A voice in the distance behind her said, “Do you see anything?”
“Just more stairs. I’m still going down.”
“I guess I’d better follow you.”
A scuffling sound came from behind Jessica, and she was glad to know it was Sophie and not a fat rat. Finally, Jessica arrived at the bottom of the stairs. She shined the light in front of her. A room the size of Sophie’s bedroom lay before her.
Sophie stepped beside her on the last step.
“There’s a desk. It looks like an office, don’t you think, Jessica?”
“But why would someone have a hidden office?”
“Well, my dad always says it’s hard to get work done with people around. That’s why he likes to work from home. Maybe the builder found a way to fix that.”
Rolls of drawings like the one that had revealed this staircase were stuffed in one container. A desk, but with a top that slanted at an angle, was off to the side. A long table sat in the center of the room. Sophie walked over to the rolls of papers, pulled one out, and stretched it out on the table. “Bring the flashlight over here, Jessica.”
Jessica did as she’d asked and shined the light on the unrolled paper.
“This is for a house on a street where we trailed Emily,” Sophie told her. She checked another, then one more. “They’re all for houses in Pine Hill.”
Jessica took out a set of drawings. “This roll of papers is different, bigger than the others.” When she unrolled it and shined the light on it, she said, “It’s for the chocolate factory—I mean, the boathouse. Let’s see if there’s anything usual on it.”
Page by page, they flipped through the plans for the building.
“Here.” Sophie grabbed the flashlight from Jessica and held the light over it. Then she circled an area with her finger.
Jessica leaned over. “Dashed lines.”
Sophie nodded slowly. “We may have found another secret passage.” She stood up straight, tucked the flashlight under her arm, and rolled up the papers.
“I think we’ll need Tony’s help again,” Jessica said. “Uncle Sal will have to give us permission to search for it.”
“I agree. We’ll ask Tony at lunch. I hope he’s there today.”
Jessica turned in a slow circle. No door was in sight. “I wonder if there’s a way to get out of here. I mean, other than the staircase. Shine the light over here on this wall. The left side is the foundation of the house, but the right side should be your basement.”
Sophie shined the light as Jessica suggested. “It looks like a solid wall to me. But I have an idea. Jessica, if it was dark in here and light in the basement we might be able to see light coming through a crack. We’d know there’s a way out or at least a place we should check to see if it’s a way out.”
“That sounds like a great idea.”
“I’ll go out, turn the light on in the basement, and come back here.” She handed the flashlight back to Jessica and went back up the steps.
Jessica continued to scan the walls while Sophie was gone but couldn’t see anything. This whole place didn’t make sense.
When her cousin returned and was safely beside her, Jessica turned off the flashlight, sending them into complete darkness.
After their eyes had adjusted, light trickling under the wall caught their attention. Without speaking, the two of them hurried over and felt around on that wall. Jessica tried pushing, twisting, and turning everything she touched. A snap sounded, and the door swung outward, letting in light from the basement.
Sophie asked, “How did you open it?”
Jessica moved a small piece of wood to the right and left. “I happened to put my hand on the right thing, I guess. The bigger question is why you and your family never noticed that the basement wasn’t as big as it should be.”
They stepped out into the basement itself.
Sophie said, “We’re on the opposite side of the room from where the laundry is done, and that’s the only part of it we use very often. And the basement itself is kind of an odd shape. I guess it never seemed strange. This was back in a dark corner.”
Turning back to face the once-hidden room, Jessica shined the flashlight toward the ceiling. Two very old-fashioned lights hung there. “I wondered how the builder was able to see and work in here.” Jessica stood on a chair so she could see the lights up close. “These are so old-fashioned that they’re gas lamps. When the house was first built, I guess it had gas flames for light.”
“Come out into the basement, Jessica.” When she had, Sophie pushed the newly discovered door shut. “I don’t see how to open it from here, so we can close the closet’s entrance from upstairs.” She turned toward the basement stairs. “I’m surprised at all of this. I checked for secret passages in this house a long time ago.”
