While dogpaddling, Tony glanced up. “I’m sure they can’t see us now. You ready to go in there?” He gestured toward the building.
Jessica let go of the inflatable, and Tony dropped the ball inside it. Sophie hoped they would still be there when they came back out. They all swam around the corner of the building and under the old wooden door that covered the lake side. It reminded her of a garage door.
As they dogpaddled in an open area, Tony said, “This isn’t what my uncle described. Sure, some of this is old, but half the boards on the little dock in front of us are new wood.”
They swam to that dock and climbed up a ladder that went down into the water. At the back, stairs led from the right side of the dock upward to the chocolate factory. The three of them peered over the side of the dock to a rowboat tied up there.
Jessica said, “Okay, Ms. Detective, there’s a boat, but it’s an old one. I don’t think I’d want to be on the lake in it.”
Tony pushed on it with his foot, and it rolled from side to side. “She’s right. It’s floating, but it seems pretty rickety.”
Sophie saw a boat that seemed old but sound. “I don’t know. If it’s dry inside, that makes it a good boat, doesn’t it?”
Jessica said, “How could we tell if it had been used?”
“It’s empty, so it isn’t offering any clues.” Sophie turned to check out the large, rustic boathouse. “Let’s see if there are any clues in here. Spread out and look for anything unusual.”
Tony said, “Your detective team obeys.”
Sophie grinned. “Sophie’s team. I like that.”
Tony checked the back wall to the right of the stairs, Jessica the wall under the stairs, while Sophie stared at the stairs as she decided whether or not she should climb them.
Jessica interrupted her thoughts. “Team leader, this wall has old, cracked paint, so it’s been here a while.”
Sophie went over to see it. “That may be new wood that they’ve tried to make appear old. Mom once used paint that does that on something she bought for our house. You know Mom, she wants everything to be old.” Walking back toward the stairs, Sophie decided she would try them.
When she stepped onto the first step, Jessica hurried over. “Sophie, what are you doing? Uncle Sal said we could be down here, but he didn’t say anything about us going up into the factory.”
“Actually, my uncle said we could explore. He didn’t say where. Those stairs are in bad shape though.”
Sophie went up a few more steps then stopped and studied the next step which had a large, rotten-looking section. She stared up at the top of the stairs. “There’s a door. I’d like to see what’s beyond it, if we can get inside.”
“Uncle Sal made it sound like this area was sealed off years ago.”
“You’re probably right, Tony. The next step isn’t in great shape. I don’t think anyone has been here for a long time.”
Jessica went to the side of the stairs where Sophie could see her. “They might not be safe! Please come down.”
Even she wondered if she should go back down. She did want to see the top though. Sophie gently put first one then the other foot on the broken step. “I think it’s okay. I’m standing on this one now. I can keep going.”
As she shifted forward to take another step, the wood broke with a crash. When the wall moved swiftly by, she closed her eyes. She landed on her back on the dock. When she opened her eyes, she found wood piled around her and saw the splintered ruins of the staircase above her.
Jessica leaned over her. “Sophie, can you see me?”
“Yes. I’m fine now that I’m not falling anymore.”
Tony picked up a piece of wood lying on her and set it to the side.
She took a deep breath, then sat up and rubbed her arm. “Other than a bruised elbow, I’m fine. I am very glad I was only halfway up so I had a short fall.” She got to her feet. “I did prove that no one has used those stairs to get to the rowboat from the building.”
Tony shook his head. “We might have found an easier way to do that.”
Jessica kicked at a splintered piece of wood. “Maybe we should move away from the stairs, in case the whole staircase collapses.”
“Good idea.” Sophie took a few big steps.
Standing on the dock, Jessica said, “Why would someone repair the dock but not the stairs so they could go from the dock to the building above us?”
Tony walked the dock from side to side. “None of this makes any sense.”
A clunk from above their heads made Sophie jump. “Whew. Someone must have dropped something in the factory.”
Jessica glanced around nervously. “Sophie, the wood breaking and you falling made a loud crash. If we can hear them upstairs . . .”
Sophie hurried toward the ladder into the water. “We need to leave. Quickly. If there is a way in from the factory, someone could be here any second.”
They swam back out, found the inflated ring and ball in almost the same place they’d left them, and went back to shore.
As they dried off, Jessica said, “Maybe we should tell Sheriff Valeska.” She reached for her shirt and began dressing.
“You know what she’ll say.” Sophie, with her shirt on over her suit, straightened her shoulders and did her best imitation of the sheriff. “‘There is no evidence that a law has been broken. It is private property.’”
Tony held his T-shirt in his hand. “I guess I should tell my uncle that someone repaired the dock. But why would anyone do that?” He pulled on the shirt, then the shorts.
“Tony, we don’t know why this happened or who did it. Maybe we should keep it as our secret while we investigate for a few days. His not knowing means he can’t act differently around one of his employees, and he can’t tell the wrong person about what we found. If he did, that might put him and all of us in danger.”
“Our family is very close, and we tend to tell each other things, but I think you’re right. Let’s wait a few days, a week at the most. By the time the chocolate classes are over next week, we’ll have figured it out, or we’ll have to tell.”
