by Ron Roy
KC saw an empty birdcage hanging in front of one of the windows. “Was that for a bird?” she asked Mrs. Cross.
“Yes, he had a pet mockingbird named Dick,” she explained. “When he was alone, he’d open the cage and let Dick fly about. In his diary, President Jefferson wrote that Dick often sat on his shoulder and kept him company.”
Marshall pointed to a fishing rod leaning in a corner of the bedroom. “Did he like to fish?” he asked.
“Indeed,” Mrs. Cross said. “He said fishing helped him think. There’s a little stream in the woods where he’d spend quiet moments when he had time.”
“Speaking of time, I’m afraid we have to go,” Lois said. “Thank you so much for showing us around this beautiful home.”
Mrs. Cross made a small bow. “My pleasure,” she said. She led Lois and the kids toward the front door.
“Wait, I want to say good-bye to the horses,” KC said. She walked over to the glass case and pulled back the cloth.
The case was empty.
“Mom!” KC yelled. “Come here!”
Lois, Marshall, and Mrs. Cross hurried over. They all stared at an empty case. The Jefferson horses were gone!
“Maybe Dr. Spender put them somewhere else for tonight,” Mrs. Cross said. She moved quickly toward his office.
KC tried to lift the top of the glass case. “It’s still locked,” she said.
Dr. Spender and Mrs. Peeps came running. She was holding a pen and a notebook. He had removed his jacket and rolled up his sleeves.
They stopped abruptly at the empty glass case. “My goodness!” Dr. Spender said. He blinked several times.
“Dr. Spender, you didn’t take the box out of the case?” Lois asked.
He shook his head. “Of course not!”
“Well, somebody did!” Mrs. Cross sputtered.
“But the case was locked!” Dr. Spender said. He tried to lift the top, as KC had done.
“Dr. Spender, where are your keys?” Mrs. Peeps asked.
Dr. Spender ran back to his office. He returned carrying his suit jacket. He pulled the ring of keys from his pocket. Selecting the smallest key, he unlocked the glass case and lifted the top.
“This key has not left my pocket since I locked the case a half hour ago,” the curator said. Blink, blink went his eyes.
“Then someone must have another key,” Lois said.
“I doubt it, but I will ask Mr. Tea,” Dr. Spender said. “He’s the one who gave me this key.”
“Can you call him?” Lois asked.
“I’m afraid he’s away,” Mrs. Peeps said. “Don’t you remember you asked him to buy a new lock for the basement door?”
Dr. Spender blinked. “I did? Oh well, I must have,” he said. “I’ll speak to Mr. Tea as soon as he returns. But now I think we should shut the building down and search every room. Mrs. Thornton, I am terribly sorry, but I promise you everything will be done to find those horses.”
“I’m sure it will,” Lois said. “Come on, kids, we should head over to the bed-and-breakfast.”
KC stared at the empty case. It didn’t seem possible, but someone had opened it and stolen the horses while they were on the tour.
“Dr. Spender, was the front door unlocked?” KC asked.
“Um, when do you mean, dear?” he said, blinking once again.
“While you and Mrs. Peeps were in your office,” she said. “And when Mrs. Cross took us upstairs.”
“Why, yes,” Dr. Spender said. “The door is always open for guests.”
“So someone could have walked in and stolen the horses!” Marshall said.
Dr. Spender blinked about ten times. “Perhaps,” he muttered. “I suppose someone could have come in, lifted the cloth out of curiosity, and then—”
“But you’re forgetting about the key,” Mrs. Peeps said, interrupting her boss. “How could a stranger open the locked case without the key?”
4
Spike Takes a Hike
“Arnold, something awful happened!” KC cried as she jumped into the car’s backseat. “The horses got stolen!”
Arnold whipped around in the front seat. “You’re kidding, right?”
KC’s mom slid in next to Arnold and Marshall joined KC in the back. “No, I’m afraid it’s true,” Lois said. She quickly explained how the chest and the twelve horses had disappeared while they were on the tour.
“Did you see anyone enter or leave the house when you were waiting for us?” KC asked Arnold.
