Fraud at Snowfields Read online

  Will shook his head. He was getting a headache trying to think about parcels posting and delivering themselves, containing what was believed to be in them without actually ever being packed. Or posted. Or whatever.

  He remembered that while he was here he should look for any signs of the forgers as well as any suspicious products or supplies of Bluerin.

  Lektriorer’s voice roused him from his thoughts. ‘If that’s all for the moment, I’ll take you to our canteen for lunch, and afterwards we’ll go to the facilities where we receive the basic materials.’

  That was fine by Will for he thought he might find some clues about the forgers’ access to Bluerin there. Perhaps they were getting their Bluerin right at the immediate source.

  After an uneventful and bland meal in the canteen, Lektriorer picked him up again and they walked to the edge of the village, to Cloudy’s large facilities. After they had passed through the entrance gate Will stopped dead in his tracks—and stared. The area was extensive. Lektriorer grinned and then led Will into the complex. They went down a broad path next to the cloud conveyor belt on which huge containers were moving slowly. Finally they reached the back of the expansive grounds. Here were wide landing areas with large transportation sleighs coming and going continuously. As soon as a sleigh had landed a goblin hurried up to it and transferred the contents to an empty container standing nearby. Then, with another spell, the goblin would send the container, which was resting on a small patch of cloud, onto the conveyor belt and it would slowly make its way into the village.

  Will and Lektriorer spent the rest of the afternoon walking through the facilities and Will tried to keep his eyes open for any clues as to where the forgers might obtain their Bluerin. But he did not see anything of use at all. In the end it was obvious that these facilities only handled the basic materials and he had not seen any sign of Bluerin—with the exception of the ubiquitous small storage containers the goblins used to recharge their wands, of course. In the end Lektriorer left Will outside the entrance gate and Will made his way back to the school just in time for dinner.

  ***

  Will was sitting in another completely boring accounting lesson. First there had been a very dry monologue about the importance of double-entry bookkeeping; then they had been given a long list of transactions to enter and, of course, when Will did the double check at the end, it did not break even. He could not suppress a sigh, and started over once more. Then he suddenly felt a lot better as he noted that even Sabrina beside him had not been able do it right on her first go. He smiled secretly, being careful that she could not see it.

  Finally the lesson ended with the most welcome chiming of the clock on the wall, and Will had even been able to work out his mistakes, so he now only had to write it down in a tidy way on a new accounts sheet as homework instead of having to do all the entries again, as most of the class had to. Only Sabrina had, of course, been able to finish the complete task by the end of the lesson.

  ***

  On Friday Will was surprised when Mr Worker took them once again into the production building so they could watch the work of the Bluerinics. This was a perfect opportunity for him to look for clues as to where the forgers might have got their Bluerin from. He looked around intently, taking in all the Bluerinics at the worktables as they turned Bluerin into presents. He did not see anything out of the ordinary, so he turned his attention to the flow of the Bluerin, to see whether there was a way to steal it from this room.

  He looked at the tank of Bluerin that stood right in the middle of the room. The Bluerin shimmered bright blue. But, except for the tubes that led to the worktables, Will could not see any way to get the substance out of the tank. He looked down intently, following the tubes. There were no interruptions as they wound their way through the room until they reached the first branch, where a much smaller pipe went off towards a workbench, and there on the bench was the only opening, a tap fixed to the end of the pipe. This was the only place the Bluerinic could get the Bluerin—he or anyone else who got access to the table.

  Will looked around carefully but there seemed to be no possible outlets except the taps and Mr Worker had told them that each of these was locked by the personal fingerprint of the Bluerinic who worked at the table, and no other person would be able to open it. So Will reasoned that this could not be the place where the Bluerin for the forgery was acquired, unless of course a Bluerinic was an accomplice. But that was something Will did not want to consider at the moment. Right now he rather thought the forgers had to get their Bluerin from somewhere else. He thought he should mention this at the next meeting of the task force.

