The Mystery of the Hichcocke Inheritance by Mark Zahn Read Free Book Online Page B

Cousin Jeb as he walked endlessly in the
rain.
    The small boy shivered and tried to keep his
teeth from chattering. He resigned himself to the fact that he
would just have to remain cold, hungry, and generally miserable
until Jupe and Ben returned from London.
    Luckily for Bob, he had only to wait another
hour before he could come in from the cold. From his vantage point
in the trees, Bob saw Benjamin O’Connell’s silver car, now with the
top up, come speeding up the circular drive and skid to a halt.
Careful not to be seen by Jebediah, he skirted around the side of
the house to meet his friends.
    “Any luck?” he asked.
    Jupe held up a small paper sack in his hand
as they raced inside. “They let us listen to it at the store,” he
said. “But I bought it anyway, just in case.”
    As the boys stripped off their wet jackets,
Patricia O’Connell came into the hallway looking worried.
    “I’m so glad you’re back, boys,” she
said.
    Ben noticed something was bothering his aunt
and he looked alarmed. “What’s wrong, Aunt Patty? Has something
happened?”
    The pretty lady smiled and looked slightly
embarrassed. “No, no, nothing happened,” she said. “It’s just
that...well, I’ve been hearing things in the house since you’ve
been gone.”
    “Do you mean the ghost, ma’am?” asked Bob
with excitement.
    “Oh no!” she said, forcing nervous laughter.
“I’m sure it’s nothing like that. I guess it’s been awhile since
I’ve been in this big house all alone and...heavens, I don’t know
where the Fitchhorns are, and I haven’t seen Cousin Jeb for hours!
I tried to take a nap, but then I kept hearing those strange
noises.”
    “Your Cousin Jeb is out in the garden,” Bob
informed her. “He’s been out there for hours.”
    Jupiter rubbed his chin and looked
thoughtful. “Could you show us where you were the last time you
heard the noises?”
    “In the kitchen,” she said.
    The boys followed her there and then stood
very still, listening in earnest for the mysterious, ghostly
sounds.
    She looked more embarrassed than ever. “I
heard the strangest tapping noises – like in the pipes – and I even
swore I heard a voice a couple of times.” She looked sheepishly at
the boys. “Well, whatever it was, it’s gone now.”
    Jupe smiled at her. “We were just about to
have a meeting, why don’t you come with us,” he suggested, hoping
to put her at ease. “Is there someplace private where we can
talk?”
    “In the library,” she said. “This way.”
    The library turned out to be a huge, dimly
lit room full of books and shadows. The volume-lined walls seemed
to go up forever, finally ending at an impressive vaulted ceiling.
The faint smell of old, musty paper lingered in the air and made
the boys think of the public library back in Rocky Beach, where Bob
held his part-time job.
    An enormous globe rested in one corner of
the room, and a tall ladder on wheels allowed books to be shelved
around three of the walls. In one corner of the room there were no
books. This is where huge, stained-glass windows made an elaborate,
somewhat spooky picture of a knight in blue armor astride a black
charger with glowing ruby eyes. A piece of glass toward the bottom
of the window, shaped to look like a scroll of paper, had the
words: KNIGHT TEMPLAR in ancient English letters.
    Patricia drew aside thick velvet curtains to
let some light into the gloomy space, revealing the intimidating
glass.
    Bob whistled. “I’d hate to clean those
windows. That knight is looking right at us.”
    “And that horse isn’t any friendlier,” added
Ben with a shiver.
    “I think we’re very close to solving the
riddle,” interrupted Jupe. “But we’ll have to move quickly. It
would appear that another party in this house wants to locate the
treasure just as badly.”
    “I take it that was the meaning of your wink
earlier,” Patricia said wisely. “Do you have any idea who it might
be, Jupiter?”
    Jupe peered out one of