No Rules Read Free

Friday. ‘It’s not a secret. It’s news.’
    â€˜I’m not discussing it with you,’ said Mr Quigley.
    â€˜Why not?’ said Friday. ‘What have you got to lose? I’m not going to tell anyone. I can’t even leave the airport. And if I did tell someone, no one would believe me because I’m just a twelve-year-old girl.’
    â€˜Let’s just fill out your paperwork and I can begin trying to process it,’ said Mr Quigley, taking a set of forms out of his briefcase. ‘We’ve located your parents now. They’re at a university in Estonia. Once we have all your information, we’ll get them to fill out the forms.’
    â€˜If you do find them, you’ll never get them to fill out the forms,’ said Friday. ‘Certainly not properly. They couldn’t even give my name to the birth registrar. It would be much better if you simply issued me with an exigent circumstances passport.’
    â€˜We can’t do that,’ said Mr Quigley. ‘That’s only for the most exceptional circumstances, for political refugees and defectors.’
    â€˜I am exceptional,’ said Friday.
    â€˜You’re certainly not exceptionally modest,’ said Mr Quigley with raised eyebrows.
    â€˜I’ll prove it to you,’ said Friday. ‘I’ll find the necklace.’
    â€˜You’re not allowed to leave the airport transit lounge,’ said Mr Quigley.
    â€˜That will be the bit that proves I’m exceptional,’ said Friday with a smile.
    â€˜I haven’t got time for this,’ said Mr Quigley, reflexively glancing at his phone even though it was turned off.
    â€˜Really?’ said Friday. ‘You haven’t got time for a fifteen-minute conversation with me that could result in you finding the necklace as soon as you get back to Geneva?’
    Mr Quigley hesitated. He was clearly warring with himself.
    â€˜I’ve solved bank robberies, thwarted smuggling operations and uncovered escaped convicts,’ said Friday. ‘Your problem is well within my skill set.’
    Mr Quigley sighed. ‘You’re not going to shut up until we do this, are you?’
    â€˜No,’ agreed Friday happily.

Chapter 3

The Case of the Stolen Necklace
    â€˜All right, tell me where the necklace is,’ said Mr Quigley unenthusiastically.
    â€˜I’ll need to ask you a few questions first,’ said Friday. ‘Who are your suspects?’
    â€˜We don’t have any,’ said Mr Quigley with a shrug. ‘We’ve got no idea how the thief broke in.’
    â€˜They can’t have broken in,’ said Friday. ‘Embassies have the highest level of security. It would be impossible to break in without leaving some evidence, ascratched lock, a shadowy figure on security footage, a dusty footprint, something like that. It must have been an inside job.’
    â€˜How dare you!’ exclaimed Mr Quigley. ‘Embassy staff are hand-picked for their honesty and integrity.’
    â€˜Please,’ said Friday. ‘You’ve admitted you talk on the phone while you’re driving, so you’ve already demonstrated moral flexibility. Just tell me, who was in the embassy?’
    â€˜I can’t tell you that,’ said Mr Quigley.
    â€˜Okay,’ said Friday, ‘I’ll work it out. I know from the paper that the Ambassador has a wife and two teenage children. The necklace was stolen at night, so there would be none of the day staff, just some security guards and servants.’
    â€˜There are no live-in servants,’ said Mr Quigley. ‘This isn’t the nineteenth century.’
    â€˜There would be a few officials on the night desk. They are on call 24/7,’ said Friday. ‘An embassy always needs to be able to react to events. So someone would be on duty to inform the Ambassador if he had to launch into action.’
    â€˜It can’t have been any of them,’ said Mr