Shadowsea by Peter Bunzl

Author:Peter Bunzl
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Usborne Publishing Ltd

“We’ll walk down the platform, on the opposite side to Professor Milksop,” Lily said. “That way the central columns and signs will keep us hidden. Don’t look across her way and don’t make eye contact. We don’t want to be seen by her, or by the criminal – whoever that is – or the undercover police. The most important thing is that we don’t interrupt whatever’s going to happen. If the detectives don’t foil the whole thing, once we’re sure Dane’s safe, we’ll just follow the criminal and grab the case from them ourselves.”

They strolled slowly up the length of the platform and sat down on a seat where they could see Matilda Milksop without being in her direct eyeline. Malkin slinked in last, darting along between the lamp posts, signs and benches that sprouted along the platform. When he finally arrived at their bench, he scrabbled under the seat beneath Robert and Lily.

Robert pulled his cap down low over his eyes and Lily and Caddy shrank into their scarves and collars, while they watched the inspector and the lieutenant and the rest of the undercover officers position themselves around the platform and at the entranceway.

Then they waited…

After a short while, Lily checked her pocket watch. Three fifty-five.

TOOOOOT! TOOOOOT!

The sudden whistle of an arriving train made her jump. She raised her head to see clacking wheels cutting through a cloud of steam that was billowing along the track, as a locomotive with a string of carriages pulled in where Matilda was waiting.

“FINAL STOP! NEW YORK CENTRAL DEPOT!” came a shout from the train.

Over the rim of her scarf, Lily glimpsed the conductor’s silhouette. The man was leaning out of the open door of the goods van, hanging onto a handrail.

“FINAL STOP, LADIES AND GENTS!” he called again, jumping down onto the platform. “NEW YORK CENTRAL DEEEEEEEE-POT!”

The train ground to a halt and all the doors along its sides swung open. Passengers barged down onto the platform and immediately their shapes became jumbled up in the steam and smoke that was billowing from the engine.

There was no way any one person could be picked out from another. Whoever had planned the swap here knew what they were doing. It was the perfect place to sneak up on someone.

When the smoke and crowds finally drifted off, Lily saw that a woman with an odd gait was approaching the bench where Matilda sat. A boy was with her.

Robert pushed back his cap and took a quick darting glance at both suspects through his binoculars. The woman was Miss Buckle, disguised as a commuter in a long coat and broad-brimmed hat. She stood in the middle of the icy concourse with the Ouroboros Diamond half-hidden beneath the scarf around her neck. How brazen of her, Robert thought.

The boy was Dane. He seemed scared, his face even paler than usual. He was shaking and he peered about as if he had no idea what was going on or where he was.

For a second Miss Buckle’s head flicked round.

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