Tugging on her jeans, Sophie said, “Deal.”
After Tony had left, Sophie said, “I think we can be positive now: we have another mystery.”
“A repaired dock for an old rowboat is strange. It does seem to be a mystery.”
“We need to be careful.”
“I couldn’t agree more, Sophie.”
“We’ll watch carefully every second when we’re in the chocolate factory this week. Let’s do everything we can to not let the criminals know that we’ve learned anything about their secrets. We don’t know who could be one of the bad guys. Except for Tony’s uncle.”
“I’m glad someone’s in the clear.”
Sharing Suspicions
SOPHIE WOKE TO THE scent of bacon cooking. Jessica’s covers were flipped back, and the shower was running. Moments after the water was turned off, Jessica came out of the bathroom, rubbing her hair with a towel.
“My shower helped, and I think I’m ready to face the day.”
Sophie didn’t say a word.
Jessica sniffed the air. “Is that bacon I smell?”
Sophie grinned. “That’s something that would wake me up too.” She scrambled out of bed, grabbed her robe, and slipped it on as she headed for the kitchen. She knew it would take her cousin a while to dry her hair, and her mother might want help with breakfast.
When she opened the kitchen door, Mrs. Sandoval was standing at the stove. She looked up and said, “Good morning. Sophie, please pour orange juice for everyone and set the table. Your dad’s home this morning, and I know both you and he love pancakes.”
A breakfast of pancakes and bacon was soon ready, a meal that Sophie always loved. Jessica joined them with her hair and makeup perfect and wearing a yellow and white shirt with yellow shorts. Sophie still had her robe on.
When everyone was seated, she asked, “Why the special breakfast, Mom?”
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br /> “I haven’t gotten to spend time in the morning with you girls for a while, so I thought this would be a good thing to do.”
“I feel the same way,” Mr. Sandoval said. “What have you been up to?”
Sophie and Jessica glanced at each other. Jessica took a bite of pancake and gave Sophie a look that said it was her job to answer.
“We went swimming yesterday.” Sophie bit into a piece of bacon.
After a sip of juice, Jessica added, “And we’ve been taking the chocolate-making class.”
“Dad, we brought chocolates home. You can have some if Mom shares with you.”
Smiling, he said, “I’ll have to move fast, or they’ll be gone.”
Mrs. Sandoval leaned over and gave him a kiss on the cheek. “You will have to move very quickly.”
“Speaking of chocolate, Aunt April, I noticed that your house is wood outside, and so is the chocolate factory. But everything else I’ve seen in Pine Hill is made of brick. You know Pine Hill’s history well. Do you know why?”
“Jessica, there’s a reason for that. The chocolate factory and our house were built by the same builder. He must have preferred wood.”
Mr. Sandoval picked up his cup of coffee, stood, and said, “I’ll let you solve Pine Hill’s past mysteries. I need to get back to my office.” He headed for the kitchen door and left.
Mrs. Sandoval stood. “Please come about noon, and you can go to the deli before working. I’ll give you money for that, of course. I have a project for you. This may be one you don’t like.”
With that, she sailed out the door.
Sophie said, “That doesn’t make me look forward to this afternoon.”
“Me either. But we’ve already cleaned out her storeroom, dusted, and unpacked boxes of new things for her shop. Maybe she said that to tease you.”
“I guess that’s possible. But Mom doesn’t usually do that.”
After the two of them did the dishes, Sophie went to take a shower and get ready. When she was dressed, she stepped out of her bedroom and found Jessica reading a book in the living room and her mother adding a book to an already tall stack of books that were crowded onto a small table against the wall.
“Mom, what’s all that?” Sophie stepped over to the stack. Behind the books lay two, big rolled-up tubes of papers with rubber bands holding them in place and a small, old box.
“The library has decided to have a Pine Hill history room. It was just a meeting room, but now there will also be shelves with things like these. The box is filled with love letters from someone who lived here a long time ago. I found those when I was asked to go in and give values for the items in a house that was going to be sold.”
Mrs. Sandoval tapped the rolls of paper with her finger. “One of those is the plans the architect drew for our house. The other is the plans for a large house on the far side of town.”
Sophie twisted them and found the one with her address. “Can I open this?”
“Sure. I’ve never taken the time to truly study the drawings. I doubt you’ll find any surprises.”
Jessica came over as Sophie rolled out the plans on the dining room table. “Check this out. Here’s my room. Correction: our room for the summer.” Sophie pointed to that spot on the drawing.
“Sophie, you already know this house inside and out.”
Mrs. Sandoval said, “That’s what I think too, Jessica. But you know Sophie. She has to look. In addition to the chocolate factory, the man also built the building that was beside it. I think there’s a photo of both of them in this old book about Pine Hill.”
She went through the stack beside her, pulled out the fattest book, and flipped through it. “Here.” She held the book open, and a beautiful building stared out at them. It was like many of the old houses in town, but fancier than any she’d seen with decorations all over it.
