Rumble in Rio: Patricia Fisher: Ship's Detective - A Cozy Mystery Adventure by steve higgs

Author:steve higgs [Higgs, Steve]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2022-11-03T16:00:00+00:00

Unprovoked Attack

Slipping through the door, held open by Jermaine, I had to jump out of the way when Gloria barged through on my heels.

“Make way!” she trumpeted, all but skidding to a stop on the other side.

I clamped a hand over her mouth which she licked in defence.

“Shhh! Please, Gloria. We are not supposed to be back here. Our hope of finding answers is predicated entirely upon being able to speak to the right people. That won’t happen if you get us kicked out.”

She narrowed her eyes at me. “Patricia Fisher, you are no fun at all.”

Ignoring her comment, I asked, “Can I count on you to behave?”

Gloria didn’t respond straight away; it seemed she needed a minute to think about her answer.

“If I say yes, can I get one of these,” she patted the scooter, “for the ship?”

“Goodness, yes, Gloria.” I didn’t mention that I had already planned to, given how much more mobile it made her.

With Gloria not only quiet, but trundling along at a sensible pace for the first time since she sat astride her hire scooter, we made our way into the back area of the museum.

Schneider went ahead, scouting the way and pausing at each intersection to see if I knew which way to go. I hoped to spot something familiar, but we had only seen a very small part of the museum yesterday and unlike the public areas, there were no handy signposts or labels to guide us.

Twice we heard footsteps or conversation coming our way and ducked into an alcove or an empty room to stay out of sight. It worked, the voices passing us by without realising we were there.

We were not so lucky on the third occasion.

I knew we needed to find an elevator – Professor Baccarin’s office is located on the top floor and stairs wouldn’t do it unless we left Gloria at the bottom – hardly a solution. There was a bank of them at the back of the building where I intended to enter this morning, but could I find my way to them?

Believing I might have figured out which way to go when we came across a window and could orientate ourselves, the sound of approaching voices came from the direction we needed.

“Quick, find somewhere we can hide!” I squealed urgently yet quietly.

Sam grabbed a door handle, poked his head inside, and waved for us to follow him.

With the voices coming closer – they were going to turn the corner any second now and see us trying to hide – Jermaine shoved Gloria’s scooter backwards through the door and gently closed it behind him.

I held my breath, listening for the voices to pass, and only dared to exhale when they had done so and were twenty feet away again.

From behind me, a voice asked, “Can I help you?”

I shot around so fast it’s a wonder I didn’t end up with my knickers on back to front. Heart banging in my chest, I found a small, studious looking man peering at me and my friends over the top of his reading glasses.

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