The Secret of the Haunted Mirror - M. V. Carey [12]
“Jean, where were you when you saw the ghost in the glass?” asked Jupe. “Do you remember the place?”
“I sure do.” Jean turned, went out and stopped part of the way up the staircase.
She stood still, frowning, about eight steps from the top. “Here,” she called. “I was here and Grandma was a step or two below me.”
“All right. Stay there.” Jupe retreated to the far corner of the library, keeping his eyes fixed on the mirror. When he found a spot where he could stand and see Jean’s reflection in the glass, he called, “Can you see me?”
“I can see you in the mirror,” she called back.
“That’s how it could have been done,” said Jupiter to Mrs. Darnley. “If someone stood right here where I am now, you would have seen his reflection as you came down the stairs, and it would appear that he was an apparition in the mirror. This room is fairly dark, with those curtains drawn. Did you see him clearly?”
Mrs. Darnley closed her eyes as if she did not want to think of it. “Very clearly. He
… well, kind of glowed.”
“A secret exit!” cried Bob. “There has to be another way out of the room!”
“Unless … unless there is a ghost,” said Pete, shivering.
The boys searched the room. Pete and Jeff turned back the carpets and examined the floor, probing at cracks with a kitchen knife. Bob and Jupe took books off the shelves and rapped at the walls behind the shelving.
“It sounds solid,” said Bob. “I can tell where the studs are.”
Jupe scowled. He pointed to the wall opposite the mirror. “What’s next to this room?” he asked.
“Nothing,” said Mrs. Darnley. “That’s an outside wall. The hillside slopes up there. In fact, part of that wall is beneath ground level. That’s why there aren’t any windows there, or on the north wall of the living-room.”
“Hmm!” Jupe scowled and pulled at his lip. He rapped at the wall again. “I can’t believe it,” he said.
The doorbell sounded in the entrance hall and they all jumped.
“I’ll get it,” said Jean.
Mrs. Darnley and the boys heard her struggle with the locks on the door, then say,
“Oh, it’s you.”
Almost immediately, Señor Santora came into the library. Jean was close behind him and she was angry.
“I didn’t ask you to come in!” she said.
Señor Santora scowled at the boys. He glanced at the turned-back carpets and at the books piled on the floor. “Ah!” he said. Jupe thought that there was a note of satisfaction in his voice.
“You’ve come to tell us something?” asked Mrs. Darnley.
“I have come to see that my mirror is safe. I still await the documents from Spain.
But something has happened here. You have had, I think, a fright.”
“Nothing has happened,” said Mrs. Darnley evenly.
“You have seen something,” he insisted. “I think you have seen Chiavo. Señora, do not delay or it may be too late. To see Chiavo is a warning. Let me take the glass.”
“If you can prove that you are the rightful owner,” said Mrs. Darnley, “then you may take the glass.”
“As you wish.” He took out a small notebook and wrote something in it with a silver pencil. He tore the page from the book and handed it to Mrs. Darnley. “You may change your mind,” he said. “If you do, please call me at my hotel. In case you have forgotten, it is the Beverly Sunset. Here is the number.”
He bowed and went out, and Jean locked the front door behind him.
“He knew!” said Mrs. Darnley. “He knew we saw that thing in the mirror. How could he have known?”
“Perhaps he knew, Mrs. Darnley,” said Jupiter Jones, “or perhaps he was only guessing. Certainly he had to be aware that something had transpired. Why else would we have the room in such an upset state?”
Mrs. Darnley glanced at the telephone number Santora had given her. “Señor Santora is running up quite a hotel bill for the sake of my mirror. The Beverly Sunset isn’t cheap. My friend Emily Stonehurst used to live there.”
“I think I know the place,” said Jupe. “It’s on the south