“The factory is simpler and reminds me of our house.”
“Yes. The builder lived in this house for years.” Mrs. Sandoval gathered the stack of books in her arms. “I need to get to the shop.”
Sophie stared at the pages in front of her. “I’d like to study these plans.”
“Sure. I’ll take them next week. See you ladies at lunchtime.”
After Mrs. Sandoval had left, Sophie said, “The drawing of the first floor shows everything as it is.”
Sophie flipped the page to show the drawing of the second-story.
Jessica circled her finger around one area. “What’s this?”
Sophie shrugged. “It’s the closet in our guestroom.”
“No, I mean in the closet.” Jessica tapped the spot on the drawing. “If those lines show the closet, what is this?”
Sophie leaned in closer. “There are dashed lines on the drawing behind that closet, but not behind my parents’ closets.” She flipped the page back to where it showed her room on the first floor. “And not with my closet. But there are a few tiny dashed lines in my closet, and I know that’s . . .” Sophie’s jaw dropped, and her eyes slowly rose to meet Jessica’s.
“That’s my hiding place under a floorboard in the closet. If dashed lines mean there’s a secret hiding place”—she flipped back to the closet in the guestroom—“then this might be a larger hiding place. Let’s very carefully go over every part of the drawing to see if anything else has those lines.”
After studying the attic’s drawing, Jessica said, “The attic doesn’t have anything like that.” Flipping through the stack, she added, “I don’t see the basement’s drawing here.”
“We’ll figure that out later. Let’s go!” Sophie headed for the staircase.
“I don’t have to ask what you’re planning to do.” Jessica laughed.
Sophie heard Jessica’s footsteps on the stairs behind her. Once in the guestroom, Sophie pushed aside hanging clothes and stepped into the closet.
“This is filled with old clothes.”
“It’s our winter coats and warm clothes,” Sophie answered. “When we actually have a guest stay in this room, we clear the closet, but otherwise this is where Mom has us put all of those things.” She rubbed her hand over the wall, and a line down the middle stopped her. “Jessica, feel this.”
Sophie stepped to the side so Jessica could squeeze into the closet with her.
“There.” Sophie gestured toward the area, and Jessica rubbed her hand on it.
“You may have found something, Sophie.”
Sophie stepped over to the wall and tapped on it with her knuckles. “It sounds hollow.”
“Would you know if something sounded hollow?”
“They say that a lot in mystery books. I can only say that it doesn’t sound like there’s a hard wall there.”
“If it opens, there has to be a hinge, and if the only opening is in the middle, then the hinge must be on one of the two corners where the back wall meets the sides. Maybe a flashlight would help, Sophie.”
“Good idea. I know there’s one downstairs in a kitchen drawer for when the power goes out.” Sophie hurried out the door. She returned quickly with a flashlight in her hand and pushed the button to turn it on as she entered the room. Then she stepped into the closet and held it up close to the line in the middle and checked both sides of the wall.
“Excellent idea, Jessica. The left side is solid. The wood there is very tightly put together, but the right side has a slightly wider opening. It’s tiny, but it’s there.” She handed Jessica the flashlight so she could see it too.
“That means either the middle or the side has door hinges, Sophie. Maybe we need to push along both of the openings to see if we can find the right spot to have it open. If there is a door and if it opens that way. Those are really big ifs.”
Sophie gave the upper corner a push, and the right side of the back of the closet swung back.
“Not anymore.”
Watch Your Step
JESSICA SHINED THE flashlight into the opening in the back of the closet. A spiral staircase made of stone wound down
and into darkness. “I bet we’ll find a creepy basement, and I had enough of those with our first mystery. Rats live in basements!” She shuddered.
“Remember this is my basement. It’s where our washer and dryer are. I’ve been in my basement hundreds of times, and I know there aren’t any rats in it.”
“That does make it more appealing. But have you ever seen the other end of this staircase?”
Sophie took the flashlight from Jessica and shined the light all the way around the opening. “No. I haven’t. Let’s find out where it goes.” Sophie took a step toward it.
Jessica put her hand on her arm to stop her. “Maybe we shouldn’t go down the stairs alone.”
“I think it’s safe. No one is down there.”
Jessica stepped in front of her. “Let me go first. I’m the guest here, so I won’t get in as much trouble as you for exploring without your parents being here.” The rough texture of the stones with the mortar in between them gave her something to hold onto as she stepped onto the first step.
As she took a second step, a spiderweb caught in her hair and covered her hand. “Ick! Sophie, there are more spiderwebs here than I have ever seen in my life!”
“I’ll get the broom from the kitchen. Maybe we can sweep the air in front of us.” Sophie rushed from the closet.
While Jessica waited with webs around her for what seemed like an hour, she hummed her favorite song, a happy one to take her mind off all of the spiders living here who had spun the webs. Sophie returned and passed her the broom. Jessica held it up in front of her and swept down all the webs as she thought, I won’t see any spiders here. She followed the steps downward as far as the broom had been able to reach, then swept it through the air again to clean another stretch of stairs before continuing.
The Chocolate Spy Page 6