He shook his head. “I took a little walk down by the woods,” he said. “I sat by a stream till just a few minutes ago. All I saw were bugs and squirrels.”
KC crossed her arms and slumped in the backseat. Who had a second key? she wondered. Dr. Spender said he got his key from the security guard, Mr. Tea. Had the guard kept a key for himself?
KC saw a streak of lightning outside the car. Seconds later, she heard the low rumble of distant thunder.
“Looks like rain,” Arnold said. He craned his neck to look at the sky.
“Please take us over to the bed-and-breakfast, and then you can go back to the White House,” Lois told him. “We’ll call a taxi to come back here tomorrow.”
Arnold started the engine and slowly drove away from Monticello.
“What’s going on here tomorrow?” KC asked her mother.
“Well, I was supposed to give a speech at a little ceremony,” Lois said. “One of Thomas Jefferson’s relatives is coming. Turning over the horses was supposed to be a big deal.” Lois sighed. “But now I don’t know what will happen.”
Fat raindrops splattered on the windshield, and Arnold flipped on the wipers. By the time they reached the Virginia House bed-and-breakfast, rain was falling steadily. Arnold took Lois’s and KC’s bags from the trunk and set them on the porch. Marshall grabbed his pack and scampered toward the porch as thunder crashed.
Arnold climbed back in the car, tooted the horn, and pulled away.
The Virginia House was a small cottage. A low white fence surrounded the front yard. Wet rose blossoms flopped over the pickets.
Thunder boomed again as a smiling woman threw open the door. “Hello, and welcome!” she said. “I’m Norma Bates. Please come inside where it’s dry.”
Lois and the kids walked into a room filled with plump sofas and chairs, a fireplace, and shelves of games and books.
“I’ll light a nice fire for you after you’re settled,” Norma Bates said. She led them upstairs to their bedrooms. Marshall had a room of his own, next to the one KC and her mom were staying in.
“You have your own bathroom,” Norma told Lois and KC. “But this young man will share the one across the hall with another guest. I’ll be downstairs if you need me.”
“Good, now I’m going to call Zachary, then take a nap,” Lois said. “Suddenly I have a terrible headache.”
KC emptied her backpack onto her bed. She’d brought a change of clothes, a Swiss Army knife, and a small flashlight. For reading, she had her book of presidents and a mystery called Danger in Deep Water.
KC walked into the hall and knocked on Marshall’s door. Suddenly the door was yanked open. “Don’t move!” Marshall barked at her. “Spike got loose!”
Marshall’s black tarantula zipped between KC’s feet. She screeched and jumped out of the way. Spike crawled across the hallway and scurried under the bathroom door. Marshall charged after his tarantula.
KC heard Marshall talking to Spike through the door.
Then the door opened and a tall man barged out. He was wearing a T-shirt, and KC saw a tattoo on one muscled arm. He looked at KC and shook his head. “A guy can’t even brush his teeth without being attacked by giant spiders,” he mumbled.
The man had curly black hair and very pale skin. His eyes were the lightest blue KC had ever seen.
“Did my friend catch him?” KC asked the man.
“He’d better,” the man muttered as he stomped into the room next to Marshall’s.
A moment
later, Marshall came out of the bathroom with Spike cupped in his hands. KC saw hairy legs wiggling between Marshall’s fingers.
“How’d Spike get out of his jar?” KC asked. She followed Marshall into his room.
“I was letting him get some exercise on my bed,” Marshall said. “He decided to go exploring, I guess.”
“If he comes exploring in my room, you’ll have to deal with my mom,” KC said, trying not to smile.
“Don’t worry, Spike is pretty smart,” Marshall said. “He wouldn’t just go up and bite someone.”
KC laughed. “Too bad the guy in the bathroom didn’t know that!”
Marshall grinned. “You should’ve seen him!” he said. “He jumped about ten feet when he noticed Spike. The guy’s face turned as white as the sink and his eyes almost popped out!”
KC laughed as she pictured the man’s face. Actually, there was something familiar about him. Had she seen him somewhere before?
“Let’s go downstairs and play Scrabble,” Marshall suggested. He dropped Spike back into his jar.
