The boys sat around the old coffee table in Adam's garage once again. "I made 2 keys at the hardware store," said Adam, "so we have to decide who keeps them."
"Since Jimmy knows the security code, I think he should keep one," said Kevin, "and I don't want one, so it'll be either you or Mark." He pointed at Adam.
Adam handed a key to Jimmy.
Mark spoke up, "If I take it home, my sisters will find it and lose it, so Adam should keep the other key."
Adam silently accepted. "The only thing we need now is the security code. You can just tell it to me, if that makes you more comfortable." The three looked at Jimmy.
"If I didn't trust you guys, I would never have 'borrowed' the keys in the first place. Besides, it's not like its rocket science to figure out."
The others looked at Jimmy puzzled.
"Who had the system installed?" Jimmy added.
They thought for a few seconds before it dawned on Adam. "It’s Jeff’s birthday, right?"
Jimmy laughed, "Yep, 1027 - October 27th. Of course, he wouldn't use the year. He's still 29 you know."
They all laughed. Typical Jeff.
"Since Town Hall is closed today, when do we want to try going in?" Mark was almost vibrating with anticipation.
"Calm down. We'll get there soon enough." Kevin grinned at Mark's excitement.
"The sooner the better, but I think we should try after 5 o'clock. That's when the stores are closed and most people are at home eating. There isn’t a car driving in this town until 5:30, so there's less chance of being seen," said Adam.
"That makes sense. In the meantime, we can each get a flashlight and grab a bite to eat. Maybe meet back here at around 4:30? If they ask, tell your parents that we're playing some baseball at the school," said Jimmy.
They all agreed and left one by one. When they had all gone, Adam cleaned up the coffee table and hid the money from Mrs. Jones in his hiding spot. He placed it in the small tin can and closed the plastic lid, slipping it back to its original location.
With quiet steps he walked into the house. His mother was in her usual spot watching an old British soap opera on the TV. "Did you have some lunch yet?" she asked without turning her head.
"Yeah, at Jimmy's. We helped his mom weed her garden and she fed us a sandwich," he replied, stepping toward the stairs.
"I'm going to the store for a couple of hours this afternoon. They need help unloading a truck that was supposed to be here yesterday." Still, she didn't turn to look at Adam.
Adam stopped at the foot of the stairs. "I'm going to eat something early so I can meet the guys at school and play some baseball. I'll be quiet when I get home tonight." His mother grunted, barely acknowledging that he had spoken.
Adam continued up the stairs to his room. He opened the top drawer of his beat-up dresser. The drawer was filled with wires, nuts, bolts, screws, and miscellaneous parts that Adam had saved from pulling apart things he found. He knew he had an old flashlight that needed a new bulb buried somewhere in the parts. He also had some various energy efficient bulbs he had pulled out of other broken lights. He intended to convert the flashlight from a conventional bulb to an energy efficient bulb eventually, and that moment seemed like as good a time as any.
He pulled out the parts he needed and set them on top of the dresser, then dug around until he found the soldering iron he would use to connect the pieces together. He had bought the iron at a garage sale for a dollar. It came with solder and soldering paste, enough to last him a long time. Soon, it was heated up and ready to work.
He removed a bulb assembly he ripped from a newer flashlight that had been crushed. Next, he inspected the old flashlight and pulled it apart. After some soldering, modifying, fitting and re-fitting, he assembled the flashlight, including two almost new batteries he had found. He turned on the flashlight to inspect, and it worked. It wasn't the brightest light he had ever seen, but it was good enough.
Adam heard the door close as his mom left. He worked for a little while longer getting the flashlight just right and cleaned up the left over parts and tools, except for the soldering iron as it needed some time to cool. He tiptoed down the stairs, careful not to make much noise, even though his mom was gone. It was a habit too hard to ignore.
He sat down in his mom's chair again, intending to rest for a while, but his mind kept going over questions from the previous night’s events. Why were there tunnels beneath the town, and how were they made? What was so important that someone took the time to build them? Who built the security locks, and how did they manufacture the pin that attracted aluminum?
His brain wouldn’t stop pelting him with questions, so he sat in the chair, eyes open and staring straight ahead. Slowly, his eyes fell to the picture of Edward. He remembered the day he first noticed the lapel pin and later found the envelope containing it. He saw the envelope in his mind and realized that he hadn’t looked through the rest of the pictures and papers.
He sprang out of the chair and ran outside, jogging to the garage. If anyone had seen him, they would have thought he was up to something just by seeing him move.
In the garage, Adam grabbed the envelope, spread the papers on the coffee table and looked at them one by one. The first one was the only one he had taken time to look at before he found the pin. It was the Town Hall Grand Opening picture. He examined the faces of the people standing together in the picture. So many looked familiar, probably because many of their grandchildren through great great grandchildren still lived in Grayson.
The next paper was old and tattered. Hand drawn on it was a picture that looked like a crude spider. Legs curved out in all directions from a circle at the center. A ring tied the legs together. At the bottom of the picture "E.M." was written; his father's initials. He must have drawn the picture. It was the first thing Adam had ever seen written by his father. Surprisingly, his own handwriting was similar, even though he had only seen the two letters.
