Free The Mandie Collection by Lois Gladys Leppard

Liza?”
    â€œNow let me see,” she pondered. “I think it was on the bureau in the room that Mr. Locke is staying in. Yes, that’s where it was,” Liza went on. “I didn’t think he needed that good-smelling powder, so I took it for you.”
    â€œLiza!” Mandie laughed. Then she turned to Polly. “Then Bayne Locke must have taken it from my room—the key, that is.”
    â€œI didn’t think we could trust that man,” Polly added.
    â€œHey, come on. Let’s find Mr. Jason and take him to the tunnel,” Mandie excitedly brushed the white powder off her skirt. “Let’s go!”
    They found Mr. Bond on the front porch.
    â€œThe key! We found the key! Let’s go to the tunnel!” Mandie called as she and Polly ran on down the steps. Mr. Bond scratched his head and followed.
    Breathlessly, the two girls pushed aside the bushes in front of the door. Mr. Bond reached for the door to unlock it, but it was already unlocked and standing wide open.
    â€œWell, how do you like that?” Mr. Bond said, as he stepped inside.
    â€œNow, we go for miles and miles before we come to the door into the main part of the house,” Mandie told him.
    And they walked and walked—down halls, up stairs and down again, and no door appeared to lead into the house at all. Instead, they found a panel in the wall slightly ajar.
    â€œLook, that wall is open a little,” Mandie whispered.
    As Mr. Bond reached to touch it, the panel closed back into place and they could not even tell it had been open at all.
    â€œWell, looks like it’s not meant for us to get through,” Mr. Bond said.
    â€œI wonder how that panel got loose,” Polly speculated.
    â€œYou girls probably knocked something loose on your travels down through here,” Mr. Bond laughed.
    â€œGuess we’ll just have to go back out the way we came in,” Mandie muttered. “But we’re not going to give up.”
    â€œNope, we’re not,” Polly confirmed. “Must be somebody on the other side of that wall, the way it closed so fast, and I know it was open, ’cause I saw it.”
    â€œProbably one of those ghosts we’ve been trying to catch up with,” Mandie teased.
    â€œMaybe we can find the other side of this tunnel now that we know the panel opens,” Mr. Bond told them.
    They left the tunnel the way they had entered. Mr. Bond locked the door and put the key in his pocket.
    The three of them went back into the house and were climbing the steps to the third floor when they met Bayne Locke coming down. He grinned at them and would have gone on down the steps, but Mr. Bond stopped him.
    â€œLook here, fellow, where have you been up that way?”
    â€œWhy, I’ve been up to the third floor,” Bayne sarcastically replied. “Where’d you think I’d been?”
    â€œWhat reason did you have to go up to the third floor?” Mr. Bond wanted to know.
    â€œHey, mister, you just work here. I am the nephew of the man who owned this house.” Bayne was not grinning any longer.
    â€œAnd I also happen to be in charge of Mr. Shaw’s affairs until the will is located,” Mr. Bond replied.
    At that moment, Mrs. Snow and Ruby appeared at the top of the stairs to the third floor.
    Mandie turned to them, “And what were you doing on the third floor?”
    Mrs. Snow hurried down the steps, with her daughter at her heels. “What business is it of yours? I have as much right as you do to this house and everything in it. So, don’t bother asking me any questions, because you certainly won’t get any answers.” She kept right on going down to the second floor, her daughter following and turning to make faces at the girls.
    â€œThat woman is no relative of mine!” Bayne Locke loudly proclaimed.
    The woman turned back. “And Mr. Locke is no relative of mine.” She and her daughter disappeared