When Miss Briggs got to her bedroom, she muttered a profanity and slammed the door.
Ann skipped down the hall and slammed her door, too. While she waited for Miss Briggs to get comfortable, ,maybe even lie down for a nap, she picked up a book which belonged to Jeanie and began reading the first chapter. She preferred stories of dogs, but Jeanie raved about Black Beauty so much she decided to read it.
When she heard Miss Briggs humming in the adjacent room, she decided to disturb her tranquility. She laid the book down and began moving furniture from one end of the room to the other. The bed made the most noise because the rollers needed oiling. It screeched and creaked as she pulled it back and forth across the room. She was going around in a circle when Miss Briggs burst into the room, her nostrils fuming and her beady eyes bloodshot with anger. “Child,” she yelled above the racket, “What are you doing?”
Ann was so startled she turned purple, and stood tongue-tied, holding on to a bed post. Miss Briggs’ eyes bulged out and purple veins popped along her neck. She put her face within two inches of Ann’s, who was clinging to the bed for support while her legs turned to rubber.
Miss Briggs repeated herself, then turned around in a huff and left. When Ann heard her door slam, she took some deep breaths, then rushed out to find Jeanie.
“Ann, what‘s wrong?” said Jeanie, when she saw her sister shaking from head to foot. “What’s the matter?”
Ann sat down in the nearest chair and began explaining. “I was just trying to upset her, and I end up scared of my own shadow.”
“You obviously got her goat, Ann. So pat yourself on the back,” Jeanie said, as she consoled her sister.
They didn’t have an opportunity to discuss anything further until they went to bed that evening. They speculated further about the plumber and Miss Briggs, and recalled all the mysterious things that happened since the day they moved into the red-brick house. Ann listed them in a ledger as questions to be answered:
Who was the shadowy figure Liz saw?
How did the trap door in the attic get locked?
Who made the muddy foot prints on the front porch?
Why did the mud stop in the middle of the porch?
How did Miss Briggs know Cindy’s last name?
Whose voice was coming from Miss Briggs’ room?
What did Miss Briggs throw in the furnace?
What job was Miss Briggs talking about on the phone?
Who sent Miss Briggs messages and why?
What did ‘midnight’ mean on the water-soaked paper?
Would the job involve them or the red-brick house?
“We can only answer three questions so far,” Ann noted.
“We don’t know anything for sure,” Jeanie responded. “We just think she was talking to Blacky on the phone, and that he sent those messages.”
“Well. I think we can say for sure she threw something in the furnace. I think it was that note from Blacky.”
“It’s only circumstantial.”
“Jeanie, you sound like a defense lawyer.”
“Well. It is.”
“It’s good enough for me to go on.”
“You talk like a prosecutor.”
When they finished arguing, they forgot to most important question of all--were they in danger?
“It’s all so confusing,” Ann said.
“I’m not sleeping until I get some answers,” Jeanie declared.
“Me either,” Ann said. “Besides, who can sleep?”
“First of all,” Jeanie continued, “I think that shadow Liz saw coming from the cellar was Blacky, not the meter man.”
“But what was he doing in the basement?” Ann asked. “Miss Briggs didn’t even live here then.“
Jeanie thought about that. “Good point, Ann.” Hard as she tried, she couldn’t come up with a logical answer.
“Well, then. What about the trap door?” Ann asked. “We know we left it open. How did it close, and why can’t we open it?”
“Hey, I just thought of something,” said Jeanie. “Maybe that voice we heard was Blacky. Maybe he got into her room from the trap door in the attic.”
“Jeanie, you’ve got it,” Ann said, her eyes sparkling.
“But then,” Jeanie said, back tracking, “How did he get into the attic in the first place?”
Ann looked perplexed. “I don’t know,” was all she could mutter. “What about the mud prints on the porch? How do they figure into all this?”
“I’ve been pondering that myself,” Jeanie said. “You got any ideas?”
“Not right this minute,” she responded.
“I still say she got those two notes from Blacky. Maybe he was setting up a time to come over and talk about this job they’re planning.”
