The Secret of the Skeleton Key (5 page)

Cody took the note from Luke, looked it over, and gave a short laugh. “This is so bogus. Whoever wrote this spelled
Skeleton
wrong. And besides, how could Skeleton Man write this anyway? He's in the hospital. It's totally fake.”

“Yeah, but whoever it is obviously knows his nickname,” Luke added. “Someone's trying to scare us away from his place.”

“But why?” Cody asked.

“And who else knows his nickname?” M.E. asked.

“Lots of kids in the neighborhood do, and our parents know we call him that,” Quinn said. “But something's up. And I think we should go over there and find out.”

A
fter dinner with her mother and Tana, Cody went outside to search in her front yard again for her adopted cat. She checked some bushes and behind her ash tree, then called across the street, “Punkin! Here, kitty, kitty!” Still no sign of the orange tabby. Cody hoped he—she?— was just hiding somewhere safe and would turn up soon.

Remembering Quinn's plan to contact the club members, she looked inside the knothole of the ash tree as she passed by. Nothing. Maybe Quinn had texted her. She headed inside and climbed the stairs to her bedroom to check her cell phone. Two messages were waiting. She sat on her bed to read them.

SUP Red.
GL on SP test.
YGG. TTYL.
POP. (((H)))

Her dad was so funny, trying to sound cool when he texted her. It always made her laugh.

Hi Pop.
THNX.
CUL8R.

(Red)

Code Buster's Solution found on p. 206.

The next message was not as clear.

MTTTHLBRRYT 1900HRS

Cody recognized the consonant code. It was a message composed of words that were all run together, minus the vowels. When she first read it aloud, it sounded like mumbo jumbo. But after repeating the syllables a few times, Cody began to hear familiar words. She wrote down her best guesses in her Case Files Codebook. “MT” became “meet,” “T” had to be “at,” “TH” was obviously “the,” and so on.

Code Buster's Solution found on p. 206.

As usual, Quinn had used the military time code for the meeting time. Nineteen hundred hours meant 7:00 p.m.

Cody checked her watch.
That was in fifteen minutes!

She quickly texted him back:

CN I RIDE W/ U?

Seconds later, a letter popped up:
y

Since the September nights were cooling off, Cody changed out of her shorts and tank top. She searched her room for something to wear, but the piles of clothes strewn over her bed and floor didn't make it easy. After digging through the clothing, she found her favorite jeans and red hoodie, slipped them on, and gathered her backpack. She headed downstairs to get her mom's permission.

Of course, Cody couldn't tell her mother the real reason she wanted to go to the library: to meet with the Code Busters Club and make plans to look for Skeleton Man's treasure—if there was one. She'd have to come up with a good reason for going out on a school night. As usual, she found her mom on the cushy couch watching another rerun of
CSI
.

She was wearing her blue sweats, her hair in a twist, and was eating carrot sticks dipped in hummus.
How can she eat that stuff?
Cody thought. Her mom had really gone Berzerkley since they'd moved here.

“Mom, I need to go to the library. Just for an hour, okay?” Cody tried to sound casual.

“It's a school night,” her mother said, glancing over at Cody. “You have homework.”

“I'm working on a project with Quinn.” She wasn't exactly lying. She just wasn't overexplaining.

Her mother glanced at the clock. “It's almost seven.”

“I'll be home by eight. Promise.”

“Okay, but I can't take you. Tana's in bed, and you can't walk there at this time of night.”

“Quinn's mom is driving. They're picking me up in a few minutes.”

Her mom sighed in defeat. “Okay, but take your cell phone and call when you get there.
And
when you leave the library.”

Her mother, being a cop, had seen a lot of bad stuff on the job, but Cody wished she would relax a little. Cody could take care of herself. She'd learned that After the Divorce.

Checking to make sure her Case Files Codebook was in her backpack, she stood at the front window and watched for Quinn's SUV to back out of his driveway.

Cody headed for the front door. “Bye, Mom!” she called out.

“Got your spelling list?” her mom asked, eyeing her suspiciously.

“Right here.” Cody tapped her backpack. “Quinn will test me.”

Cody didn't really need to be quizzed on her words. Learning to spell was like deciphering a code. Some words were phonetic, like “man-dator-y” or “as-ton-ish.” All she had to do was sound out each syllable. Some she broke into separate smaller words, like “book-worm” or “sleep-less.” If the word had a silent letter, she'd pronounce it, as if speaking a new language, like “ga-nat” for “gnat” and “ni-ece” for “niece.” And if it was a really hard word, such as “vacuum,” she'd create an acronym for the letters: “Vicky ate cookies under Utah mountains.” She almost always got 100 percent.

Just to make sure, she'd look over her new words at the library—twice—and again later that night when she was in bed. But first, there was the matter of supposedly hidden money in a supposedly haunted house where a supposedly crazy man lived.

