My eyes widened. On top of the nine, there were more boxes. I nodded and quickly counted out loud. "One, two, three, four-five-six!" On top of the six boxes, there was another four. A big smile spread across my face. A final box rested on the top.
9 6 4 1. Now the symbol made sense, too.
9 6 4 1 = 20 boxes. Stacked on the hidden floor.
I aimed my penlight's thin beam at the highest carton. Maybe Xandra Collins's jewelry box was hidden inside! Careful not to tumble the pile, I reached up and pulled down the box from the top of the stack. It was awfully light. Too light. I yanked the cardboard flaps apart.
White cotton stuffing filled the whole carton. I opened the box below it and found rolls of rickrack, bags of buttons and snaps, chalk for marking fabric, and a fat red pincushion. Would all of the boxes be full of sewing supplies? This stomped my enthusiasm for a minute, but then the detective in me took over and I remembered my Grandpa's words: Look for clues in unexpected places. They won't be sitting right under your nose, waiting for you to find them. I pawed through one box after another like a dog trying to dig up a bone.
One box was full of newspaper clippings. I skimmed a few headlines but didn't read anything interesting. If only I had more time! The next carton contained an assortment of wigs, stage makeup, false beards and moustaches, and masks. Other boxes held a variety of costumes. Some were neatly folded and others were crumpled into balls and jammed into the boxes like they'd been hidden away in a hurry.
The second-to-last box was empty but it had something stuck to the bottom of it. I turned it upside down and banged on the cardboard. A warped photograph fluttered to the floor. I picked it up and shined my penlight on it. The picture was of a beautiful lady with slightly tilted, almond-shaped eyes and a small smile on her face. She looked happy and full of mischief at the same time. Long black hair streaked in silver hung way past her shoulders. She wore a dazzling diamond necklace around her neck.
"Xandra Collins," I whispered. "It has to be." Putting the picture in my back pocket, I opened the last box and let out a quiet whoop. A torn piece of paper with mysterious writing on it was taped to the bottom and I peeled it off. Shining my penlight on the paper, I saw some half circles, lines, and a bunch of little numbered footprints drawn with a fine-point, black felt-tipped pen. About a third of the page was missing.
The fourth clue.
The footprints on the paper were totally random, like a picture of the snow after someone had walked around in it. "Dance steps?" I decided to go downstairs where I would have plenty of light and room to move around so I could follow the footsteps. Folding the paper carefully, I tucked it into my bra so it would be hidden in case I ran into any of the construction workers when I got back downstairs.
I took one last lap around the hidden floor, shining my light into the corners, wondering if I had missed anything important and wishing I had more time to explore. "There could be clues hidden between the pages of those books, and those articles could be important," I muttered, hurrying back over to the messy piles of boxes I'd rummaged through. The second I bent over for a closer look, I bolted back and gasped. A dead scorpion was stuck to the corner of the top box like she had been pasted there on purpose. Her pointy pincers curled up over her brittle, dry spine.
Was this a threat? Or just a random dead arachnid?
Don't be stupid, I thought. There were more dead bugs, spiders, and even lizards than I could count when we first saw the house. This was just another one—nothing more. Or was it? No time to worry about it now. I piled the boxes back up in the same arrangement I'd found them: 9 6 4 1.
Trying to forget about the scorpion, I continued my search and found a narrow door at the dark end of the sewing area. After walking up to it and pulling it open, I aimed my penlight down a steep flight of shadowy stairs. This must be how Xandra got up here!
I hurried down the narrow staircase, and when I hit the last step I was in front of another door. It was locked from my side, so I unlocked the handle and turned it. A solid panel faced me. "That's why her heirs never found the hidden floor," I said, touching the rough wood and wondering what was on the other side. "There must be a button somewhere that moves the panel so you can access the secret staircase." I left the door unlocked so if I found the button I could come back to this floor without riding the dumbwaiter. Hopefully Crew Gang wouldn't find it before I did. After climbing back up the stairs I took a last look around, then crawled back into the little elevator.
I punched 1 and the dumbwaiter started to move. I wondered where it would stop, and where in the house I would come out. The black box creaked slowly down through the floors. Fortunately Xandra Collins's heirs and the construction workers were too big to fit into the dumbwaiter. Otherwise they might have discovered the hidden floor and found the fourth clue. When the dumbwaiter finally hit the bottom, I was staring at the inside of yet another door. I pushed it, but it wouldn't open.
"So that's why I couldn't find the dumbwaiter on the bottom floor," I said to myself. "It is behind the locked door in the butler's pantry."
And then I panicked. How was I supposed to make the elevator move up to the second story so I could get out? The box was dark and there was no way to reach outside of it to push the buttons to change floors.
I slapped my hands against the door as hard as I could. Then I really banged my fists against it while I tried not to scream.
I was trapped inside the dumbwaiter.