I told Seth to stand back and grabbed the ring and pulled. Still nothing. I couldn’t see any hinges and wasn’t sure which way to pull. When I tried pulling in a different direction, I felt the ring swivel.
Seth must have seen it move. He pushed my hand away, gripped the ring, and twisted. We heard a loud squeak of metal on metal and then a click like a lock tumbling into place.
We pulled together on the ring and watched as the trapdoor opened. Baxter rushed forward and stuck his nose in the crack, breathing deeply. Tuffy’s whining got louder.
I peered into the opening and caught a whiff of damp air. Seth and I leaned over the opening and saw a rope ladder hanging into the darkness below. The mid-afternoon light, a faded gray due to the impending storm, had crept in through the small window and cast a weak silver-blue patina on everything in the room. It only penetrated a foot or two into the opening.
Seth went to his duffel bag and pulled out a flashlight and a headlamp.
I looked at him with one eyebrow raised.
“What?” he asked.
“Do you always carry flashlights in your duffel?”
He flashed the Boy Scout hand signal. “Be prepared—that’s my motto. Especially if Papa is involved.” He switched on the light. “What are we waiting for?”
I grabbed Seth’s arm to stop him from climbing down the ladder.
“No. You stay here. We don’t know what’s down there. And someone has to watch them.” I jerked my head in the direction of the dogs. No surprise that Tuffy cowered in the corner, but Baxter was right next to him. A low growl emanated from Baxter’s large chest.
Seth rolled his eyes and leaned into the opening to shine the light into the gloom.
“They’re just overreacting,” Seth said. His voice sounded hollow as he hung his head into the opening. “It looks like there’s a tunnel down there.”
I knelt next to Seth and Baxter whined.
I started to wonder just how many secrets there were in this castle. Realizing that if Vi had discovered the trapdoor, she would already be down there, I finally convinced myself to climb down the ladder. She’d be harassing us for “dillydallying.”
“Okay, I’ll go check it out,” I said.
“What about the dogs?” he asked.
“What about them?” I put one foot on the ladder and gently eased my weight onto it. It held.
“They might fall in if we’re down there.”
My left foot was below my right, feeling for the next rung. I stopped.
“That’s why you’re staying here,” I said. “It might be dangerous and you need to watch the dogs.”
“Awww, man,” Seth said.
“Hold the flashlight on the ladder so I can see what I’m doing—then you can toss it down to me.”
He held the flashlight as I asked. When I reached the bottom, I heard scrabbling and squeaking and figured I had disturbed some rodent in his daily rounds. Mice don’t bother me much. Rats are another matter. And I knew there would be spiders. There are always spiders.
“Okay, toss the light,” I said. My voice echoed off the sides of the tunnel.
He dropped it down to me. “What’s down there?”
I shone the light in one direction and found a wall about three feet from where I stood. The other direction, which led toward the castle, did indeed have a dim gray tunnel that disappeared into the gloom at the edge of my flashlight beam.
“There’s a tunnel, and I think it leads to the castle,” I said.
“Wicked,” Seth said. His voice sounded very close and I looked up to see him hanging his head into the opening again.
“I’ll be back in a couple minutes—stay there,” I said.
Seth sighed dramatically.
I was in a tunnel under the ground between the cottage and the hotel. I remembered Vi asking Jessica about Prohibition and rumrunners. Maybe the rumors were true and there was a secret hiding place. I walked slowly, shining the light along both sides of the tunnel to be sure there weren’t any doors or off-shoots. I had been counting steps and when I got to fifty the tunnel ended in a wooden door. There was a heavy metal ring where a doorknob should be. I pulled on the ring and the door didn’t budge. I heard a scrape on the floor behind me. It sounded bigger than a rat. I spun around, raised the flashlight to strike if necessary, and saw Seth.
“I told you to stay there,” I said. I put one hand on my hip and used the other to shine the light in his face. “You never listen to me.”
He put his hands up like he was under arrest. “I listen all the time,” he said. “I’ll bet my percentage is better than ninety percent—that’s an ‘A’ in listening.” He grinned.
“What did you do with the dogs?” I lowered the light.
“I put them in the living room and closed the door so they wouldn’t fall in.”
“All right,” I sighed. “I think this is the end anyway.” I gestured at the door. “It won’t open.”