Page 27 of The Executioners Three
“You betcha,” Freddie said in her brightest voice, pushing aside all thoughts of helpful counselor tactics or dead veterinarians. “Gotta keep all those documents at a balmy sixty-five degrees.” Mom was very particular about this. Meanwhile, the Bermians had been very particular that these archivesnot interfere with the aesthetic of City-on-the-Berme,so it looked like a woodsman cottage set off from the Village by half a mile.
Although, it was also not a historically accurate woodsman cottage. The lone window beside the narrow front door was framed in bright red paint, making it the sort of place one expected Keebler elves to topple out of rather than historians with advanced degrees.
Mom really liked to complain about that red paint.
Freddie tromped up to the wooden hut. A sign at the side readLes Archivesand its roof was only a few inches above Freddie’s head. This building was—anachronistic or not—her mother’s pièce de résistance: a collection of all primary documents regarding Berm’s history.
When Patricia Gellar had first taken over as director, it hadn’t just been the Village that was a mess with its dilapidated buildings and overgrown paths. There’d also been boxes upon boxes of journals and ledgers and letters just stashed in random garages around town. Including, apparently, Kyle Friedman’s garage—although Freddie had forgotten this fact until her mom had reminded her yesterday.
And Freddie had remembered that trip to gather forgotten documents even more vividly when she’d wound up at Kyle’s house last night. After leaving the cul-de-sac, the Prank Squad had convened in his family’s basement to watch a bootlegged version ofAustin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me. (Bootlegged! Wow, Kyle reallywassuch a Bad Boy.)
Laina had finally relaxed into her usual self by then, and she’d even managed to crack a few self-deprecating jokes when Will Ferrell’s character had fallen down the hill and been “very badly injured.”
“That’s what I should have said in the woods,” she’d joked.“Perhaps you could toss me a Band-Aid or some antibacterial cream!”
Everyone had laughed, Divya loudest of all.
Once Freddie had gotten home again, though, she hadn’t been able to stop thinking about the tolling bell. Or of the crows. Or of Laina’s scream. Or, most disturbing of all, of the dead guy she’d found in the trees who’d apparently been a vet from Elmore, Dr. Bob Fontana.
The paper that morning had said he ran marathons and had left behind no surviving family members to mourn him. Which meant he also had no one left behind to think,Hey, that’s weird. Why would Bob kill himself the night before he had a long run planned? Maybe I should look into that.
There was only Freddie to look into it, and although Divya might tease her, Freddiewasthe Answer Finder and shewasgoing to get to the bottom of this.
Freddie wriggled her keys from her hoodie pocket, and in moments, the door groaned open to reveal an empty room with an open hatch in the middle of the floor. A ladder slunk down into darkness.
“Wait-wait-wait-wait.” Divya’s hands shot up. “The archives are underground?”
Freddie’s eyebrows bounced high. “What did you think?”
“That this was it.” Divya motioned to the interior of the hut. “And that there just weren’t very many things inside.”
Freddie laughed, head shaking. “There’stonsof stuff inside! Aisle after aisle… And it’s all down there.” She pointed into the hatch. “As is forced-air heating. So come on. This place gets spooky after sunset.”
“Because it’s not spooky now?” Divya watched with open skepticism as Freddie hunkered through the hatch. “I mean, I’m sorry, Fred, but this is like something out of a—”
“Goosebumps?” Freddie offered. She hit the flagstone floor and fumbled along the nearby wall for the light switch.Flip.A series of fluorescent bulbs hummed to life, revealing a long, bunker-like tunnel filled with twenty-one rows of documents.
The only disruption in the curved ceiling and shelves was a central support beam where a legally required emergency phone, first aid kit, and fire extinguisher were fastened.
“No, notGoosebumps.” Divya’s clogs clanked on the ladder rungs.
“X-Files?”
“No.”
“Scooby-Doo?” Freddie was really reaching now.
“No,”Divya intoned. Her feet hit the floor. “I wasgoingto sayNorthanger Abbey.”
“I don’t know what that is.”
“Freddie! It was my book club pick last October. Did you not read it?”
“Right!North Hanger Abbey!” Freddie hadnotread it.
“Northanger.” Divya glared as she strutted past. “You’re a great disappointment to me.”
Freddie cringed. That was fair.
