Scones, Skulls & Scams (13 page)

“So, if we go to the left, we’ll pass the intersection where we found the room with the money?” Ida shaded her eyes and squinted to the left as if that would help her see further into the darkness.

“Right,” Nans answered. “And to the right takes us further downtown.”

Helen stood in the opening, looking first right, then left. “I vote we go back the way we came. Then we can escape out the doorway in Lexy’s basement.”

Ruth nodded. “I agree. It’s the only sure thing.”

“Well, it’s not really a sure thing,” Lexy said. “Victor might have locked the door behind him and if he put that plank back in, we’ll never get through it.”

Ida’s forehead creased. “But why would he do that? He thinks we’re locked up in the money room. He’d have no reason to take that precaution. I vote we check it out.”

“That does seem like the most logical course of action. The only other way out is the manhole cover in the center of town, and we have no idea which sewer route to take to get there.” Nans turned, shining her flashlight on the group. “Are we all in?”

Lexy and the others murmured their agreement. Even Caraleigh let out a shallow groan from the cart.

As they turned to the left and sloshed into the tunnel, Lexy felt her heart squeezing in her chest. She wondered how fast the water would rise and what would happen if they got to the entryway into her basement and found the door locked. Would the water be so high by then it would block off any other route to an exit? The manhole cover in the center of town was the only other way out and, even if they could figure out how to get there, they wouldn’t be able to open the cover.

“Oh look, here’s the lipstick mark I made!” Helen aimed the beam of her flashlight toward the side of the tunnel where a bright red arrow marked the intersection with the tunnel they’d taken earlier.
 

“Good, then we
are
on the right trail.” Nans’ voice was edged with excitement. She picked up the pace, leading them further into the tunnel. Lexy trailed along, the last one in line.
 

She glanced back at the cart where Caraleigh lay, still out like a light.
 

Must be nice,
she thought. The cart seemed to grow heavier with each step and her shoulder burned from the strain. If she wasn’t faced with drowning in the cold water that was getting deeper by the minute, she might have laughed at the irony—here she was sweating it out while Caraleigh lay on the cart sleeping blissfully as Lexy pulled her to safety.

After a few minutes, Nans slowed down, shining her light on the side of the tunnel, looking for the connector that led to Lexy’s basement.

“It should be around here somewhere …”
 

Lexy switched the handle of the cart to her other hand to give her arm a break and concentrated on thinking positive thoughts as she listened to the sloshing sounds their feet made while they waded through the now ankle-deep, frigid water. Her feet were starting to feel numb and heavy, like they did at the beach when the ocean temperature was in the 50s—except she suspected this water was much colder. Her heart pinched as she thought of Nans and the others—they were much older than she was, how much of this could they take?

“There it is!” Ruth pointed to something up ahead. They sloshed up to the opening and turned into the tunnel.

The short tunnel angled uphill so, thankfully, the water level dropped off quickly. Lexy now realized the buildings had been built higher than the sewer with the access tunnels, so any flooding wouldn’t reach into the basement. Of course, the uphill angle made the cart even heavier, but Lexy navigated it with a burst of energy—a few more seconds and they’d be free!
 

Or trapped.

Nans’ flashlight cast sinister shadows on the wooden door … it was closed.
 

“It might not be locked,” Ruth ventured.

“Right.” Lexy dropped the handle of the cart and she and Nans pushed against the door.
 

“It opens inward, so pushing should work.” Nans’ voice held a tremor of uncertainty. “Maybe it’s just stuck.”

“Back up,” Lexy commanded. She took several steps backwards then launched herself at the door, butting into it forcefully with the side of her body.
 

Pain exploded in her shoulder as it met the unyielding mass of the door with a dull thud. She backed up and tried again.
 

Did she feel the door budge just a little?
 

She tried again.
 

And again.

But the door didn’t open. It was locked, probably secured with the thick piece of wood they’d removed when they opened it.
Victor had covered all his base
s, Lexy thought as she gave in to the sinking feeling they were trapped inside the sewer with nowhere to go.
 

“It’s no use,” she said, her voice cracking. Tears stung the backs of her eyes. She turned to Nans. “We’re trapped.”

