Mystery of the Melting Snowman (8 page)

“I think so,” Cindy said. “But the owl…the owl.” She leaned against her bed and stared up at the ceiling. Suddenly her eyes widened and she sat up straight. “Could it be?” she muttered. “Of course it is! The mirror upstairs on the door! It’s at the end of the hall. I remember there’s an owl etched at the top. And the rest of the riddle fits too. When I was walking down that hallway, it was dark. I thought it was Jenny coming toward me, but it was my reflection. No matter what I do in front of the mirror, my reflection does the same thing. And that’s what the riddle means!”

Dexter and Jay stared at Cindy. Jay said, “So the key must unlock something behind the mirror!”

“Alex Baxter was there, in Mrs. Wellington’s apartment this morning,” said Dexter, excitedly. “He must know the sampler. Maybe he’s figured it out!”

“We have to go over there,” Jay said. “We have to unlock whatever this key unlocks before Alex Baxter gets there.”

“We have to keep whatever it is safe until Jenny and Tom come back with Tom’s parents and Mrs. Wellington,” Cindy said.

“Let’s go!” said Jay. He grabbed a flashlight.

Cindy shoved the two parts of the dog back under her bed and put the key in her pocket.

Moments later the Spotlighters stood in front of the red house. They stared up at the dark windows. They huddled together. It was no use to try the front door. It was sure to be locked.

“What if Alex Baxter is inside?” asked Dexter.

Cindy looked around and murmured, “Let’s not think about it. Let’s just get in ourselves.”

They walked around the side of the house. The windows were too high to reach.

“I’ve got it!” whispered Dexter. “The greenhouse windows! I remember one window was open a little. There was a note attached to one of the cactus plants about watching for the draft.”

Jay and Cindy followed Dexter as he ran to the greenhouse. It took them a moment to find the right window. Jay hissed, “Here’s the one. It’s open just a crack, but it pulls out.” He lifted the window out toward him. “I’ll crawl in first. Then Cindy can follow me, and then Dexter.”

“Oh, let’s hurry,” said Cindy. “Quietly.”

Dexter and Cindy stood in the snow, their teeth chattering. Jay was halfway through the window when they heard a muffled cry.

“What is it?” whispered Dexter, leaning toward the window.

Jay’s voice whispered back, “A cactus plant. Once I get through I’ll push them aside so you won’t land on top of them.”

He helped pull Cindy into the greenhouse. Then Dexter followed, and they were finally standing inside.

“We’ve got to hurry,” said Jay. “Cindy, you’ve got the key?”

Cindy patted her pocket. “Right here.”

“Then let’s find the lock,” Dexter said. “Cindy, you lead the way. You know where the mirror is.”

Cindy made her way through the greenhouse and found the door to the dining room. “This way,” she whispered. They stood in the dark dining room and listened.

“I don’t hear anything,” Cindy whispered. She walked over to the door leading to the kitchen, and the boys followed. They all stood for a moment in the kitchen. Then Cindy said, “This way,” and led them to the back stairway she had found earlier. “The steps are pretty steep,” she whispered over her shoulder.

The boys followed her as she started up the stairs.

“How can you see where you’re going?” asked Jay in a whisper, close behind Cindy.

“I can’t,” she answered. “But I’ve been here before, and I remember.” A step creaked beneath her.

“We’re almost at the top,” she breathed. Was Alex Baxter standing up there in the hall, waiting?

The three detectives reached the top of the stairs and stopped. They tried to stare down the long hall toward the mirrored door.

They listened. Not a sound. The hallway had an empty feel, but they could be wrong. “It’s too dark to see anything,” muttered Jay. He clicked on his flashlight, and the Spotlighters faced a bright circle of light, reflected from the mirror.

They walked toward the mirror. “That’s it,” whispered Cindy, pointing. “That’s the owl.”

The boys nodded and stared up at the owl.

Cindy touched the little key in her pocket. Then she stooped to hunt for the keyhole beneath the doorknob.

“No!” she exclaimed softly. “The key for this door is right here in the lock. It’s a big key, not like the one from the iron dog.”

