The Alcatraz Escape

by Jennifer Chambliss Bertman

  Lucy’s shadow straightened. “Exactly! That’s exactly it. After this whole experience, I wonder if I’m really cut out for this writer’s life.”

  It surprised Emily that someone like Lucy Leonard—whom she’d seen sit on a stage talking to a theater full of people all riveted by what she had to say, and who could create a book that people like Emily’s mom went nuts over—could doubt what she was doing.

  “Don’t you enjoy it? Being a writer?” Emily asked.

  “I love it,” Lucy replied. “It’s challenging, but then again, the most rewarding things we do are often challenging.” She was quiet a moment, then added, “I guess that’s my answer, isn’t it?”

  CHAPTER

  32

  THE TWO SAT silently in the morgue waiting for someone to come. Emily scuffed her sneakers back and forth on the cement floor. Lucy checked her phone to see if Matthew had responded to the texts. But there was nothing.

  Finally there was a distant noise that Emily might have mistaken for a birdcall if she hadn’t known her friends had passed by earlier. “I think that’s them! I think that’s James!”

  Emily and Lucy jumped up, ran to the door, and pounded on it, yelling and rattling the handle. Then they were quiet, listening to see if anyone approached. Nothing. They repeated the process. This time Emily could hear her friends’ voices more distinctly, but it didn’t sound like they were calling for her or coming nearer to the morgue.

  “I have an idea,” Emily said. “I need something hard that I can knock with.”

  Lucy slipped her headlamp back on and scanned the light across the debris in the morgue. Emily spotted a loose piece of pipe and used it to hammer on the door in the pattern she and James used when they traded messages in their bucket pulley.

  Thud. Thud-thud-thud. Thud.

  She paused for a few seconds, then repeated the pattern.

  Thud. Thud-thud-thud. Thud.

  After doing this over and over, Emily started to worry that it was all futile, that she’d never get out of this morgue and she’d be left here stranded on Alcatraz forever, when she heard a far-off voice call, “Emily?”

  “Yes!” she said. She repeated the knocking pattern, and this time she and Lucy yelled at the top of their lungs, too, and Lucy rattled the door of the morgue.

  “Emily?” James’s voice was closer, and then it was right outside. “Are you in there?”

  “Yes!” Emily shouted, so relieved she thought she might burst into tears. “I’m in here with Lucy Leonard!”

  Emily was surprised to hear Maddie’s voice ask, “Why in the world are you in the morgue? And who’s Lucy Leonard?”

  Nisha shrieked. “That’s a morgue?! Are you stuck with dead bodies?! Is Lucy Leonard a ghost? I knew there were going to be ghosts!” she wailed.

  “I’m not a ghost,” Lucy called out, and Nisha shrieked again.

  “Nisha, it’s okay,” Emily called. “There are no dead bodies.”

  Funny that she was the one locked in a morgue, but was calming other people down.

  “She has the garlic in her hand,” James announced.

  “Well, we’re one step closer to making spaghetti sauce, but that won’t help us get out of here,” Lucy said. “Can one of you go find Garrison Griswold? Or a park ranger?”

  “I’ll do that!” Nisha shouted. Emily was sure Nisha was eager to run as far away from a morgue as she could.

  One of the windows rattled, making Emily jump and shout, “Eep!”

  “Sorry.” James’s voice came through the glass. “I thought maybe this would open. Hey, maybe one of my scytales can work as a lever!”

  There was a series of knocks at the window as Emily imagined James testing out the various cylindrical objects he had in his bag.

  “Your friends keep garlic and scytales on hand?” Lucy asked.

  Emily shrugged. “They like to be prepared.”

  Another voice outside the morgue said, “Dude, what are you doing, James? Are you trying to break in with a can of Cheez Whiz?”

  “Matthew!” Emily shouted, pounding the palm of her hand against the door.

  The handle of the door started jiggling, and Lucy stood up from the bench. “Is that a ranger? Griswold? Someone with a key?”

  “No, they’re not here yet. It’s me,” Matthew said. “I’m trying out my lock-picking kit.”

