by Ike Hamill
Jack studied his father for a sign of trouble and, sensing none, tossed a look of caution to Ben and Stephen who had stopped breakfast mid-chew.
Jack’s dad continued: “He’s very interested in the shells you found at the pits. He said they match the type used by the boys he suspects of killing dogs. He’d like to talk with you this morning.”
“Okay!” said Jack. “When?”
“Hand me a glass — would’ya Bub?” said Jack’s dad. “He’s coming by this morning some time, so just stay in the house until he comes by.”
Jack handed him a glass from the cabinet and his dad filled it from the sink.
“No problem, dad. We’ll just hang out in my room,” said Jack.
Jack started to head out of the kitchen towards the stairs.
“Aren’t you going to have any breakfast?” asked his mom.
“Oh yeah,” said Jack as he turned and went back to the kitchen table.
**********
Sheriff Kurtwood sat in the big chair in the living room. Rather, he sat on the edge of the big chair. When Jack was a kid he used to curl up in that chair sometimes and take a nap so he could hear his dad working in the adjoining office. The sheriff hunched forward over the coffee table, where his notebook and day-planner were open — he was flipping through his calendar.
Ben, Jack, and Stephen sat on the couch opposite the sheriff.
“So,” the sheriff began, “you said you were hiking on the fifth?”
“Yes,” said Jack. “July fifth — it was the day after we went to the fair.”
The sheriff flipped backwards to the previous page of his notebook. “Huh,” he said. He scanned down the page with his finger and tapped the page. “Your dad said your mom found the casings when she was doing laundry on Sunday. But you found them on the fifth.”
“Yeah,” reiterated Jack, “it must have been before the sixth, because I still had my sling on.” He pointed to his right arm.
“That’s right,” said Stephen. “He reached for the casings, but couldn’t get them because of his arm, so I had to get them.”
The sheriff studied Stephen during his interjection, and then looked back to Jack: “How long were you wearing a sling?”
“Three weeks. It smelled like cheese,” said Jack, wrinkling his nose.
“I bet,” he smiled. “And you were still reaching for things with your bad arm after three weeks?” asked the sheriff.
“Yeah, I guess,” said Jack.
“So, did you see who was shooting?” asked the sheriff.
“Nope,” said Jack.
Sheriff Kurtwood wrote a note on his ledger and then turned to Ben. “You’re quiet.”
Ben simply looked back.
“You boys aren’t in any trouble with me,” said the sheriff. “Your dad said he grounded you for being over at the quarry, but I don’t think you kids were up to any harm. You can tell me exactly what happened over there — I’m not going to be angry. You may just do something good; those are bad guys.”
“Honest, Sheriff, we just found those casings,” said Ben. “There wasn’t anybody there but us when we found them.”
“Okay then,” said the sheriff. He wrote a few more notes and then looked up. “You can go. Send your dad in here please.”
**********
Downstairs Jack and Ben grabbed a soccer ball and headed outside. Stephen was on the phone talking to his mother about extending his stay. Outside, Ben and Jack congratulated each other on surviving the pressure of talking to a sheriff without cracking.
“Don’t know yet,” said Stephen as he caught up with his friends.
The three boys sat down in the grass. They had settled about halfway to the woods so Jack’s parents wouldn’t hear them talking. In a rough triangle they rolled the ball to each other while they talked.
“What’s the problem?” asked Ben.
“She’s got to get the flight changed,” answered Stephen. “And I was supposed to have a swimming class.”
“Hey, you know what’s weird?” asked Jack.
“What?” asked Ben.
“When that sheriff was talking I had an idea about the letter,” answered Jack. “He asked me why I was still reaching for things after three weeks.”
Stephen had the ball; he tried to twirl it on his finger. “Yeah — that was dumb of me to say that,” he said.
“Yeah it was,” agreed Ben.
“Well anyway,” continued Jack, “why would that guy set up a trust to pay the taxes, but say he can’t keep pouring money into the thing without getting anything back?”
“Nothing about that letter made sense though,” said Stephen.
“Yeah, but this guy is so intent on protecting that place, but he gave up and moved away?” continued Jack.
“And there’s clearly something going on with that button,” said Ben, joining the conversation.
“Do you think there’s concrete behind all the windows?” asked Stephen.
“How would you get in?” laughed Jack.
“Maybe that’s the point,” said Ben. “It’s like full of zombies and shit — he doesn’t want people to get eaten.”
“Sounded like grinding concrete when you were hitting that button,” said Stephen.
“Hey!” said Jack. “Maybe it was opening one of the windows.”
“Maybe a secret door or something?” asked Ben.
“We’re never going to get any sleep again, are we? We’ll just keep waking up at three o’clock to try to figure out that stupid empty building,” joked Jack.
“How often do you get seven hundred dollars and a crazy empty hotel to figure out?” asked Ben.
**********
That night rain ruled out any adventures. They curled up in their fort, with special viewing holes to see the television. The sound was turned down, and they only payed attention every ten minutes so they could see the local radar on the weather channel.
