“Let’s go up to the house,” Jessie suggested. “We can at least see if William made those prints. They sure look like his.”
“And these!” Henry pointed to a muddy part of the path. “These footprints look pretty new, too. Let’s follow them.”
When the children returned to the main path, they followed the muddy footprints up the steps.
Henry covered up the secret path with the holly branches again. “I don’t want anybody else to find this trail or even know we found it.”
When they reached the top, the children saw William heading to the gardening shed with some clippers in his hand.
Jessie caught up to him. “Hi, Mr. Mason,” she said. “Oh, your gardening clippers are just like Grandfather’s. So are those leather gardening gloves. Were you out pruning brushes?”
William stared at the clippers in his gloved hand as if he didn’t know what they were. He ignored Jessie’s question. “I thought you kids said you were going swimming today.”
“You said that, not us,” Henry replied. “We came here to help Charlotte. Did she call you about working on Dr. Tibbs’s skeleton collection? She wants us to count what’s in there.”
“Waste of time, if you ask me,” William said. “Just ship the whole shebang to the medical school and let them do the job.”
Violet had something important to tell Mr. Mason. “Charlotte is putting Greeny Owen in charge of the skeletons before she sends them to the medical school.”
“Greeny Owen?” William Mason said. “I chased him off here just this morning when I found him wandering around in the house as if he owned it.”
Violet had to defend Greeny. “He just wants to protect Dr. Tibbs’s skeleton collection. He thinks someone may have taken some of them recently.”
William looked at Violet for a long time. “What do you mean, someone took the skeletons? There’s such a jumble of bones in there, who would even know if any of them were missing?”
“Greeny would!” Benny blurted out. “And we saw skeletons in the woods, and so did Grandfather and Charlotte.”
William laughed. “Well, everybody knows about the Walking Skeleton,” he told the Aldens. “Maybe you should tell Charlotte to stay put in her nice little cottage where she won’t be scared by skeletons roaming the woods.”
“Charlotte isn’t scared of skeletons, walking or not,” Jessie said. “She’s going to fix up Skeleton Point no matter what.”
William walked up the broken steps of the reflecting pool. “Well, you can’t say she wasn’t warned ahead of time.”
Jessie checked her watch. “We’d like to go into Dr. Tibbs’s study and do what Charlotte asked us to do.”
William didn’t look too pleased about this, but he nodded anyway. “Suit yourself. If that’s what Charlotte wants, feel free.”
But the door to Dr. Tibbs’s study wasn’t open.
Henry pushed the door with his shoulder. “Maybe it’s stuck the way it was the other day.” When the door didn’t budge, he pushed it with his whole body. Still it didn’t open. “Know what? There’s a lock on it — a new one,” he said. “That’s why I can’t get it open.”
Hilda arrived just as the Aldens were heading out to find William.
Jessie went up to her. “Hi, again. Would you happen to have the key to the study? It’s locked. Charlotte wants us to get started organizing the skeleton collection.”
Hilda looked puzzled. “Locked? Why would anybody lock up those dusty old things? None of the locks inside the house work anyway. Just push the door hard.”
“We already did,” Henry said. “This lock is new. Did the locksmith finally come? Charlotte sent one out last week, but he got scared off.”
Hilda seemed in a hurry and not in any kind of mood to talk with the Aldens. “Well, since you can’t get in there, you won’t be able to do whatever job Charlotte suggested. Perhaps you should head home until you hear from her again.”
The children looked at one another. Why was this woman always trying to make them go away?
Jessie surprised her brothers and sister by agreeing. “Sure. I guess we will go. See you tomorrow.”
When the children got outside, Benny was confused. “Why are we going home? Can’t we ask her about my photos?”
Jessie put her arm on Benny’s shoulder. “We’re only going to pretend to leave. We’ll sneak to the other side of the house and see what the two of them are up to.”
When the children came outside, they waved at William.
