by Kin Platt
This new cipher looked impossible. Also my eyes were seeing those A’s and B’s all over the room. It was like decorating the room with my own kind of alphabet wallpaper.
I wanted to explore the whole house next. That reporter Defoe had found Captain Billy’s log book and I figured something like that might give me some clues. But something stopped me from going upstairs. I just felt it would be kind of sneaky to prowl through a lot of things that really weren’t any of my business.
Instead I went over to the dummy fireplace to see if the two pro-football players were coming back or locked in, or whatever. I didn’t hear anything I looked again at that Ionic scroll that had triggered the secret opening. I didn’t touch it though. I wanted things the way they were. I only hoped it lasted.
That brought me back to the other mystery. How come everything about the house was Georgian except the outside doorway? How come the Murdocks used the Ionic order on the inside and the Doric on the outside?
I looked around. All the walls and doorways had the same Ionic order. The doorways flanked in Ionic pilasters, the walls broken at times by the same pilasters running from floor to cornice. In Federal, they dropped the order from the pilasters. And if they were changing over to Federal, the rooms would be oval-shaped, not rectangle. Instead of that great Palladian window upstairs there would be a curved bay. Federal was swinging away from the Renaissance style.
Early Georgian, and Federal all had high foundations so I couldn’t tell from that.
Also, how come they had the Greek anthemion outside?
I didn’t get it. Like Mr. Snowden once told me, it was pure Greek to him. I called Sinbad over.
“This house is trying to tell me something but I’m too dense to get the message. See if you can. Did you notice that Doric porch-front outside? That’s Federal and you know it! Especially with that fanlight!”
I had hardly finished the sentence when he was at the black door. I realized now I’d made the mistake of saying “Outside?” the way I do when I think Sinbad wants to go there.
Anyway I went over myself to see about the door. It was shining black with the severe geometric design of Federal doors. But a lot of Georgian and Late Colonial, too, had panels. And squares or rectangles, they all were geometric. In fact, the only doors that I could think of that weren’t really geometrical were the early Dutch doors. They had those weird “bull’s-eye” lights in the upper panels.
I tapped the Murdock door. It had a funny sound. Well, not funny, odd. It was too solid!
I tapped it and rapped it and knocked on it and then I scratched on it with my fingernail. Now I knew why it was so solid. It was metal. Black painted metal!
That was a new one on me. I’d never heard of a door in the Federal style that was metal. I examined the notched panels. I didn’t want to open the door but I had the impression the panels were more deeply cut on the outside. Then I noticed the lines of the panels were thicker than usual. They weren’t ridges so much as flanges. I got a good grip on the third row and pulled hard. I never expected all that money to fall in on me!
Money poured out on me in a heavy clinking clattering shower of silver and gold. I suddenly knew what it felt like to be greedy. I’d never seen so much money in my life.
The panel worked like one of those night deposit boxes they have on the outside of banks. Sort of like a chute. Or a slanted bin. Storekeepers who stay open late nights use them. That way they don’t have to leave money in their cash registers overnight and maybe be robbed.
But instead of a deposit this looked like I was making a real big withdrawal. I tried two of the other panels. More silver poured out from one. The other was jammed and I couldn’t budge it. I couldn’t open the top ones either. You had to be very tall and have very strong fingers.
Sinbad was splashing around in the puddle of coins, as happy as if wading at the seashore. I picked one up. There was a glittering pile of them now in the entry hall several inches high. I looked at the date. It was 1804. A silver dollar.
A silver dollar from 1804. I remembered what Mr. Snowden and old Peter Newbury at the coin shop had told me.
I could still hear myself asking: “What’s one from about 1804 worth, Mr. Newbury?”
I could still hear his answer.
“’It’s not “about” anything, young sir. It must be “it” exactly. And “it” exactly would be worth exactly twenty-nine thousand dollars! That’s what the last one of that year brought in auction. I’ve never seen that one, my boy. You bring that one in. you bring that one in and you’ve a job with Peter Newbury.’”