  “Lock-picking kit? Your friends really do travel prepared,” Lucy said to Emily, before sitting back down.

  “I thought you guys were together,” James said, meaning Emily and her brother.

  “I thought she was with you all,” Matthew replied.

  “It’s a long story,” Emily called through the door.

  “We’ve got a lot to fill you in on, too,” James said. “The main headline is that Bookacuda was disqualified.”

  “Disqualified?” Emily asked. “How? Why?”

  “Fiona and her mom, too,” Matthew added.

  This was news to her friends, as they joined Emily in a chorus of “What?!”

  There was a loud click and a creak and then the door swung open. Matthew held up a little tool in his hand. “Picked it!”

  Emily ran out and threw her arms around her brother’s neck. Lucy stepped out after her, dusting off the back of her pants. She raised a hand and said, “I’m Lucy Leonard. An author, not a ghost.”

  “Well, that clears everything up,” Maddie replied sarcastically.

  “So how did Bookacuda get disqualified?” Emily asked.

  “Well, for starters, he was the one who stole my bag,” Maddie announced. “And I’m sorry about how I acted with all of that.” She looked from Emily to Matthew, including them both in her apology. “I was really dumb.”

  “Thanks, Maddie,” Emily said, “but it’s okay. We probably should have been more concerned when you lost your bag in the first place.”

  Coming down the hill from the prison was Mr. Griswold, a park ranger, and Nisha. Lucy put a hand on Emily’s shoulder. “I’m going to tell Mr. Griswold I’m responsible for us being in the morgue, and you shouldn’t be held accountable for my actions.”

  “Why?” Emily asked.

  “You only followed me because you were worried about your brother—you wouldn’t have gone into an off-limits area otherwise. You should be able to finish Unlock the Rock with your friends.”

  “Well … thank you,” Emily said.

  Lucy started up the hill and called over her shoulder, “Good luck with the game, Emily!”

  Emily called after her, “Good luck with your book!”

  Nisha ran down the hill, passing Lucy Leonard as she stopped to confer with the grown-ups.

  “You’re out!” Nisha said when she reached Emily. “How did you do that?”

  “It seems ghosts are pretty good at unlocking doors,” Emily replied.

  “Ahhh!” Nisha spun around and ran straight back the way she’d come. Emily and her friends laughed.

  As their group walked up the hill to the prison under the light of lampposts, James and Maddie filled Emily in on how Bookacuda and his friends were responsible for the notes they’d received and were disqualified because of that, as well as destroying what they thought was a real puzzle.

  “What about Fiona?” Emily asked.

  “Fiona planted the bracelet on me,” Matthew said.

  “Fiona?! But it was her bracelet.” Even though she’d guessed the wrong person in Lucy, Emily did feel a little vindicated that she was right about someone having tried to set up her brother.

  “I figured it out when I was talking to Mr. Griswold. I knew I didn’t take the bracelet. But it had to get in my pocket somehow. When I thought back through everything, I realized she could have faked losing her bracelet on the ferry. People searched everywhere for it except in her own pockets. And then, when all those people were in that small office with Errol Roy, she could have easily dropped it in my pocket. It was light enough that I wouldn’t have felt it.

  “So then Mr. Griswold brought
in Fiona and her mother, and Fiona confessed. I guess she was under a lot of pressure from her mom to win the game. Her mom is a huge Errol Roy fan and aspiring writer. I think she was hoping if she impressed him enough, he might help her get a book published or something.”

  “Why frame you, though? How does that help her? That makes no sense,” Emily said.

  “Because she knows I’m the brains of this operation, of course,” Matthew said teasingly.

  “I should have realized,” Emily deadpanned.

  “It did disrupt our game, though,” Maddie pointed out. “I’m sure that’s what she was hoping for. Matthew would be disqualified; we’d get distracted and lose focus.”

  “We have one more update for you, Emily,” James said.

  Emily wasn’t sure she could handle anything else.

  “Maddie, Nisha, and I found and solved the third puzzle,” James said.