“Turn it anyway and let’s see what’s behind the door,” Jay said.

Cindy turned the key in the lock and Jay turned the doorknob. The door opened easily—and it led into a deep, stuffy closet!

“It has to be a
little
keyhole,” Cindy whispered.

“But where?” asked Dexter.

“We’ll just have to look,” said Cindy. “And hope Alex Baxter wasn’t here first.”

The Spotlighters studied the mirror as closely as they could in the shadows. They ran their fingers around the edge. Not a clue!

“Maybe the keyhole is inside,” said Dexter. “In the closet. There’s a lot of stuff. It’s going to take time to search every corner.”

Things were piled neatly in boxes on shelves. If Alex Baxter had been here, he would surely have pulled things apart.

“This calls for speed,” Jay said, flashing his light into the corners of the closet.

Cindy’s heart sank. Nothing looked even a little like a keyhole. She thought about the riddle. “I think we’re wrong,” she said. “The keyhole has to have something to do with the mirror to fit the riddle.”

Again they studied the door of the closet. “Where would a keyhole be?” murmured Cindy. She ran her fingers along the narrow edge of the door.

Cindy pushed the door catch back and let it spring out. Then she felt the hardware under the catch. She felt something small—maybe where a screw might be missing.

“Here! Shine the flashlight here,” she begged Jay. And where no one would be expected to notice, Cindy found a tiny keyhole.

Fingers shaking, Cindy took the key out of her pocket. She closed her eyes for a second and crossed the fingers of her left hand.

“Here goes,” she said, pushing the key into the lock. She turned it and there was a click.

Suddenly the mirror on the door swung out as if a spring had been released. It just missed the boys. The three detectives stared. A shallow storage place had been chiseled out of the wood of the door behind the mirror.

Wedged in that small space was a flat leather case.

“Wow!” breathed Dexter. “A secret storage space!”

“Let’s see what’s here,” Jay whispered and lifted out the case. He set it gently on the floor and stared up at Dexter and Cindy.

“Ready?” he asked.

Dexter and Cindy crouched down on the floor next to him. “Ready,” they said together.

Jay unclasped the case and opened the lid. They all peered inside.

“Glass,” frowned Jay. “Little pieces of glass. A whole case full of glass.”

“That’s not glass!” Cindy said excitedly. “It’s diamonds!”

Jay gasped. Dexter whistled.

“No wonder Alex Baxter was so desperate!” said Cindy. “These must be worth a fortune. And we saved it for Mrs. Wellington.” She stared at the sparkling stones.

Suddenly they heard the noise of a window being raised somewhere downstairs. “What if that’s Alex Baxter?” hissed Jay, shutting the case hurriedly. They stared in the direction of the stairway.

The window was pushed down with a thud. Steps crossed the kitchen below.

The Spotlight detectives felt frozen in their places. There was no place to hide! Someone was running toward the back stairs.

“It’s Alex Baxter!” whispered Dexter.

Cindy leaned over and whispered to Jay. He stood up suddenly and tucked the leather case under his jacket. Then he crept quietly to the front stairs.

“What was that about?” whispered Dexter.

“Just do as I do,” Cindy whispered back. “I’ll explain later.”

The steps coming from the back stairs were louder and closer. Cindy quietly locked the mirror into place and stood in front of the door. Dexter stood next to her.

And suddenly Alex Baxter was in the hallway, facing them.

“You can’t go into the closet,” said Cindy. She and Dexter stood in front of the mirror, their arms stretched across it.

“Get out of my way!” Alex Baxter shouted.

He lunged toward Dexter and Cindy, reaching for Cindy’s arm. He jerked her away from the door with one hand while he pushed Dexter out of the way with the other. Then he flung open the closet door and peered inside.

“I get it!” whispered Dexter. “Ready?”

He and Cindy leaped to the door, slammed it shut, and Cindy turned the key in the lock. Alex Baxter was a prisoner in the closet!

There was a muffled roar of anger. And then Alex Baxter threw his entire weight against the door.