I grabbed Sinbad around the neck.
“We’re rich!” I yelled. He kissed me but I could see he didn’t have his heart in it. He wasn’t paying any attention to me at all. Then I suddenly realized what a dope I was. Because how could I be rich when this wasn’t my money? I was in the Murdock house. Naturally it belonged to them.
Then something else reminded me of my situation. And I knew why Sinbad was at the door and not paying attention to me. Outside a wailing siren came up close to the house. I heard screeching tires, slamming doors and running footsteps. A big searchlight blazed through the opening in the curtains.
Then there was a heavy rapping on the door. And a tough voice yelling from between clenched teeth:
“Okay. This is the police! Come on out of there with your hands up!”
I looked at Sinbad. This time he really kissed me. He knew I was in trouble now and needed love and affection.
Part Four
CHAPTER 39
An Unexpected Caller
“Don’t shoot,” I told Sheriff Landry. “It’s me.”
“Those two statements don’t necessarily go together,” he said, looking down at me and at the flood of silver and gold all over the Murdock center hall. The twin furrows in his face deepened. His yellow eyes became hot. He talked very distinctly without once moving his teeth.
“Unlawfully entry. Unlawful possession of private property. Petty larceny. Burglary. Housebreaking.”
He went on and on like that for quite a spell. I tried to tell him it wasn’t my idea about the unlawful entry. That I was brought here against my will.
“That’s not the way I heard it,” he said.
Then I remembered. I’d promised Minerva when I got inside the house I’d light a fire as a signal.
“Did Minerva tell you I was here?” I asked him.
He was busy stacking the money in boxes.
“Minerva? What’s she got to do with it?” he said.
“She probably got worried or mad because I didn’t light the fire.”
“What fire?”
I wondered what I’d said wrong now.
“Well, how did you know I was here?” I asked.
“Well, let’s see now,” he said, putting on a big frown like he was thinking very hard. “Just how did I know that? It’s awfully complicated. Sort of like all the charges that will be brought against you.”
“I was supposed to give her a signal.” I said.
“A signal?” he frowned some more. “No, she didn’t say anything about a signal. All she said was you and Sinbad were out in a rowboat and the next thing she saw was an empty rowboat. And she figured her father had nothing better to do than drop everything to look for a missing bulldog. Oh, yes, and you.”
“Yeah, but how come you looked for me here instead of the cave down in the bay?”
The Sheriff stroked his long nose. “That’s right. Now why did I do that?” he snapped his fingers. “Got it! I happened to remember that both the bulldog and the boy were pretty good swimmers and neither of them was stupid enough to leave an empty boat around to scare people needlessly.”
“Oh?”
“So it just occurred to me that you might have gone into the cave to try your luck with Jonah jaws.”
“You know about them, too?” I yelped.
He looked at me sadly. “I’d never have my daughter marry a conceited man. I’ll tell you t
hat much right now. Now how long would you guess that cave’s been around here?”
“Huh? well, a long time,” I said.
“And how long would you guess that I’ve been around here?”
“Same answer,” I said. I forgot he grew up here too.
“So, like my charming daughter, I figured that by some odd chance you didn’t get through the cave and past the Jonah jaws, and had to climb in over the wall.”
“Do they really work, Sheriff? The jaws?”
He looked at me. “I’ve got enough problems with real things happening without going into science fiction,” he said.
So he really didn’t know for sure, after all.
“Then I remembered if you got into the house somehow through the back of the cliff, that you couldn’t get out because the gate was padlocked. So I dropped over to a real estate office to get the key.”
“Only it wasn’t in the safe.”
His yellow eyes stared at me with that odd wolf look. “That’s a pretty good guess,” he said.
“It’s not a guess, Sheriff.”
He ignored it. “So I went across the street to see a lawyer—”
Mr. Pickering,” I interrupted, “who has the third one.”