  Emily squealed. She couldn’t help it. All that time in the tunnels, she’d assumed Bookacuda had won. She was bursting with excitement to have another chance and couldn’t stop bouncing.

  “When we catch up with Nisha, we’ll fill you in on the latest puzzle.”

  Matthew checked his phone as they jogged. “Twenty minutes left to figure out the solution in time to win Hollister the bonus money.”

  “Twenty minutes?” Emily said. “That’s not much time at all. Let’s hurry!”

  CHAPTER

  33

  THE FIVE OF THEM gathered around a table in the dining hall. Maddie presided over their meeting, referring to Nisha’s notes.

  “The puzzle solutions we’ve found so far, in order, spell out IS YOUR MAN.” She tapped each word for emphasis.

  “Mr. Roy said we needed to identify the prisoner who escaped in his story,” James said. “It sounds like we’re missing the most important word.”

  Emily scrutinized the three words. “It looks like we missed the first puzzle. If you insert a name in there for the solution, the most natural spot is the beginning of the sentence.”

  “Yeah,” Matthew agreed. “You wouldn’t say Is your man Joe, unless you were asking it as a question.”

  “Which means the puzzle we missed would be before the jail cell,” James said.

  “But that’s where the escape began,” Maddie pointed out. “The clock hint told us to follow Anglin and Morris, and the entire escape began in their jail cells.”

  Matthew tipped his chair back and looked around the dining hall. “Maybe it’s a puzzle in this room,” he said. “This is where the game started for us, and maybe it’s where the men made plans for their escape, too.”

  Emily jumped up from her chair. “Roast beef!”

  “Seriously?” Matthew asked. “You want to eat right now? We don’t have time for that!”

  Emily shook her head. “Not to eat. It’s a puzzle. At least I think it is. Remember the prisoner who told us to try the roast beef?”

  Matthew sat forward, dropping the legs of his chair back to the floor with a thud. “I bet you’re right.”

  James smacked his hand to his forehead. “Miss Linden gave us that clue in the library, too. What are we waiting for? Let’s get some roast beef!”

  All five of them didn’t need to go to the counter, but that’s what they did. A woman wearing a chef’s hat stood behind a metal countertop. Even the kitchen had prison bars, which slid open to form a window for serving.

  “We’ll have the roast beef,” James announced.

  “Good choice,” she said. The woman slid over a metal tray with two pieces of bread and a piece of paper sticking out from the middle.

  “Aww, there’s no actual meat? I’m starving,” Matthew said.

  James pulled out the paper and slid over the plate. “You can eat the bread,” he said.

  They scooted down to the end of the counter and studied the puzzle:

  “Easy,” Maddie announced.

  She’d already written down five for the heart when Matthew yelped, “Stop!”

  “Why?” James asked.

  Maddie ignored him and solved the circle for two.

  “Some puzzles are red herrings,” Matthew said. “Before Errol Roy came in that office room and got mad at me, I saw the notes he’d read from lying on the desk, and I noticed there was a typo. Some was spelled S-U-M. I thought that was weird, an author like him making a typo like that. But maybe it was a hint, and not a typo.”

  “I bet you’re right!” James nodded. “The math puzzles don’t count toward his solution.”

  Maddie dropped her pencil like it might sting her.

  “I don’t want to rush us or anything,” Nisha said. “But we don’t want to run out of time if we want Hollister’s store to get the bonus money.”

  Emily studied the platform where Mr. Griswold had welcomed everyone and Errol Roy had introduced the game. It was empty now, other than the microphone in its stand. Hollister stood at the edge of the room, chatting with a security guard. Mr. Griswold and Errol Roy weren’t present. A group of people were still working on the jigsaw puzzle, one of whom was Jack. It seemed like a lot of people stopped by the table to place a few pieces and then moved on to find another task in the game. A group of three was sitting at a table working out a problem on a piece of paper.

  Emily looked back at the math sheet on the counter.

  “Do you guys remember what the first clue was? The one Errol Roy read?”

  “He said it wasn’t right,” James said.

