Free Harvey Porter Does Dallas by James Bennett Page B

wasn’t just a chicken-shit, he was a coward.”
    Carmelita was holding her shoulders. She seemed tense. “How much longer are we going to stay here?” she asked him.
    Harvey stretched his arms and yawned. “I’d say as long as we like; nobody knows we’re here, and that door down there is closed, so anybody would think it’s locked, just like always.”
    â€œI’m glad you’re so confident.”
    â€œJust relax. Take a deep breath. This is the last place anybody would think to look for us. Besides, there’s nobody lookin’ for us, it’s free time.”
    Carmelita sighed. She felt better.
    Harvey couldn’t help looking at a few more exhibits under glass before he made his way to the west end of the room. “Look at this,” he said. “There’s even a picture of Oswald’s dog , for Christ’s sake.”
    Then he went to the west end of the huge room. For the longest time, he stood looking at the floor.
    â€œWhat are you doing?” Carmelita asked.
    â€œJust lookin’ at the floor. You see this long horizontal line that runs different from the other floorboards?”
    Carmelita squinted at the floor. “Yeah, I guess I see it, but it’s not easy.”
    â€œI think that’s the point.”
    â€œ What point?”
    â€œI think it’s a trapdoor,” he answered. “I think there’s somethin’ underneath there.”
    â€œWhat, like a secret chamber or something?”
    â€œYeah, somethin’ like that.” Harvey was on his hands and knees, inspecting the horizontal line. You could tell people had tried to cover it with stain and varnish, but if you looked real close … I wish I had a screwdriver. You got anything?”
    â€œThe only thing I’ve got is my nail file.”
    â€œIt might work, let me try it.”
    â€œAre you thinking about going down there?” asked Carmelita in disbelief.
    Harvey grinned at her “Sure. Maybe this is where the real adventure begins.”
    â€œI’m satisfied with the adventure we’ve already had,” she replied.
    â€œNah, you gotta take this shit to the limit. Let me try the nail file.” She gave it to him. He started by driving the sharp point of the file along the virtually invisible horizontal line. He was trying to break the seal of the accumulated varnish and lacquer. It wasn’t easy, but by driving the file back and forth along the line with all his strength, he finally broke the seal. As for the two board grooves on the side, the ones running the same direction as all the rest, breaking the seal was easier.
    When he handed back the nail file, she said, “Look at this. You’ve ruined it. I can never use it again.”
    â€œI’ll buy you a new one, later this afternoon. There’s a drug store across the street.” By now, he’d found a pretty rigid piece of sheet metal, about the size of a yardstick he was probing and prying at the “hidden line” with all his might. Eventually, he managed to pry the lip of it up about an inch. He could get his fingers under it, but it was too heavy to lift.
    He told Carmelita he needed her help. “I can get this lip up maybe three or four inches if I really put my back into it. Then, you’ll have to lift one side while I lift the other. It’s gonna be tricky. The seals on the side aren’t completely broken loose. So it’s gonna be heavy as hell and sticky besides.”
    â€œWe could get into lots of trouble for this, Harvey.”
    He flashed her a smile. “I keep tryin’ to tell you, that’s the fun. What good is an adventure if there’s no risk?”
    As it turned out, Harvey’s strategy worked. He got the end up about four inches, so they could get a good grip. But it was hard work to raise the trapdoor all the way. Eventually, they did. It was standing straight upright. Harvey figured you’d have