“Not many people can say that, Sophie.”
Sophie laughed. “I spent a lot of time around the fireplace because there are often secret places there, at least in books. But I never checked closets. That surprises me because after reading The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe, you would think I would have immediately checked all the closets. Anyway, I never found anything before today.”
As they came up the stairs, Sophie glanced at her watch. “Oh no! Jessica, we have to hurry to get to Great Finds. We’ll close the door in the closet later.”
They hurried out the door and toward town at a pace somewhere between walking and running. The girls arrived on time but panting.
When they’d caught their breath, they went into the antique shop. Mrs. Sandoval stood at the cash register with a customer, so they went to the other side of the shop and waited. When the customer left, Mrs. Sandoval handed them some money. “Have fun at lunch. I’ll have you help me rearrange some things when you come back.”
As they left, Jessica said, “That doesn’t sound bad to me.”
Sophie shrugged. “Me either. Maybe it’s something Mom doesn’t enjoy.”
“Your mother’s been very nice to us. We work and she pays us, and we get to have lunch out. I like that.”
“You’d like it even if she didn’t pay us because she keeps letting us go to the deli. Aren’t you getting tired of it?”
“I did for a little while. But then I started having a different sandwich every time I went, or soup. There’s so much to choose from that I’m not tired of it anymore. Besides, we usually see Tony there.”
When they arrived, they placed their orders. While they waited at a table, Sophie said, “Jessica, we need to share about what we found today with Tony.”
“Agreed. I’ve also been thinking about another way Tony might be able to help us.” At Sophie’s curious expression, she added, “This must be the most popular place to eat lunch in Pine Hill. He sees many of the people who live here and visit.”
Right then, he brought their sandwiches. Glancing around first, he then leaned close and spoke in a low voice. “Anything new on the mystery?”
Jessica said, “Yes and no. First, I have a question. The other students in the class are suspects. We followed Emily Foster, and she seems okay. I don’t think we’ll find anything unusual about Dylan, other than the fact that his mother may be driving him a little crazy sometimes.”
“Is there anyone else in class?” Tony asked.
Sophie spoke. “Mr. Pleckenpoll. He said we could call him Mr. P.”
“Oh yes, the friendly old man. He eats at the deli most days.”
“I saw him move more like a young man once, so I’m watching him. Tomorrow we’ll follow him.”
Tony glanced from Sophie to Jessica. “You’ve learned something, haven’t you?”
“It might be easiest if Tony came to my house tonight so we could show him what we found.”
With a serious expression on his face, Tony asked, “What might be easiest? Are you getting me in the middle of a mystery again?”
Jessica hesitated. She’d thought that Tony liked being part of their mysteries. He’d seemed happy when they swa
m under the boathouse. “Yes, we were. But if you don’t want to be involved, we totally understand.” She looked nervously over at Sophie, who also wore a concerned expression.
Tony grinned. “Just kidding. I wouldn’t want to miss a second of a mystery.”
“Not funny.” Sophie pushed on his arm. “Do you think you can be at my house at seven o’clock tonight?”
“It will have to be earlier than that. We have a family dinner tonight, and those always last a long time. Could I come over this afternoon after my shift at the deli?”
Jessica thought about it. “We’re usually off at about three thirty or four. If you want to come by the shop about then, we can walk to Sophie’s house together.”
“That’s works for me.” Tony started toward the counter.
Sophie added. “Come early and help at Great Finds.”
He stopped at those words and turned back.
Sophie grinned. “Just kidding. See what happens when you tease me?”
Tony laughed. “I’ll see you later.”
A Way Out
WHEN THEY FINISHED their work for the day a little sooner than expected, Sophie and Jessica waited for Tony outside Great Finds. Sophie took a pad of paper and a pen out of her backpack. “Let’s use this time and make a list of possible suspects.”
