Тайна загадочной лестницы [with w_cat] | страница 40

[586] Nancy clicked on her flashlight and swung it onto the nearest wood-paneled wall. Helen stared at it, then remarked, "This isn't made of long panels from ceiling to floor. It's built of small pieces."

[587] "That's right," said Nancy. "But see if you don't agree with me that the spot back of the costume trunk near the chimney looks a little different. The grain doesn't match the other wood."

[588] The girls crossed the attic and Nancy beamed her flashlight over the suspected paneling.

[589] "It does look different," Helen said. "This could be a door, I suppose. But there's no knob or other hardware on it." She ran her finger over a section just above the floor, following the cracks at the edge of a four-by-two-and-a-half-foot space.

[590] "If it's a secret door," said Nancy, "the knob is on the other side."

[591] "How are we going to open it?" Helen questioned.

[592] "We might try prying the door open," Nancy proposed. "But first I want to test it."

[593] She tapped the entire panel with her knuckles. A look of disappointment came over her face. "There's certainly no hollow space behind it," she said.

[594] "Let's make sure," said Helen. "Suppose I go downstairs and get a screw driver and hammer? We'll see what happens when we drive the screw driver through this crack."

[595] "Good idea, Helen."

[596] While she was gone, Nancy inspected the rest of the attic walls and floor. She did not find another spot which seemed suspicious. By this time Helen had returned with the tools. Inserting the screw driver into one of the cracks, she began to pound on the handle of it with the hammer.

Nancy watched hopefully. The screw driver went through the crack very easily but immediately met an obstruction on the other side. Helen pulled the screw driver out. "Nancy, you try your luck."

[597] The young sleuth picked a different spot, but the results were the same. There was no open space behind that portion of the attic wall.

[598] "My hunch wasn't so good," said Nancy.

Helen suggested that they give up and go downstairs. "Anyway, I think the postman will be here soon." She smiled. "I'm expecting a letter from Jim. Mother said she would forward all my mail."

[599] Nancy did not want to give up the search yet. But she nodded in agreement and waved her friend toward the stairs. Then the young detective sat down on the floor and cupped her chin in her hands. As she stared ahead, Nancy noticed that Helen, in her eagerness to meet the postman, had not bothered to go quietly down the attic steps. It sounded as if Helen had picked the squeakiest spot on each step!