“Nonsense!” Nans said. “
The Ladies Detective Club
does not admit defeat. There has to be another way!”

Lexy felt drained from the exertion of ramming the door. Her heartbeat drummed in her ears keeping time with her pounding headache.
 

“I hope there is another way,” she said, massaging her temple. “Too bad I can’t think with this pounding going on in my head.”

“Wait a minute.” Nans tilted her head. “You hear that too?”

“Yeah. You mean it’s not just my head aching?”

“No, I hear it too,” Ruth said.

“And me,” Ida added.

Nans cocked her ear toward the main tunnel and her face lit up.
 

“I think I know how we can get out of here!”

Chapter Nineteen

Nans ran back into the main tunnel, the water splashing over her sensible old-lady shoes. Ruth, Ida and Helen followed with Lexy and the cart bringing up the rear.

“Mona, wait up!” Ida yelled after Nans as she waded into the tunnel.

“Can’t! We have to hurry!” Nans shot back over her shoulder.

“At least tell us where we’re going,” Ruth said.

“Do you hear that drumbeat?” Nans asked.

“Yeees.” Ida drew out the word.

“Well, that’s not a migraine starting … it’s the drums from the rehearsal parade,” Nans said. “You know—when they do a practice run of the entire route to make sure everything will go off without a hitch during the real parade tomorrow?”

“Yeah, so?” Helen slowed down a bit, flashing her light at the sides of the tunnel.

“Yeah, so what?” Caraleigh piped up from the cart.

Nans stopped and turned to look at them.
 

“Don’t you guys know what that means?” she asked in an exasperated tone.

“No,” Caraleigh said meekly.

“If we can follow the sounds of the parade, it will lead us straight to the center of town …” Nans’ voice drifted off as she cocked her ear toward the ceiling, apparently listening for the parade.

“And right to the manhole cover!” Ruth added.

“I think we
are
on the right track to head downtown, because we’re passing the lipstick mark I made when we went into the tunnel where we found the money room.” Helen pointed to the red arrow scrawled in lipstick on the wall at the juncture of two tunnels.

“Oh, by the way.” Caraleigh’s voice drifted up from the cart. “Thanks for making that lipstick mark. I might never have found you or the room full of money otherwise. Although in retrospect, I might have been better off if I hadn’t.”

Helen stared at Caraleigh. “You mean to say if I hadn’t left that mark, we might not be in this predicament?”

Caraleigh shrugged as much as she could, seeing as she was bound up with duct tape. “It’s hard to say.”

“We don’t have time for this,” Nans said. “Let’s go … I hear parade noises up ahead.”

“I think you guys can unstrap me from this cart,” Caraleigh said. “It’s not like I’m going to run away.”

“Yeah right,” Lexy snorted.
 

“It will be a lot easier on you instead of having to drag me around.” Caraleigh wiggled on the cart as if to illustrate her point.

“Cut it out or I’ll leave
you
tied up
and the cart here,” Lexy said as she struggled to drag the weaving cart through the watery tunnel.

“You wouldn’t dare … that would be sentencing me to death!”
 

“I still don’t get why you went to all the trouble of opening a bakery when you simply could have broken into mine just like you did last night,” Lexy said.

“We figured we’d need time to explore the sewers and find the money,” Caraleigh explained. “If we broke in while you were still operating a business there, the break-in would be discovered the next morning when you came to open up. If we didn’t find the money on the first try, we didn’t know if we’d be able to break in again, so the plan was to drive you out of business and then rent the space ourselves. Then we’d have as long as we wanted to look around down here for the money.”

“So why did you break in last night, then?” Helen asked.

“We found out about the sewer project cutting off the access and the locks being opened. We knew if the sewers flooded, it could wash the money away so we figured it was our last chance. I saw you leave by the front door and thought you’d gone home.” Caraleigh’s voice ended in a sob. “It was all Harvey’s idea … I hope that old man didn’t hurt him. I just have to get out of here and make sure he’s okay.”

“Shhh …” Nans hissed at them. “Will you two be quiet? I need to listen for the parade.”

Nans cocked her ear toward the ceiling again and Lexy, Ruth, Ida and Helen followed suit. Lexy could just faintly hear drum beats to the left … and the sound of rushing water to the right.

