““Do you think it’s safe?” Randall asked, shining the light in the opening.
“Probably not, but then neither are most of the other medieval subterranean passages I’ve been in. Want to wait here?” Harry asked with a grin.
“No way. I’m coming,” he said quickly.
“It might be haunted.” Harry remarked with mock gravity.
“Uh….”
“I’m joking.” He replied laughing. “Come on.”
The doorway was only three feet high forcing them to crawl into the passage, but it returned to normal height immediately inside the opening. Randall shut the door, leaving it open just a crack. The passage turned sharply to the right, and presently came to a set of moldy stone steps that led down. Sneezing at the smell of dust and mold, Harry carefully made his way down, and found another stairway leading down to a subterranean level. Randall kept just behind him as the corridor snaked along for a ways and stopped at a nearly solid wrought iron gate. Finding it unlocked, Harry gave it a push. It opened easily, causing Harry to pause.
“What’s wrong?” Randall asked in a hushed voice.
“The door,” he whispered back. “I expected it to be harder to open. And I thought rusty hinges made a lot more noise.”
Randall shone his light while Harry knelt down. “Someone’s been down here. They’ve oiled the hinges.”
Harry got up and continued on through the door to a room about the size of a small bedroom. The two investigators played their lights around the walls. In the opposite wall was a heavy door made of stone. It had no frame, but a large gap between it and the wall on all sides. Harry could see that it was locked by steel bars running into the stone door. He counted two bars through the top, two through the left side and two through the right.
“Hmm,” Harry mused.
“Dead end?” Randall asked, no longer whispering.
“Only until we figure out how to open it.” Harry shone his light closer while Randall ran his beam across the ceiling and backed away from the door. Harry heard him utter a cry and looked over to see him spread on his back. “You okay? What happened?”
Randall sat up. “I tripped over something,” he said. He moved his foot to find a metal saw. Harry picked it up and looked around at the floor. Along the left wall was a pedestal with a circular depression in the top, but what arrested his attention was a large floodlight sitting in the corner attached to several batteries.
“Well, this proves that someone else does know about the treasure,” he said stepping over to examine the contraption. And those weird noises I heard the first night were probably caused by someone using this saw. I wonder what they were sawing?” he mused.
“Harry, come here and look at these,” Randall said. On either side of the door were three metal panels, each marked differently. Harry looked over to where Randall had fixed his light, shining it slowly over each one.
Harry reached over behind the lamp and flicked a switch. The room was instantly flooded with a bright light. “Makes it easier to see in here now don’t you think?”
“Six panels,” Randall said switching off his flashlight. “This one is like a checkerboard. And that one looks like a clock.”
“And this is just a regular keyhole,” Harry thought to himself. Aloud he said, “Locks. Six brothers, six keys, six locks protecting the treasure. If we put all the keys in, I’d bet that big door would open.”
“Let’s try one. Do you still have William’s?”
“Yes.” Randall inserted the big skeleton key in the panel, but paused a moment. “Wow, this will be the first time in three hundred years this thing has been opened.” He commented reflectively.
“Yes, and we will be the first people in three hundred years to see the treasure.” Harry replied. Randall smiled at the thought, and gave the key a turn. It swung open and revealed a small cavity. Two things were inside; an iron wheel the size of a dinner plate, and a silver pie-shaped wedge. While Randall was examining the piece, Harry gave the wheel a turn, which it only did with a good deal of effort. The sound of metal scraping against stone was heard, and Harry discovered that one steel bar had retracted from the door. He also noticed that one of the other bars had saw marks on it.
“Pretty tight security. Those bolts must be at least three inches thick!” Harry commented. “So what’s that?”
“I don’t know exactly,” Randall said, turning the wedge over in his hands, “but judging from the pegs and holes on the sides, I think it would connect to similar wedges to make a circle.”
“A circle big enough to fit this depression?” he asked, pointing to the pedestal.
Randall placed the wedge in the shallow hole. “Uh, yes.”
“You know,” Harry said thoughtfully, “I get the idea that this chess piece is actually Walter’s key, not just a tool for finding it.”
“I know a way we can find out right now,” Randall said with a smile. He took the key and inserted it in a slot in the chess board panel. He slid it around the perimeter of the board. They heard it ‘click’ as the door unlocked. The space behind the panel was exactly like the first. Picking up the second wedge, he found that the two fit together perfectly. A short peg projected from the bottom of each one.