He turned the paper over. On the back he saw a list with simple symbols.
Feel five from floor, was written at the bottom of the page in his father’s handwriting.
Adam thought it was strange. What did it mean?
The next pictures were just buildings in town. The Grain Elevators (only one was still standing, but he had seen pictures of the other three), the Church, the hotel, and one that was labelled "school." It was an old one-room schoolhouse in the picture. Adam was pretty sure the school he attended, while being old itself, was built on the site of the one in the picture.
He sat back and wondered for a while. What if some of the tunnels led to these buildings? They had to come out somewhere?
After thinking for a few more minutes, Adam hid the envelope again, hoping he would find something in the file cabinets later that would make sense of everything.
He ambled back into the house and opened the fridge. What to eat today? There was bread, luncheon meat, mustard, ketchup, and some pickles in the fridge. He closed the door. After the sandwiches he ate for lunch, he couldn't bear the thought of more luncheon meat. In futility, he opened and closed each of the cupboard doors. Stale crackers, old spices, dry pasta - nothing that he was interested in eating.
Glancing at the clock, he noticed it was almost 4 pm and the guys would start arriving soon. He grabbed a piece of bread (stale rye bread; discounted at the store) and forced it down one mouthful at a time with a glass of tap water. It tasted terrible, but it would keep his stomach from grumbling later in the day.
Back outside, Adam waited until Mark and Jimmy arrived, then Kevin a few minutes later. Each boy had a small flashlight in his hands. Adam's homemade light was by far the largest. All the others fit into each owner’s pocket, but Adam's was the size of a police flashlight.
"Do you want to leave that here for now?" asked Kevin. "People will suspect something if they see you walking around with that light. I’ve got an extra one you can use."
Adam agreed. Kevin was right.
/> “Come to the garage for a minute. I want to show you something,” said Adam.
They followed him into the garage and he grabbed the pictures from their hiding spot, spreading them out on the coffee table for all to see.
Mark immediately identified his great-great-grandfather in the first picture, as did Jimmy and Kevin. They looked at Adam, then back to the picture. No one could identify anyone resembling Adam.
"I thought the McTaggart’s were one of the founding families? Why don’t I see someone that looks like you or your dad?" asked Mark, even though they all thought the same thing.
"I don't know, maybe they took the picture," Adam replied.
"What about your grandparents?" asked Mark again.
Adam felt uncomfortable under the gaze of his friends.
"My dad's parents moved overseas when he died,” said Adam. “At least, that’s what I’ve been told. I’ve never heard from them, although I have seen their picture. My mom's family disowned her - that much I know - but not much else.” He paused for a second and continued. “You all know my mom. She barely acknowledges me. She never answers any of my questions about our family. Most of what I've learned is from other people in town."
The others realized they were making Adam uncomfortable, so they looked back to the picture.
"Does anyone recognize the lady in the picture?" asked Kevin. They had all noticed her, but none had wanted to point it out for fear of being teased.
"She must be from my family tree, 'cause she's not ugly like you three," Jimmy teased, thinking he would beat them to a punch-line.
"That's gross! You just admitted you're attracted to your great-great grandma!" Mark shot back at Jimmy.
They all had a chuckle while Jimmy stammered in protest.
"Sounds to me like no one knows who she is," said Kevin, and the others agreed.
They saw the rest of the pictures, but nothing seemed interesting to them. The hand-drawn picture and list weren't as interesting to the others as they were to Adam.
"It's 4:37. Should we go hang out in the park until we try going in?" asked Adam. "I'm assuming that my mom will get home soon after 5 and I don't want to be here when she gets home."
Jimmy agreed. "We can hang out in the park behind Town Hall and slip in the side door one at a time. I'll go first and shut off the alarm."
The others nodded and soon they left for the park. As they passed the Fire Hall, they noticed a lot more traffic as it was just after 5 pm. They hung around the trees in the park until all seemed calm and headed for the back of Town Hall.
Jimmy looked down the side of the building. "Follow me one at a time, every couple of minutes," said Jimmy, and he stepped around the side of the building.
The others waited against the wall. After two minutes, Kevin started around the corner to the side door.
Slam! He and Jimmy collided hard.
They both staggered for a second, regaining their composure while offering ‘are you ok’s’ to each other.
"Why’d you come back?" asked Adam.
"The key won't work! I tried it a bunch of times and it wouldn't unlock the door."
Adam nodded his head. "Lacey said that the keys might be tricky because the original was so worn. Try jiggling it up and down while you turn." Adam made a jiggling and turning motion with his hand as he spoke.
Jimmy looked uncomfortable about trying again, but nodded, checked around the corner, and left. That time Kevin kept looking around the corner to make sure Jimmy got in before following. He gave the others a thumbs-up, waited thirty seconds and rounded the corner the same way Jimmy had done.
Their stealth worked, and soon they were all inside Town Hall, hearts pounding from being somewhere they weren't allowed and excited at the thought of finding answers to their questions.
CHAPTER TWELVE