“But how did he get into her room? If he got in through the trap door, how did he get into the attic in the first place?”
“Yeah, it’s one of those things that really baffles me.”
“You know what, Jeanie? Maybe there’s a connection between the mud on the porch and his visits in the middle of the night.”
Jeanie popped up in bed. “Ann, You’ve got it. You’ve got it.“
“I do?“
“Yeah. Remember after we heard those voices? The next morning we found the muddy prints on the porch.” She began shaking her sister.
“Hey. Quit that.”
“We better get some rest. We have lots of things to investigate tomorrow.”
Just as they both fell into a deep, peaceful sleep, Ann jerked up in bed, wide awake. “I wonder why she chased Cindy away?” she asked the darkness.
But there was no answer. Jeanie was sound asleep, lost in a world of restful dreams.
####
Chapter 16: A Visit to the Cellar
Jeanie and Ann rushed downstairs early the next morning to check the front porch. They felt along the porch wall for a secret opening, but found nothing. “It’s got to be here somewhere,” Jeanie said impatiently, just as their mother came out the front door.
“What are you two doing out so early?” she asked.
“Oh, nothing,” Ann answered quickly. “We couldn’t sleep.”
“Jeanie, I’d like you to bake some cookies today,” her mother said. “Would you mind?”
“Sure, I’ll do it,” she answered obediently, even though that was one thing she didn’t want to do today.
When their mother drove off, they went back into the house to do their chores early. “How long will it take to bake those cookies?” Ann asked. She was impatient to continue their snooping.
“Half the morning,” Jeanie said with a sigh.
“I’ll see you later, then,” Ann said, as she left to do her own sleuthing. Miss Briggs had other ideas, though. She handed Ann a list of chores that would keep her busy most of the day. It was Ann’s punishment for annoying her the day before, though she never mentioned the incident.
Jeanie baked six dozen peanut butter cookies, five dozen butter cookies, and three dozen oatmeal and raisin cookies. She took an assortment upstairs to hide in her bedroom for a midnight snack. If she didn’t sleep tonight, at least she wouldn’t get hungry. Luck was with her. She didn’t run into Miss Briggs and put the cookies in her dresser drawer, then went back downstairs to look for Ann. She found everyone outside near the gate waving to Cindy, who was playing alone in her spacious front yard. She waved back.
“Hey. Cindy,” they all yelled. “How are you?”
Jeanie waved at her friend, then grabbed Ann and took her to the orchard.
“Look up there,” Jeanie said, pointing at the red-brick house. “Not a window up there. Have you ever noticed that? There‘s no windows in the attic.”
“You’re right,” Ann agreed, looking up at the house. “There’s no possible way to get into the attic from outside.”
“Unless there’s a secret passage somewhere,” Jeanie explained. “Maybe there’s one that goes from the cellar to the attic.”
“Liz did s
ee a shadowy figure come out of the cellar. Remember?” Ann added. Her eyes darkened. “Oh-my-gosh, why didn’t we think of that before now?”
They scurried toward the outside basement door without a word. The cellar was dark and musty, as usual, and the flickering light threw dancing shadows around the room. Jeanie stumbled over a box of junk and found herself lying on concrete.
Ann spotted a mouse the size of a gopher, but managed to muffle her cries with her hands. Jeanie brushed off her jeans and began to feel along the walls with the tips of their fingers, looking for loose bricks, or some other clue that would lead them to a hidden opening. Ann got down on her hands and knees and felt the concrete for loose joints, mumbling encouragement to her sister. The searched every foot of the cellar and finally had to admit defeat.
“This dust is clogging my throat,” whispered Ann, her breath coming in short pants.
“Mine, too,” admitted Jeanie. “Let’s get out of here.”
When they reached the top of the stairs, they sat down to rest. “I have a suggestion,” began Ann.
“That we should hide down here tonight?” Jeanie asked. She had the same thought.
“Exactly,” Ann replied.
“If we both stay.”
“Sure. I’m not coming down here by myself.”