  He turned his attention back to the others, who were just watching the Bluerinics in awe as they turned Bluerin into presents. He noted that Richard was standing off to one side and looked rather bored, regarding the others almost disdainfully.

  ***

  After the last lesson of the day, Will was passing along the corridor. He was deep in thought about the last lesson and the new moves with the wand they had learned. They were important moves for the spells they would need for their tasks with the delivery of the presents.

  As he walked down the corridor, he saw another student coming round a corner ahead of him. Will was so preoccupied he would not even have noticed the other student if he had not visibly started when he saw Will. He looked up and realised it was Richard, who was by then passing him without a word or any other hint that he recognised or even saw Will. He looked back after Richard, thinking it had almost looked as if he had caught him doing something he did not want others to see.

  Will went on round the corner and passed a place where a narrow corridor branched off to the left. It was darker than the one he was walking down, for there were no windows, only a few lamps lit. He walked onwards then he suddenly stopped as he realised what he had just seen. There had been a goblin down the corridor and he had seen the typical, distinctive glimmer of Bluerin! The goblin had seemed to be carrying a glass box full of the stuff.

  Will turned round immediately and tried to follow the goblin, who by now was nowhere in sight. Will broke into a run, going farther and farther down the corridor. He saw a junction up ahead and raced towards it. He could still see no sign of the goblin or the Bluerin. Then he reached the intersection and even as he was still wondering which way to go, he crashed straight into a figure that just at that moment was coming from the corridor to the right.

  ‘Oooof!’

  ‘Ouch!’

  Will stumbled away from the figure he had run into, and the momentum made him hit the wall. Then he managed to catch himself, stood up, and turned round to see whom he had collided with.

  He started. It was Beltorec!

  ‘Sir, sir,’ he stammered. ‘I’m really sorry, sir! I didn’t see you!’

  Beltorec turned on him. ‘What the... Who... Will! What on earth are you doing, young man? You can’t race around here, running people into the ground like that! What were you thinking?’

  ‘Sorry sir. I’m very sorry, sir,’ Will stammered on.

  ‘Well? I’m still waiting. What were you doing?’ Beltorec asked sternly.

  ‘Well, sir.’ Sweat was forming on Will’s brow, and not just from running. ‘You see, sir, I went past the entry of that corridor.’ He pointed. ‘And as I glanced down it, I thought I saw a goblin carrying a glass box with Bluerin.’ Beltorec looked at him in disbelief. ‘Then I turned round to have a proper look. I thought I could see the goblin way down the corridor, so I started to run. But then I lost sight of him completely, so I ran even faster. That’s when I ran into you, sir. Sorry about that, sir.’

  Beltorec did not look pleased. ‘I find that tale very hard to believe. What should a goblin do with that much Bluerin? And carrying it around like that? And doing so just here? Right in the middle of the school? Sorry, Mr Burns, that doesn’t sound likely at all.’ Beltorec looked down at Will in contempt.

  ‘But sir, didn’t you perchance see the goblin? He must have
passed here just before you.’

  ‘No. I didn’t see anybody down here—at least not until you crashed into me like a maniac.’

  Will could not understand why Beltorec would not believe him. The vice chancellor knew him. They were together in the task force examining the Bluerin fraud!

  He tried once more: ‘But sir, if you look at it in the light of this...project we are working on, especially as I also saw Richard coming out of the corridor and I’m sure he’d met the goblin—’

  ‘Will. Will!’ Beltorec raised his voice. ‘Stop! Stop it!’ He lowered his voice to a whisper. ‘We don’t talk about this in public! And stop trying to excuse your behaviour with this wild tale. Go, Will.’ He sighed. ‘Just go and get out of my sight! And I’ll forget about all this.’

