The Case of the Wayward Professor Read Free Page B

monitors covering that area, checking for any unusual activity. Seeing nothing, they would hopefully assume it was just one of the prefects nipping back after a crafty smoke.
    It was a cold night. She was wearing her warmest jumper and jeans, but her ankles were exposed. She needed to get moving to warm up. She waited anotherminute, counting the seconds on her watch, checked that no one was coming and then moved.
    The concrete courtyard between the buildings and the playing fields offered no cover. Holly’s only option was to make a run for it. If she had her timings right, the night guard would be way over on the other side of the building. As for the guard in the security cabin, having only just checked the cameras around the girls’ dorm, he would hopefully be watching the football game that had just started on TV.
    She ran across the courtyard. It seemed a lot further tonight than on the practice runs and her footsteps sounded like someone clapping in a large empty hall. Reaching the playing field, she took cover behind the first of the tall conifer trees that lined the private road which ran from the main buildings to the perimeter gate.
    She climbed high into the tree until she was hidden in the darkness of its dense leaves. She remained still for a moment, listened, then climbed along a thick branch to the next tree. She had practised the route several times but her previous attempts had all been made with the benefit of daylight. It was proving more difficult at night. She had a torch but it would have been suicide to turn it on. Her foot slipped and she grabbed abranch to avoid falling, thinking perhaps it was suicide not to use it.
    She hung silently in the tree for a second, the rough bark digging into her hand, suddenly aware of the sound of her own breathing. The trees rustled loudly in the breeze. She thought she heard someone cough. She listened. No, it must have been her imagination. There was no one there.
    Slowly she made her way from tree to tree until she reached the last one, just far enough from the high wire fence to make a jump impossible. She climbed down to the lowest branch then dropped to the ground, landing badly on her ankle. It hurt and she wanted to shout in pain but kept quiet. The security cabin was only twenty metres away. She could see the light on inside.
    Using the trees as cover, she ran along the fence to a point just out of sight of the cameras. She took her bag off her shoulder and pulled out a pair of large wire cutters that she had lifted from her technical design class. One thing you could say about William Scrivener, it was well supplied. Only the best for the children of the best.
    She lifted the cutters up to the wire and was about to cut when she felt a hand land on her shoulder and pull her sharply away from the fence.
    â€˜All right, far enough,’ said a girl’s voice.
    She felt the wire cutters being pulled away from her other hand. ‘Let me go,’ she cried, turning round.
    â€˜Why, so you can escape?’
    Holly recognised the older black girl as one of the prefects.
    The girl smiled and said, ‘Don’t be too annoyed. You got a lot further than I did on my first run.’

Chapter Four

    Dirk opened his eyes, raised his head and groaned. He was still in the old hospital, exactly where he had fallen. The room was empty. The light in the room below had gone out. His head pounded.
    He crept to the window and looked out. Yellow street light illuminated the melon man, who was packing away.
I can’t have been out long
, Dirk thought,
but long enough to lose the professor
.
    Checking the room for clues, he found a plank of wood. He examined it. White paint and nail holes indicated that it had once been a shelf. He could see where it had been ripped from the wall. The shelf was broken in the middle where the wood had splintered and thepaint fallen away. He touched the top of his head and inspected his paw. Flecks of white paint. This was