Alice-Miranda in the Alps (18 page)

The children entertained the adults with tales of Lars Dettwiller's museum over schnitzel and strudel. But it was the story of the secret beneath the building that had them completely entranced.

‘That's incredible,' Hamish said, shaking his head. ‘Why doesn't the Baron renovate his side too? It would make for a terrific attraction.'

Hugh scraped the last of his dessert onto his spoon. ‘My thoughts exactly. I wonder why he's never mentioned it.'

‘I think Herr Dettwiller has been working on it for years, Daddy. It would cost a lot of money to fix it all properly,' Alice-Miranda said.

‘Well, the Matterhorn Museum was fascinating too,' Hamish said. ‘I think all of you kids should take a look before we go home. There are artefacts from the first successful ascent of the mountain and parts of the rope that broke on their way down.'

‘Did they all die, Daddy?' Millie asked.

‘No, but four of the party did. It's no wonder, given their rope was only a bit thicker than twine. I can't imagine what they were thinking,' Hamish said, shaking his head.

‘I'll go,' Sloane said.

The others stared at her in astonishment.

‘You hate museums,' Sep said.

Sloane shrugged. ‘Isn't a girl allowed to change her mind?'

‘Of course,' Cecelia said. She noticed Caprice fidgeting with her napkin. ‘Now, Caprice, I've spoken to your mother again and she has to head home for some urgent work. I know that you were supposed to be going with her but she can't wait another day. I'm sorry to disappoint you but, until the weather clears and we can meet your
father and the boys, you're going to have to stay with us.'

Millie almost choked on a mouthful of strudel.

‘Oh, I'm not disappointed,' Caprice replied cheerfully. ‘That's the best news I've heard all week.'

Sloane and Jacinta exchanged horrified glances.

‘I knew we were going to end up with her,' Millie whispered to Alice-Miranda.

‘She's been fine today,' Alice-Miranda pointed out.

Millie gave her a look. ‘Leopards don't change their spots.'

‘What does everyone want to do after lunch?' Cecelia asked the table.

‘Ice-skating!' Sloane said.

There were nods all round.

‘We'll come too,' Pippa said, glancing at her husband.

‘I hope I don't fall over,' Millie said. ‘You should see the bruise on my bottom – it's so gross. First it was purple but now it's yellow
and
green. I'll show you.' The girl began to lift up her top.

‘Millie!' her mother exclaimed.

‘Eww.' Sloane wrinkled her nose. ‘You can keep your pants on, thanks.'

Millie grinned. ‘I was just being cheeky.'

‘We love you, Millie, but seriously we don't need to see your cheeks,' Lucas teased.

Sloane rolled her eyes and groaned. ‘Have you been taking comedy lessons from Sep?'

‘I think we might come skating too,' Cecelia said, changing the subject.

Hugh nodded. ‘Florian and Giselle have gone down the mountain for the rest of the day, so I think we can take the afternoon off.'

The group finished their desserts and headed down through the village to the skating rink on the edge of the river. The wind whipped huge flat flakes into their faces.

‘It's like having a floating slurpee.' Millie stuck out her tongue and caught a snowflake. ‘Just without the flavouring.'

The other kids laughed and everyone started doing it – even Hugh and Hamish.

‘Stop it,' Cecelia chided. ‘You all look as if you haven't been fed.'

The rink was almost deserted as the group changed into their skates and hit the ice.

‘Do you think the weather will clear up tomorrow, Daddy?' Alice-Miranda asked, the pair skating hand in hand.

Hugh nodded. ‘I hope so. Your mother and I would love to get up there for a bit too.'

‘Will the Baron and Baroness be all right?'

Hugh looked at his daughter. ‘It's hard to say. There has to be some logical explanation for what's going on. People don't just stop coming to one of the most beautiful hotels in the village for no reason.'

Cecelia skated up to them and took Alice-Miranda's other hand in hers.

‘Perhaps there's a saboteur in their midst,' Alice-Miranda said, thinking aloud. ‘There are lots of new staff members since we were here last time.'

Hugh and Cecelia looked at one another over the top of their daughter's head. ‘Stranger things have happened,' Cecelia admitted.

‘I hope for their sakes you're wrong, darling,' Hugh said, a grim look on his face.

But Alice-Miranda had a strange feeling. It was nothing she could put her finger on exactly, but she couldn't help wondering if foul play was to blame.

The afternoon passed in the blink of an eye. Before they knew it, the bells on the town clock were
striking four. Hamish and Millie skated over to the edge of the rink to join the others and hit the barrier with a
thunk
.

