second, he erred over his moral principles. Then:

"Come on, kid. Only one way to find out."