“Correction. To see Mr. Pickering who has the second key. The only other one.”
I shook my head. He didn’t know. “His is the third key, Sheriff. Mrs. Teska has the first one. Or anyway she had. Up till tonight.”
He rubbed his sandy crewcut. “Oh, boy!”
“How do you think those characters got me in here?”
“I’ll bite,” he said. “What characters you talking about?”
“Those same two guys. That’s their car you saw outside when you came in. You know I can’t drive.”
“What car outside?” he asked patiently.
“Oh, come on, Sheriff. Quit kidding around. The big dark green Buick. That Riviera.”
He didn’t change his expression. “There’s no big dark green Buick outside. No Riviera. No car. Nothing. Period.”
I gritted my teeth and started to go look. “Save yourself the trouble,” he said quietly. “The only car outside is the squad car I just drove up in. Take my word for it.”
I knew the way he said it he wasn’t kidding. Was I dreaming?
The Sheriff whistled a big pink-faced cop over. A real nice guy, Clancy. He’s got hands as big as shovels.
“Take a look outside. Down the hill,” the Sheriff told him. “Maybe there’ll be a car at the bottom up against a tree. If not, look in the bay. It would be a Buick. Dark green. A Riviera.”
Clancy looked at me and whistled. “Not another one?”
I groaned. That made two cars I’d cost those guys.
They’d have to find a lot of treasure to make up for the ten thousand bucks they were out since they met me. I thought sure the blond man had set the hand brake on the hill when he parked.
Clancy went out and the Sheriff settled himself in one of those Hepplewhite hall chairs with the shield back. It fitted him just right. Also the “spade” foot, even though it was delicate. I mean it went with him because he was always digging at me.
“Now let’s get back to what you were saying about Mrs. Teska having a key,” he said, starting in to dig again.
“Well, Mr. Pickering said she used to work here years ago when she was a cleaning girl.” That spadeful didn’t please him too well. The next made him look even more sour. “She was better known then as Anna Myszka.”
“I know you’re too young to have been drinking,” he said.
“That was before she married Big Nick Murdock,” I added. “She might have got the key then.”
“Does Mr. Pickering admit she was Mrs. Murdock?”
“Not exactly.”
Sheriff Landry sighed. He shoved his hands into his pockets and looked up at the fancy frieze near the ceiling.
“Maybe you’re right,” he said finally. “And then again maybe you’re wrong. I don’t know about cornices and friezes and architraves like you do. I’m just a dumb cop. But I know there’s a thing called: ‘Let sleeping dogs lie.’ Did you ever hear of that one?”
I admitted I had.
The furrows in his face were deep and gave him a sad look. “The way you’re going, you’ll be uncovering a lot of old ghosts and skeletons in the closet. That could be dangerous. Sometimes things that are buried are best left buried.”
I wanted to explain that I really didn’t mean to pry into people’s lives, that one thing just seemed to lead to another.
But the Sheriff had a lot more to say to me.
“Now I’ve known you a long time,” he said. “Ever since you were born. You’ve eaten at my house and I’ve eaten at yours. In all that time I’ve never known you to do anything really wrong. Nothing that I didn’t do myself as a kid, or your dad, either. In a lot of ways, I like you as much as if you were my own kid.”
He took a breather there and I could tell this was tough for him, having to tell me all this. He pounded his fist into his hand.
“I don’t know what’s behind all this. I can’t read your mind. All I can see is you’ve gone off half-cocked and stirred up a hornet’s nest of trouble. You’re not Raffles and you’re not Sam Spade. You’re just a kid. Remember that.
“I’ve been running a pretty good police department for a good many years and you’ll have to admit I’ve done it without your help. I don’t like coming between you and Mrs. Teska but her trouble was the kind for me to get involved in. Not you, Steve.
“Now I still don’t know how you got in here and I’m willing to listen to your story, but it better be good. If my own daughter Minerva was sitting here with about half a million dollars that didn’t belong to her, she’d have to come up with a pretty reasonable story about it, too. Okay? Now talk.”
