LITMIR.BIZ

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worse this time. That poor Partial kid was at breaking point. You know, for a dweeb he’s actually kinda OK, plus he’s only eleven. He can’t handle the pressure.’

      Clancy nodded. ‘So what happened?’

      ‘I’ll tell you some other time, but suffice to say, I stuck it out.’

      ‘You know what?’ said Clancy.

      ‘What?’ said Ruby.

      ‘You’re all heart.’

      Ruby took a big slug of her drink. ‘Well, I couldn’t abandon him, could I? Let her go ahead and make mincemeat of him while I swanned off back to Twinford. You know what, this ginger tea’s not bad.’

      ‘What is bad is the hogwash you’re spouting,’ said Clancy. ‘Would you quit feeding me this garbage and actually tell me why you left town?’

      Clancy had a way of sniffing out the baloney, and he knew there was more to Ruby’s little math vacation than the tale she had been telling him. Since when was it necessary for her, the brightest kid in Twinford Junior High, to go away for a four-week intensive math and science camp?

      Ruby looked him dead in the eye, plucked a serviette from the dispenser and carefully wiped her hands.

      ‘You promise not to get all flappy?’

      ‘Why would I get flappy?’ replied Clancy.

      ‘OK,’ she said, ‘if you want to know so bad, I’ll tell you.’

      Clancy waited.

      ‘It was all down to Hitch. It was him who was keen I should go, it was him who came up with the idea and wanted me to hunker down at geek camp,’ said Ruby.

      Clancy looked confused. ‘Hitch is interested in your mathematical development?’

      ‘Hitch is interested in me continuing to breathe,’ said Ruby, ‘and I’m kinda interested in the same thing. The geek camp was just a way of getting me away and out of Twinford while he assessed the situation and made things secure back home.’

      ‘Assessed what situation?’

      ‘The situation regarding who might want me dead.’

      Clancy let go of his donut and it splashed into his tea.

      ‘Clance, are you OK?’

      ‘Hitch thinks you’re on some kinda hit list?’ said Clancy, his voice unsteady.

      ‘Well, maybe …’ she said.

      ‘That’s why you were in the middle of nowhere for four whole weeks.?’ He paused. ‘But are you sure it’s safe for you to be home?’

      ‘Safe as it’s ever possible to be,’ said Ruby. ‘So long as I stay inside the house for the rest of my life everything should be fine.’

      ‘It’s not funny Rube.’

      ‘I know,’ said Ruby. ‘I’m not really laughing, you know that, don’t you?’

      ‘So is it the Count?’ asked Clancy.

      ‘Well, a month ago I would have said yes,’ said Ruby. ‘But the last thing he told me down in that crypt was that he had decided not to kill me.’

      ‘Why?’

      ‘Apparently he changed his mind.’

      ‘He actually said that?’ asked Clancy.

      ‘He said it was in his best interests for me to keep on breathing.’

      ‘Well, that’s kind of worrying, don’t you think?’ said Clancy.

      ‘Why?’ asked Ruby.

      ‘Because it sounds like there might be some other crazed killer out there.’

      ‘Yeah, well, I think there is,’ agreed Ruby.

      ‘Why didn’t you tell me?’ said Clancy.

      ‘I’m telling you now,’ said Ruby.

      ‘So?’

      ‘So what?’ said Ruby.

      ‘So the other thing you’re not telling me.’

      ‘What thing?’ said Ruby.

      ‘I don’t know,’ said Clancy. ‘That’s why I’m asking.’

      ‘OK …’ she said, ‘but don’t get all worked up … you gotta …’

      ‘I knew it!’ he said. ‘Something happened, didn’t it? It was just after I got outta hospital, after the Halloween pageant, the day before you went off to camp, am I right, am I, am I right?’ Now he was beginning to flap.

      ‘Clance, you promised you wouldn’t flap.’

      Clancy ignored her and continued flapping.

      ‘Look Clance, the thing is …’

      But he wasn’t finished. ‘Something spooked you, really spooked you.’ He was getting all dramatic now, Ruby hated when he got all dramatic – at least, hated when he got dramatic about things that were actually already dramatic.

      ‘Then you suddenly took off without a word. I knew there had to be a bigger reason than hanging out with nerds at some crummy nerd camp and I knew there had to be a bigger reason than just the usual Count encounter.’

      ‘Just the usual Count encounter …?’ spluttered Ruby. ‘The usual—’

      ‘So what was it that spooked you just after Halloween?’ interrupted Clancy.

      ‘Well, it wasn’t any kids dressed up as ghouls, I can promise you that,’ said Ruby.

      ‘That I figured,’ said Clancy. ‘But why didn’t you tell me what happened, you know, after … that night in the crypt –’ his voice was a little shaky now – ‘with the undead and … and, you know –’ he paused, before whispering – ‘the psychopath.’

      ‘Just a regular Tuesday night in Twinford.’

      But Clancy was in no mood for making light. He was just looking at her, waiting for her to spill the beans.

      She breathed in a long slow breath, exhaled and stared back at him.

      ‘Well, I was going to tell you, of course I was, but I needed time to think.’

      ‘About what?’ asked Clancy.

      ‘Everything,’ she replied. ‘It’s a big deal what I know, and I haven’t told a soul.’

      ‘No one? But you musta told Hitch?’

      Ruby shook her head.

      ‘Blacker?’ asked Clancy.

      ‘No one,’ said Ruby.

      ‘So,’ said Clancy, ‘what is it?’

      ‘Not here,’ said Ruby, looking around. ‘Let’s move to that booth in the corner. I don’t want to risk being overheard – you know, walls have ears and all that.’

      They slid off their stools and took their drinks over to the other side of the diner where the lighting was dimmer and the customers fewer.

      ‘So,’ said Ruby, ‘ever heard the phrase “a bad apple”?’

      

      CLANCY DID NOT HAVE TIME to answer Ruby’s question, nor to wonder what apples had to do with anything, because they were interrupted.

      ‘Hey!

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