"I asked your great-aunt a lot of questions about the house and she gave away where the old keys to things were kept. They were in a bottom drawer in the food pantry."
"So what's that key for?"
"I was right about that locked door. It does open to the stairway that goes up to the attic, and this is the key to that door," she said. adding. "which may lead us to our new clubhouse."
"How do you know that's the key?"
"I tried it and the door unlocked. I came to get you before I went up. C'mon."
I started to shake my head.
"What?" she demanded. She frowned and put her hands on her hips. "You're not going to start on that ghost thing again, are you? Well?"
"No, but--"
"But nothing. I'm going up there to check it out. You coming or not?"
It was just like that telepathy thing Ian had written about in his letter.
I could hear his voice.
"No," he was saying. "Don't open that door."
13 A Real Mystery Story
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Alanis couldn't understand my reluctance. "C'mon," she pleaded. "Your great-aunt will be
downstairs for a long time yet. Who knows what we'll find? Maybe all that money that's hidden here is hidden up there. Whatever it looks like up there, we might be able to fix it up for ourselves to use instead of the basement. And we won't tell anyone else about it. even Nikki or Raspberry, until we both decide to tell. okay? It will just be our secret place, a place for just you and me."
I didn't move, and she grimaced, her hands on her hips.
"Don't you want to have fun? I'm living here with you to have more fun and I thought you'd like that. Well?" she asked, the ire in her eves reminding me of her mother's eyes.
"Okay," I said, closing my books. But we better not stay up there long. And what if it's dark? And--"
"And, and, and... you sound like some old lady. Darkness, ghosts," she said, laughing at me. "I checked. The switch worked and the lights to on up there. The ghosts will hide. C'mon," she urged and started down the hallway, still laughing to herself.
I thought if anything was funny, it was that we were still wearing the Chinese dresses. As we passed Grandmother Emma's room. I looked longingly through the doorway at the closet. In my mind Ian was standing inside it, calling to me, waiting for me to open the closet door.
She opened the attic door and turned to me. "See? This is the key."
She flipped the light switch. I was surprised at how brightly the light lit the stairway and everything above. The stairway wasn't just an ordinary wooden step stairway for an attic either. It had dark gray carpeting, and the carpeting looked better than the carpeting on the main stairway in the house. There were ten steps to the top with no banister. Alanis glanced at me, excitement lighting her eyes, then started up. I followed slowly, half-listening for Greataunt Frances below, Our stealing the key and sneaking up here would be sure to upset her. I was set to turn around and rush out the moment I heard anything resembling her footsteps on the stairs. Alanis paused at the top.
"Wow," she said. "You're not going to believe this. What you dragging your feet for? Get your booty up here."
She turned and walked into the attic. I hurriedly followed now that she had whetted my curiosity. She was right. It was surprising. The attic was a like a separate apartment within the house. There was a bedroom and an area with a small kitchen and another area with a sofa, table and chair, with a small television set on a table across from the sofa. To the right there was another door. She opened it and turned to me.
"It's a bathroom with a tub." she said. "Just about as big as the closet we're sharing now."
I stepped up beside her and looked in at the sink, tub and toilet. It was all clean, with no rust, but there were no mirrors. The floor was a dull cream linoleum.
The walls of the attic were papered in a light blue, but there were no pictures or shelves. Alanis moved slowly, looking at the furnishings until she reached the queen-size bed, which had a dark cherry headboard. It looked freshly made with a dark blue comforter and fluffy big pillows. It was made even more carefully than the bed in what was supposedly Grandmother Emma's room. She paused, then held up her hand, as if she wanted me to remain still and quiet. Then she turned slowly.
"Come here. Look at this,' she said.
I stepped up beside her and looked.