“Interesting,” Harry commented. “Make sure you put wheel back before we leave. We want to have all the keys before arousing the suspicions of our unknown opponent. But go ahead and keep the wedges.
Having done so, they turned off the lamp and made their way up to the library again, careful that no one saw them coming out. When they exited, Harry had trouble closing the door completely. It refused to shut even when both men put their weight against it.
“We can’t just leave it open,” Randall said nervously. “Anyone could come in here and see it. The first time Larry comes in, he’ll be sure to notice it.”
“Well, there’s got to be a way to shut it. It wasn’t like this when we found it,” Harry replied. They pushed it open to look at the track, thinking perhaps something had stuck there, but when they opened the door completely, it began to close on its own.
“That’s not exactly safe. We could’ve gotten stuck in there if we hadn’t left it open when we went in,” Randall commented.
“Well, I’m guessing there haven’t been a lot of people down there lately to take that risk, except one. We need to get the medallion before someone else does and then I think we should talk with Ellie.”
“Ellie?”
Harry reached into his pocket and pulled out a crumpled gum wrapper. He unfolded it to read the word Teaberry. “I found this lying downstairs beside the floodlight.”
“Wow,” Randall said. “I never would’ve thought Ellie had brains enough to be the one ‘haunting’ this place. Do you really think it’s her?”
“I’m not accusing her yet, but who else around here chews gum?” he asked as they left the room.
* * * * *
Harry peered through the crack. No one in sight, he quickly crossed the courtyard to the pipe closet, closed the door behind him and pulled the lever to turn off the fountain. Turning back around, he cracked open the door. Randall had gone to the garden to retrieve the medallion, agreeing to come back through the courtyard on the way back. Harry waited for him to appear so that he could turn the fountain back on.
As he looked through the door and waited, he noticed the open door to the greenhouse. He remembered that it was nearly dinnertime and that Diane usually left before lunch. “She must’ve left it open when she left,” he thought, “unless she’s come back.” Too curious to let it pass, he made sure the coast was clear, jogged over to the greenhouse and peered through the doorway. Diane was nowhere in sight, but Harry decided to poke around anyway.
Walking down the rows of plants, he noticed a notebook lying amid the flowerpots and gardening tools. He looked around once more and opened the notebook. It appeared to be Diane’s notes and observations on the plants. Various data was listed on temperature, soil acidity, sunlight, watering, and plant diseases. As he scanned through the pages, he found one entry that startled him.
I’ve looked everywhere, but I still haven’t found it. I wish I knew what the medallion looks like. ‘Gold with dark center’ doesn’t help much. It has to be around here somewhere. I’m not going to stop until I find it.
“What are you doing?” said a voice behind him.
Harry slammed the book shut and whirled around, his face flushed to be caught snooping. Randall stood just inside the door. “Don’t scare me like that!” Harry breathed with relief. “I was just looking at this notebook of Diane’s. Look at this note I found.” Opening the book to the page he had seen a moment ago, Harry pointed to the entry. “Do you suppose she found it?”
“Maybe she wasn’t looking for the same medallion.”
“What other medallion could she be looking for?”
Randall pointed to the first entry on the next page. Found the medallion flower near the low stone bench. Known as the melampodium palladium, its ability to grow in shade and sun makes the medallion flower perfect for my experiment with cross-plant breeding.
“Did you get our medallion?” Harry asked.
“Yes,” Randall replied as he handed it to Harry. “ And it’s almost time for dinner. You’d better go in and clean up.”
“Sure thing. I’ll meet you there.” Harry placed the notebook back on the table and made his way up to his room. Upon entering he removed the medallion from his pocket and placed it and the other two keys in one of his suitcases which he then locked. After washing up he started towards the front stairs, but stopped short when he noticed Larry coming out of the library with a small object in his hand, and heading for the front door.
“That’s odd,” Harry thought. “It’s late for him to be working. And I thought he told me he wasn’t going to be here today.” The detective made a mental note of the occurrence, and continued to dinner. He soon entered the dining room and found Mrs. Saunders just sitting down.
“Have you had a chance to see that chess set yet?” she inquired once he was seated.
“As a matter of fact, yes I did. The carving on the base is very exquisite. It must have taken a long time to make it.”
