Book 1-Annie Adams and the Mystery Club Detectives

Continue Annie Adams and the Mystery Club Detectives

                                                                                       Chapter 11

                                                                           An expected Discovery

(Before I get started with my update,  I want to say that my computer crashed right after my last update, which is why I haven't published anything until now.  Sorry for the delay, and as always, thank you readers for reading my stories.)

     Annie, Beth, Katie and Trisha couldn't wait for lunch hour to arrive the next day.  They kept looking around eagerly for Ruthie to arrive, in between bites of food.  In fifteen minutes time Ruthie came hurrying through the kitchen doors straight to their table.  She sat down and said, "I'll talk, you listen.  Annie, Beth, Trisha and Katie nodded.

     "You are to tell no one what I'm about to tell you.  Do you understand?"  she whispered.  The girls nodded again, excitement in their eyes.  Ruthie leaned in, her thick tanned arms folded on the table.  Just when she was settled and about to open her mouth, a loud clap of thunder boomed, shaking the lunch room windows.

     It had stormed all night and now it seemed it would be blustery and rainy all day as well.  Ruthie sighed.  "Well, I was planning to show you the club's other entrance today,"  she said as a hard pelting rain hit the windows.  Ruthie glanced behind her, along with Annie and her friends.  The girls gave a collective groan.

     "Yes, it's obvious we're not going out in this."  The girls moaned at her words.  Ruthie chuckled.  "If the storm lets up before dinner, we can go," she promised.  The girls' faces brightened a  little.  "I will tell you all where it is," Ruthie stared, but Beth interrupted her.  "Is it another door pretending to be a window?"  "As a matter of fact, it is."  Ruthie said grinning.

     Annie narrowed her green eyes almost to slits and asked shrewdly.  "Are there any more secret doors in this place?"  "Well,"....Ruthie began, looking all around her to make sure no one was within hearing distance.  ...."I know of one other," she said in a mysterious voice.  "Where is it?"  Annie asked immediately.  "It's a basement window which ultimately leads into the office."

     "It's just down from the outside club house entrance which is behind that dogwood tree."  Annie heard all that Ruthie said, but she was more interested in the door that led to the office; as it seemed were her friends, because they all chimed in low voices, "The office!" At first, Ruthie didn't understand their wide-eyed looks at they said it.

     But in a moment, she gasped.  "Oh."  "Exactly."  Annie said.  "The thief could've come into the office that way, through that basement window."  Katie gasped now too.  "Of course."  "That's it!"  Trisha exclaimed.  "We have to tell Sheriff Cooper as soon as possible."  Ruthie said.  "I can't believe I didn't think of this before,"  Ruthie said, irritated with herself.

     Suddenly, the bell rang to end the lunch hour and for the students to pass to their next class.  "You girls get going.  I'm going to talk with Miss Leighton and Sheriff Cooper,"  Ruthie told them.  Annie, Beth, Katie and Trisha nodded and hurriedly picked up their bags, throwing them over their shoulders, picked up their empty trays and rushed off.  Ruthie was through the cafeteria doors before the girls were.

     Since it was Wednesday, the girls had P.E instead of study hall.  Annie, Katie, Trisha and Beth could hardly wait for the hour to end, even though they all enjoyed playing volleyball on the inside court, which was the "fun" activity for the last thirty minutes.  Afterward, the girls took their showers quickly then put on their plaid skirts, white blouses and blue blazers, then rushed off to find Miss Leighton and Sheriff Cooper.

     They found them and Ruthie standing in the foyer below the main staircase talking quietly as students climbed the steps to the upper floors while others walked casually to the common room and places elsewhere.

     The violent storm raging outside added a degree of suspense to the thoughts rolling around in Annie's head.  Miss Leighton was sprinting back to her office when Annie, Beth, Trisha and Katie reached Ruthie and Sheriff Cooper.  "Here's my favorite detectives," the sheriff said in a pleased voice.  "I'll let you and the kids talk,"  Ruthie said, waving and walking at a fast clip down the hallway.

     "Let's go....where?"  the sheriff said.  "It's four o'clock,  Annie said.  "Ruthie's probably starting dinner.  The cafeteria should be deserted.  "Let's give it a shot."  Sheriff Cooper said, leading the way.  Just as they started off, the thunder rattled the windows so hard, that Annie wondered if they were in danger of breaking.

     The thunder was followed by a loud crack, as if the angry lightening had successfully felled one of the huge oak trees.  "Boy!  This is a ferocious storm."  Katie said with a shiver while sitting down at the girls' usual table.  "It sure is a nasty one,"  Sheriff Cooper agreed taking his seat.  The cafeteria was empty except for two students sitting at the very back.

     Sheriff Cooper started to speak in a whisper though, knowing how a voice carries in an almost empty room.  "Good work girls!" were the first words out of his mouth.  "Well, Ruthie actually told us about the entrance into the office,"  Annie admitted.  "I know.  I thanked her too.  But she gave you all the credit for figuring the significance of the secret door," the sheriff quietly praised them.

     "Thanks," Annie, Beth, Katie and Trisha said, one right after the other.  Sheriff Cooper grinned at them.  "You all have given me the first possible break in this case since the beginning of this mess."  "What's the next move?"  Katie asked him eagerly.  The others leaned in too, to hear what the sheriff would say.