We all paused and looked at one another. Val’s eyes were wide. She looked like the proverbial deer in headlights. Ava-Rose switched off her flashlight and motioned to us to follow her. I hesitated, but Val shoved me along. I nearly tripped over the threshold of the little door she pushed me through. There was a staircase in front of me.
“Where are we going?” I whispered.
“This is the back staircase,” she whispered back. “We’ll go all the way to the bar area on the top floor. If you need to take your shoes off to be quiet, then do it. We can see pretty much everything going on in the place from up there.”
“And whoever is here can probably see us, too,” I whispered back. My Plan B was that if Craig wouldn’t play along, I would call and alert the cops to a possible problem and that way they had to come.
But Ava-Rose shook me off. “Not if we hide behind the bar. But you can stay behind if you want.” And she climbed the stairs, light as a feather even in her winter boots, which she didn’t take off, and was gone.
Val shrugged, kicked off her own boots, and pushed past me. “I’m going.”
With a sigh, I let her go, hesitated a moment, then left my own boots on the floor and followed, hand on my cell phone. I thought of texting Craig now but figured I’d get up there and see what was what first.
We climbed two staircases. When I reached the bar and peered over the railing, nothing was going on below me. There was no sign of anyone, no more noises, nothing. I’d been expecting to see thieves with sacks loading up toy boats from that hideous case in the main room. But no one was there.
Maybe whoever had shut the door had been on their way out, not in?
This whole thing was ridiculous. If someone was in here, there’s no way they didn’t hear us. We weren’t that quiet. Then again, the place was big and old and drafty. Maybe noises didn’t bother whoever it was, especially if he or she was used to it. Maybe they were breaking into a safe right now. Were any of these ships in safes?
I turned to ask Ava-Rose that question, but I didn’t see her. Or Val. Maybe they were being better at undercover than I was.
Then I heard a noise from down the hall. I saw a shadowy figure going through a door in the back. Lights flared on for a second, and I could see the outline of a man from behind. Then the door shut behind him.
Ava-Rose sprang from her position behind the bar. “I knew it!” she exclaimed in a triumphant whisper as Val came out behind her.
I glanced at my sister. “Knew what?”
“Shhh. It’s Drake.”
This still seemed very anticlimactic to me, considering he worked here. “I don’t think we’re going to prove anything on him being here alone, since he works here and all. Maybe he’s been at the hospital all day with his sick kid, and had to come at night to take care of business. Did you know he had a sick kid?” I whispered to Ava-Rose.
Before she could answer, the front door creaked open again. We all ducked. I took cover behind a replica of a wooden ship’s steering wheel and peeked out through the spokes. And almost fell over in surprise when I saw Craig poke his head through.
“Hello?” he called out, stepping into the main hall, one hand hovering over his gun.
We all froze. Before I could decide to give him a heads-up that we were up here, the door to the office opened and the infamous Dr. Drake stuck his head out. “Hello. Can I help you?”
“Officer Craig Tomlin. I had a report of suspicious activity over here,” Craig said. “Your name, sir?”
I hid a grin. Craig hadn’t let me down after all.
Drake stepped out of the office. “Alvin Drake. I’m on the board of directors.” He took a few steps down the hall toward Craig, who kept his hand hovering over his gun.
I leaned forward as far as I could to hear.
“I’m not sure who would’ve called in suspicious activity, but unless a board member being on premises is suspicious there’s nothing wrong here,” Drake said. “I’m sorry you had to come out.”
“Understood, sir,” Craig said smoothly. “Just making sure whoever is in here is supposed to be in here, that’s all.”
“Yes, I’m here working on a few things. And as a board member, I’m here whenever I need to be. I can assure you that all is well.”
I knew Ava-Rose wouldn’t be so sure of that. I turned to see if she was going to jump out of her hiding spot—and accidentally knocked over the knee-high statue of the ship’s captain standing next to the wheel. It went crashing to the ground. Luckily, his head didn’t break off. Drake and Craig both spun around in the direction of the sound. Craig’s gun was suddenly in his hand.
Crap.