“Did Randall tell you that the entire set was actually carved by a Greystone? His name was Edmund. He and his five brothers built this castle, and much of his work is still around.”
Randall entered and sat down near Harry.
“Much of whose work?” Randall asked, as he came in and sat beside Harry.
“Oh, I was telling your friend about Edmund and how he carved the chess set and several other things here. His best work of course is displayed in the museum.” Harriet said turning back to Harry. “Except, obviously, the immovable things like some of the mantle pieces, and his greatest project which is the railings and staircase in the Great Hall.” She paused to help herself to some of the hot creamy soup which Louis brought in. “Most extensive that stairway is, and he made every single piece. I think the only help he had were some carpenters from town, but even they were only allowed to fashion a few of the basic parts.”
“My, you certainly know a great deal about your family history,” Harry praised her.
“I believe it is one’s duty to remember a person’s ancestry so that it may be passed on to future generations. Though I do pride myself on knowing as much as I can about the Greystone family.”
“Certainly a quality that proves most useful,” Harry commented.
“By the way, Randall,” Harriet said turning to her nephew. “Would you mind picking up a few things for me if you go into town tomorrow?”
“I would need to use your car. Mine, uh, isn’t running properly.”
Harriet‘s face dropped a little, “Oh, yes, that’s right. Well just be careful with it.”
“Do you want to come along Harry?” Randall asked.
“No thanks, I’d rather do some more exploring, if that’s ok.”
“Sure, go ahead.”
They finished dinner in relative silence, and said good night to Harriet. Afterwards Randall accompanied Harry to his room to discuss the treasure hunt. Harry then told about seeing Larry in the Great Hall.
“Maybe he just stopped by to check on some notes,” Randall suggested.
“Or perhaps he was nosing around looking for clues,” Harry said. “What was he carrying? I’d like to know.”
Randall declared he had no idea, and asked Harry if he had any plans for their next move. Harry powered up his laptop to consult his case notes, which he showed to Randall.
“Don’t forget to add what Aunt Harriet said about Edmund’s work.”
“What did she say about it?”
“I don’t know. I thought she told you something before I came in.”
“No, just stuff about Edmund’s work in the museum, and fireplace parts, and the stairway.”
“Wait a second,” Randall said slowly. “Didn’t she say that only he worked on that staircase? Edmund said something in William’s book about hiding the key in some wooden thing that he created. And if the stairway was his greatest project, aside form hiding the treasure . . .”
“The staircase might hide the key! Good point,” Harry said. “Where’d you put that book?”
“It’s in my room. I’ll be right back.”
Randall came back to Harry’s room a few minutes later, a look of apprehension on his face. “Did I give the book to you?”
“No, I’m sure you had it.”
“Well, it’s gone! I can’t find it!” he nearly shouted.
“What do you mean? Where did you put it last?”
“On my nightstand, I thought, but it’s not there anymore. I’ll show you.” Randall led the way down the hall in the direction of the back of the house to his room. Upon arriving Harry found the contents the nightstand drawer scattered on the floor, and the covers on the bed thrown off.
“Did you look under the bed?”
“Yes, and behind the nightstand.
“Was it here when you got ready for dinner?” the detective asked.
“I…I don‘t know. I didn’t come up here. Cole stopped me to ask me about some repair that needed to be made, so I didn’t have time.”
“When did you last see it.?“
Randall thought for a moment. “After we came out of the secret passage, I got it out of the desk and put it on my nightstand.”
Harry mulled over the information he had just heard. “So it could have been taken any time between then and when we finished dinner. Maybe that’s what I saw Larry carrying.”
“Did you think he purposely had Cole distract me so he could get it?”
“I suppose it’s not impossible. Did he ask you about some planks for the dock?”
“Yes, as a matter of fact he did. Why?
“He did tell me he was going to ask you about it,” Harry thought aloud, “but he might just have been setting up an alibi.”
“Anyone could have had the opportunity to take it,” Randall admitted dejectedly. “During that time span everyone, even Patrick, would’ve had time.”
“I suppose there is no use looking for prints. He would have touched only the book,” Harry decided. “There doesn’t seem like anything else we can do. I’d better go to bed if I’m going to search through the tower tonight. See you tomorrow.” As Randall bent down to clean the mess on the floor, Harry turned to go back to his room.
“Goodnight,” Randall called after him.
