I rushed through the hotel on full alert, careful not to let Audrey or Matthew see me. The hardest part was getting through the staff corridors unseen, but I got lucky with my timing: the chefs were all dashing about the kitchen sorting dinner and housekeeping must have been turning down beds for the evening. I managed to race to the storeroom without being noticed. I did a quick glance down the deserted corridor and slid through the door. Everything was exactly how it had been, except it was clean. Really clean. There were still stacks of wooden chairs and broken shelves dotted about the place, but it wasn’t dusty, which was weird. Maybe Matthew or someone had started using it again for storage and had cleaned the place up. It was brighter in there than I remembered, with light pouring in through a window at the back. But there was still a makeshift pathway weaving around the junk, which was handy. As I got to the end of it, I accidentally knocked my arm on a chair, nudging it noisily across the floor.
A voice came from the back. ‘Who’s there?’
I screamed and darted backwards, knocking my head on a wardrobe.
‘Careful! Are you OK?’
Cal appeared looking concerned.
‘What are you doing here?’ I hissed, rubbing the bump forming on my head.
‘I could ask you the same thing,’ he replied, crossing his arms. I looked past him at where he’d been and saw his laptop perched on a big, cushioned armchair.
‘What the . . . What is this?’
I took in all the cushions on the armchair and the stacks of books lying around it. There were way too many books lying around for him to have brought them along in his backpack in one trip. He was not here on a one-off.
‘Wait a second, do you work down here?’
He sighed and ran a hand through his hair. ‘Yeah. I do.’
I looked up at him in confusion. ‘Since when?’
‘Most of last year, and when I was writing during the summer.’
‘Why?’
‘It’s loud at home,’ he explained. ‘Mum is always on the phone to her clients and our next-door neighbour is learning the drums. I can’t think there.’
‘So you just set up . . .?here?’
He shrugged. ‘I never get disturbed.’
‘You’ve made it kind of cosy, I have to say.’
‘Thanks.’ He smiled.
My phone started buzzing in my pocket.
‘Gotta go.’
‘Aren’t you grounded?’ he asked, suddenly looking me up and down. ‘You look dressed up.’
‘Good luck with the rest of your work!’ I said, kicking aside some of his books to get to the door. ‘I’ll need to get back in this way later, so if you could make sure the passageway is clear that would be great.’
‘Wait a second, you’re sneaking out?’
‘Good detecting, Sherlock. See ya.’
‘Flick, wait.’ He reached forwards and grabbed my arm. ‘You can’t sneak out! It’s a really stupid idea. Ella’s party is not worth the hassle.’
‘I’m not going to Ella’s party,’ I said, shaking off his hand.
‘Well, then, where are you going?’
I pushed open the secret door to the courtyard, noting it was nowhere near as stiff as it used to be. Cal must have greased the hinges. ‘Nowhere, just don’t tell anyone.’
‘Flick, would you just listen to me for one sec–’
