Mystery of the Glowing Eye - Carolyn Keene [11]
Bess felt uncomfortable being left alone but knew she would be more ill at ease on the floor above. She closed the front door and posted herself near it, but presently began to walk from window to window.
Suddenly she jumped in fright as something heavy fell overhead. Bess rushed to the stairway and called up.
“Dave! Are you all right?”
There was no answer. Putting her fears aside, Bess vaulted up the steps two at a time, all the while calling Dave’s name. He did not reply. She hurried through the scantily furnished bedrooms but found no sign of her friend. She could not figure out what had fallen. There was no stairway to a third floor.
“Oh, Dave, where are you?” Bess wailed.
She began opening one closet door after another, each time with a shudder as to what she might find. Finally Bess reached the last closet. As she opened the door she could hear muffled sounds. Nobody was inside. Bess stepped forward to put her ear to the wall.
“0-o-oh!” Bess exclaimed as the floor suddenly opened and she plummeted downward.
The startled girl landed in the pitch darkness on something soft. It moved under her. She heard a groan.
“Dave!” Bess murmured. “Oh, I must have hurt you!”
“You sure knocked the wind out of me. Good thing I’m used to tackle football!”
“Where are we?” Bess asked.
“At the bottom of a clothes chute,” Dave answered. “It was lucky there were some things in it to cushion my fall.”
Bess asked how they were going to escape. “Besides, I don’t want to get caught by that person who comes here. He might be dangerous.”
Dave admitted he had not yet found an opening, but was sure there was one.
The two captives felt every inch of the wall and floor of their prison. When they could find no doorknob nor a bolt, they began to push and press the wood.
“I’m sure of one thing,” said Dave. “We’re below the first floor in a cellar. There must be an opening in this wooden chute.”
“Sh!” Bess whispered as he finished. “Listen!”
She had heard the front door slam. Now there were footsteps overhead.
Bess clung to Dave’s arm. “We’ll be found!” she whispered tensely.
“In here? I doubt it,” he said, trying to reassure her with a little hug.
The two waited in silence. Floorboards creaked as the heavy stepping person trudged all through the house. Bess and Dave assumed he had spotted the car in front and had come to investigate. Evidently satisfied the place was vacant, the man slammed the front door again. In a few moments Bess and Dave heard an automobile drive off.
“Probably a policeman,” Dave suggested. “At first I thought he might be the person who’s using this place.”
Once more he and Bess began to push on the walls of the clothes chute. Finally Dave put his finger in a small knothole and was able to move a concealed door to one side. The couple stepped out into a cellar dimly lighted by the sun streaming through a small window. The place was empty except for two musty washtubs and a stack of dusty newspapers.
“How do we get out of this prison?” Bess asked Dave, after glancing around. No door or other exit was visible.
While she searched for a hidden exit in a wall, Dave’s eyes roved back and forth across the ceiling. It was thick with dirt and cobwebs, but he thought he could detect a movable section under the kitchen. He mentioned his discovery to Bess.
“Climb up to my shoulders and try to open this,” Dave said. “The people who lived here must have used a ladder.”
Dave leaned over. Bess pulled herself onto his shoulders and stood up. She quickly found that a section of the ceiling could be pushed upward. With a little effort Bess eased herself through.
“How are you going to get out?” she asked Dave.
“Don’t worry. The first thing I want to do is examine these clothes in the chute. There might be a clue for Nancy to work on.”
Bess quickly looked for a stepladder and found one in a closet.
Dave reported with a laugh, “All men’s clothes in the chute and nothing in them but a penny in a shirt pocket.”
Bess giggled. “Bring it up here. Might be a good-luck penny. Here’s a ladder. I’ll hand it to you.”