“Then let’s slip down at ten o’clock after everyone’s asleep.”
The cellar door creaked as they slipped down to the basement. Jeanie held a flashlight and Ann carried a blanket and the cookies Jeanie hid in their room earlier. They had already agreed that once in the basement, neither one would utter a sound, no matter what.
In spite of all their precautions, the steps creaked under their bare feet. Tiny feet pattered left and right, and a small mouse scurried across their path. Ann barely missed stepping on it and suppressed a scream. Jeanie coaxed her to keep going by pulling gently on her arm.
They to cross the concrete floor together until Jeanie stumped her toe on a board that jutted from the coal bin. As a sharp pain ran up her leg, she droped Ann’s arm and slowly limped to a pile of logs in a corner of the cellar behind the furnace. She turned off the flashlight, thinking Ann was right behind her, and sat down.
Darkness engulfed them both immediately. Ann reached out for Jeanie, waving her arms up and around, trying not to panic. Where was her sister? Why did the flashlight go out? What was going on? She felt another scream coming up from her stomach through her throat and squelched it just in time. Unable to call out, and unable to find Jeanie, she took a couple of deep breaths, and decided to spread the blanket down on the floor right where she stood.
She wanted to reach out in the pitch black for Jeanie again, but thought better of it. Suppose she touched someone else. They’d know she was there. The very thought brought on a panic attack She felt like the blackness was caving in on her from all four sides, and she was going to be crushed.
There was heavy breathing nearby and Ann was certain it was too loud and lumbered to be Jeanie’s. Her whole body began to tremble, but through it all, she never made a sound, just like she vowed before they came down.
Nearby, Jeanie stood on her left leg and held her other one that was still throbbing with pain. She tried to stifle her breathing, but it came in heavy, loud gasps. Where was Ann? She reached out into the blackness. Hopping on one leg a few steps away, she felt the soft blanket on her ankles and dropped to the floor quietly. She rubbed her throbbing leg up and down to ease the pain while listening for the slightest sound. She heard nothing but the silence of the night.
They sat side by side until nearly daybreak, silent and unmoving, and true to their vow that no matter what, they would not yell, whisper, or make any kind of noise. At times, they even dozed off, curled up on separate ends of the same blanket.
When the basement began to lighten, Jeanie recognized Ann’s silhouette, and grabbed her leg. Ann jerked and stifled another scream. Jeanie broke their solemn vow, and whispered, “Ann, it’s okay. It’s me.“ Ann sighed and reached for her sister, and whispered back, “Oh, Jeanie, I thought you had disappeared.”
“We kept our promised not to talk, didn‘t we?”
Ann smiled for the first time all night. “Yeah, but that was kinda silly, don’t you think?” answered Ann. “I was scared out of my wits most of the night.”
They picked up their bag of cookies and dusty blanket, and trudged wearily upstairs before Miss Briggs or their mother got out of bed.
####
Chapter 17: The Storm
Jeanie and Ann crawled into bed just minutes before they heard Miss Briggs get up in the adjoining room. “That was a close call,“ whispered Jeanie as they pulled the sheet up and covered themselves.
They slept until Neil and Ricky came in and shook them. “Wake up. Wake up, sleepyheads.”
Jeanie opened an eye, looked at Ricky through a haze of sleep and turned over. Ann grunted and swatted at Neil like a mosquito, then went right back to sleep.
“Ann. Jeanie,” they begged impatiently. “It’s time to get up.”
They heard Miss Briggs approaching and scrambled under the bed. She opened the door, poked her head in and bellowed loudly, “Time for you girls to get out of bed.”
Jeanie and Ann jerked awake. After waiting until they heard Miss Briggs leave, they bounced out of bed. Ann closed the door, and the two boys crawled out from under the bed.
“What in the world--?” began Ann, staring at her two brothers.
They just grinned back. “It’s getting late,” Ricky explained.
Ann and Jeanie dressed quickly as their brother waited. Then they all went downstairs together. Miss Briggs was puttering in the kitchen.
