Sophie Cleverly

The Dance in the Dark


Скачать книгу

back to your room for a rest, and now you feel better. Anyway, won’t she be more concerned about what’s happened to Miss Finch?”

      Of course, that was the important thing. My twin and I would have to put our differences behind us.

      “Right,” I said, and got shakily back to my feet. “Let’s go.”

      I just hoped we weren’t too late.

       Image Missing

       Chapter Ten

       SCARLET

      We were too late.

      By the time we got down to her office, Mrs Knight must have already gone home. She lived in accommodation near the school, but I couldn’t say where.

      I kicked the door and just about restrained myself from cursing.

      “What are we going to do now?” Ariadne wailed.

      “We could call the police,” I said.

      Ivy gave me a look that said she thought I was being ridiculous. “How exactly are we going to call them? The offices are locked. And even if we could get to a telephone, what would we say? A teacher’s been missing for an hour? They’ll laugh at us!”

      She was right, and I hated it. Our only hope was to talk to the teachers. But most of them had gone home, with the exception of the few staff that stayed overnight. I swallowed. In the past, that had included Miss Finch, when she’d had nowhere else to go. I tried my hardest not to picture her walking stick lying there in the middle of the floor.

      “We can try and tell Matron,” I said finally. “But I doubt she’ll be any use.”

      We went to the door of Matron’s room, only for her to bustle straight into us in her housecoat.

      “Oof! Girls,” she said, narrowing her neatly plucked eyebrows. “You’re supposed to be getting ready for bed. It’s lights-out soon, you know!”

      “We know, Miss,” said Ivy. “We’ve got a … problem …”

      “If you’re here to tell me that Josephine Wilcox has been running laps of the corridor in her swimsuit, I already know. That’s what I was just on the way to sort out.”

      “No!” I said quickly, before she could push past us. “It’s Miss Finch. We’re worried something’s happened to her.”

      Matron stopped in her tracks and looked down at us – or, more accurately, across, because she wasn’t very tall. “Whatever makes you say that? She’s gone home to bed, I’m sure.”

      I glanced at Ariadne, hoping she remembered her part of the plan. She took a deep breath and then gave her explanation without, it seemed, taking another one. “Well, Miss, we were on our way to visit Miss Finch, Miss, because she asked us to, you see, it was about the ballet recital, and we were going to paint the scenery, a lovely castle and some trees, you know, that sort of thing, and so we’d arranged a time to meet her this evening, so we went down there, Miss, and—”

      At this point Ivy had the sense to push Ariadne out of the way before she dropped dead from forgetting how her lungs worked. “Miss Finch wasn’t there,” she said simply.

      Конец ознакомительного фрагмента.

      Текст предоставлен ООО «ЛитРес».

      Прочитайте эту книгу целиком, купив полную легальную версию на ЛитРес.

      Безопасно оплатить книгу можно банковской картой Visa, MasterCard, Maestro, со счета мобильного телефона, с платежного терминала, в салоне МТС или Связной, через PayPal, WebMoney, Яндекс.Деньги, QIWI Кошелек, бонусными картами или другим удобным Вам способом.