And that note warning them to stay away.

T
he neighborhood branch of the Berkeley Community Library looked like a Gothic castle that should have held ghosts and spirits rather than books and magazines. According to a sign by the heavy front doors, the three-story structure was more than a hundred years old. Cody loved the place, especially the maze of musty rooms, crowded shelves, and hidden stacks that spread throughout the building.

The Code Busters often met at the library after school, to do their homework and research codes. Each time they met at a different location there. The first person to arrive wrote a math code, signed it “Dewey,” and stuck it on the library bulletin board. The rest of the Code Busters had to solve the code—based on the Dewey Decimal System—to determine their meeting place. Once the kids had the correct answer, they knew where to go.

Quinn led the way to the bulletin board and quickly spotted the message. It read: “Math Question of the Day: 5 X 5 + 6 X 6 + 9 X 9 + 400 − 37 = ???”

Code Buster's Solution found on p. 206.

“Easy one,” Quinn said. “It's on the second floor.” Cody followed him up the stairs and through a labyrinth of bookshelves until they reached the right row. At the end of the row they found Luke at a small table reading a copy of
Goofyfoot
, his favorite skateboarding magazine. He often talked about becoming a professional skater—or a stunt-man. Cody had no doubt he would succeed at either one. Luke was strong, athletic, and fearless. He looked up and grinned at Cody.

“Hey,” he said, rolling up the magazine. “About time.”

Cody smiled back. She felt her cheeks burning.

Quinn, oblivious to the interaction between Cody and Luke, glanced around to make sure the area was clear of any potential spies. Once he determined the coast was clear, he plopped into a stiff wooden chair.

Cody slid into the chair next to Quinn, opposite Luke, and opened her backpack. She pulled out her spelling words along with her Case Files Codebook, figuring she'd study a little until M.E. arrived and the meeting officially started. But before she could look at the first word on the list, her friend appeared from the stacks.

“Hey, guys,” M.E. said, sitting next to Luke. She'd exchanged her school outfit for blue overalls, a stretchy pink top studded with rhinestones, and pink bunny slippers. There was nothing M.E. wouldn't wear—including pajama bottoms. Cody often wished she had the nerve to dress like M.E., but it just wasn't her style.

Before officially beginning the meeting, the Code Busters gave the secret greeting: they each made a fist and touched their thumbnails to their lips— the American Sign Language sign for “secret.”

“'Sup, dude?” Luke asked Quinn, apparently eager to get the meeting started.
A man of action,
Cody thought.

Quinn leaned in and spoke in a hushed voice. “Okay, first we need a plan to find the treasure at Skeleton Man's house.”

“How do you know there really is a treasure?” M.E. asked, twisting her long black hair up with a scrunchy. “If he's so rich, why hasn't he fixed up his house or built a swimming pool or bought a race car or something?”

“Because he's crazy,” Quinn said, tapping his forehead. “I mean, he has all those weird statues in his yard. And, like, a hundred cats.”

Cody rolled her eyes at the common rumor about Skeleton Man's so-called menagerie. “No, he doesn't. I told you. He only has
eleven
. I counted them once.” She thought about Punkin and bit her lip. Where was
her
cat?

“But what's going to happen to them with Skeleton Man gone?” M.E. asked. M.E.'s bedroom was like a mini-zoo. She had a bird, a guinea pig, a white rat, and a turtle. Cody envied her, but with Tana's allergies, about all she could own was a turtle.

“My mom called the SPCA,” Quinn said. “They're going to come and get the cats.”

Not Punkin!
Cody thought.
They can't take my cat away!

“What's SPCA?” Luke asked. “Some kind of code?”

“An acronym, doofus,” M.E. said. “The letters stand for Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. They take care of sick and abandoned cats and dogs.”

“That's cool,” Luke said. “I had a dog, back in N'awlins… ” He drifted off without finishing his sentence. Cody wondered if the dog had been lost in the flood.

“Anyway,” Quinn interrupted, “back to the plan. You know those two strangers who were over at Skeleton Man's house? My mom talked to them and found out they're his relatives. At least, that's what they said.”

“She talked to them?” Luke asked, raising his eyebrows.

“Yeah, when she saw them hanging around after the fire, she went over to ask about Skeleton Man.”

“Wait a minute. Those two were at his house—
after
the fire?” Cody hadn't seen them and thought that they were gone by the time the house was in flames. “What else did they say?”

“They told my mom they didn't know anything yet about how Skeleton Man was doing,” Quinn said. “Which was kinda weird, if they were relatives. But then they changed the subject and started asking my mom a bunch of questions.”

“Like wh— ” Cody said.

