I must have fallen asleep!
I jerked awake. It took me a second or two to remember where I was and what was happening.
How could I have slept? I guess the events of yesterday must have been too much for me. The scare on the ferry, the séance, the party—John's disappearance!
Instantly, I felt a sharp pang of guilt. I had let Judge down. I had fallen asleep when I should have been cracking the case.
Outside, it was so dark it could have been early evening. But according to my pocket watch (a gift from Dad), it was morning. Rain pelted the room's only window, and I could see tree branches swaying back and forth in the violent gusts of wind. The chimneys of the now-cold fireplaces moaned as the wind blew through them, like instruments in a creepy orchestra.
The Great Hall was nearly deserted. One or two other guests had fallen asleep on couches, and a large man snored loudly in the far corner. The rest of the guests must be in their rooms.
Someone, probably Judge, had covered me with a blanket.
I was just getting up to find Judge when she entered the Great Hall. Wearing a simple gray dress with a purple scarf, she came quickly down the stairs to join me. She carried herself with perfect posture, as always. But there were dark circles under her eyes.
“Judge!” I stood up as she approached and gave me a peck on the cheek. “Good morning, G. Codd,” she said. Reading the look on my face, she added, “Don't be upset that I didn't wake you earlier. I need your mind fresh and rested. We still have to find John.”
“So, there's been no sign of him?”
“No, nothing,” Judge said sadly.
So it must be foul play, I thought. Even the most skeptical person would have to admit now that this wasn't joke of some kind. John was definitely missing—or kidnapped.
Gesturing toward the small window, Judge said, “And the storm's grown even worse. There's still no way to get back to the mainland, or for the police to get out here.”
“Well, that's good in one way, isn't? If John has been nabbed, the kidnappers can't get him off the island.”
She nodded. “Here, I brought you these from the kitchen.” She handed me a small basketful of bread puffs that oozed a jam filling. “Strawberry jam used to be your mom's favorite.”
We sat down on the couch and I bit into a puff. Delicious! Just what I needed to get my mind moving.”How is Mr. Hatherford?” I asked.
Yum!!
“He's doing better,” she said. He actually managed to sleep for an hour or two. And I've convinced him he won't do John any good by getting up and having a heart attack.”
“How about you, Judge? How are you dealing with everything?”
She took a breath before answering. “It just doesn't seem real to me. My fiancé has vanished. There are still eighty guests here, but we've cancelled all the festivities. Weren't we supposed to be having the time of our lives this weekend?”
I didn't know what to say. We were quiet for a moment. The only sounds were the falling rain and the snores of the sleeping guest in the corner.
I decided to turn to a topic where I could be useful—the investigation. “Judge, can you think of anyone who would want to kidnap John?”
Judge looked relieved to sink her teeth into detective work. “I've been trying to come up with a list all night. You met John last summer when we visited your cottage in Michigan. You know what he's like. Everyone wants to be his friend. No one would want to hurt him.”
I nodded. It was true. John had a way of charming anyone. But maybe his disappearance had nothing to do with his personality. “He has all that money.” I said.
“The money is mostly his father's,” Judge said. “And if he were kidnapped for money, why hasn't there been a ransom note?”
I tried a new approach. “So you can't think of anyone he's been fighting with?”
“Well, yes.” Judge said. “I can think of one person.”
“Who?” I asked eagerly.
“Me,” answered Judge, giving me a little smile when she saw the surprise on my face. “It's okay, G. Codd. I love John and how brave he is. But I've been upset about the chances he takes in that airplane of his. Then there's the fact that he doesn't want me to go to law school.”
“Why wouldn't John want you to be a lawyer?” I asked.
Something flashed in Judge's green eyes. “Office work is okay in his mind. But John doesn't think law is for women. Of course, I don't let anyone make decisions like that for me. In the end it was my choice. I decided not to go so I could spend more time with him—at the office and after work.”
She shook her head as if to clear her thoughts. “We need a break in this case. Let's look at the clues we have.”
Starting with the airplane, we talked about the evidence we had gathered so far. We both agreed the plane seemed to be dead end. Judge had gone back out there this morning and searched for clues.
“Not that I don't trust your work, G. Codd,” she assured me. “I just had to see the empty plane for myself.”
“Unfortunately,” I said, “my interviews don't seem to have gotten us anywhere, either.” I handed her my notebook with the witness interviews.
She flipped through them, reading each one carefully. “You did some terrific detective work here, G. Codd.” She stopped on one page. “You spoke to Asyla?”
I caught something in her tone. “Do you think Asyla had something to do with John's disappearance?”
She shook her head. “No, but remember, the most beautiful creatures in nature can sometimes have the strongest venom.”
That sounded alarming. “What do you mean?”
“Not to worry,” Judge said.
“We should keep an eye on her, that's all.”
She stood up and began pacing.”About the only thing we can conclude with certainty is that yesterday was full of mysteries. If there were just one of them that we could explain…”
Did Judge suspect Asyla?
I thought of the plan I had been working on in my head working on in my head. “There just might be one. I think the Scotsman is the figure I saw vanish during the séance. You and I both examined the corner where he disappeared, remember? There are no doors or windows, so he must have used a secret passage to get out. If we find the passage, it could lead us to the Scotsman, and he might be able to answer our questions.”
After a moment's thought, Judge said, “Sounds good, G. Codd. Let's go check it out.”
Quickly, we climbed the stairs of the Great Hall. We made our way to the parlor where the séance had been held. We gave the corner of the room another long look, but after ten minutes, we still couldn't find any sign of a secret passage.
It was time to put the plan that I had been working on into action.
I looked at Judge, hoping she would continue to trust in me. “I think I have a—“
“You have a plan,” she interrupted. “But, you're about to say that your plan is kind of unconventional. Am I right?”
“How did you know?” I asked.
She gave me a grin. “The apple doesn't fall far from the tree. What do you need?”
I reminded her about the training Mom had given me, helping me learn to escape from impossible situations.
“I want you to close me in here and lock the door,” I told Judge. “That will put me in the right state of mind and force my strongest sleuthing skills into action. If there's a way out of this room, I'll find it.”
She thought it over, and then she said, “All right, but I'm going to add a safety net.”
Judge went to a shelf and picked up what looked like two vials stacked on top of each other. “See this timer? When I turn it over, the sand will take exactly ten minutes to run from the top to the bottom. That's how long you have to be alone in here. Then I'm coming in—“
“But I need to feel like I'm trapped.” I protested.
She wouldn't budge. “Then use your imagination, G. Codd. There could be a kidnapper roaming about the mansion's secret passages, and people are disappearing I don't want you alone in this room for too long. You've got ten minutes.”
I nodded. “All right,” I said. “I'm ready to do this.”
Looking at her watch, Judge turned the timer over and placed it on a table where I could see it. She gave me a quick pat on the shoulder. Then she left the room and closed the door behind her.
With a CLUNK! the lock slid into place.
Why did the radio have three dials?