Page 40 of Hoodoo House

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“Yeah. It is,” Charlie answered.

“If it was me staying there, I’d still be eating! Hey, you guys are wearing the clothes you had on yesterday.”

This kid doesn’t miss a thing,Charlie thought.

“We weren’t planning on staying. The car broke down,” Charlie replied.

“Oh, no. I hope it’s okay now,” Henry said, gently rubbing the hood of the car.

“It’s good as new,” Charlie replied.

Declan started towards the house. “I’ll go in and let Mrs Cameron know we’re here.”

“There’s a pot of coffee on the stove,” Henry shouted as Declan walked away.

Charlie turned towards Henry. “So, tell me. What happened last night?”

“I think someone was in the house. The front door was open, and the door to the writing room too. I think someone was in there looking around the books in the office, but I’m not sure why. I need to see the picture you took on your phone yesterday, the one of the bookcase. I can’t quite figure it out, but something’s different in there.”

Charlie and Henry walked into the house and made their way into the writing room. Charlie called up the images of the bookshelves. He passed his phone to Henry. Charlie glanced at the picture then the bookcase. Everything seemed pretty much the same to him.

Henry stared at the picture on the phone for thirty seconds straight.

“What are you doing?” he asked Henry.

“I’m looking at the way the room looked when you took the picture and locking that in my brain,” Henry said. “It’s like one of those puzzles. The kind where you compare two nearly identical pictures and pick out the ten differences. I’m really good at those.”

Henry now stared at the wall of books behind the bare desk.

“Yup. Just as I thought. Some of the books have been moved. Someone’s been in here, and whoever did it was careful to put them back and make them look tidy, but some are in the wrong order. LikeThe Keys to the Kingdom,” he said, running up to the bookcase and pulling a large book off of the shelf. “It’s the one where Mr Tull hides the key to his desk.”

Henry opened it to reveal a hollow where a key rested.

Henry took the key and unlocked the desk drawer. He examined the contents. “Nothing’s been touched here. I know what’s supposed to be here and nothing’s changed.”

Charlie shook his head in disbelief. He decided not to ask why Henry knew what was supposed to be in the desk, at least not now.

Henry identified other books that had been moved. Charlie wondered who else would know to look for something hidden in the books.

“Are there any other books that have secrets like the one with the key? Or did you ever notice any books that Mr Tull used a lot?” he asked Henry.

Henry closed his eyes and concentrated. “I don’t know…wait a minute.” Henry scanned the bookcase. “There. Where it always is. On the top shelf,” he said, pointing at a book with a yellow paper dust jacket.

Charlie reached up and pulled the book off the shelf. It wasEtiquetteby Emily Post.

“I saw that on his desk a bunch of times. I always thought it was weird that a guy like Mr Tull would care about manners.”

Charlie rifled through the pages to see if there was a hollowed-out section or maybe something written in the margins. But nothing appeared out of the ordinary. As he went to put the book back, a small loose sheet of paper fluttered to the ground. Charlie examined it more closely and saw what appeared to be a list. It included passwords for Gmail and Proton email accounts, Tull’s banking information and a few passwords for random websites. One stood out as different from the rest. The password had been crossed out and changed more than once and had only four digits—6429. Beside it was a single word—Playroom.

“Henry, you’re a genius. I don’t know what the intruder was looking for, but this may help us solve the case. Follow me.”

Charlie led Henry to the kitchen where Mrs Cameron and Declan sat at the table with mugs of coffee.

“I think I have something here,” Charlie said, holding up the piece of paper. “It might be the code to the door in the tunnel.”

Declan raised his eyebrows in surprise. “How did you—?”

“I’ll tell you later,” Charlie replied. “Come on, let’s see if I’m right.”