Page 7 of Match Point in Crumbleton
‘Three… two… one…’ she whispered, before turning the enormous key. Except… it wouldn’t turn. In fact, it wouldn’t even budge.
‘What?’ she groaned, taking the key back out of the lock and staring at it. It didn’t look damaged. Surely Ruth had sent her the right one?! ‘Try again…’
With far less pomp and circumstance the second time around, Cath shoved the key back into the lock and tried to turn it. It simply wouldn’t cooperate.
‘Seriously?!’ muttered Cath, barging her shoulder against the door… more to let out her frustration rather than anything else. Sure enough, all she managed to do was bounce off the ancient—decidedly solid—wood.
Okay, it was time for Plan B… whatever that was!
Cath rubbed her shoulder and stared around as though the answer might be staring right back at her. Unfortunately, it was barely six o’clock in the morning, and she was in an unfamiliar town. There was no one else around. Perhaps the only answer was to give up, head home, crawl back into bed and admit defeat.
So much for an early start to the perfect first day!
‘Nope!’ she said, squaring her shoulders. She wasn’t about to be beaten by a faulty lock!
Grabbing the bunch of smaller keys, she started to offer them up one by one. After all, she’d just assumed that the great big one was for the front door!
Two seconds later, she gave up again.
‘Okay… okay, let’s think,’ she said, stepping back.
Cath had the Welcome Pack in her bag, but she’d already read the thing from cover to cover more than once, and as far as she could remember, there wasn’t any mention of how to actually get inside the place.
But… there was that list of emergency phone numbers. She could call someone. At six o’clock in the morning. That was bound to help her make friends… NOT!
Grabbing the pack from her bag, Cath started leafing through the pages, hunting for the list of numbers. The names hadn’t really meant much to her the last time she’d looked, but now as her eyes scanned down the list, she saw that both Ruby and Oli’s private mobiles were on there, along with a landline for the bookshop. Well, there was no way she was going to drag those two out of bed this early in the morning—especially after they’d been so kind to her the day before.
Maybe she should just leave it for now? Maybe…
Cath’s eyes had come to rest on a number for Heather. The name didn’t mean anything to her, but it had Crumbleton Bakery right next to it. At least she knew she wouldn’t be getting Heather out of bed. The lights for the bakery had been on when she’d walked past, and the scent of baking bread was a dead giveaway that there must be someone hard at work in there.
Grabbing her mobile, Cath punched in the number before she could chicken out. She wasn’t expecting someone who owned a bakery to help her with a faulty lock… but Heather might at least be able to tell her which of the dozen other names on the list to call.
‘Hello? Crumbleton Bakery, this is Heather…’
‘Oh, uh, hi!’ said Cath, wincing slightly at the nervous squeak in her voice. ‘Look, I’m really sorry to bother you… especially so early!’
‘Early? Ha!’ chuckled the woman on the other end. ‘And it’s fine, I’m just taking a breather. Now, what can I do for you?’
‘I’m Cath… the new curator at the museum. I… erm… I can’t get the key to work and…’ Cath paused. She sounded utterly ridiculous. She should have just gone home and then tried to reach Ruth when it was a more human hour rather than bugging random strangers. ‘Sorry, this is stupid, but I wasn’t sure who to call, and I saw your lights on and…’
‘Stop!’ said Heather. ‘And breathe!’
‘Okay,’ said Cath. ‘Breathing!’
‘Good!’ laughed Heather. ‘Now, you need to speak to my brother.’
‘Oh!’ said Cath in surprise. ‘Erm, could I grab his number…? Or maybe he’s on my list already. What’s his name?’
‘No need, I’ll go grab him for you now,’ said Heather. ‘He’s working right outside.’
Before Cath could say anything else, there was a load of rustling on the other end of the line, and then she heard muffled voices.
‘Hello?’ The unfamiliar voice was deep and decidedly gravelly. ‘Can’t get into the museum? I’ll be right up!’
Cath didn’t even manage to get a word out before he hung up on her. Heather’s brother was clearly a man of very few words.
Suddenly exhausted by the unexpected turn of events, Cath stared around, looking for somewhere to perch while she waited for her saviour to arrive. She couldn’t imagine it would take him very long to wander up the hill from the bakery, but there was a perfectly decent sofa right next to her! If she shifted the lampshade over she could just…