“Everyone in the class, except maybe Emily.”
Sophie wrote down the names. “And Mrs. Clayton. I don’t want to put Uncle Sal on the list.”
“No. I think he’s honest. We don’t know the names of the people who work there. Some of them seem kind of rough and tough.”
“I noticed that too. I’ll write ‘workers.’ We must be missing people because I don’t see many real suspects on this list.”
“That’s true. We usually have suspicious people.” Jessica bounced on her toes. “But I’m so glad I don’t have to keep the secret from Tony this time. We’ve brought him into the mystery.”
Sophie laughed. “Keep the secret?”
“I may have let a few facts slip in the past.”
“A few?”
Jessica blushed. “More than a few, I admit. I’m not good with secrets. I try to be, but sometimes things slip out.”
“I have to say that you’ve done well with everyone but Tony. This summer we’ve had some big secrets.”
As Tony walked up to them, he said, “I have just over an hour before I have to be home.”
They started toward Sophie’s house at a brisk pace.
“Sophie, you don’t have to run. Why don’t you tell me about what I’m going to see.”
She said, “If I described it, you’d think I’d dreamed it. We’ll be there soon.”
Jessica panted. “Sooner than usual.” She gasped for air. “Can we slow down a little?”
Sophie eased off. But when they could see her house through the trees, she moved faster again.
Once inside, she grabbed the flashlight out of the kitchen drawer. With Tony and Jessica behind her, she hurried upstairs and into the guest room. Pointing at the closet, she said, “In there.”
Tony leaned over to see inside the closet. “Winter coats?”
Sophie groaned. “Behind the coats. Here.” She handed Tony the flashlight.
The sound of the flashlight turning on came only seconds before he said, “This can’t be real!”
Sophie gestured toward the opening. “Let’s go downstairs.”
He stepped back out. “It’s still a real staircase? The stairs go somewhere hidden?”
“That’s what I wondered,” Jessica answered. “When you see it, everything will make sense. Sort of. I’m still not sure why anyone would work in a basement.”
Tony stepped into the closet and started down the stairs with the two girls close behind. At the bottom he paused. “Now I understand what you meant, Jessica. Did you find clues to whose office it was?”
“Mom gave us the clues we needed before we found it. The builder of this house lived here for a while.”
“That makes sense. So those are house plans?” He pointed to the rolls of paper.
“Houses. Plus the boathouse.”
He turned toward Sophie. “Seriously? Uncle Sal loves history. He’s going be thrilled to have the original drawings for the factory.”
When silence greeted him, he asked, “What aren’t you telling me?”
“Let’s show him the drawings, Jessica.”
They went over to the table and first spread out the plans for Sophie’s house and then for the factory. Shining the light on them, Sophie explained about the closet upstairs and the dashed lines. Then she opened the plans for the factory and showed him similar lines.
“You believe there’s a secret passage in the Sweet Bites building?” He laughed. “I don’t think that would have been missed all this time.”
Sophie didn’t say a word; she just gestured toward the stairs they’d come down.
When Tony looked that direction, he said, “You’re right. You probably want me to ask Uncle Sal about trying to find this, don’t you?”
“But we need to protect him and not say what we’re searching for in case it’s tied to the mystery. Our mysteries usually become dangerous.”
“I know that’s a fact.” He paused. “I can ask to explore the building.”
Sophie said, “I think we should do this when no one else is there.”
“He goes to work very early, even on Saturday. He says he likes the quiet. Let’s meet at six o’clock.”
“Tonight?” Jessica asked with a hopeful tone in her voice.
“Tomorrow morning.”
Jessica groaned.
EARLY SATURDAY MORNING, they got ready to go. After Jessica had showered, she stood in front of the mirror with her hair combed, but wet. Instead of drying and styling it, then putting on makeup, she pulled her hair back in a ponytail and turned toward the bedroom door. Sophie almost fell on the floor in shock.
