The Mystery of Smugglers Cove (The Mystery Series, Book 1) (6 page)

The man, Mr Spencer, glanced up and saw the children. “Hi, Will. Are these the children you were telling me about earlier?”

Will nodded and Mr Spencer smiled as he glanced at the others. “Will has told me a lot about you. You seem like nice children.”

“What are you doing?” Sarah asked.

“I’m fixing up my latest draft for my newest novel. I’m not sure if Will told you or not, but I’m an author. I’ve been meaning to spend some time with Will, but I’ve been under pressure from my publisher, so it’s good to see that he has made some new friends. So, what are you going to do on this fine day?”

“We wondered if we could borrow one of your ladders,” Amy asked.

“A ladder?” Mr Spencer frowned. “May I ask what for?”

Amy paused, apparently unsure of what to say. Joe helped her out. “We have some fruit trees in our garden and we’d like to see if the fruit is ripe now.” Technically, this was the truth, as they did have some trees in their garden and, if they had time afterwards, then they would check out the trees.

Mr Spencer nodded. “I have two, one big and one small.”

“Can we take the small one please?” Joe said.

“I’ll just get it out of the shed.” Mr Spencer stood up and left the room.

The children followed Mr Spencer to the shed. Before long, he placed the small ladder onto the grass. “Take care of it. I don’t use it often, but I would like it back once you’ve finished with it.”

“Of course,” Amy said.

After Mr Spencer headed back inside, Joe glanced at the others. “So, are we all ready to go?”

“What do we do when we get there?” Sarah asked.

“We lean the ladder against the wall, climb up, then lift it up and place it on the other side,” Joe said.

“But isn’t the ladder going to be too heavy?” Amy asked.

Will flexed his muscles and said playfully, “Are you calling me weak?”

“No, but—” Amy said.

“Don’t worry,” Joe said. “With all four of us helping, we shouldn’t have any trouble getting the ladder there or lifting it to the other side of the wall.”

The children set off. They were able to make good progress by cutting through the woods via a path Will knew.

When they reached Chandler Manor, they headed to a part of the wall that couldn’t be seen from the main entrance and set the ladder in place.

Joe climbed up. “Who’s next?” he said as he reached the top.

The others climbed up without any difficulty. Joe didn’t think that the ladder would be too heavy to haul up, and he was right. Before long, they had the ladder leaning against the other side of the stone wall.

Everyone climbed down and, after stowing the ladder behind some bushes, walked towards the manor, trying to keep behind the trees and bushes as much as possible.

They had to find a way to get inside and discover as much as they could. That was the only way the police would believe them. The best way in would be via the front door, but going in the front would only be possible if it had been left unlocked. Even though that didn’t seem likely, it was still a possibility.

Rounding the corner of the ivy-covered building, they came to the front door. Just as they were about to see if it was unlocked, they heard a noise. The children were shocked to see the big steel gates slowly opening.

“Hide!” Will whispered. “A car must be coming.”

They hid in the nearby bushes that grew along the side of the wide driveway. They waited in complete silence and then, a moment later, the front door opened and a man stepped out.

He headed towards the garage beside the manor and pulled up the roller door. He climbed into an old blue sedan and soon departed down the driveway.

Once the car was through the gate, it started to close.

After waiting a few moments to make sure that the coast was clear, the children headed up the steps to the front door.

Will put his hand on the doorknob. If it was still unlocked, it would save precious time and be an easy escape route. But if it wasn’t, they would have to find some other way to enter.

It opened. Breathing a sigh of relief, Will stepped inside, the others following close behind. They hadn’t intended to linger, but they were so in awe of the sight that greeted them they just had to pause.

In front of them was a giant foyer with a massive staircase in the middle. With the paint peeling off the walls and cracks appearing in the steps, it looked somewhat shabby. Even so, the sheer size of the individual marble stairs, as well as the whole staircase, left the children awestruck.

A hallway led to the right and left on each of the floors. As this was a three-storey building, there was a spiral staircase just to the left of the top of the first lot of stairs that led up to the top floor.

“Golly,” Amy said.

“There must be a ton of rooms in this place,” Sarah said. “How are we going to have time to search them?”

“We can probably dismiss the rooms on the third floor,” Joe said. “If I were a crook, I would want to stash my goods somewhere close, not someplace that would require me going up and down a number of stairs. We’ll have to be fast, so we should split up.”

“Good idea,” Amy said. “Why don’t Will and I search the second floor? You two can have the ground floor.”

“Sounds good,” Joe said. “Let’s meet back here in fifteen minutes.”

The two groups set off, all too aware that if they made too much noise, there could be trouble. Searching upstairs, Will and Amy didn’t have any luck. After coming across countless bedrooms and bathrooms that were empty, they thought they should go downstairs. Clearly, there wasn’t any illegal business happening on the second floor. They trooped downstairs and met the others.

“Any luck?” Joe asked.

“No,” Will replied. “Maybe they’re hiding the goods in the basement.”

“But Joe and I didn’t see any sign of steps leading to one,” Sarah said.

