The Secret in the Old Lace by Carolyn G. Keene

dock, waiting to board the boat. Maybe she’s going shopping for the party tonight, the girl thought, then went to the room next door.
    “Wake up, Bess!” she called. “We have work to do!”
    Her friend was sleeping peacefully, oblivious to Nancy, who was jostling her now. “Wha-what is it?” Bess finally mumbled.
    “Come on, lazybones, get up. We’re going on a hunt for clues!”
    Next Nancy knocked on George’s door, then went back to her own room where she put on her skirt and sweater. The young detectives, their flashlights in hand, gathered in the corridor at the top of the steps.
    “Where do we start?” Bess asked.
    “In the cellar,” Nancy said, “since that’s where Madame Chambray found the cross.”
    The girls noticed a heavy wooden door off the kitchen. It creaked noisily as Nancy swung it back on its hinges and saw that it led below. Before descending, Nancy thought she heard something underneath the stairwell but dismissed it when the noise was not repeated. Step by step she guided her friends into the eerie darkness.
    “I’m scared.” Bess shivered. “Nancy, why don’t we wait for Madame Chambray to return before we go any farther?”
    “Sh!” George quieted her cousin. “Stop pretending to be a chicken detective.”
    “Who’s pretending?” Bess laughed nervously.
    As they stood in the musty, dark room, they beamed their lights on the stone walls, looking unsuccessfully for a switch to turn on an overhead light.
    “Oh!” Bess cried out suddenly while Nancy and George walked ahead of her.
    “What’s the matter?” Nancy asked.
    “I hear weird noises. Don’t you?”
    “No,” the other detectives whispered back.
    “Stick closer,” George said, but her cousin continued to lag behind.
    Nancy swept her flashlight across a deep stony crevice in one wall while George examined the floor beneath it. “Swing your light over here, Bess,” George requested, unaware that her cousin was not with them. But when no response came, George spun around. “Bess, where are you?”
    Instantly Nancy flashed her light toward the cellar steps where they had started their investigation. Bess was nowhere in sight. A couple of tense minutes later, they saw a ghostly figure in white standing beyond the fringe of light!
    Nancy turned her flashlight on the mysterious apparition, noticing it wore leather boots. “Who are you?” she cried out.
    There was no answer.
    “Let’s get him, George!” Nancy hissed, feeling the two girls had a good chance to overpower the lone ghost, who seemed to be a tall, slender man.
    “Right!” George said, and both charged toward the figure, diving for the sheet that covered him. The ghost threw out his arms and with a powerful thrust flung both girls to the floor. Their lights fell out of their hands and went out. Now they were in total darkness.
    George screamed, expecting the ghost to pounce on them at any moment. All they heard, however, were a few shuffling noises that quickly faded.
    A bit shaken, the young detectives groped for their flashlights. George found hers first and beamed it toward Nancy, who had noticed a small hole right next to where she had fallen. “I—I think my light rolled in there,” she said.
    “Where’s the ghost?” George asked, now beaming her light in the direction where the apparition had stood. All she could see was the cellar wall.
    The ghost had vanished. Was he hiding nearby ready to attack them again? And where was Bess?

    Had he kidnapped her?
    Panic-stricken, both girls shrieked, calling out, “Bess! Bess!”

10
    The Water Tunnel
     
     
     
    Nancy and George called Bess’s name several times but there was no response. “What could have happened to her?” George asked in bewilderment.
    Then they heard a muffled sound. Keeping quiet, Nancy took George’s flashlight and edged toward the cellar steps. There, under the staircase, was a door made of heavy wood and painted the color of the stonework.
    “George, help me!”