Jessica only spoke one word after getting out of bed: “Chocolate.” Sophie had assumed that meant her cousin needed a piece of one of her favorite foods to help her wake up, so she’d gone to the kitchen to find the two small boxes of chocolates they’d been given and brought home. They’d eaten a piece out of each box the day before. Both now sat open and empty on the kitchen counter. Her mother wasn’t kidding when she said she loved chocolate.
Sophie put some of Jessica’s makeup in her cousin’s purse. Once she was fully awake, she’d realize her mistake and might be upset. Then Sophie grabbed the page with the dashed lines on it from the roll of plans for the boathouse, folded it, and put it into her backpack. They walked to town in silence.
Tony was waiting in the open doorway of Sweet Bites with a paper sack in his hand when they arrived. “Good morning.”
Jessica shook her head from side to side.
“Not a good morning? Is this Jessica every day?”
“Not every day. Mornings aren’t her best time,” Sophie explained. “Plus, this is the earliest we’ve had to get up this summer. I think she needs chocolate.”
“I brought muffins from Bananas.” He held up the bag. “Uncle Sal’s back in his office. The door will lock when I close it.” He opened the door wider so the girls could enter, then closed it behind them.
Once inside, Tony went straight toward the chocolate storage area, and they followed him. “Let’s get Jessica a piece of chocolate and see if that revives her. We can all eat muffins after that.”
In the room, Jessica took a deep breath. “I feel better already.” She used tongs to take a piece of dark chocolate off a stack and popped it into her mouth. Pure happiness crossed her face. “If you give me a few minutes, I think I’ll be fine.”
Tony laughed. “You might need for your parents to buy a chocolate factory, Jessica.”
“That’s an amazingly great idea. I’ll tell my mom and dad—when I finally get to see them again,” she added with a sad voice.
Back in the entryway, Tony opened the bag of muffins and held it
in front of Sophie. “I think I chose good ones for everyone.”
“Mine must be the blueberry-banana muffin.”
Jessica picked the chocolate chip–banana. “Very wise, Tony. Thank you.”
“I now know you like chocolate.” He reached into the bag and pulled out the last muffin. “I love Mrs. Bowman’s banana-walnut.” He crunched the bag into a ball and tossed it into the trash can.
Sophie finished her muffin first and brushed crumbs off her hands.
When Jessica finished her muffin, she seemed to be more herself. She touched her face and hair. “I forgot my makeup, and my hair is like yours, Sophie!”
“I can’t help with your hair, but I put your makeup in your purse. What’s wrong with my hair?”
“It’s perfect on you. But it isn’t me. Thanks for bringing my makeup.”
Tony said, “You don’t need it, you know. You’re pretty without makeup.”
Jessica smiled from ear to ear. “Thank you. Since you said that, I’ll wait to put it on until we’re done with our search. We have work to do.”
Tony led them down the hall, took a turn at the end, went down another hallway, up steps to the left, and entered an office. “From the drawings, I think this could be the room.”
Sophie tried to spread out the builder’s drawing on a woman’s desk, but it was too cluttered with papers and other things. She straightened up what she’d accidentally moved, then set the drawing on the floor and kneeled down to review it.
“I brought this because I thought it might give us clues. But studying it here, I’m realizing that all we know is that there are dotted lines on the left side of the building, toward the back, exactly where we are. The wall has been painted many times over the years. I wonder if it’s been sealed over and the opening will be impossible to find.”
“I’m surprised. You aren’t usually so negative, Sophie,” Tony said.
Sophie took a deep breath and gave the drawings another glance before speaking. “You’re right. Let’s find this,” she said louder as she rose to her feet.
They checked along the wall, but it was smooth.
Tony said, “I have to agree with you on this one, Sophie. If there used to be a secret passage on this wall, at some point it was painted or boarded over. Let’s try another room.” The three of them went out the door, down the hall, turned a corner, and turned another corner.
The Chocolate Spy Page 7