Free Malice by Gabriell Lord Page A

that?’
    I flashed him my prettiest smile. ‘Places like that always have secrets. Plus, the house is built in the shape of a ship.’
    I could see that Curly wasn’t convinced. He continued to look at me suspiciously. ‘The only mystery I can think of is why you want to stay there. There are some very nice rental properties closer to town—nice and modern, with big balconies, swimming pools and all that stuff that you young folk like. I could get you a very good discount.’
    â€˜Thanks, Curly,’ said Boges, ‘but we’re pretty happy where we are.’
    Curly looked hard at Boges. ‘What about some more biscuits and cheese, Mrs Curlewis? And some orange juice?’ Boges continued.
    Perdita
    5:25 pm
    â€˜Curly is hiding something for sure,’ I said. ‘And it’s obvious his wife is scared to death of him.’ We were standing in front of the fire, and I picked the Perdita file up off the top of the carved mantelpiece where I’d left it, intending to search it one more time for hidden secrets. As I did so, I took a long look at the mantelpiece itself. ‘You know, there’s something about this carving,’ I said. ‘It seems out of place. Why is there an acorn sticking out of a gum tree design?’
    I ran my fingers along the carvings, the graceful wattle flowers and gum leaves chiselled out in the dark timber. I felt around and then leaned on the acorn. The carving suddenly caved in under my fingers. ‘Oh no! I’ve broken it! I didn’t mean to press so hard.’
    A creaking and knocking noise seemed to come from the nearby wall and I jumped back in fright.
    â€˜What’s that?’ Ryan cried.
    â€˜Watch out!’ Boges yelled. ‘The whole wall is moving!’
    The three of us gaped as the panel of timber closest to the right-hand side of the fireplace slowly opened, revealing a dark space inside.
    â€˜I don’t believe it! A secret room!’ I gasped.
    â€˜How cool is that!’ Boges said.
    â€˜What’s in there?’ asked Ryan, poking his head in and then pulling it out fast, tearing cobwebs away from his face. ‘Ugh! Spider webs!’
    Boges found the torch and shone it into the hole. ‘It looks like a passageway,’ he reported.
    â€˜What are we waiting for?’ I couldn’t wait to get in there, spiders or not. ‘Come on, follow me.’ I grabbed the torch from Boges and stepped into the dark space, shining the torch ahead of me.
    The passage ran along to the left, behind the fireplace and along the wall of the front room, a narrow walkway hemmed in by solid walls. The others jostled behind me, heads down under the low ceiling. After about seven paces, the passage made a sharp turn to the right and I figured this must have been somewhere under the bedroom I’d been sleeping in. ‘There’s a right-hand turn here, guys,’ I called back. I followed the passageway a short distance to where a narrow flight of steps started. Flashing the torch on the dusty floor revealed the first of the steps … and something else. ‘Someone’s been here recently,’ I said. ‘You can see the footprints in the dust.’
    â€˜That would explain the knocking and scratching in the walls!’ said Boges.
    The steps were steep and narrow. I went up and up, and suddenly banged my head on a low ceiling. Hunched over, I shone the torch above me. I’d run into a dead end above my head.
    â€˜That looks like floorboards,’ said Boges. ‘Must be the room above us.’
    I switched off the torch and heard the others gasp behind me.
    â€˜What did you do that for?’ asked Boges. ‘Want to give us all claustrophobia?’
    Now that it was pitch black, I could see a faint, square outline through which tiny chinks of light shone between the floorboards above me.
    â€˜There’s a trapdoor here,’ I said, ‘just above my head.’ I