“What? What’s wrong?” Tosh demanded sharply, so maybe everyone was still a bit more on edge than he’d realized.
Ellery was quick to reassure. “I’m sure it’s nothing. I was just surprised to see that panel open. The workmen must have forgotten about it when they left this morning.” He nodded at the narrow doorway.
“Oh, my God. Is that a secret passage?”
Mugs were deposited on every available flat surface and the Scooby Gang—er, Ellery’s friends—crowded around the entrance.
“Where does it lead to?”
“Have you already explored the whole thing?”
“Whoa, it’s dark in there!”
“Can we go inside?”
Ellery absently listened to his friends while unobtrusively studying the shiny floor for mud or damp shoe prints. Though fixing drinks in the kitchen had supplied enough time for wet prints to evaporate, the imprint of muddy shoes would still be visible. He was relieved to see the floors and rugs looked untouched.
Anyway, if someone was lurking in that tunnel, Watson would be losing his mind right now…
Ellery watched Watson stick his nose into the gloom, sniffing energetically, and then letting out a full-body sneeze. Watson sneezed again. He quickly backed out, still sneezing loudly.
Ellery stepped over Watson, and joined the others. “This tunnel leads down to the cellar. But it may have originally had another branch that’s blocked off now. There’s a small hidden closet off the dining room which has another passage that might have led to an old greenhouse, which no longer exists.”
“So it’s a dead end?”
“Yes. The exit is sealed shut.”
“Did you look for treasure?” Chelsea asked.
Ellery assumed Chelsea was kidding, and he laughed. “No. Not yet.”
“But that’s what your employee was saying, right?”
“My…”
“Nora,” Tosh put in.
Chelsea shook her head. “No. The little man with the bow tie. He said something about the legend of the Dourdos Aquamarine.”
Oh, right. Ellery remembered the reference but it hadn’t made sense to him at the time—and still didn’t, given that they’d been discussing the likelihood of Edwin Dolph popping up on Buck Island.
“That’s the first I’ve ever heard of the Dourdos Aquamarine.”
“Oooh,” Tosh exclaimed. “We’re going on a treasure hunt!”
Ellery laughed because, well, frankly, treasure hunting was in his DNA. But he had no idea what the Dourdos Aquamarine was, what the connection might be to the island—let alone to Captain’s Seat. He wasn’t even sure that’s what Nora and Kingston had been hinting at. They could be cryptic when communicating with other lifeforms.
“Maybe? But—” He froze—they all froze—at the sound of the doorbell.
Ding-dong, psycho calling?
But Watson tore out of the room barking hysterically.
Arf! Arf! Arf!
It was a specific bark for a specific person.
“That’s Jack.” Ellery could hear the relief in his voice, which probably didn’t do a lot to reassure his friends.
“Are you sure about that?” Tosh probably intended to sound teasing, though it didn’t quite come off that way.
But Watson was never wrong about this, and he could be heard tags jingling as he raced down the hall, joyfully barking all the way. Ellery and the others followed.
When they reached the heavy wooden front door, Watson was jumping up and down on his hind legs as Jack rang the doorbell for a second time.
“Check first, Ellery!” Tosh urged.
Ellery was already peering through the peephole, and sure enough, the tiny figure at the end of the convex lens was Jack. The miniature Jack smoothed his hair, the only indication he felt any nervousness about meeting Ellery’s old posse.
“It’s okay. It’s Jack.”