“Make sure the lid is on tight,” KC said. She watched as he screwed it shut.
“Picky, picky,” Marshall said.
In the living room, Marshall set up the Scrabble board while KC paced.
“I’ve been thinking, Marsh. What if there were two glass cases, exactly alike?” she asked. “The crook could have stolen the case with the horses in it and replaced it with an empty case. Then he wouldn’t have needed the key.”
“KC, the horses got taken while we were upstairs with Mrs. Cross,” Marshall reminded her. “It was only about twenty minutes. How would the crook have made the switch? Where was the other glass case hidden? And where did he hide the one with the horses in it?”
“I don’t know,” KC said. She threw herself into a chair. “But if the crook didn’t have a key to the case, he must’ve done it some other way.”
“Maybe it was magic,” Marshall said, making his voice sound mysterious.
“Yeah, right,” KC said.
“Sure,” Marshall went on. “The crook was a magician like that guy on TV who makes tigers disappear. Only this guy made horses vanish!”
KC counted out seven Scrabble tiles. “I think he had a key,” she said. “Dr. Spender told us the security guard might have held on to a second key.”
“You think the guard stole the horses?” Marshall asked.
KC shrugged. “I don’t know,” she said. “But it’s weird that the guard was gone while a robbery was taking place.”
“Mrs. Peeps said he was doing something for Dr. Spender,” Marshall reminded her.
“I remember, Marsh,” KC said. “I just think it’s strange, that’s all.”
“What’s even more weird is his name,” Marshall continued.
KC looked at him. “His last name is lea.
“And his first name is Gil,” Marshall said. “Gil Tea. Get it?”
“Ha, very funny,” KC said.
Marshall selected his tiles. “I go first,” he said.
“Why?” KC asked.
“Because I won last time, remember?” Marshall said.
“Wrong! I beat you by thirty-seven points last time!” KC said.
“Oh yeah, you’re right,” Marshall said.
KC stared at her tiles, but her mind was back at Monticello. Those twelve little horses had been lost for two hundred years. Would they be lost again, this time forever?
“At least we know the crook isn’t Mrs. Cross,” Marshall went on. “She was with us when the horses were taken.”
KC thought about the time they’d spent with the tall deep-voiced woman. “I wonder why she kept checking her watch,” she said.
“Let me guess,” Marshall said, rolling his eyes. “To see what time it was?”
“Marsh, she peeked at her watch about ten times while we were with her,” KC said. “It was almost like she was waiting for something.”
5
The Stranger’s Face
The rain had stopped during the night, but the morning was damp and foggy. They waited on the front porch until a green taxi pulled up to the Virginia House. Lois and KC put their bags in the trunk, but Marshall kept his pack with him.
“What’re you hiding in there, Marsh?” Lois teased.
“His snacks, Mom,” KC answered before Marshall had a chance.
The cab drove slowly through deep fog. “Like driving in clam chowder,” the driver muttered.
He dropped them at Monticello. KC could hardly see the building through the fog. Pearl Peeps opened the door as they trooped up the brick walkway.
“Good morning, Mrs. Peeps,” Lois said. “Have the detectives arrived yet?”
“I don’t know about any detectives,” Mrs. Peeps said. Her eyes were red, as if she’d been crying. “We had the police, though. They came yesterday right after you left and searched the house and grounds.”
“Did they find the horses?” Lois asked.
“I’m afraid not,” Mrs. Peeps said.
“I see,” Lois said. “My husband is sending detectives from the FBI office. They should be here soon.”
“The others are in the kitchen,” Mrs. Peeps said.
Lois and the kids left their luggage in the hall and followed Mrs. Peeps. KC glanced at the glass case, still empty. The cloth had been taken away.
In the kitchen, a small group of people were gathered near a long table. Coffee, juice, and cookies had been set out on a red tablecloth. Dr. Spender and Mrs. Cross were talking with a tall stranger. They all held coffee mugs. The stranger was also eating a cookie.
“Ah, Mrs. Thornton, you’re here,” Dr. Spender said. “I wish I had some good news for you. The local police spent hours here last night, but with no luck. The Jefferson treasure has not turned up.”