“Where‘s Liz?” asked Jeanie.
“She got up early and went outside,” said Ricky.
“Well, let‘s go out with her,” said Ann.
They hurried outside before Miss Briggs starting assigning chores, and sat in a circle in the apple orchard while Jeanie and Ann shared their latest adventure the night before.
In retrospect, it seemed like a pretty stupid thing to do, sitting up all night in a dark cellar. But they didn’t admit it.
“Miss Briggs scares me,” Neil said when they finished.
“I wish we could run away,” Liz added. “Then Mother will be sorry she didn’t listen to us.”
“Where would we go?” asked Ricky.
“Look, it‘s out of the question. We can’t leave,” said Ann, trying to calm them. There’s something strange going on, and we’re going to find out what it is.”
“Just be patient,” Jeanie added.
“Oh-h-h. She’s watching us behind that curtain,” whispered Liz dramatically.
“So let her,” Jeanie said. “She can’t hear us. Let her stare all she wants.”
“I’d like to build a rocket and send her to the moon,” Liz stated confidently, now that she couldn’t be heard.
Miss Briggs opened the side door, just in time to hear their remarks. She stared at them for the longest time, her beady eyes full of anger and frustration. Ricky and Neil were too scared to cry, but their lips trembled. When she finally went back inside and slammed the door shut, they all jumped up and ran to the front yard out of sight of her probing eyes.
Jeanie pointed to the sky. “See those clouds forming?” she asked, to get their minds on something else.
“Yeah,” Ricky answered. “Those are mushroom clouds.”
“They’re called cumulus,” Jeanie said. “They’ve been way over there all day. But see, they’re moving closer.”
“I can see them moving,” answered Neil. “They’re growing bigger and bigger.”
“That one is getting dark,” added Ricky, pointing to the west.
“It’s going to rain,” Jeanie predicted.
“Does the rain hide in the clouds?” asked Neil.
“In a way. I guess so,” Jeanie answered.
“Will it thunder?” interjected Liz, as she watched the windows for any sign of Mis
s Briggs.
“Probably. There are a lot of thunder storms in the summer.”
Just when Jeanie finished, a loud rumble and flash of lightning streaked through the sky. “Here it comes,” warned Ann, running toward the front porch. They ran after her and stayed until the wind drove them inside.
Miss Briggs was nervously pacing the floor, muttering to herself. They went upstairs to the third floor to get as far away from her as they could. After a short time, Jeanie suggested to Liz that she take the boys down to the second floor and entertain them. When they left, Jeanie turned to Ann, “Have you noticed how nervous Miss Briggs is tonight?”
“Yes,” Ann responded, wondering what her sister was driving at.
“She’s pacing the floor,” added Jeanie.
Ann waited for her sister to continue. “I think something is about to happen,” Jeanie predicted. Her eyes dilated with excitement.
“It could be something dangerous,” Ann said in warning.
“We can’t sleep a wink tonight, either,” Jeanie said. “Neither one of us.”
“We hardly slept last night,” Ann reminded her.
A roar of thunder, followed by a flash of lightening, cut their conversation short. The lights flickered off and on for a moment, then went out completely. The blackened sky gave little illumination, so they were left in an almost darkened room.
They heard frantic cries from downstairs. Neil screamed first, followed by Ricky, then Liz. “Let’s go,” said Jeanie, grabbing Ann’s arm and guiding her to the hallway and down the dark stairway to the second level. The stairs seemed to creak louder than usual. Just when Jeanie and Ann reached the landing, they heard more screams, blood-curdling screams.
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Part III: The Mystery Unfolds
Chapter 18: The Robbery
Inside Ricky’s bedroom, the three children stood in a corner, huddled together The door to Ricky’s room opened and shadowy figures entered. They all screamed. Liz collapsed on the floor and the boys held their breath, their knocking knees the only noise.
Ann and Jeanie rushed downstairs and entered Ricky’s room just when Liz and the boys screamed the second time. They heard a loud plop and knocking noises, then silence.