  ‘But sir,’ repeated Will plaintively. He could not believe this! However, Beltorec was not listening to him anymore; he just turned around and walked away without even looking at Will, who was left standing alone in the corridor. He was stunned. Why would Beltorec react like this? Why did he not believe Will, did not even listen to anything Will was saying? Will did not understand it. Well, nothing he could do about it now. He looked down the other corridors that were branching off, but of course he did not see anything at all—no hint of where the goblin or the Bluerin had gone. He shook his head and went back the way he had come, walking thoughtfully to his room.

  Later on in the evening, Will was lying in his bed, still thinking about his encounter with Beltorec. It still did not make any sense—none at all. The only possible reason he could think of for Beltorec’s strange behaviour was the unlikely chance that Beltorec wanted to cover for the goblin. But how would that make any sense? No, it had to be something else. Perhaps Beltorec was just angry at Will. But why? Will was not getting anywhere with this, and he finally drifted off into a restless sleep.

  ***

  Will was sitting in another incredibly boring lesson about the Handling of Letters to Father Christmas. He supposed the subject was important enough, and it might even have been interesting, but the way Mr Parchmentinus taught it, it definitely was not. Will was beginning to nod off, then he awoke with a start.

  Unfortunately Parchmentinus noticed this. ‘Yes, Will? You want to add something?’

  ‘Er, no sir... Sorry, sir.’

  ‘What was it then? Hmm?’

  ‘Er, just an itch, sir,’ Will floundered.

  ‘Oh, all right then. Ah...where was I?’ Parchmentinus scratched his head. ‘Perhaps you can help me, Will. What did I just tell you?’

  ‘Ah, sir…. You were telling us about the handling of the letters to Father Christmas, sir.’

  Parchmentinus shot him a disdainful look. ‘That’s a remarkably poor answer.’ He snorted. ‘The subject is called the Handling of Letters to Father Christmas, as you might recall. Try to listen a bit for a change, Will, it might even help improve your marks.’

  ‘Yes, sir. Certainly, sir.’

  ‘Now then, class...’ Parchmentinus continued with his tedious monologue.

  Will sank back on his chair in relief to be finally off the hook.

  ***

  Late in the evening Will was sitting once again with the other members of the task force in the secret meeting room in the abandoned building. He listened intently to the others’ reports, but there was not really anything new.

  Finally Beltorec turned to him. ‘Will? Do you have anything you can report?’

  Will shook his head. ‘No, sir, not really anything new, just a thought I’ve had.’

  Beltorec nodded encouragingly. ‘Yes?’

  ‘Well, when we were recently observing how the presents were produced, I was thinking about how the forgers might get the Bluerin. But I’ve reached the conclusion that there’s no possible way to get the Bluerin out of the production building. The only place with access to the Bluerin is the taps on the working desks, and I’ve been told each tap is coded to the Bluerinic working at that desk.’

  The others around the table nodded in agreement.

  ‘Er, so I’d guess the forgers can’t get the Bluerin there,’ Will continued. ‘Do we actually have any idea at all where they’re getting the Bluerin from?’

  Nobody said anything. Will looked nervously at Beltorec.

  ‘Sir, there was one thing. Remember I told you about the goblin and...’

  ‘Yes, yes,’ Beltorec snapped. ‘That was easily cleared up. Now, it appears we still don’t even know where the Bluerin is coming from.’ He sighed. ‘We need to do better. So far we have next to nothing except hunches, rumours, and a few forged notes. Let’s hope we’ve got more to work with at our next meeting. Please keep your eyes and ears open.’ With that the meeting was ended, and Will headed back to the school building through the underground tunnel, feeling rather frustrated.

  ***

  Will was sweating. He stood in the middle of the model living room in the training area. Stunt and the rest of the class watched him from outside the room. Will could especially feel Stunt’s stern look on him.

  He had got into the room without any problem. Then he had managed to gather the scattered presents and was now preparing the spell to transfer them to their correct positions under the Christmas tree. As he released the spell, the presents shimmered blue and disappeared. Instantly they reappeared underneath the Christmas tree in an orderly stack. Will, who had been holding his breath, relaxed and wiped away the perspiration that had gathered on his brow. He thought he had done quite well. He turned around and walked through the nonexistent wall and towards Mr Stunt. There was an unreadable look on Stunt’s face as he glanced briefly at Will, although Will could see his lips curl in a tight, somewhat ironic smile. Then Stunt turned towards the class.