“Listen! I hear the gate opening again,” Amy blurted out. “The car must be coming back.”

“Good,” Will said. “That fellow ought to come back inside, and when he does, we can follow him. He should lead us to the others and the goods.”

“Let’s hide behind the stairs,” Joe suggested, “so he doesn’t see us when he comes in.”

The group hurried around to the back of the crumbling marble structure and waited. A minute later, they heard the front door open. Footsteps echoed down the hallways.

Motioning for the others to follow him, Joe edged along the wall until he came to the corner of the hallway and peered around it. The man was nowhere to be seen, but they could hear distant voices up ahead.

Joe looked over his shoulder to see where the others were. They were right behind him. “Let’s go,” he whispered. He tiptoed as fast as he could down the passageway.

After a right hand turn, and then a left one, they came to the end of the hallway. Of all the rooms they had passed, all were empty of people and furniture. Now there was only one more room left, and that room had an open door.

Joe pressed himself to the wall as he edged towards the door as quietly as possible. He paused before the open door and smiled with relief as he saw that the room was empty. It appeared to be a kitchen. On the other side of the room, steps descended into a basement, the source of the voices.

After telling the girls to wait where they were, the boys crept down the steps. Now that they were so close, Joe’s heart beat faster in anticipation at what they would find.

The boys walked around the corner and came out into a brightly lit medium-sized room. Pausing, they stared at the sight in front of them.

The basement contained two couches, crates, and three printing presses. A desk stood by the wall and a man was examining notes with a magnifying glass. The machines were being operated by a number of men.

Silently, they watched for the next few minutes as another person came into view. They assumed that he had come up through the tunnel, but as they couldn’t see the entire room, they didn’t know where the entrance was.

Satisfied that they had seen enough, they re-joined the girls and quickly told them what was happening below. Determined to come back when the men weren’t there, the children hurried back the way that they had come.

Joe suddenly spotted a door that he had previously not seen. He hurried towards it and opened it. After seeing that it led to a study, the children entered. In front of them was a gigantic oak desk, leather chairs, and two massive bookcases. It was evident that this room was often used, as there were various papers spread out all over the desk.

On the left side of the room, there was a panel. It was made of metal, with a lever sticking out. The words ‘Open’ and ‘Close’ were written on it.

“That must be what opens the gate,” Will said.

“Probably.” Amy glanced at the papers. “We should grab something and show it to the police.”

“Maybe,” Joe said, “as long as we don’t take anything the men might miss. They might get suspicious.”

They all peered at the documents, which ranged from newspaper cuttings to offers to buy the manor. There was even one piece of paper that looked as though it had been cut from a French newspaper.

“I can’t understand all the words,” Joe said, “but it says something about money.”

“Hey, I’ve just had a thought,” Amy said. “What if they put the fake money on the boat and transport it across the Channel?”

Will looked at her in admiration. “I think you might be right.”

The sound of voices approaching reached them. The children left the study and hid in a nearby room.

The men walked down the hallway a moment later and entered the study. The children heard the grating of the gate moving. Someone must have pulled the lever.

The children held their breath as the men passed the room where they were hiding behind sofas.

Judging by the men’s conversation as they walked by, they were going out for a while.

Will realised that if the men locked the front door, they would have to find another way out. And if they broke a window, the men would surely see it the next day and become suspicious.

After a few minutes had elapsed without any further sounds, Joe got up and walked to the door. Opening it quietly, he was pleased to see that there was no one near the front entrance. But he could still hear a voice upstairs.

Joe led the others to a nearby window and looked out. He was surprised to see that the gate was closed. He grabbed the doorknob and twisted it. “It’s locked.”

“How can it be?” Will asked. “The men haven’t gone out yet.”

“Well,” Sarah said, “maybe only one of the men went in the car. Maybe the others plan to use the tunnel entrance after they’ve finished upstairs.”

“Possibly,” Joe said. “Come on, it’s getting late. We need to get out of here. We don’t want to be trapped like last time. Let’s head to the basement and grab some of the money before we find a way out.”

They headed back down the hallway and into the basement. Walking down the steps, Will rounded the corner and stopped in surprise. Sarah gasped.

Rocky was sitting at the table in front of a bunch of money! Hearing Sarah’s gasp of surprise, he glanced up. “Hey!” He ran towards them.

“Go back!” Joe shouted. He turned around and sped up the steps. The others quickly followed.

“Stop!” Rocky yelled as he reached the stairs.

“Don’t listen to him,” Joe said. He glanced about in an attempt to navigate the maze of hallways.

“He’s catching up!” Amy cried.

Joe looked behind him to see how far behind the crook was. They had roughly a fifty-foot lead, but he was gaining. If they were to escape, they would have to try something different.

“We need to split up,” Joe yelled. “Will – you and Amy head left while Sarah and I go right.”

When they arrived at the end of the hallway, they did precisely that. Joe tore up the stairs with his sister following close behind.

“Hurry up,” Joe called as they reached the top. They began running down the hallway, trying to find a place to hide.