‘I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm going to head back and have a nap before dinner,' Hamish said between breaths.

Hugh nodded. ‘I'm with you.'

‘Look at you old guys,' Lucas teased. ‘I hope I'm not having grandpa naps at your age.'

‘Can we stay a little while longer?' Millie pleaded. Jacinta had been teaching her to pirouette and she was just beginning to get the hang of it.

Despite the cold, the entire group had enjoyed their time on the outdoor skating rink. Caprice had especially appreciated the chance to show off her skills. Everyone had admired her leaps and twirls until a younger girl arrived and began to jump and spin like a gold medallist. Caprice had stormed off in a huff, saying that she'd twisted her ankle. She'd made a big show of heaping snow on her foot and elevating it on the bench, but when everyone's concern began to wane, she made a miraculous recovery and put her skates back on.

‘All right, then, who wants to stay?' Pippa asked.

Millie, Alice-Miranda, Sloane and Jacinta raised their arms as high as they could, wiggling their fingers.

‘I think I'd like to go back and have a swim,' Lucas said.

Sep nodded. ‘Me too, and then I might have a nap.'

Caprice rolled her eyes. ‘I suppose I'll stay here with you lot. At least it's better than hanging out with my brothers. They don't even speak to me.'

‘Who could blame them?' Millie said, much louder than she'd intended to.

Caprice's jaw dropped.

‘Stop that, Millie, or you can come with me,' Pippa scolded.

‘Sorry, that was mean and I shouldn't have said it,' Millie apologised. She hated that Caprice brought out the worst in her.

Cecelia and Pippa decided to have a wander around the shops and instructed the children to meet them back at the hotel by half past five at the latest.

‘I wish I could do that,' Millie said as she watched Jacinta gracefully skate in a circle on one leg.

‘I could show you,' Caprice offered.

Millie looked at the girl warily. ‘Are you going to make me crash or something?'

‘Well, as much as I'd like to, I probably won't,' Caprice replied.

‘You'll be fine,' Alice-Miranda reassured her friend, hoping that was the truth.

In the past half-hour the lights in the village had come on and the clouds had completely enveloped the surrounding mountains. Alice-Miranda was skating on her own, trying to master a camel spin, with one leg outstretched behind her, when a figure on the other side of the rink caught her eye. She glided past Millie and Caprice, who actually seemed to be getting on for once.

Alice-Miranda squinted at the woman dressed in a thick black coat, furry hat and sunglasses. Her suspicions were correct – it
was
Frau Doerflinger and she was entering one of the cafes that overlooked the rink. The child was about to call out to say hello when she spotted Marius Roten heading to the same place. It could have just been a coincidence except that Andreas, the engine driver on the Glacier Express, appeared seconds later. Alice-Miranda watched as the two men shook hands before walking into the cafe together.

The girl's brows knotted as she replayed the conversation she'd had with Herr Roten. The man had told her that he didn't know anyone on the train, but that clearly wasn't the truth at all. More importantly, Alice-Miranda thought, why would Marius Roten lie?

Alice-Miranda pulled back the curtains, flooding the bedroom with light.

‘What does it look like out there?' Millie asked, yawning and stretching her arms up above her head.

Alice-Miranda turned around and smiled. ‘Acres of blue sky,' she announced.

‘Yes!' Millie exclaimed, pumping her fists.

Caprice threw herself back on her pillow. ‘Argh! I'll have to go back to Daddy now,' she moaned.

‘Oh well, all good things must come to an end,' Millie said brightly.

‘I suppose you'll have a much better time without me, anyway,' Caprice sulked.

‘Stop doing that,' Millie groaned. She knelt on her bed and looked down at the girl, who was lying there with her eyes scrunched tight.

Caprice sat up to face Millie. ‘Stop what?' she retorted.

‘I know you're just trying to make us feel guilty so you get invited to stay,' Millie said.

Caprice eyeballed the girl. ‘I guess you're not as stupid as you look.'

‘That was a horrible thing to say, Caprice,' Alice-Miranda chided as she ran a brush through her unruly curls. ‘Why don't you want to go back now? Your mother has already left to go home, so you'll get to stay and ski anyway. Isn't that what you wanted?'

Caprice's eyes began to well up.

Alice-Miranda shook her head. ‘Stop that, Caprice. No tears and no tantrums,' she said firmly. ‘Just tell the truth.'