“See you tomorrow,” Henry called out loudly. Then in a whisper he said, “And probably a whole lot sooner.”
Soon the children were hiking through the woods again. As they circled back, they came up with a plan.
“We have to somehow get upstairs without anyone seeing us,” Henry said. “That way we’ll get a better view around the property. And in old houses, the sound sometimes travels through the heating vents. We might be able to hear what Hilda and William are up to. They seem to spend all their time either outside or downstairs.”
The children hid behind some trees not far from the back of the house. A large clearing stood between the house and the woods. Somehow they were going to have to race through the clearing without being seen.
Jessie took the binoculars to check around the property. “Hilda’s out talking with William near the reflecting pool. Okay now. One by one, we have to scoot into the open and go through the back door. Who wants to go first?”
Benny volunteered. “Say when,” he whispered to Jessie.
“Now!” Jessie said. “They’re facing away from the house. You go, too, Violet. See that room in the tower? We’ll meet you up there. If you hear anyone coming, hide behind the furniture. If you get caught, just say you came back to look for Benny’s camera.” With that, Jessie gave both of the younger children a little push. They were across the lawn in a flash.
“Uh-oh, duck,” Henry told Jessie. “William just turned around. Gee, he’s walking this way. I hope he didn’t see us.”
But William seemed too lost in his own thoughts to notice Jessie and Henry crouching in the bushes. He passed just a couple feet away from them on his way to the gardening shed.
“It’s now or never,” Jessie whispered to Henry. “Hilda is putting her sketch pad and pencils back into her tote bag. She’s going to turn around any minute.”
Henry glanced up at the main house. “Look, Benny and Violet are waving us that the coast is clear.” Henry grabbed his sister’s hand. The two of them raced across the clearing and disappeared into the house.
CHAPTER 9
Skeleton Keys
Henry and Jessie took the stone steps to the tower two at a time. Light on their feet, they didn’t make a sound until they reached a landing. There they stopped to catch their breath near a small window.
“We’re safe for now,” Henry whispered. “William is in the gardening shed. Hilda’s outside somewhere.”
Jessie leaned against the wall. “My heart is about to burst out of me,” she said. “We made it. Let’s find Benny and Violet. They were pretty brave getting up here so fast.”
Henry and Jessie climbed to the next floor.
“Here’s the door.” Jessie gave it a push.
She and Henry looked around the silent room. The long, narrow windows didn’t let in much light. All they could see were the large white shapes of old furniture covered in sheets. Cobwebs hung down from the tall ceiling.
Jessie brushed one aside so it wouldn’t get caught in her hair. “Where are Violet and Benny?”
“Down here,” a muffled voice answered from under a lump in the corner.
Henry and Jessie walked over. The sheet moved, then two faces peeked out.
“Hey, you two!” Henry helped his brother and Violet slide out from under a huge bed. “We thought you deserted us.”
Benny dusted off his hair. “We thought you were William or Hilda or the Walking Skeleton, so we hid under there.”
The children tipto
ed to the windows, which overlooked the property and Shady Lake as well.
“This is perfect,” Jessie said. “After William and Hilda leave for the day we’ll go back to get our sleeping bags and backpacks, then tidy up a little.”
Henry pulled out his binoculars from under his jacket. “I’m glad I brought these. We can see all the way down to the lake and the driveway from the other side. If anything funny is going on, we’ll see it. Uh-oh, Hilda’s heading to the house with William.”
“Shhh,” Violet said when she heard something downstairs. She put her head near the old-fashioned heating vent built into the floor. “Listen. They’re in the hallway outside the room below here.”
The words weren’t too clear, but the Aldens recognized William’s and Hilda’s voices.
“Now that you have all the measurements, how long do you think the job will take?” the Aldens heard William ask. “I need to get everything done fast.”
Hilda didn’t answer right away. Her voice was softer, so the Aldens had a harder time hearing her words. “...removing it, getting it to the foundry. Making a copy takes a long time. I wish I never told you about ... ”
The Aldens heard a hand bang against a table. “We don’t have a long time,” he said, so loudly he almost seemed to be in the same room.
