Meanwhile, Hilda had been startled when Miggi came to announce Inspector Letton's arrival.
"Twenty minutes early," she commented. "Very well, Miggi. You may show him in," and she quickly signed the paper she had been reading before shuffling all her letters together and rising to drop them into the basket. She had resumed her seat when the maid entered.
"The Herr Letton, Madame," and Hilda looked up to smile at the girl and welcome her visitor.
"Mr Barr!" she exclaimed in surprise and held out her hand. "I didn't know you were coming. That will be all, Miggi." With a nod she dismissed the maid, whilst wondering why the man before her had permitted himself to be shown in under another name. "Sit down, do, Mr Barr. Are you here with Inspector Letton?"
Barr smiled slowly. "Not quite, Miss Annersley."
The Head's eyebrows shot up. "What do you mean?"
"Where's Flavia?" he demanded abruptly.
"She's at Freudesheim, with one of our prefects," the Head explained. She began to say more, but, warned by a sudden prescience, refrained from doing so.
"How fortunate!" Barr said, still smiling. The smile vanished. "Get her over here. Now."
"Mr Barr, I'm afraid I really can't-" the Head began.
She was interrupted when he picked up the now unsheathed matrix-gun, and pointed it straight at her.
"Did you hear what I said?"
"Yes. I heard, but- I don't quite understand!" In spite of her attempts to remain calm, Hilda's mind was reeling. Barr was evidently not all he had seemed some weeks before, when he had returned Val-. Valerie!
The Head looked up again, and her eyes had turned to slate. "You didn't return Valerie," she said, her lovely voice harsh for once. "You kidnapped her, didn't you? Because you thought she was Flavia!"
"How clever of you, Miss Annersley," Barr whispered. "Enough talk. I want Flavia, and I want her now!"
"And if I refuse?"
Barr grinned, showing all his teeth. "You're a brave woman, Hilda Annersley." It was, almost word for word, what Leonie had said to her the day before, but there was a world of difference in the meaning.
"I know you won't shoot that," she said, more confidently than she felt. "I believe you're a clever man, Barr, or you wouldn't have deceived us all in the way you did. Shoot that gun- injure me- and you'll never escape."
"You're right," he said softly, much to her surprise. "I won't shoot this. For a very simple reason. It's not a gun." Slowly he turned the 'gun' and showed her the gleaming starstone set into handle.
In the office, Leonie rose as she realised a powerful matrix had been unveiled. At Freudesheim, Len paused mid-sentence as she showed the awed Flavia one of the three doll's houses that the triplets had owned in their infancy.
"What is it?" Flavia asked, uneasy.
Len looked at her. "We're needed," she said abruptly. "Flavia, now you must use your laran!"
The younger girl bit her lip and nodded. The past weeks had been difficult for her, as she had struggled to come to terms with her gift. She had even used it, a couple of times, in an experimental kind of way, but she had refused the training- except the little that Len, as a qualified monitor, was able to give. Len hoped, as she called an excuse to her mother- something about scrapbooks- that it would be enough.
