The House of Puzzles (29 page)

‘Hold on,’ Sam interrupted. ‘Is this
the
HMS
Beagle
you’re talking about? The same
ship that Charles Darwin was on when he did all his botany stuff at the Galapagos
Islands?’

Gerald clapped Sam on the shoulder. ‘The Galapagos Islands is where the Xerxes Blue
butterfly comes from. Jeremy Davey picked a keyword for his message from the name
of a rare butterfly that he must have seen on the journey with Darwin.’

Ruby prodded a finger in Gerald’s ribs. ‘Well, what’s the message say, genius?’

Gerald quickly drew up a fresh grid.

He studied the original message:
Xers blu c axtb pxfbi pab cilbnixg hxracib jl snbeebg
xis rjiocuibs cp pj pab sbkpao eqp hy rjiorcbirb co cgg xp nbop c xh lclpy hcgbo
ib jl rqgkbkkbn cogxis c sj ijp fijv cl c sbobntb nborqb oj c nbgy ji pab dqsuhbip
jl pab jib vaj lciso paco hbooxub hxy yjqn ojqg eb nxcobs ji eqppbnlgy vciuo.

In a minute he had solved the puzzle. Gerald pushed his pencil behind his right ear
and read the one-hundred-and-fifty-year-old words of Jeremy Davey:
I have taken
the infernal machine of Drebbel and consigned it to the depths but my conscience
is ill at rest. I am fifty miles NE of Culpepper Island. I do not know if I deserve
rescue so I rely on the judgment of the one who finds this message. May your soul
be raised on butterfly wings.

Gerald, Ruby, Sam and Felicity were silent. The only sound was the rustling of thousands
of wings, opening to absorb the morning light.

‘The infernal machine of Drebbel,’ Gerald repeated.

‘The perpetual motion machine,’ Sam said.

Ruby shook her head. ‘Davey had it all along.’

‘He must have taken it from the keystone in the castle in Scotland,’ Felicity chimed
in. ‘Maybe that’s why we found his diary there.’

‘The son of a luddite transported to Australia,’ Gerald said. ‘He would hate the
idea of a machine that
could run forever. Just like Sergei Baranov does.’

‘So he steals the machine and takes it on the
Beagle
, but to do what?’ Ruby asked.

‘Maybe he wanted to take it to his father in Australia so they could destroy it together?’
Sam said. ‘Like Alex and his dad.’

‘But on the way something goes wrong,’ Ruby said. ‘Jeremy is marooned. He throws
the machine into the ocean, but then has second thoughts: maybe he shouldn’t have
destroyed it.’

‘So he writes a note asking for help and puts it in a bottle, but because he’s torn
about whether he did the right thing he writes it in code,’ Gerald said. ‘A cry for
help, but an uncertain one.’

He leaned back and stared at the final words of a young man who died trying to reach
the father who had been taken from him.

‘It would have been handy knowing all that before we came to New York,’ Sam said.
‘It might have saved a bit of hassle.’

Gerald snorted. ‘It would have got Mason Green off my back,’ he said. ‘I think he
was actually going to kill us this time. He must have wanted that machine so badly.’

‘Which one?’ Sam said. ‘The perpetual motion machine or the curiosity machine?’

‘Yeah, what’s that all about?’ Ruby said. ‘Green’s eyes really lit up when you said
you had the plans.’

Gerald patted his jacket pocket and felt the folded
paper inside. ‘That’s one puzzle
I’m happy to leave unsolved,’ he said.

‘Aren’t you the slightest bit curious about where the perpetual motion machine is?’
Felicity asked. ‘Davey’s note basically tells you where to find it. Don’t you want
to go on an exotic expedition to the Galapagos Islands?’

Gerald gave her a sympathetic look. ‘Now, why on earth would I want to do something
like that?’ he said.

It was early afternoon by the time the zoo authorities, the police and the FBI were
through with their questions. A heavily armed search-and-rescue team had scoured
the tunnel leading to the cellars of the Billionaires’ Club, but there was no sign
of Professor McElderry or Sir Mason Green. An inspection of the booby-trapped corridor
triggered by the angel showed that it led directly to the New York stormwater system.

‘It empties into the East River,’ a bullet-headed police sergeant reported back.
‘If they were reasonable swimmers they might have survived.’