Huddled beneath their blanket ceiling, their conversation rambled and turned through a variety of subjects while they passed the time, but the subject kept returning to what their lives would be like when they were older.
“I think I’m going to live in southern California mostly, but I’ll have a place in the mountains too. Maybe the Rockies,” said Stephen.
“My dad says it’s a terrible time to buy real estate,” said Ben. “You should think about getting an RV and driving back and forth.”
“No way — I’m not living in a tin can,” sneered Stephen.
“I’ve seen some cool RV’s, but I don’t know if I’d want to live in one,” added Jack.
“Yeah,” said Stephen, “plus land always increases in value. It’s the best investment.”
“You know, I think it’s more important to figure out what you want to do for a living, and then decide where you’re going to live based on that,” said Jack.
“I’m going to retire early anyway,” said Stephen. “But I still want to live someplace I like.”
“Definitely,” said Ben. “But if you’re mobile, you can live anywhere.”
“That’s retarded,” said Stephen. “I’ve got to have a big place, so I can spread out.”
“I’ve seen your house now. It’s not that big,” countered Ben.
“Exactly,” said Stephen. “I’m tired of being cramped.”
“I think I want to be a scientist or a professor,” said Jack.
“Ugh. That sounds awful,” said Stephen. “Don’t you want to be a baseball player or something?”
“I’m being realistic,” said Jack.
“Realistic doesn’t have to be boring,” said Ben. “Least you could do is hope to be like the most famous scientist ever, or something. You know, like invent teleportation or something?”
“Maybe I will,” said Jack. “But as long as I’m working on something I like, it doesn’t need to be cool.”
“You’ll never get premium tail being a scientist,” said Stephen.
“What do you mean?” asked J
ack, completely naive.
“Are you serious?” laughed Stephen. “I’m talking about tail, you know poontang? Pussy?”
Jack was slow to understand.
“Is your boy serious?” Stephen asked Ben. He turned back to Jack — “You’re not a homo, are you? It’s okay if you are. Are you?” he snickered.
The expectant look on Stephen’s face gave Jack the appropriate answer. “What? No way — screw you,” said Jack.
“I think you just might,” said Stephen, still chuckling.
“Whatever,” interjected Ben. “I don’t see you with any girlfriends.”
“I’ve had my moments,” said Stephen, suddenly defensive.
“I just think it would be cool to be a scientist and get paid to figure stuff out,” said Jack.
“I’d like to be an actor, or a musician,” said Ben. “Maybe both.”
“Yeah, that’s definitely the way. You don’t have to work much, and you get paid a ton,” agreed Stephen.
“Well you better be a really good actor if you want to have two houses,” said Jack.
“I already am, son. Already am,” confirmed Stephen. “Besides, my dad’s got more money than he needs. I’ll just get some from him. Plus I’ve got my share of seven hundred dollars per year.”
**********
The full night’s sleep was welcome, but made the boys anxious to return to their adventure. It was still raining in the morning when Jack’s mom offered to take the boys on her errands.
“Where are you going?” asked Jack.
She consulted her list: “Grocery, hardware, and card store.”
Jack conferred with Ben and Stephen — they agreed a trip would be a good diversion. The clouds would clear in the afternoon and they had high hopes that the weather that night would be conducive to another hotel visit. Once they made the decision, the day dragged.
“We’ll go, but can we hang around the stores while you’re at the grocery?” asked Jack.
“You can go as far as the pet store. Deal?”
“Deal,” said Jack.
**********
“Okay, you got money?” Jack asked Ben.
“Yeah, what are we getting?” asked Ben.
“Stud finder,” said Jack.
They were walking down the aisle of the last remaining small hardware shop in town. After the Home Depot came to town, the other hardware store and lumber yard had closed. His parents still came to this small place because it was close and they knew the owners.
Stephen was testing the measuring tapes. “Doesn’t your dad have one of those?” he asked.
“Yeah, but this one has a deep scanning mode,” answered Jack. “He told me he was going to buy it so he could find power cords in walls before he drilled. I was going to get it for him for Father’s day, but then I forgot.”
“So why do we want it now?” asked Ben. “That thing’s like forty bucks.”
“We can use it to find out what that button’s hooked up to,” said Jack. “Besides, I’ll pay you back — I’m going to give it to my dad for his birthday.”
“So it finds power cords, and you think we can follow the power coming off of the button?”
“Yeah, why not?” asked Jack.
“It just doesn’t sound like something that would work,” replied Ben.
“Well then maybe it will be able to tell if there’s concrete behind every window,” said Jack.
“That would be cool,” said Stephen. “Would it really do that?”
Jack paused — “I don’t know, but the plastic comes off without ripping, so I can just put it back in the package and give it to my dad in August.”
Ben laughed — “Good enough for me.”
They paid for the stud finder and made their way outside where Jack’s mom was waiting.
“What did you buy?” she asked.
“Birthday present for dad,” Jack replied.
“A little early, isn’t it?”
“I didn’t want to forget again,” said Jack. His mom smiled.