Before she could finish her question, she glimpsed a shadow moving behind one of the magazine racks. She held up her hand—the scuba diving sign for “stop!” Then she finger-spelled the letters “s-py” and pointed in the direction of the movement.

Someone was lurking in the stacks—and listening in.

C
ody eased out of her chair and moved as stealthily as a mountain lion to the magazine rack. After taking a breath, she peered over the top.

An older woman stood leafing through a book on Berkeley architecture.

She breathed a sigh of relief. Her imagination was working overtime.

With a last glance around, she returned to the table. She motioned the others to keep their voices down.

“So…what did your mom find out, Quinn?”

M.E. whispered.

“Well, the big woman asked if Mom knew anything about a will,” Quinn said.

M.E. blinked. “What did she say?”

Quinn shook his head. “She told her no, but she thought it was a weird question for relatives to ask.”

Luke sat up. “Then there must be a will.”

Cody nodded, then checked her watch and quickly gathered her things. “I have to get back, Quinn. My mom will kill me if I'm late. Let's find your mom.”

“Wait, we haven't made a plan yet,” Quinn said. “If Luke's right, if there
is
a will, maybe it's hidden in a safe somewhere in his house. Maybe there's cash, too, or something valuable. He used to be a gold prospector, remember? Maybe he has a pile of gold buried in the backyard or hidden in the attic…or in the basement. I think that's why those two snoops suddenly showed up—to find his treasure.”

“It is kind of weird that the house suddenly caught on fire after the cousins arrived,” Luke added, putting the word
cousins
in finger quotes. “I say we check it out.”

“I agree,” Quinn said. “Let's find whatever it is, before those guys do!”

M.E. frowned. “Like, how are we going to do that? There's no way I'm going to snoop around a burned-up haunted house at night. First of all, it's dark out, so we wouldn't find anything without some light. Second, if I get caught sneaking out, I'll be grounded until I graduate. And third, we don't even know if there
is
anything to find.”

Quinn hushed her and looked around to see if anyone had overheard M.E.'s rant. Just in case someone was listening in, he said the key words in double Dutch. “Nag-ot to-nag-ite. To-mag-orrag-ow.”

Code Buster's Solution found on p. 206.

M.E. shrugged. “But even if we find something, it's not ours. So what's the point? Besides, it's dangerous. The roof might cave in on us. We might get trapped. The fire might start up again.”

Cody knew M.E. was not the bravest girl on the planet. But she had a point—in fact, several points. They needed to make sure the place was safe enough to explore before they went snooping around inside.

“It's not going to cave in,” Quinn insisted. “I heard the fire marshal say that to the TV reporter. But even if it does cave in, we'll
all
be there to help each other. And it's not going to catch on fire again, 'cause it's totally water-soaked.”

Cody spoke up. “I suppose if we found anything, we could make sure it gets back to Skeleton Man and not those creepy so-called relatives of his.”

“And we might get a reward,” Luke added. “Then we could really fix up the clubhouse, buy some walkie-talkies, get some of those listening devices…. ”

M.E. brightened. “I know! If we find the money, we could use it to save his cats. We could help build a cat sanctuary.”

“Great idea!” Cody said, thinking about Punkin. She high-fived M.E.

M.E.'s enthusiasm suddenly dimmed. “It could still be dangerous. What about that note we found, warning us to stay off his property?”

“It was probably from Matt the Brat,” Luke said. “I'll bet he followed us to the clubhouse and was listening in. I'm pretty sure it was his skull T-shirt I saw in the trees. He's just trying to scare us off.”

Cody smiled at Luke, then M.E. and Quinn. “Okay, I'm in.”

“Me, too.” Luke stuck out his fist.

M.E. shrugged and met his fist. Quinn and Cody followed.

Cody checked her watch again and stood. “I've really got to go, or I'll never be let out again. My mom will lock me up and throw away the key, without a chance for parole, even with my dad defending me. So…what time tomorrow? After school?”

“No, not in broad daylight,” Quinn said. “I was thinking oh–six hundred tomorrow morning. There won't be many people up at that hour to see us. And we'll have plenty of time before school starts.”

As the Code Busters Club gang headed for the stairs, Cody took one last look around, remembering that woman reading the book about Berkeley, but she saw nothing but shadows. Pushing through the heavy front door, Cody bumped into a large woman in a flowery dress. The crash caused the woman to drop an armload of books.

“Watch it, kid!” the woman snapped at Cody. She spun around and glared at the small man behind her. He quickly knelt down and gathered up the tumbled books.

Cody was about to apologize when Quinn grabbed her arm and pulled her outside. She jerked her arm away from Quinn's grasp. “What did you do that for? I was just going to say I was sorry, even though it wasn't really my fault.”

“That was them,” Quinn said.

“Who?” Cody asked.

“The two people we saw snooping around Skeleton Man's house!”