The Secret Panel by Franklin W. Dixon Read Free Book Online Page B

there was a click, and they opened.
    Looking out, he saw his brother standing below. “Hey, Frank!” he yelled.
    The older boy looked up in amazement. “So that’s where you are! I’ve been looking all over for you. Come on down. We’d better go now, or the chief will send a car for us.”
    Joe leaned from the window and surveyed the wall of the mansion. There was no possible way for him to climb to the ground, and the drop was too far to be made safely.
    â€œI can’t get out,” he announced.
    â€œWhat?”
    â€œThe door to this room is locked,” Joe explained, “and I left my flashlight downstairs. Come on up and see if you can open it from outside.”
    â€œOkay.”
    Frank reentered the house and quickly found the room where Joe was imprisoned. He played his flashlight over the door panels, scrutinizing every detail of the ornate floral design.
    â€œHow’d you get in?” he called out.
    â€œIt was open,” Joe replied.
    Frank pushed and pulled at each flower of the pattern. Suddenly one of the blooms slid aside, revealing a small latch. Frank lifted it with a finger and the door swung inward.
    â€œWhew! I’m glad to get out of here,” Joe said in relief. “What happened to the lights?”
    â€œI don’t know. A fuse must have blown.”
    As Joe retrieved his flashlight and followed Frank from the house, he asked him what he had found in the library.
    â€œSome excellent books on locks and keys,” Frank replied. “One by John Mead. I’ll tell you about it as we drive home.”
    Joe listened to his brother attentively, and made no comment until Frank mentioned that he was sorry to have been interrupted in his reading.
    â€œWho interrupted you?” Joe asked.
    â€œYou!”
    â€œWhat do you mean?”
    â€œYou said we’d better go.”
    â€œI never said that!”
    â€œSomeone did!” Frank said, looking surprised. “I distinctly heard a voice call out, ‘We’d better go now.’ ”
    â€œGood grief!” Joe ran his fingers through his hair. “There must have been two other persons in the house!”
    â€œTwo or even more,” Frank added dryly.
    â€œWhich means they have a key, too, and know how to use it!”
    â€œI wonder if they knew we were there,” Frank said. “We hid the car, and unless they saw us without our noticing them ...”
    â€œWe just can’t be sure,” Joe muttered. “They must have switched off the power, too.”
    â€œIt could have been the guy who called himself John Mead,” Frank went on. “And someone else, of course.”
    â€œWhy didn’t we see their car?” Joe wondered.
    â€œThey could have arrived after us and left before we did.”
    Joe sighed. “More problems.”
    Frank drove on, deep in thought. As they approached an intersection, the traffic light changed and he jammed on the brakes. Neither of the boys spoke as they waited for the green signal.
    Suddenly Joe asked, “Frank, do you hear what I hear?”
    â€œIt hums!” Frank said. “Maybe this is the singing light Dr. Gardner was talking about!”
    â€œLook, why don’t we start out at once and drive ten minutes in various directions? Maybe we’ll find Lenny Stryker!”
    â€œGood idea. But let’s call Chief Collig first and tell him we’re out of the Mead house.”
    Frank parked in front of a phone booth not far from the humming traffic light and soon had the chief on the line. He reported everything they had experienced and told him about their latest clue.
    Chief Collig had no news concerning Lenny and wished the boys luck in their search.
    When Frank returned to the car, he said, “We can’t go east because of the bay. And we should save the direction toward town until last. We can look around there after dinner.”
    â€œRight. Let’s go west first and see