Caprice brushed her eyes and sat up. ‘Well … I
was
mad with Mummy about the stupid show and I didn't want to go back home with her, but when
you found me I wasn't angry about that. My instructor told me I wasn't trying hard enough. And I was!' she said, scrunching her duvet cover between her fingers. ‘But she wouldn't let up and told me I couldn't enter the Ski School Cup competition if I didn't do better. I told her that was stupid because I won a race last year. So I took off and left her and skied over to Zermatt.'

‘She must have been so worried,' Alice-Miranda said.

‘I doubt it. She didn't even come after me, which made me even madder,' Caprice huffed. ‘I know Daddy will make me apologise to her and I don't want to. She's a big bully.'

Millie rolled her eyes. ‘Takes one to know one,' she muttered.

‘I'm sure you can sort it out,' Alice-Miranda said.

‘But I don't want to go back,' Caprice whined.

There was a knock, and Cecelia Highton-Smith poked her head around the door. ‘Good morning, girls,' she said, walking into the room. ‘Did you all sleep well?'

‘Heavenly,' Alice-Miranda replied, giving her mother a hug.

‘I was so tired after ice-skating I fell asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow,' Millie added.

Cecelia smiled and turned to Caprice. ‘I'm afraid I've come to deliver
more
bad news for you, sweetheart,' she said gently. ‘Your brother Toby slipped on a patch of ice yesterday and has ended up with a badly broken arm.'

Caprice's face paled. ‘Is he going to be all right?' she asked.

Cecelia walked over and sat on the edge of the foldaway bed, placing an arm around the girl's shoulders. ‘Your father has had to drive the boys to Turin. He's asked if we can take you home with us at the end of the week,' she said, rubbing the girl's back. ‘Would you like to call him?'

Caprice nodded. ‘Yes, please.'

Cecelia handed the girl her phone and Caprice dialled the number.

‘Hello Daddy,' she said. ‘Is Toby going to be all right?'

The others watched and listened as Caprice spoke to her father for several minutes.

‘How is he?' Alice-Miranda asked when Caprice hung up.

‘Daddy says he'll be fine but he's in a lot of pain.'

‘I'm sure he'll be okay. Kids break their arms all the time,' Cecelia said, giving Caprice a gentle hug.

‘You sound really worried,' Millie said to the girl, feeling a bit sorry for her.

‘Of course I am. He's my brother,' Caprice said with a frown. ‘Wouldn't you be worried if your brother was in hospital?'

Millie nodded. She supposed she couldn't argue with that.

Thursday morning whizzed by as Millie and Lucas continued their snowboarding lessons while the rest of the children, including Nina, hit the slopes with Michaela. They were all thrilled to hear that Nina's grandfather had been out of bed early that morning, looking better and brighter than he had in a very long time. Frau Gisler had been called upon to stay with the old man but Herr Dettwiller shooed her away only an hour later, assuring her that he would stay in the house tinkering with his contraptions.

At lunchtime Michaela collected Millie and Lucas and, together with the other children, they
met up with Hugh, Cecelia, Hamish and Pippa at a restaurant halfway up the mountain. Millie unclipped her bindings and stood her snowboard in one of the racks outside the tiny dark timber hut, which stood high on its stone foundations. She and Lucas had both decided they would keep boarding in the afternoon so long as Michaela didn't take them anywhere too challenging. ‘How cute is this place?' she said, looking around.

‘This is one of the original buildings on the mountain,' Michaela said. ‘One hundred years ago a whole family and their animals would have lived and worked here.'

‘It's just like some of those cute houses in the old part of the village,' Alice-Miranda said.

Michaela nodded. ‘Yes, exactly.'

Inside, the children were surprised to find that the hut wasn't tiny at all.

Cecelia waved from a long table on the sunny balcony that overlooked the village and had a stunning view of the Matterhorn. ‘Hi kids. How was it this morning?' she asked.

‘Amazing,' Alice-Miranda fizzed.

‘How are you getting on with the board, Millie?' Hamish asked.

Millie rubbed her bottom. ‘The cheek-o-meter says that I haven't had too many falls today.'

‘So, no more colours for that bruise?' her mother asked with a smile.

Millie shook her head. ‘I don't think so, but Lucas is going to have a good one.'

‘What happened to you?' Hugh asked the lad as the children and Michaela sat around the table and Cecelia ordered some hot snacks and drinks.

‘I stacked it getting off the chairlift and took out a whole row of Japanese tourists,' the boy replied.

‘Oh dear.' Pippa grimaced. ‘Bet you were popular.'