/9j/4SPwRXhpZgAASUkqAAgAAAANAAABAwABAAAA3AUAAAEBAwABAAAA7AgAAAIBAwADAAAAqgAA AAYBAwABAAAAAgAAABIBAwABAAAAAQAAABUBAwABAAAAAwAAABoBBQABAAAAsAAAABsBBQABAAAA uAAAACgBAwABAAAAAgAAADEBAgAgAAAAwAAAADIBAgAUAAAA4AAAADsBAgAHAAAA9AAAAGmHBAAB AAAA/AAAADQBAAAIAAgACACA/AoAECcAAID8CgAQJwAAQWRvYmUgUGhvdG9zaG9wIENTNiAoTWFj aW50b3NoKQAyMDE3OjAzOjEzIDIzOjE4OjA5AGNoaWV4YgAABAAAkAcABAAAADAyMjEBoAMAAQAA AAEAAAACoAQAAQAAANwFAAADoAQAAQAAAOwIAAAAAAAAAAAGAAMBAwABAAAABgAAABoBBQABAAAA ggEAABsBBQABAAAAigEAACgBAwABAAAAAgAAAAECBAABAAAAkgEAAAICBAABAAAAViIAAAAAAABI AAAAAQAAAEgAAAABAAAA/9j/7QAMQWRvYmVfQ00AAf/uAA5BZG9iZQBkgAAAAAH/2wCEAAwICAgJ CAwJCQwRCwoLERUPDAwPFRgTExUTExgRDAwMDAwMEQwMDAwMDAwMDAwMDAwMDAwMDAwMDAwMDAwM DAwBDQsLDQ4NEA4OEBQODg4UFA4ODg4UEQwMDAwMEREMDAwMDAwRDAwMDAwMDAwMDAwMDAwMDAwM DAwMDAwMDAwMDP/AABEIAKAAaQMBIgACEQEDEQH/3QAEAAf/xAE/AAABBQEBAQEBAQAAAAAAAAAD AAECBAUGBwgJCgsBAAEFAQEBAQEBAAAAAAAAAAEAAgMEBQYHCAkKCxAAAQQBAwIEAgUHBggFAwwz AQACEQMEIRIxBUFRYRMicYEyBhSRobFCIyQVUsFiMzRygtFDByWSU/Dh8WNzNRaisoMmRJNUZEXC o3Q2F9JV4mXys4TD03Xj80YnlKSFtJXE1OT0pbXF1eX1VmZ2hpamtsbW5vY3R1dnd4eXp7fH1+f3 EQACAgECBAQDBAUGBwcGBTUBAAIRAyExEgRBUWFxIhMFMoGRFKGxQiPBUtHwMyRi4XKCkkNTFWNz NPElBhaisoMHJjXC0kSTVKMXZEVVNnRl4vKzhMPTdePzRpSkhbSVxNTk9KW1xdXl9VZmdoaWprbG 1ub2JzdHV2d3h5ent8f/2gAMAwEAAhEDEQA/AMYCVarow31tFjzTYW+5/udDtzxt2aN99QY9VLar bKttTtpLm7/cWEsB/SMba0O9Nz/30L7Le3LPpN+1UUMbsptf7mPsO5/o3XbvdW2qt36b3+nf/OrQ kabhb1dGO5gLri2z3ewt4A3bTM/nNG5S+yYzgC217tOGs1J90N9xDf3Gf20NuPl3NlzfRHcNIsf/ AJ+30mf2fVQLOlYRl19ReYJL7H2OIjvu9Tc1Kz0/H0q16fjo2m0YgFjX3QWv2sdtJlrTDn7f+E+l /Y/4ROcXFBG7IMGDG0HQ7odIc7936Kz8e9jbrKfXbbjtg1XWvE6j9LSy53sym47tm5+/1KvW9NWm WUvaXNcPTGvqn2sI/ebY/ax/9ZIG+qRr1ZmjHAsPrztA9Nu0y87d/wDVZtt/RollGC6PTv2fo2lw gu/SEH1B/JagVW0XteabG2NrO172kFoIaLPpfR+g5I2VNpF5dFTmtc1+uod9Da36b9/5rGtRvxVX