Chapter 19

“The case has been an interesting one, because it serves to show very clearly how simple the explanation may be of an affair which at first sight seems to be almost inexplicable.”

-Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Adventure of the Noble Bachelor

I was in a small, neat garden shed. I headed for a door on the opposite wall. It was unlocked and led into a garage. I stood still, listening. So far I’d avoided any outdoor motion detectors, but I wasn’t sure whether the doorway in the ivy was linked into the security system. I hadn’t seen any evidence it was, but with the ivy and the fog, I could have missed it.

Everything was quiet except my own heartbeat. I panned the flashlight, seeking a way into the house. There were three cars in stalls, one of which was Tom’s Dodge Caravan. There were some stairs and a second story covering part the garage area - probably the chauffeur’s quarters when they had a chauffeur. I headed toward a door on the far wall. A sudden noise stopped me cold. I clicked off the flashlight and stood very still. Old houses have lots of strange noises - after some while I concluded this had been one. I flashed on my light again and tried the door. To my surprise it was unlocked. I stepped into a kitchen.

It took me a second to orient myself. I recognized the same doorway leading to the servant’s staircase that Dodd had taken me through yesterday. There was another door on the adjacent wall that I thought would lead into the hall. It opened quietly, and from yesterday, I knew the way to the library without referring to the map I’d drawn.

I recalled the locations of the indoor motion detectors. Most alarm companies usually set them for anything taller than 3 or 4 feet in order to allow household pets to roam freely without activating any alarm. I counted on that, and got down on all fours and crept out of the kitchen into the big hallway and around the staircase across to the library. It felt silly, scuttling around dusting the floor, but it worked, and I successfully avoided setting off anything.

The library doors were open. What a break. I crawled in and lay flat for a few minutes, panting and hoping I hadn’t triggered any silent alarms. That was what I worried about the most.

I heard nothing at all for a long time. I lay there patiently, breathing softly and regularly though my heart was pounding. Eventually I felt it was safe so I stood up and gently shut the library doors. No light filtered in through the heavy drapes. It was totally dark. I stood absolutely still, letting my senses adjust to the darkness.

According to the research I’d done, only three people were supposed to be in the house tonight - Ivy Douglas and the Tollers. It was an assumption, and I hate to assume. It means I could be surprised. There could be an overnight guest, so it was crucial to stay alert and on guard. If I was caught, I was in real trouble. Career-ending trouble.

I turned on the flashlight. There was a big library table to my left and bookshelves to my right. On the wall in back of the table was the fireplace. My Cole Haan’s made no noise as I approached the table and deposited the Borghese bag. I removed the magnetometer with its wand attachment. I plugged the fully extended wand into the meter and passed it along the library walls. Once it detected metal, a reading would show up clearly on the built-in digital meter.

On the way here, I’d been guessing what kind of safe David J. Grange would have chosen and where it would be installed. As a wealthy man, his resources and creative capacity were virtually unlimited. I didn’t think the safe would be in any of the usual spots such as behind a picture or in the floorboards or even between the wall studs. I prepared for the unusual.

I tested the walls of the bookshelves to the right of the fireplace shelf by shelf. Soon I lost track of time. The wand was heavy, and even though I switched hands frequently, it started to feel like a dead weight. I hurried as much as possible. I was still nervous that I might have triggered some silent alarm.

Finally I came around full circle to the bookshelf wall to the left of the massive fireplace. Suddenly the meter went wild, displaying a reading that was off the charts. Something metal was definitely behind that wall.

I tested the entire perimeter of the fireplace to be sure the reading wasn’t something connected with the flue or the mechanics of the fireplace. The meter read normal above the fireplace and on the shelves flanking it on the opposite side, so I concluded the reading wasn’t from the fireplace itself. It had to be from something else metal. My guess was that I’d found the safe.

Gently I piled books on the floor until enough area had been cleared to examine the wall more closely. Since the meter readings stayed high all the way up and down this entire block of shelves, I speculated that the safe was sizeable.

Usually with a wall safe, no matter what size, there’s a button, lever, or switch you have to press or a brick or something you’ve got to move to reveal the safe. I pushed and pulled, tugged here and pressed there, all to no avail. Nothing moved anywhere. Looking for this mechanism was consuming a lot of time, time I didn’t have. I was tired but determined. I tried again, pressing and jabbing everywhere. Suddenly I felt a shift in the wide strip of decorative molding between the bookcase and the fireplace. I pressed harder. This time it moved slightly. I pushed one edge of the molding with both hands, and the entire section of molding from the floor to the top of the bookcase pivoted to the right. I could see recessed hinges and a switch in the exposed area.

“Hallelujah,” I mouthed silently.

I took a step back and looked for an alarm of some sort. I checked the exposed area from the floor to the top of the bookcase, but found nothing. That didn’t mean there wasn’t anything. Sometimes there’s a hidden alarm that must be turned off before the vault or safe is opened or else an alarm is triggered. I also worried that there might be a hidden alarm in the cap molding around the top and the bottom of the bookcase. I carefully felt them, but they appeared to be solid and completely attached.

I’d found the location of the safe. I also felt certain I could get Ivy Douglas and James Dodd to open it tomorrow. Technically my work here was finished. I didn’t have to click the switch to examine the safe itself and try to open it. All my instincts told me to get out, but with the reception I’d gotten from Ivy Douglas, Dodd and the cops, I wasn’t sure I could get anyone to listen to me. Besides, these antique safes usually had the same combinations the safe originally had when it left the factory. Mr. Kirchfield, the locks instructor in our recent insurance seminar, had explained that the wheels on these antique locks were non-changeable. He’d brought along a few smaller home safes for demonstration purposes. He also told us that safe manufacturers kept no records of the original combinations for these safes, but that very often owners wrote down the combination somewhere around the area where the safe was installed.

That intrigued me, and this is how I always manage to talk myself into trouble. I couldn’t resist testing Kirchfield’s theory. I clicked the switch.

The entire bookcase section pivoted on the hinges and swung out toward me. The piled up books were pushed out of the way by the moving wall. I reached out to catch some of them and avoid any noise. A set of tiny wheels inset behind the bottom cap molding moved the door along the floor with ease. The bookcase pivoted to a 45-degree angle and stopped moving. On the wall behind it was a safe door with a standard old - fashioned dial-turn combination lock.

I took Kirchfield’s advice and scanned the area behind the bookcase to see if the combination had been written down somewhere. If so, I’d open it now and see what was in it. No luck. There was nothing there. The safe wasn’t going to get opened tonight.

I pushed the bookcase back into position and readjusted the decorative molding to its original state. Then I replaced the books, trying to even them out on the shelves so my activities would be unnoticeable. I’d verified the safe was there. That had been the primary mission. Now it was time to go.

I hastily repacked the equipment, scooped up the Borghese bag, and headed for the library doors. I checked the time - 3:45 a.m. This caper had taken longer than I’d planned. I was just as happy I hadn’t found the combination or it would have taken even longer.

I was played out and anxious to leave, but I had to keep on guard and not set off any alarms. I crawled to the library doors. Just as I began to open them, I heard a sound.

I stopped short and listened.

Somebody was climbing into the library through one of the windows.