Page 31 of Hoodoo House
“This is the first time I’ve seen it. I knew about the passageway, but I don’t tend to come down to the basement. I don’t like spiders. Henry, how long have you known about this?”
Henry furrowed his brow. “I heard voices and a strange sound here on the afternoon before Mr Tull died. But then I thought I heard a scream and I got scared. I was worried maybe it was the ghost. And then when Mr Yamada phoned yesterday and said that the detective was looking for something, I thought I would do my own investigation and I came back here. That’s when I discovered the loose board and the keypad.”
Charlie examined the buttons on the panel. “There’s no way to be sure how many digits there are in the code on this panel.”
“Can you look at the surface of the keys to see which are dirtiest?” Declan asked. “That would at least limit the number of combinations of numbers used.”
“Not with this type. Watch.”
Charlie tapped one button and the LED digits on the keys lit up. He let them go dark then tapped the same key again. This time the digits on the buttons were in a different order.
“Every time you touch the keypad, the order of the numbers changes. It makes it trickier for anybody watching you from a distance to remember the entry code.”
“You’re strong,” Henry said to Declan. “Maybe you could just break the door down.”
“I have no idea how thick this door is, and if it opens outward, I’d just break my shoulder trying,” Declan replied.
“I think I know a guy who could crack the code on this,” Charlie said to Declan. “He dropped out of my class in second year. He thought he could make a good living…freelancing in the security business, I think he called it.”
“Is he like a bank robber?” Henry said, his eyes wide.
Charlie sputtered, “No, no. Not abankrobber.”
“Call him,” Declan said. “I think this mystery will have to wait until tomorrow.”
Henry smiled and said, “I knew this was important.”
Mrs Cameron ruffled his hair. “You’ve done well Henry.”
Charlie looked down towards the slits of light at the far end of the tunnel. “What’s down there?”
Mrs Cameron said, “It’s the exit to the tunnel. Just a door made of slats really. We keep it secured but sometimes snakes and mice sneak in between the gaps. To my knowledge, it hasn’t been used for a long time.”
Declan saw Henry look towards the floor and suspected the door might have been used more recently than Mrs Cameron knew.
Declan walked to the end of the tunnel and examined the slats. The door opened inward, and was held closed by a board which anchored into two metal brackets on the inside of the frame. It looked like the dirt beneath the slats had been disturbed recently, but how recently was hard to tell.
“Henry. Have you been through this door lately?”
Henry shrugged. “Not for a while.”
Declan leaned down and stared Henry in the eyes. “This is important. Have you been through this door since Mr Tull’s body was discovered?”
Henry stared directly into his eyes and said, “No. I haven’t been out this door in over three weeks.”
Declan knew he was telling the truth.
Declan finished his inspection of the door then pivoted back towards Henry and shook his hand. “Henry, you’ve been a big help. Now do you have anything else you’d like to tell us?”
Henry grinned and said, “Nope. That’s it. Are you coming back again?”
Charlie said, “I’m pretty sure we’ll be back tomorrow.”
They made their way up to the main hall and out through the front door.
Declan turned. “Thank you for your hospitality, Mrs. Cameron. This has been very helpful. We’ll call and let you know when we’re returning with my friend.”
“I’d much appreciate it,” she replied.