  Emily nodded. “He did, but didn’t you tell me to pay close attention because he’s well known for hiding details in plain sight?” She tapped the math worksheet again. “Sum puzzles was written into his opening statement. He said it for all to hear; we’re just conditioned to assume that that word, used in that context, would be s-o-m-e and not s-u-m. Maybe he did something similar with the first clue, and was only pretending it was wrong.”

  Everyone considered this idea and tried to remember what he’d read from the card.

  “Was it I know what you did?” James asked.

  “I think it had secret in it,” Nisha said.

  “Everyone will find out your secret?” Maddie said at the same time Emily guessed, “What is your secret?”

  “Didn’t Hollister pick up the card after Errol Roy dropped it on the floor?” James said.

  “He’s right there,” Emily pointed out. “Let’s ask him.”

  “Hey, kids!” Hollister greeted them as they ran up.

  “Quick, Hollister,” James said. “Do you still have that card? The one Errol Roy read in the beginning? We’re close to winning you the money, but we need to hurry.”

  Hollister’s eyebrows popped up. “Someone else asked to see that earlier. Roy said the card was wrong, didn’t he?” As the bookseller spoke, he reached into his pocket and dug out the card.

  James plucked it from his fingers. “Thanks, Hollister!”

  They ran and sat on the edge of the platform, everyone crowding close to see. James read the card aloud:

  I KNOW YOUR SECRET

  “Some of the letters are different,” Maddie pointed out.

  “The O, Y, and R,” Nisha added.

  “Which spells Roy,” Emily said.

  “Roy? As in Errol Roy?” James asked.

  “Did we just solve the game?” Nisha said, entirely uncertain.

  Mr. Griswold entered the room and called out, “Attention, everyone! We have another team who thinks they might have cracked the case!”

  Matthew’s eyes widened. “How did he know that?”

  “Are we sure we did, though?” James asked. “The solution doesn’t make sense.”

  “Mr. Griswold didn’t mean us,” Emily said.

  Mr. Quisling and Miss Linden entered behind Mr. Griswold and all three approached the platform. Mr. Quisling gave Emily and her friends a stiff smile. He looked somber, like he was on his way to do something he really didn’t want to do. Miss Linden wiggled her fingers to them in a wave and did an excited shimmy with her shoul
ders. Mr. Griswold patted Steve affectionately as he stepped onto the platform behind them and crossed to the microphone.

  “Greetings, contestants!” His voice rang throughout the room. “Please come to the dining hall to hear our latest theory from a team of detectives. And where’s Errol Roy? Can you come to the stage to let them know if they’ve got it right, Mr. Roy?”

  Contestants filed into the dining hall and gathered around the platform.

  “Errol Roy?” Mr. Griswold said into the microphone once again. He caught Hollister’s eye across the room and said, “You want to check the office? Maybe he can’t hear me back there.”

  Hollister nodded and left the room. Mr. Griswold drummed his fingers on the microphone stand and said in a low, drawn-out voice, “Exciiiiting! Why don’t you tell us your solution so we can all wait in suspense together to find out if you’re right.”

  Mr. Quisling leaned to the microphone and said slowly and solemnly, “The solution we came up with is Roy is your man.”

  Mr. Griswold tilted his head, perplexed. “That’s a curious solution,” he said.

  Emily and her friends exchanged looks with one another, as the confused buzzing of conversations circulated the room. Hearing Mr. Quisling say it confirmed for Emily that they must be right, but what did it mean?

  Hollister came back alone, a frown on his face.

  “Where is he?” Mr. Griswold called over. His bright smile began to falter as he waited for the answer.

  “He’s gone,” Hollister said.

  CHAPTER

  34

  HOLLISTER HANDED Mr. Griswold an envelope. “I found this on the desk,” he said.

  Mr. Griswold slid a finger through the flap and unfolded a piece of paper, which he proceeded to read aloud:

  Dear Readers,

  You know me as a fiction writer. It’s what I do best. I never imagined I’d make money from telling lies—

  That’s not true.

  I imagined it, but not in a way where so many people would support and encourage me, and would enjoy my lies. I am forever grateful for having had that opportunity, and that you accepted my stories so warmly.