**********
Late that night at the hotel, they huddled again on the porch roof and tried to decipher the nature of the button. Jack’s deep-scanning method was only slightly successful. He would get a firm idea of the direction of the wire and then lose the signal.
Pressing the button yielded much better scanning results, but after the grinding sound stopped and the button clicked, it stopped showing up on the detector.
“This is pointless,” said Stephen.
“You heard the noise,” reminded Ben. “There’s got to be something going on when it makes that noise.”
“My grandmother used to have a doorbell that sounded like dogs barking,” retorted Stephen. “Do you think there was something going on with that as well?”
“You know,” started Jack, “the more I think about it, he can’t be hiding something valuable. If what he’s hiding was worth anything, he wouldn’t spend money to build a hotel, set up a trust, and then give up. It’s got to be something bad he’s hiding.”
Ben sat down on the roof with his back to the wall and looked out into the night. “Like what?” he asked.
“Maybe he buried bodies here,” said Stephen and sat down next to Ben.
“Yeah, like that,” said Jack. “He was pouring money into this to keep a secret that would have hurt him.”
“Must be a really bad secret,” said Ben.
“Yeah,” Jack said as he sat next to his friends, “maybe it is bodies. Well, whatever it is, it looks like he might have sealed the place up with concrete to keep…”
“Shhh!” ordered Ben. “Listen,” he whispered as he pressed his ear to the wall.
All three pressed their ears to wall and listened carefully to the same grinding sound they had heard earlier. It continued for several seconds and then ended with a thump and a loud click.
“That click is coming from up there. It sounds like a latch or something,” said Ben as he pointed up. He shone his light on the wall about seven feet up from where they stood.
“We have to get up there,” said Jack.
“Yeah,” agreed Stephen, “do you have a ladder?”
“Of course,” said Jack. “But we can’t carry it all the way out here.”
“See — there’s a secret door up there,” said Ben. “I told you guys.”
“Maybe,” said Stephen. “Hard to prove without a ladder.”
“Hey,” said Ben, “don’t you have a step-ladder in the garage?”
“Yeah,” said Jack. “Do you think that would be tall enough?”
“We can find out,” said Ben. “Let’s go.”
“Tonight?” asked Jack. “You want to go back to the house and come back here tonight?”
“It won’t take that long,” said Ben.
“Yeah, but by the time we back here we won’t have any time even if we do find something,” said Jack.
“Come on,” said Stephen, “we have hours until dawn.”
“Less than two,” said Jack. “The sun rises at 5:10 today. And it takes us twenty minutes to get back to the house from here.”
“We’ve got to get that restriction lifted,” said Stephen. “Then we could be here all day.”
“We doing this or not?” asked Ben.
“We’d have to jog the whole way,” said Jack. “And we have to leave here by quarter of five. And we have to bring the ladder back with us.”
“Let’s go,” said Ben, “what’s stopping us?”
“Just sanity,” laughed Stephen.
**********
“What do you see?” asked Jack.
Ben got to go first up the ladder. The folded ladder leaned against the building for support. Ben was on the next-to-last step while Jack and Stephen held it in place.
The mission to retrieve the ladder had gone almost perfectly. To avoid using the noisy garage door, they used the back door of the garage which was very close to the neighbors house. When leaving by the basement door they had the advanta
ge of a hill that blocked the neighbors view and a deck that shielded them from above.
With the ladder in-hand, they felt naked crossing the yard. The neighbor’s dog barked. Jack kept his calm and moved at an even pace which forced Ben to suppress his urge to run. Even moving slowly, they had a couple of sketchy moments where they almost crashed into objects in the yard.
Now, at the hotel, Ben stretched up to determine if the wall had a hidden door build into it.
“Press the button,” said Ben.
“Hold on,” said Stephen. “You got it?” he asked Jack.
“Yeah, I can hold this,” answered Jack.
Stephen reached through the bottom steps of the ladder and pressed the button. After an initial click, the grinding sound began almost at once.
“Hey!” said Ben, “I can hear it — it’s right here. Keep pushing.”
“Like I was going to stop?” asked Stephen.
As before, the grinding stopped after several seconds, and Stephen felt and heard a loud click.
“Oh shit!” yelled Ben, atop the ladder.
“What? What is it?” asked Jack, trying to see around Ben in the night.
“The wall moves,” answered Ben. “It swings inward. It looked completely solid until that last click and then it gave way.”
“Open it!” said Stephen.
“Okay,” said Ben. He braced his knees against the building and pressed the section of wall he had been leaning on. The left side stopped after pushing in an inch, but the right side swung inward until it was perpendicular to the wall. The door measured two feet high and three feet wide. The top and bottom of the hatch were aligned on the edges of clapboards and the right and left sides were tight enough that the seams barely showed until Ben pressed the door open.
He swung the door inward until it stopped, revealing a rectangular hole in the side of the building. The bottom of the hatch was even with his stomach.
“Hand me a flashlight.” Ben extended his right hand down and beckoned.
“You’re going to have to grab it,” said Stephen. “I can’t reach.”
Annoyed, Ben reluctantly descended a few steps to grab the proffered light. Shining the light into the hole he was surprised.