The stranger looked at KC, Marshall, and KC’s mom. He had pale skin, green eyes, and long reddish hair tied in a ponytail. A raincoat hung over his shoulders.
“May I introduce Mr. Randolph? He traveled all the way from Florida to see the horses,” Dr. Spender said. “William, this is Mrs. Zachary Thornton, the First Lady.” He nodded at KC and Marshall. “And her two children.”
Marshall started to giggle, but KC nudged him.
“How do you do?” Lois said to Mr. Randolph. “Are you a relative of Thomas Jefferson?”
The man made a small bow. “Yes, his youngest daughter was my father’s great-great-great-aunt.”
“I’m sorry you came here for nothing, Mr. Randolph,” Lois said.
“Please call me William,” the man said. “It wasn’t for nothing. I always like to visit Monticello.”
KC thought he looked like pictures of Jefferson she’d seen in her book. She wondered if the president’s eyes had been that green.
Just then Mr. Tea walked into the room. His face was nearly the color of the tablecloth. “I’m s-sorry,” he stammered. “I’ve searched the basement again, like you asked. I really took the place apart, Dr. Spender. The key isn’t where I left it. I know it was in the drawer of my desk, but now it isn’t.”
“Mr. Tea keeps a small office in the basement,” Dr. Spender explained. “He and I had the only keys to that locked glass case.”
“So it was his key that the thief used?” Lois asked.
“Apparently,” Dr. Spender said, looking embarrassed.
“But how did the thief get the key?” KC asked.
“The lock on the basement door was old and rusted,” Mrs. Peeps put in. “Dr. Spender sent Mr. Tea to buy a new one yesterday. The thief must have gotten in that way and taken the key from Gil’s desk.”
“But how did the thief know there was a second key?” Lois asked. “Or where it was kept?”
All the adults looked at each other.
“Perhaps it was just some passing stranger after all,” Dr. Spender said. “If he prowled the grounds, he might have noticed the broken padlock and gone into the basement. He might have looked through the desk, found the key, then walked
into the main room upstairs and seen the glass case. It would have taken only a moment to remove the horses.”
KC thought about the figure she’d glimpsed outside the window yesterday. Had it been the thief peeking at them? Or was it just Mr. Tea going about his job?
“Well, the FBI detectives should be here soon,” Lois said. “Perhaps they’ll have better luck sorting this out.”
“Detectives?” Dr. Spender asked. “Coming here?”
“Yes, with a specially trained dog to sniff around,” Lois said.
“What a great idea,” Mr. Randolph said. He reached for another cookie.
“I’ll excuse myself and see to that new lock,” Mr. Tea said. He left the room quickly.
“Mom, can Marshall and I go exploring?” KC asked.
“Okay, but come back in an hour,” Lois said.
The kids grabbed a couple of cookies, then left the kitchen.
“Where are we going?” Marshall asked when they’d closed the front door behind them. The fog was still thick near the ground, but KC could see a glimmer of blue sky.
“I want to ask Mr. Tea some questions,” KC said.
“Why?” Marshall asked as he ate his cookie.
KC led Marshall around the corner of the house. She stopped next to some thick bushes. “Didn’t you think that whole thing about some stranger was weird?” she asked. “Okay, maybe it was just a stranger who stole the horses. But first he had to sneak into the basement. Then he had to look in a desk and find a key. Then he had to go into the house, see the case, unlock it, and walk away with the horses. And nobody saw him all this time?”
“Well, we were upstairs, and Dr. Spender and Mrs. Peeps were in his office,” Marshall said. “And we know Mr. Tea was in town. So there was no one left to see a crook sneaking in.”
“But, Marsh, the crook wouldn’t know there was no one around,” KC said. “A stranger wouldn’t know about the horses, either. Something smells funny, that’s all.”
They found Mr. Tea working on the basement door. He had spread a tarp on the wet ground and was kneeling on it. The old lock was on the tarp near an open toolbox. Mr. Tea was pulling a shiny new lock from its container. He held a thin screwdriver between his lips.