“I think it’s over there.” Helen pointed to the left.

“Yes, I hear it too,” Nans said. “But how do we get there?”

“There’s got to be a connecting tunnel.” Ida sloshed ahead. “Helen, come up here with that flashlight.”

“I can make a lot of ruckus if you don’t untie me, and then none of us will get out of here.” Caraleigh started singing, an ungodly wail of a tune.

Lexy, Ruth and Nans put their hands on their ears.
 

“Stop it, that sounds awful,” Ruth yelled.

“And I can make it real hard to maneuver in here too,” Caraleigh wiggled on the cart, sending it swaying from side to side. The more it swayed the harder she wiggled until she’d gotten quite a momentum going. The cart splashed up water onto Ruth and Lexy. Freezing cold water.

“Hey! I’ve had just about enough of you,” Ruth said.

“Yeah, what are you going to do about it?” Caraleigh yelled.

“I’ll show you what I’m going to do. I’ll shut you right up with this.” Ruth rummaged in her purse, coming up with a roll of duct tape and waving it threateningly at Caraleigh who continued to rock the cart and splash water.

“Things were much nicer when she was unconscious,” Nans said.

“They sure were.” Ruth’s eyes drifted up to the side of the tunnel where a big chunk of concrete had come lose and was ready to crumble off. “I sure hope that concrete doesn’t fall and knock her out again.”

“What?” Caraleigh jerked her head up, the motion causing the cart to lurch sideways, smashing against the side of the tunnel and loosening the concrete chunk. Everyone watched, wide-eyed as the chunk seemed to teeter back and forth before crashing down … right on top of Caraleigh’s head.

“Oh, heck,” Caraleigh said just before it knocked her out cold.

“Well, I’ll be,” Ruth said. “That certainly was convenient.”

Nans nodded. “Ask and you shall receive.”

Helen and Ida sloshed back down to them. “There’s a tunnel to the left up ahead and I can hear the parade, let’s get a move on!”

Lexy grabbed the cart handle and they hustled up the sewer tunnel, turning left behind Ida and Helen. Once they were a few feet into the tunnel, the parade sounds became much more distinguishable.

“I can hear it!” Lexy said.
 

“If this is main street, the manhole should be dead ahead.” Nans took off at a sprint.
 

Lexy tugged on the cart. It was getting heavier. The steadily rising water was almost up to the level of the cart’s platform, any higher and they’d have to do something to keep Caraleigh from drowning. Lexy’s arm burned, her breath came out in shallow puffs. She didn’t know how much longer she could pull the cart.

“I see it!” Nans’ excited shout echoed down the tunnel giving Lexy a burst of energy. Nans stood about fifty feet away looking up. Lexy could see shafts of light filtering down from the holes in the manhole cover above.

Ruth, Ida and Helen caught up to Nans and the four of them jumped up and down, waving their arms and yelling.

“Hello!”

“Down here!”

“Yoo-hoo!”

Lexy doubted anyone above would be able to hear them over the din of the parade. She pulled the cart up to the group of women and pushed them aside.
 

“Hold on, I’ll try and push the cover off,” she yelled.

The roof of the tunnel was about seven feet tall. Metal rungs leading up to the manhole cover were embedded in the side of the tunnel. Lexy reached out and grabbed one, the cold, clammy metal chilling her hands. She hoisted herself up, putting her feet on the lower rung and climbing the other two, her wet feet slipping as she went. She only needed to climb up a few feet before she was high enough. She put both her palms on the cover. She pushed with all her might.
 

It didn’t budge.

She tried again.

Nothing.

“Help!” she yelled up through the holes, but she knew it was no use. No one would hear her, the parade was too loud. She crawled back down the metal rungs.

“It’s no use,” she said as she splashed off the last rung into the water, her heart sinking. “The parade is too loud.”

“Oh dear.” Helen wrung her hands. “What are we going to do?”

“I have an idea!” Nans snapped open her purse and, much to Lexy’s amazement, pulled out a dental mirror.
 

Lexy’s chest tightened as she watched Nans scramble up the metal rungs. “Be careful Nans,” she said. “Why don’t you let me do that?”