Hilda sounded upset and spoke quietly. The Aldens could catch only a few words. “...understand... need to... back... why can’t... Charlotte... now.”
“Look, I know what I’m doing,” William said plainly. “You don’t need to know all the details. Can you do what I asked or not?”
The front door slammed. When the children ran to the window, they saw Hilda run from the house and down the driveway. William left shortly afterward.
“What did she say?” Benny asked Violet.
“I couldn’t tell,” Violet answered softly. “She mentioned a foundry, so it must have something to do with the statues or something like that. Artists sometimes bring statues to a foundry to have molds made of their statues. After that, it’s pretty easy to make copies from the molds.”
Jessie opened the window. In the distance she heard one car start, then another. “I think they took the Clover Dodge statue to copy it. But it doesn’t belong to them. It belongs to Charlotte. We have to tell her soon.”
Henry went from window to window aiming his binoculars down the driveway. “It’s probably safe to go out and bring our things up now. That’ll give us plenty of time to see what’s going on in this house while Hilda and William are gone.”
After the children aired the room out, they returned to the beach for their packs and sleeping bags.
That’s when Jessie heard a motorboat coming close. “Hide!” she told the other children. “Greeny’s boat is headed to the dock. He must be coming from the store. I sure hope Max doesn’t sniff us out back here. I have the extra food we brought.”
“I’ve got a good idea,” Benny said. “I’ll throw one of our extra sandwiches way over there. If Max finds it, he won’t come looking for us.”
“Good thinking, buddy.” Henry and the other children scrunched themselves behind a thick clump of pine trees and bushes.
Soon they heard Greeny’s boat slow down, then stop. The children pushed away a branch ever so slightly. What was Greeny going to do next?
“Okay, Max,” Greeny said to his dog. “We’re safe for a while. Now’s our chance to really clear out a few things — a few crates’ worth, at least.”
The Aldens barely breathed. They heard Max yipping with excitement when he discovered the sandwich Benny had tossed away from the hideout.
“Maxilla!” Greeny yelled. “Don’t eat that! Ugh. Too late. You are nothing but a canine garbage disposal. I just hope you don’t get sick. I’m putting you on the leash.”
Even on a leash, Max smelled food and came awfully close to where the Aldens were hiding.
“Get up here, Max. I’m not letting you run off again.” Greeny led Max toward the steps. “I may not have a whole lot of time.”
The Aldens waited behind the pine trees for a very long minute.
“Let’s follow Greeny now instead of bringing back our things,” Jessie suggested. “He’s getting something to put in all those crates I see in the boat. I don’t know if it’s parts of statues or skeletons or what, but now’s our chance to follow him.”
The children wondered if Greeny would turn off on the secret path. But he didn’t stop at all until he reached the gardening shed. “Sorry, Max, but I can’t have you barking and running around. You have to stay in here for now. I’ll be back for you later.”
“Poor thing,” Violet whispered when Max began to whine after Greeny shut the door. “He sounds just like Watch when we won’t let him play outside with us.”
With Max out of the way, the Aldens felt safer in following Greeny into the house. He unlocked the door to Dr. Tibbs’s study. Shutting the door, he locked it from inside the room.
“I know what we can do,” Henry whispered. “Let’s go upstairs. If we’re lucky, there may be a heating vent up there. Maybe we can see into the room.”
By now the Aldens knew where many of the creaky floorboards were and avoided them. They found the room above the study. A thick carpet covered most of it.
“Good, Greeny won’t be able to hear us walking around,” Jessie whispered. She found a corner where the carpet had been cut to let in the heat through a vent. She signaled the others to come over as quietly as possible and huddle around the vent.
When they looked through the grille of the vent, the children saw the top of Greeny’s head directly below. They could see him placing skulls, skeletons, and other kinds of bones into his crates.