“I didn’t break in here, Sheriff. Even though I probably could have.”
“What do you mean by that?” he demanded.
“Through the Jonah jaws,” I said. “And that’s just a cave. It’s not like housebreaking.”
“And what makes you think that if you were able to get through what you call Jonah jaws you’d have been inside the house there?”
“Well, you know Minerva’s no fool. That’s what she thought. If I got through okay I was supposed to light a fire in here.” I pointed to the fireplace.
“That would have been another charge we don’t have you for yet. Arson.”
“In a fireplace? That’s arson?”
“Do you know positively that the fire you intended lighting in the fireplace might not back up on you? In an old house like this?”
That was a thought I hadn’t considered even. “Well, anyway, I didn’t.”
“Okay, you’re lucky. So we don’t book you on arson. Now you tell me you were brought against your will. By two men. Isn’t that your claim?” he looked around. “I don’t see anybody. Where’d they go? Up the chimney?”
I grinned. “That’s a pretty good guess,” I said. “Only not up the chimney but down!”
“What’s the matter with you tonight, anyway?” he snorted.
“Honest, Sheriff,” I said. “It was those same two guys I told you about —”
“The ones from Venus, or was it Mars?”
“The ones from Florida. One had a gun. The other smoked a cigar.”
He took out his black memo book. “What brand of cigar?”
“Huh?” then I realized he thought I was still making it all up. “Listen. They got the key from Mrs. Teska because they heard me tell her I knew where the treasure was.”
He glanced over at the money. “I can see you weren’t kidding,” he said, “about that.”
“But I was,” I said. “Well, not kidding but I still didn’t know for sure. Anyway this wasn’t the treasure I meant. I meant Captain Billy’s. This isn’t his.”
“Oh?” He looked surprised. Then nodded. “Okay. Then what?”
“So they came over to my house and pull
ed the gun on me and said Sinbad would get it if I didn’t help them get the treasure.”
“Too bad I can’t ask Sinbad about that. Go on.”
“They made a key fit the house and when we got in they told me I better find it quick or else. So I figured my only chance was to find a secret passageway. And I did.”
Like I said, the Sheriff and I are really very old friends.
So he has a lot of patience with me. Even when he thinks I’m talking through my hat.
“What secret passageway?” he said.
I pointed across the dining room. “That dummy fireplace,” I said. “The real one’s got to be on the end wall.”
He looked and chewed his lips a little.
“Then what?”
“So I accidentally found the way to trigger it. That Ionic scroll on the pilaster on the right,” I said. “It made the fireplace swing open. Then they both rushed down before it shut. That’s the way I hoped to trap them. After nine o’clock.”
“Why nine?”
“Because after nine they couldn’t get out of the cave. The inside cave,” I told him. “You know. Jonah jaws! The tide wouldn’t let them.”
“It wouldn’t, huh? How do you know that?”
When I told him I’d solved the cipher in the cave he looked like he couldn’t believe I was still running around outside a padded cell.
“You don’t have to believe it,” I said. “You’ll see. I got them trapped in there. And they can’t come out unless I let them. I’m the only one that can open that fireplace.”
He nodded and took out his gun and pointed across the room. The fireplace was slowly opening.
“Don’t feel bad,” the Sheriff whispered. “I was wrong once myself.”
He moved quickly to the other side of the room and signaled me over to the part that was swinging open. He stationed himself at the hinge part looking ready for anything with his big .44 gun leveled.
I held on to Sinbad and hoped the Sheriff would be able to get in a quick enough shot if those two guys came back mad over not finding the treasure.
Sinbad pulled forward excitedly. The first thing I saw was the green flippered feet. Then the shining black wet body, with the scuba tank strapped on back and the face mask. He came out cautiously, looked at the fireplace with great curiosity, then back inside the secret entrance again. He shook his head like he couldn’t get over something.