imdj4W5+3IIEja3YSCC2T73fR2Wfo/f/AMYnGPiBzP0puabGh5aCwhg37yN3736Hb/2z/wAIqnr2 O1biZJb47WNP/bT7m2/9BQu6cM1rw2uyq62A29zdr62gBjmV+7c5j2ep+h/m3+qgTppZ/BB8LLbY zp1ktrzGucxx3OYN8t9sO9Np3s9P3+xRtroZGyxpYGje9x2jcSf3v5OxMMG6urZkH3Al1fpt9MVi IazHB3uY1n+v6JVcn162tGRityw17fTe1zGsc959Gv16Lt3p7vU2v2etV/o/SSsga/y/xVdNUxZB 1EeSjp4fgoYVV1NAxboLqIAsYXFhDi9+xnqtY79B/N/8X6SJtPgUeLS6+n7E3pdfR//QxtzrL24r bhS0s9R5aQLXyXN9PH3fzbW7HPuvY3f/ADfppuq35mDhj9m1NBDX2WWuG4MYzaX7W2bvUtf6jffY i10Mddu1lxZa4QDHpe2t/wC/7v5v/wBiE/Wabr+h5lVLyxzWeq5ug3MrPq21uJ/N9Nvqez/Rq9O+ GXduTB4Zd3kcjrvWcizfZmWtI0Da3ek0f1a6djFs9H691rqEdMpZVk572uONkXHa72Nda6t3+Dvt c1n6F9n/AF3euYkHuus+pvRsvHzK+s5Vbqaq2H7KHja6x1jdnqNYfd6DKnu/Sfnv/m/8IqsDMy0J 13a0DIy3Pi3Oj9RHV8Jzrq2jIxnBt1cS3UH0rWsfOz6L2Oal1XDvzMG3Gp2my2JLyeGn1PbsDvf7 W7VR6M4Yv1t6hgvO1uS+6utvYuD/AF6P89m5jP663L6WEPrvA9NzSLA/QbSPdu/k7VYgeKBB8Yls YzxRIPjEvL9P6a5/SsurFtbdbkgSa3Q1pq22Nx/eGbrLvW/4v+crWp0DBy8bFLMs2Czd7KXkOaxo H0qdrn/zm73qeBg20s3YHpY1d0PqxbWF7nNj2Pycj1PVrst9r/0THsxv+3FexbmX1MvY0tFgnadS 0g7HsJ/kPa5iUIAUeoH0VCAFHqB9HLzutZjOqs6R0qlluQXtqc6wbt1ro/Rs9zW1sZu/SWOWd136 w9TfkWYDNuGMZ7qbxjOdFj2OLHv9Z2230dPZWjdWe7o31ro6rG6myxmUI7ifTyq/6271P+gl9eOi /YepftCn3YnUXOsBHa3R97f6tnqNyK/+M2f4NQzlP1anQ7eDDOUvVrsfwc3p3X+o4Fwd6jsiif0m Pa4uY4eU7nVP/wCErXVYeXi9W6f9oZXtY4uqupfrDgGu2727dzfc17HrhaqrLrWU1tc+yxwY1jBu cSTG1jfznL0SrDw+nh1OKCaTabIPwbW0bf5NdbU7AZGxfpTgMia/RaWQX44D3uL6tzWvL/pNDyK2 W+p+e31Hs9Tf/X9RS2O8FSyGZdFQx72ssqbORk2+q4vtbSW2v9Oq1n6Gyz2WWU+p/g3+n6av+q3/ AEg+4qbi338me/Pyf//RxMjK+w+vdY4MFgZ9ne5u5jnsa4fY7HS30HPfvs9R3+Ds+n+ietehrnWa QB4kgiPFzvo7Nv5yzWlzOo4th0a6q6qsxMWuNdh/7dx6rGfy/wCbQfrFlt6b0RuJQdr8ofZ2eIpY G+v/AJzfTp/qWPV0nh4idg3JHhEj0ee63n09Q6nc7HA+y/zWIBWyuGt1r2MqZXtbY/8Af/SbLP0v vWpg/WTqOC62jJc3qWjC02XvdwG7G4lrnPY1llb2u9H0v/PaxupdLt6bXgWPd7s7FbltERtDn2Mr b/23XXb/ANcVm/puVknAxMWs2ZN+N6rKh9IgPy72Nb/L+zfzbP7CrAmyerWBOp6u7Z07