“Looks clear,” Nate says as he peers out. “I don’t see anyone around, and the storm has passed.”
“Do you think we should go back to my house, or should we call the police?”
“The police?” Nate glances at me out of the corner of his eye. “Are you serious?”
“Well, someone was shooting at us,” I say. “I mean, I guess…I don’t know what the proper procedure is for gangsters. I know Pablo would have called them, though.”
“Gangsters!” Nate shakes his head and grins at me. “You need a better word. Besides, how many cops are there in Accident?”
“Like, in Accident? None. The county sheriff has to come up from down south.”
“How about you just let me handle it, then?”
“What does that mean?”
“It means getting to your car and getting my gun, for starters.”
“Oh.”
Nate takes my hand, and we make our way through the snow toward my house. Nate moves his head from side to side, looking for anyone who might be after us, but there isn’t a soul to be found in the area. Between the Drane House and my Accident residence, there are only fields, a pond, and the doctor’s office where I received my as yet unshared news. I don’t even see any signs of another person until we get closer to my house, and a car moves slowly down the slick street.
“Is that them?” I ask, grabbing Nate’s arm.
“No. The car I saw before was black. I think they’ve been here and gone.”
“They’ve been here? To my house?”
“In your house.” Nate points to the back door, which is slightly open, and I can see footprints leading from the front of the house to the back door. He quickly fishes through his overnight bag and grabs a sleek, black handgun. “I know we didn’t leave the door that way. Stay here.”
I’m not about to stay by myself, so I keep behind Nate as he walks cautiously up to the house and peers inside the door. I look down at the partially covered prints in the snow. I can see prints both coming and going, but I’m not sure how many.
Nate looks through the house, gun drawn, but he finds no one inside.
“They were obviously here at some point,” he says, “but they’ve left. Is there anything missing?”
“Not that I can see from here.” I look around, wondering what they might have taken.
“I’m surprised the place isn’t turned upside down,” Nate says.
“Should we even be in here?” I ask. “I mean, isn’t this the first place they’re going to look for us?”
“Assuming they are still in town, yes,” Nate says. “They were betting on a surprise attack, and that didn’t work out so well for them, so they may have backed off.”
“What will they do next?”
“Plan again?” Nate shrugs. “I don’t know for sure, but it is best we finish up here and get back home where we have more support. I hope we aren’t in for a dozen more clues to the treasure. I’ve had about enough of this mystery game.”
“Well, let’s check the bookcase, then.”
I lead Nate to the Victorian bookcase and show him the embedded latch on the side of it. He pushes it, and the side wall pops out at the bottom, revealing a small safe.
“Do you know the combination?” he asks.
“Yes.” I turn the dial and open the safe.
Inside is the deed to the house and the store, still in Virginia Bay’s name. I wonder briefly if I’ll be able to get the name changed to mine, given that the real Virginia is living on an island somewhere. Though I’d spoken briefly to a lawyer before I moved in order to get access to the bank account and life insurance proceeds, I hadn’t gotten around to trying to change any of the property into my name. Aside from the deeds, a passport, and some other legal documents, there is nothing of interest in the safe.
“There has to be something else,” Nate says as he shuffles through the documents again.
“There are some other hidden places in this bookcase,” I say. “That’s the only one with a safe, though.”
I open up a few other little compartments, but again, we find nothing significant. Nate pulls out the note we found in the shop and reads it again.
“It says ‘Victorians weren’t all about safety.’ I guess I should have figured it wouldn’t be in the safe, but where? What’s on the opposite side of the safe?”
“That section doesn’t open,” I say. “Only the left side hides a safe.”
“Are you sure?”
“Well…I guess not.” I feel around on the right side of the bookcase, looking for a similar latch. “This era of furniture was kind of infamous for having a lot of secret places. The opening mechanism could be anywhere, assuming it’s there at all.”
“Can’t we just grab an axe and smash through it?”
“Don’t you dare!” I glare at him. “I love this bookcase.”
“Fine.” Nate huffs out a breath. “Where else could the latch be hidden?”
“Maybe inside one of the other hidden areas,” I say. “I think I’ve looked everywhere else.”
I feel around inside the safe, around the safe, and along the bottom of the bookshelf. Nate takes the top, since he’s taller, and pokes around in all the compartments up there. Finally, in the back of another hidden drawer, I find a small latch. When I hit it, I hear a click down by my feet, and the right-side panel opens slightly.
“There we are!” Nate pulls the door open and peers inside. “There’s something way in there, but I can’t quite