Cindy gulped. Maybe he was strong enough to break the door down. She and Dexter leaned against it. Another shuddering crash. And then silence for a moment.

They could hear his heavy breathing. And then his voice. “What do you think you’re doing? You’re making a terrible, terrible mistake. You think you know the facts, but you don’t!” His voice rose in anger.

“We know the whole story,” said Dexter. “We went to see Mrs. Wellington. Jay’s taken the case of diamonds home where they’ll be safe until Jenny and Tom come for them.”

“Listen to me,” Alex Baxter said hoarsely. Now he put his mouth against the crack of the door. “I told you she was off her rocker. I told you!”

“But we saw Mrs. Wellington, we talked to her,” said Cindy. “There isn’t anything wrong with her at all. She likes living at the North Star. You lied about Jenny and Tom. They didn’t sell her house.”

“I can prove it!” shouted Alex Baxter. “I can prove everything! Let me out of here and I promise to give you all the proof you need. She believes Jenny. She believes everything Jenny tells her—even Jenny’s lies about me. Melanie Wellington is a mixed-up old lady.”

“She didn’t seem mixed up at all,” said Cindy.

“Of course not,” said Alex Baxter. “She lives in her own dream world. Her own fantasies. Harmless enough—except that now she has talked you into believing a lot of rubbish!”

“She’s your aunt,” said Cindy.

“Of course, she is,” he answered impatiently. “Why do you think I’ve taken this so hard? Why do you think it’s important to me? Because I’m her nephew and I love her! I want to protect her. I can’t permit her life’s savings to be stolen from her!”

“You’re not a detective at all!” said Dexter.

“You mean she says I’m not,” shouted Alex Baxter, angry again. “It’s her word against mine. And I can prove I’m telling the truth. Let me out of here. I’ll show you all my credentials.”

Dexter and Cindy looked at each other.

The voice went on. “Do you realize what you’ve done? With your bungling you have let a fortune fall into the hands of scoundrels. A fortune that Melanie Wellington’s husband spent his life gathering. It’s hers! And now it’s going to fall into strangers’ hands. They’ll find your brother tonight, don’t worry. They’ll get the diamonds from him. Your brother is all alone right now—just him and the diamonds. Do you think he has a prayer of keeping them from Jenny Mayflower and Tom Foster?”

Alex Baxter’s voice was urgent. “Quick. There is no time to lose. They may be coming to look for him this very moment. They will have talked to Melanie Wellington. They will know you have figured out the secret of the iron dog and the key, and they will come directly to your homes to find you. They will find the boy and the diamonds. Hurry! Open this door!”

Cindy’s heart pounded. What if Alex Baxter were telling the truth after all? What if Jay really was in danger?

She glanced down the hall toward a room that she had glimpsed that afternoon. The door was closed.

On an impulse she ran down the hall and opened that door. It was dark. She groped for a light switch and found one. She flicked on the light. It was the bedroom—the bedroom made up for guests. Vases of fresh flowers were on the tables. And there was a big sign—
Welcome
.

She ran back to the closet door. “I don’t believe anything you say,” she called through the door. “Jenny and Tom are really bringing his parents back here. There’s a guest room down the hall all ready for them. Tom and Jenny told the truth and you lied!”

Alex Baxter’s voice came through the door softly. “Don’t be ridiculous! That room was prepared yesterday by Jenny, it’s true. But not for her future-in-laws. They don’t exist. She prepared the room for her brother, her brother who calls himself Tom Foster. They were successfully completing still another adventure in crime!”

Dexter pushed his glasses up on his nose. “We don’t believe anything you say,” he announced. But his voice was less sure. “Mrs. Wellington told us you’d try to lie your way out of anything and everything.”

“Listen,” pleaded Alex Baxter. “You kids meant well. You’re trying, really trying, to do the right thing. I respect that. But don’t you see? You’re believing the wrong people! You’re believing a wonderful old lady who lives in a dream world. Jenny Mayflower and Tom Foster have tricked all of you. You must believe me—you must! And hurry, if you want to save that boy from danger! They will stop at nothing—nothing! They’re desperate now.”