The Delaware Detectives

by Dana Rongione

  Chapter Six:

  Hiding Places

  At my request, Pop-Pop sent Scott and Phyllis home for the day. I thought about having them stay. After all, they said that they came to the house often, so maybe they knew something about the treasure. But, I wasn’t sure if I could trust them. They seemed nice, and they had even helped us clean, but I felt that I needed to know them better before I told them such an important secret.

  It took nearly half an hour for Jamie and me to explain about the stamp collection and the secret clue we had found. When we finished, I looked straight into Pop-Pop’s eyes. He had that far-off look again, but before I could say anything else, he spoke.

  “That stamp collection was the result of a hobby I shared with my grandmother.” He sat down in the worn recliner, a small smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. “I can remember spending many hours sitting at my grandmother’s bedside, working on that stamp book with her. She left it to me when she died.”

  Jamie jumped down from his stool and drew closer to Pop-Pop. “Maybe she left it to you because she wanted you to find the treasure.”

  Pop-Pop laughed and shook his head. “No, Jamie. I don’t think that’s why. I think she left it to me because I was the only one who would want it. None of the rest of the family cared about stamp collecting. They said it was boring and a waste of time, but I loved it just the same.”

  “Do you still collect stamps?” I asked.

  “No, I haven’t collected a single stamp since my grandmother died. That old book has been up in my attic for years. . .probably since I moved in. To be honest, I forgot I even had it.”

  I paced the room, then stopped in front of Pop-Pop. “Where should we look next?”

  “Jamie,” Pop-Pop said rising from his chair. “Let me see that last clue again.” Jamie handed him the clue and moved to stand by me. Pop-Pop read aloud. “To find the next clue, you must dismantle, but be very careful, for it’s hot to handle.” Scratching his head, he said, “Hmm, that is a tricky one.”

  “What does dismantle mean?” Jamie asked.

  “It means to take something apart,” Pop-Pop answered.

  “Oh,” I mumbled to Jamie. “You’ll be good at that as long as you don’t have to put it back together.”

  “What’s that supposed to mean?” Jamie shouted.

  I opened my mouth to tell him exactly what I meant, but catching the warning in Pop-Pop’s eyes, I closed it with a snap.

  “Now, look, you two,” he said in a stern voice. “If we want to have a prayer of finding this treasure, we are going to have to work together. No more fussing. Understood?”

  Jamie and I hung our heads. “Yes, sir,” we mumbled.

  “Back to the treasure,” Pop-Pop said in a gentler tone. “I'm going to assume all of these clues will be here in the house, and if I'm right, this clue is saying that we are looking for something hot. What can you think of that would be in this house and hot?”

  “A heater or the fireplace?” I said.

  “How about the oven?” Jamie shouted, jumping up and down and clapping his hands together like a cheerleader.

  Pop-Pop cleared his throat. “Those are all wonderful suggestions, and as much as I would love to help, I have some things to do. So, if you kids don’t mind walking home, I think I’ll head back to the house. I have some things I need to work on, and I'll need to get dinner started pretty soon.”

  “That’s fine,” I answered. I could tell that he was also very tired, though I was sure he was not going to admit it. “We’ll just split up and look in the places we just talked about. If we don’t find it there, we’ll call it a night and come on home. Okay?”

  “Sounds good,” Pop-Pop answered and turned to go. “Just be careful, and call me if you need anything.” With that, he grabbed his hat and walked out the front door.

  I turned back to Jamie. “Let’s get busy. How about you search the oven, and I’ll check the furnace and any other heaters I see. After that, we can search the fireplace and attic together.”

  “The attic?” Jamie questioned. “Why would we look there?”

  “Attics are hot—well, at least they are in the summer. Anyway, it will be dark soon, so let’s get busy.”

  Uncle Harold’s house, I soon discovered, did not have individual heaters, but one main heating unit. The furnace was located in the basement, and that’s where I was when I ran into another problem. At the bottom of the basement steps, I reached up to flip the switch on the wall. It flipped, but nothing happened. I guess the bulb was blown out or something. All I know is, it was DARK! So, I had two options: I could continue in the darkness (not my first choice), or I could go back upstairs and ask Jamie if I could borrow his secret agent flashlight (at least that’s what he called it). After standing in the darkness for several seconds and listening to the sounds of several tiny feet scrambling around me, I picked choice number two.

  I couldn't find Jamie in the kitchen, so I walked from room to room, calling his name. I finally found him in the library. He was standing on his tiptoes on a stepladder in front of the great fireplace. “We were supposed to search the fireplace together. Remember? What do you think you’re doing?”

  He whipped his head around to look at me. “What does it look like I’m doing? I’m checking for loose bricks—you know—like in the movies.”

  “Well, you’re going to break your neck.” I walked over to him and grabbed hold of his arm. “Come on. Get down.”

  “No,” he said, jerking his arm away. “I’m not finished yet.”

  I took a deep breath and tried again, pulling a little harder this time. “You’re going to hurt yourself. Come down.”

  Jamie continued to pull away from me and grabbed the fireplace mantel for support. After one more good tug, he finally came down. . . and so did the mantel. Jamie and I landed in a heap beside the stepladder. The mantel, which had completely detached itself from the wall, was lying just inches in front of us.

  “Look what you did!” Jamie shouted, struggling to get up.

  “It wasn’t my fault,” I complained. “If you had come down like I said, this never would have happened.” I looked down at the mantel and then up at the empty place on the wall. “I guess we had better see if we can fix it. Grab the other end.”

  “Stop bossing me around. That’s all you ever do! I didn’t break it, and I’m not going to fix it.”

  “Fine!” I shouted. “I’ll fix it myself.”

  Jamie stood and watched as I struggled to lift the heavy mantel off the floor. “This thing must be solid wood,” I groaned.

  After managing to stand the mantel on its end, I leaned it against the wall so I could try to figure out how to re-attach it. The back of the mantel looked almost exactly like the front, except that there was a drawer about the size of a small book in the middle under the ledge. Forgetting that I was still angry with him, I pointed it out to Jamie. “Look at this little drawer. I wonder what it was used. . .Oh, I get it.”

  “Get what?” Jamie asked, moving closer to the mantel.

  “The clue. It said we had to dismantle something, and we did. We dismantled the mantel. And usually the mantel would be very hot to handle. Right? I think we’ve found the next clue.”

  Jamie grinned. “Well, don’t just stand there. Open the drawer.”

  He didn’t need to tell me that since I was already sliding the drawer open. At first, it appeared to be empty, but then I noticed a small piece of yellow sticking out from what appeared to be the bottom of the box. “Quick, find me a knife or something. I think there’s something underneath this thin piece of wood.”

  Jamie reached down into his pocket, pulled out a small black pocketknife, and handed it to me. “Good thing I brought my trusty secret agent knife.” Normally, I would have rolled my eyes and made another comment about him watching too much television, but I had more important things on my mind. I opened the knife and pressed the point down into the corner of the drawer. After a few seconds of twisting
and pulling, I lifted the false bottom. Inside the drawer was a folded piece of yellowed paper.