  ‘Okay, you’ve all seen Mr Burns’s performance. What’s your judgement?’

  At first nobody said anything, but then several of Will’s classmates raised their hands. Will groaned inwardly when he saw Sabrina’s hand shoot into the air, and even Annabel raised her hand, which could only mean he had made some serious mistake.

  Stunt pointed towards Wesley. ‘Yes, Mr Limerick?’

  ‘I think he did quite well, sir. The presents are all stacked neatly in the right place.’

  Will was relieved to hear this. So perhaps he had not made such a big mistake after all. But then he saw that Sabrina’s arm was still straight in the air, although she was straining to stop herself from waving it—which was hard for her, Will suspected.

  Stunt gave Wesley another tight smile, nodded once, and said, ‘Yes, the presents are okay. But what was the problem? The big problem?’

  Will froze. Big problem? he thought. What had he missed? He could not think of any major mistake. And Stunt had said the presents were okay. So what else could he have done wrong? He saw that only Sabrina still had her hand in the air. He could barely refrain from groaning loudly: now she was even waving it, eager to point out his mistake.

  Mr Stunt looked at her. ‘Okay then, Miss Bluetonic, please enlighten us.’

  ‘Yes, sir,’ she replied, completely missing Stunt’s irony. ‘He forgot to perform the covering spell before entering the room.’ She smiled, pleased with herself, until she caught Will’s expression, then she quickly looked down. When Will turned to Mr Stunt, out of the corner of his eye he saw that Richard was smirking.

  Mr Stunt looked back at Will. ‘Yes indeed, Mr Burns, that would have been quite a good performance if you had remembered to use the covering spell.’ He frowned at the entire class. ‘First thing you do before you enter a house or any area where somebody might see you, like a garden or some street, the very first thing you do is to cover yourself and anyone with you with the covering spell.’ Then he very nearly smiled at Will. ‘But otherwise, Mr Burns, it was a really good performance. The relocation of the presents was excellent.’

  He continued with the lesson. ‘Okay then, next is Mr Limerick, please.’

  Will stepped back towards the rest of the class, glad to have f
inished. He could have kicked himself for having forgotten the covering spell. But, well, the rest of it had not been too bad. He relaxed and watched Wesley struggle through the exercise.

  After everybody had been through the exercise, some doing quite well while others were not so good, they gathered in the briefing room. Mr Stunt summarised their performance, especially pointing out the main mistakes. Then he dismissed them and sent them off to lunch.

  Chapter 12

  Finally the great day arrived! Will woke up with a start, fearing he had slept late. He looked at his alarm clock and groaned: four o’clock in the morning! Still plenty of time before he had to get up. He turned over, trying to go back to sleep despite his excitement. At some stage he must have drifted off again, because he woke to the chiming of the big clock in the hall. Will heard the others stir in the dormitory.

  ‘Get up, everybody!’ Freddy called. ‘Today’s Christmas Eve. At last! The great day! We’ve got so much to do. We’ve got to go to the Plaza. I don’t want to miss a single thing.’

  And he bounded out of the dorm into the bathroom. Will grinned involuntarily. He could always rely on Freddy’s energy and excitement. But today even Will was quite excited. Freddy was right: it was Christmas Eve, the most important day of the year for Snowfields and the White Christmas Organisation. The day everyone had been working for the whole year—and they were going to be part of it!

  Will got up and followed Freddy to the bathroom, though a bit less energetically. He looked out of the window as he passed. It was rather dim outside, but, as he had been told, that was only to be expected. After all, Cloudy’s Transportation Service had to move in a lot of their cloud platforms so they could distribute all the presents. And as the platforms were in the clouds, the sky was filled with them.