The Aldens didn’t need to discuss what to do next. In an instant, they ran from the room and down the stairs so fast, Greeny never had a chance to get away.
When Greeny opened the door, the Aldens stood there blocking him.
Greeny couldn’t move. In his arms was a milk crate piled with skeleton bones. “I’m not even going to lie about what I’m doing,” he told the Aldens.
“Good,” Jessie said. “Then maybe you’d better explain what you’re doing and why. We already saw one skull in your boat. Where are you going with the rest of them?”
Greeny stared at the children for a long time. “Okay, I might as well tell you the truth. You and your relatives can decide what to do about it. I noticed that after Charlotte hired Mason and that woman — ”
Henry had something to say. “Wait a minute. Charlotte didn’t hire Mr. Mason; he volunteered.”
“Hmmm,” Greeny said. “Well, maybe Charlotte should have wondered why an architect would volunteer to do something for free — not that I have any idea. All I care about is Dr. Tibbs’s collection. Some of it has disappeared, and I’d bet anything that those two are to blame.”
Henry stepped closer to Greeny. “How do you know that? Right now you’re the thief, not Mr. Mason and Hilda. Even Mister Bones was taken. He wasn’t yours to take, or anybody’s.”
Now it was Greeny’s turn to look upset. “I know, that’s why I’m here. After Mister Bones disappeared along with a wild horse skull from out West, I just knew I had to move the whole collection to a safe place — my cabin. I came in here this morning and installed a lock on the door so nothing else would disappear. There are rare skeletons that Dr. Tibbs collected on his travels around the world. Now I’m taking them for safekeeping. You can tell Charlotte that, too.”
“No,” Violet said. “If you took these things, you’ll need to tell Charlotte yourself — tomorrow when she gets back. We’re going to find Mister Bones.”
Greeny’s mouth opened. “Where?”
“We’ll let you know tomorrow,” Jessie answered. “Now please put those crates back and give us the keys. Both of them. We’re spending the night here.”
Though Greeny Owen was many years older than the Aldens, he obeyed them without any more protest. He carried the crate of skeletons back to the study, pulled th
e door shut, and locked it. Then he dropped both keys in Jessie’s waiting hand and went off to get Max.
The children didn’t have Mister Bones just yet, but they had discovered that Greeny Owen was one of their thieves. Now they just had to catch the others.
CHAPTER 10
Alive in Dead Man’s Cave
After the sun went down, the Aldens turned on their flashlights. The beams cast shadows everywhere.
“At least we don’t have to tiptoe around,” Henry said as he and his brother and sisters explored the old house.
The children stayed close together so they wouldn’t waste their flashlight batteries. When they came to Dr. Tibbs’s study, they hesitated at the door.
“We can go in now that I have the keys,” Jessie said to Violet and Benny. “But we don’t have to unless you want to.”
Henry spotted two camp lanterns on a table in the hall. “Mr. Mason must have left those. Let’s turn them on to brighten up this place.” Henry pushed the lantern switches. “There, now it looks almost like a people house, not a skeleton house.”
Jessie found the keys to Dr. Tibbs’s study in her pocket. She unlocked the room.
“Oooh, now I’m not so sure about coming in here,” Benny said, taking Jessie’s hand. “You go first, Henry.”
The children stepped into the room and gazed at the shelves and tables of skeletons. The dim light made the bony shapes seem scarier than ever.
“By the looks of things, about half of the skeletons aren’t here anymore,” Jessie said. “We know Greeny removed an awful lot of them in those crates.”
Violet gazed at the empty window. “I know, but I do think he was telling the truth and that someone else took Mister Bones and some other skeletons. Otherwise, why would he be so upset about them and excited when we told him we were going to get them back?”
Jessie locked the study again. “Let’s look around the rest of the house some more. We’ll come back here during the daytime.” She took one lantern and led the other children down the hall. When she came to the kitchen, she set the lantern down.
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