Secret of the Skull by Simon Cheshire

Author:Simon Cheshire [Chesire, Simon]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781848121782
Publisher: Piccadilly Press Ltd

CHAPTER

FOUR

BY FRIDAY AFTERNOON, THE ICY swirls which had been circling the town for days finally descended into a thick covering of snow. Everything outside took on an eerie, artificial look. In the winter half-light, the streets seemed lit only by the reflections off the snowy pavements. People stepped carefully, taking care not to slip, huddled tightly into overcoats and scarves.

The Regal Hotel was a broad, three-storey building on the long, straight road which glanced off the eastern edge of the town. It had been built in the middle of the eighteenth century as a coaching inn where travellers going north and south across the country could stop and change horses.

The hotel was set out in a kind of giant U-shape, with the bottom of the ‘U’ formed by the narrow front section facing the street and the two sides forming a large central courtyard. Two hundred years ago, this paved courtyard would have been filled with wooden coaches and ladies in long skirts. And probably quite a lot of horse poo, come to think of it. That Saturday, however, it was the site of tastefully arranged pots forming an ornamental garden – a garden covered in snow.

It was dark by the time I arrived. Orange lamps on short poles shone a distinctly creepy glow over the small area marked Staff Car Park that I crossed on my way into the building, my wellies crunching against the snow. With a smile, I noticed that my footprints were the only marks at this end of the car park, except for a set of widely-spaced, striding steps which led into the hotel from a battered old purple van.

Entering through the shiny glass doors that faced the road, I felt like a caveman suddenly transported into the twenty-first century from a frozen wasteland. Inside, the place was blissfully warm, cheerfully bright and so thickly carpeted that you couldn’t hear a single footstep.

Signs on the opposite wall pointed visitors either to the left for the hotel’s restaurant, La Splendide, or to the right for the hotel’s reception. I went right.

Being the depths of winter, it was low season for the hotel and there were relatively few guests.

Susan and several other girls, including Izzy, were gathered by the reception desk. Izzy was in her normal out-of-school gear – all chunky rings, bright colours and glittery fringes. The girls and I exchanged a criss-cross of ‘hello’s and ‘hi’s.

‘Saxby, is it?’ said the tall, smartly dressed woman behind the reception desk.

‘This is my mum,’ explained Susan. ‘Mel. She’s on duty at the front desk all evening.’

‘Hello, Susan’s mum,’ I said. ‘Um, I do just want to make it clear, I don’t do girlie sleepovers. I’m here in my official capacity as brilliant schoolboy detective. I’m undercover. I’m going home as soon as possible. I don’t do girlie sleepovers.’

Mel gave me the same blank look Susan had given me at school. ‘Right,’ she said slowly. ‘OK.’ Something in her expression said, ‘Yes, you’re every bit as odd as I expected’.

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