Jasper Mantle arrived at the zoo in a purple-faced flurry some hours after he had
opened the doors to the clubhouse to find neither Gerald nor Alex anywhere to be
seen. He was horrified to hear of the ordeal that Gerald had been through; however,
he was placated swiftly when Gerald told him about the extensive butterfly collection.
Mantle made an excuse about an urgent meeting he had to attend and disappeared down
Fifth Avenue in the direction of the club.

Mr Fry had a car waiting to take everyone back to the Plaza. He had spent the time
while the police were questioning Gerald pacing up and down outside the butterfly
enclosure, growing increasingly harried. Gerald gave him a reassuring pat on the
shoulder. ‘We can keep this our little secret, Mr Fry,’ Gerald said. ‘I don’t think
my parents need to know all the details of what happened last night. You know, how
all the children in your care managed to end up in a life-threatening situation.
It can only cause problems that neither of us wants.’

Mr Fry gave a slow nod. ‘As ever,’ he said, ‘young sir is wise beyond his years.’

Gerald wrapped a blanket around himself, and they all emerged into the afternoon.
The sky had clouded over and a light dusting of snow was scattering across the rolling
hillocks of Central Park. Gerald turned to his butler. ‘It’s a nice afternoon for
a walk. How about you lead the way back to the hotel, St John?’

Mr Fry’s eyes flickered towards the waiting limousine and its heated interior, parked
just metres away.

‘Or,’ Gerald said, ‘I could always tell my parents about your child-minding abilities.’

Mr Fry’s jaw tightened. ‘Wise beyond his years,’ he mumbled and strode off along
a path towards the soaring tower blocks of midtown Manhattan.

Sam and Felicity fell in behind Mr Fry but Gerald held Ruby back for a moment.

Ruby gave him a sideways glance as they walked side by side through the park. Snow
danced earthward as gentle and light as any butterfly. Ruby bumped him gently with
her shoulder. ‘What are you going to do when you see Alex Baranov back at camp?’
she asked. ‘It sounds like he was pretty nasty.’

Gerald shrugged. ‘I’ll probably just ignore him. I figure any revenge I could take
would be nothing compared to the roasting he’ll get from his father when he presents
him with a dud perpetual motion machine.’

They walked in silence for a while, then Ruby bumped his shoulder again. ‘It’s never
boring when I’m with you,’ she said.

The snow began to fall a little heavier. A sizeable flake landed on the tip of Ruby’s
nose. Gerald stopped and took Ruby’s hand. If it was going to happen, it had to happen
now.

‘What is it?’ Ruby asked, peering up at him. Gerald reached out a finger and brushed
the flake from the end of her nose. Ruby stifled a murmur of surprise.

Gerald fixed his eyes on hers. The world around them blurred. He reached into his
pocket and pulled out the gold key that they found in the boiler and put the chain
over Ruby’s head. ‘I want you to have this,’ he said.

Ruby put a hand to her throat and stared at the key in her palm. ‘Thank you,’ she
said, biting her bottom lip.

Gerald brushed his hand down Ruby’s cheek. It flushed red in the cold.

He opened his mouth.

Limerick time.

But before he could begin, Ruby had her forefinger across his lips. ‘I’ve written
a poem for you,’ she said.

Gerald’s heart stopped beating.

Ruby smiled up at him, and spoke:

‘There once was a boy from Australia
Keen for snogging and paraphernalia
But when push came to shove
His confessions of love
Were destined for hopeless failure.’

Ruby rose to her tiptoes and kissed Gerald gently on the cheek. Then she jogged off
to catch up with Felicity and Sam.

She got ten metres, looked back at him and smiled, then ran on.

Gerald stood in the snow and put a hand to his cheek. He could still feel Ruby’s
lips on his skin.

‘I swear,’ he said to himself, ‘as long as I live, I will never understand girls.’

Acknowledgments

 With thanks to:

• Mum and Dad, with love and appreciation.

• As always, to Jane Pearson for her skill and endless patience.

• Stephanie Stepan, to whom all horse-related action contained within is dedicated.

• James Phelan for introducing me to the real puzzle house of New York. Seriously.
Go to
nytimes.com
and search ‘Puzzle House’.

• My wife Kathryn, our son Sam and daughters Ruby and Ella, who remind me of what
is important in life.

• Oh, and Pippin the cat.