‘He sure was,' Millie said, playfully thumping the boy on the arm.

Plates of rösti arrived and the group were soon swapping stories of their heroics on the mountain.

‘Michaela took us up to a double slalom course, Mummy, where we could race each other,' Alice-Miranda said, grinning from ear to ear. ‘It was so much fun.'

Hugh looked up from his plate. ‘Who won?'

‘Well, it was close,' Michaela said. ‘I was very impressed with Caprice. That girl can certainly ski,' she said, winking at the child.

Caprice beamed back at her. ‘Nina was the winner,' she added, without so much as a hint of jealousy.

Millie couldn't believe what she was hearing. ‘Did she hit her head or something?' she whispered to Alice-Miranda.

‘Though, Nina should be able to beat me,' Caprice continued, flicking her copper-coloured locks behind her. ‘She lives here and can ski every day. Imagine how good
I
would be if I lived here too.'

‘And she's back,' Millie mumbled.

‘Hey, there are those guys that almost steam-rolled you the other day, Millie,' Lucas said. He pointed at the trail of black skiers tearing down the mountainside.

Michaela shook her head. ‘I don't know how that school survives. They never seem to take any lessons.'

‘There's a lot more of them today,' Millie said, squinting.

As the group drew closer to the restaurant, the last skier appeared to be struggling to keep his balance. He was up on one ski then the other before he lost control and tumbled down the mountainside, his arms and legs flailing. He came to a stop just below the restaurant deck and didn't move.

Hugh and Hamish ran over to him. ‘Are you all right?' Hugh called.

The fallen man moaned, then rolled over and pushed himself up gingerly.

‘Take my hand,' Hamish offered.

The man suddenly sat up and felt over his shoulder. He looked around, his eyes darting back up the mountain. ‘My backpack! Where is my backpack?' he yelled before charging off, up the slope.

‘It's okay, I'm sure we'll find it,' Hamish said.

‘He looks pretty freaked out,' Millie observed as the rest of the group watched on.

‘We should help him,' Alice-Miranda said. She and the rest of the children stood up and raced off the veranda and into the snow to search for the man's lost bag.

Several minutes later it was Sep who came up trumps. ‘Here it is,' he called, struggling under its weight. ‘Geez, what have you got in there?'

The man lunged at the boy and snatched the bag from his hand. ‘Give it to me,' he said, quickly pulling the straps over his shoulders and settling the heavy pack onto his back.

‘You're welcome,' Sep said, raising an eyebrow.

‘I am sorry,' the man replied, nodding his head. Beads of perspiration dripped from his temples despite the cold. ‘Thank you.'

With that, he pushed off and disappeared in a cloud of powder.

‘What was all that about?' Millie asked.

Sep shrugged. ‘It's no wonder he lost his balance. His backpack felt like it was full of bricks.'

The family and friends headed back onto the balcony to resume their lunch.

‘Gosh the mountains are spectacular.' Pippa pushed her chair out, soaking up the warmth of the sun on her face. ‘It's a shame we have to go home.'

‘Yes, it's an early start tomorrow, I'm afraid,' Hugh said.

Millie inhaled sharply. ‘Tomorrow! I thought we were leaving on Saturday.'

‘Sorry, kids, but it's all Cee's fault,' Hugh said.

‘My fault?' the woman protested with a laugh.

Hugh grinned. ‘Maybe not.'

‘Why do we have to go, Daddy?' Alice-Miranda asked.

‘Your father and Dolly have been invited to speak at a United Nations symposium on World Hunger,' Cecelia explained.

‘They mustn't be very organised if they've just asked you now,' Millie said.

‘Actually, we were told about it some time ago but there was never any confirmation. Then, out of the blue, a message came through last night,' Hugh said with a shrug. ‘Dolly and Shilly are meeting us back in St Moritz tomorrow evening. Cyril is now fit to fly, so we can leave as soon as we get in.'

‘And my locum has come down sick and is barely hanging on until we get back,' Pippa piped up. ‘So it's my fault too.'

‘That's okay.' Alice-Miranda smiled. ‘We didn't expect to have this time at all and it's been so lovely to see Nina and Uncle Florian and Aunt Giselle.'

‘Speaking of which, I'd better get down the mountain. I said I'd meet Florian at two,' Hugh said, pushing back his chair and standing up.

‘I'll come with you, darling,' Cecelia said. ‘We'll see you all at dinner.'

Hugh and Cecelia kissed Alice-Miranda and headed inside while the rest of the group worked out where they were going to ski for the remainder of the afternoon.