The Adventures of the Holmes Club

Chapter 20: The Case of The Engineer's Thumb

***Louis***

"Louis," A familiar voice whispered, "Louis, are you okay?"

I opened my eyes, "Yeah, Penny, I'm fine. Wait, Penny?"

Penny helped me to my feet, "I know, I don't have time to explain right now, we have to wake the others up and try to get out of here."

I walked over, and shook Alina, "Ali, come on, wake up."

Slowly, we got the others up.

There was a lot of confusion at first as we sorted out some basic things.

1. Yes, it was really Penny.

2. None of our cell phones worked, even though five out of six of us had them.

3. We had to get out because we had no food at this point.

"I'm hungry." Nadia said.

Max reached into his back pocket, "Do you want a lollipop, Nadia?"

Alina turned to Max, clearly angered, "Max, just one question."

"What?"

"WHERE THE FUCK HAVE YOU BEEN KEEPING THOSE?!!!!!!!!"

"In my pocket. I always have lollipops." Max replied.

***Penny***

"I could try to pick the lock on the door." I offered, "Anybody have a bobby pin?"

Sophie pulled one out of her hair and handed it to me.

I walked over to the door and sat down next to it, "You guys try to find other ways out, this might now work."

The others busied themselves walking around the room, searching for other ways to get out.

I motioned for Louis to come over to me.

"Louis, I know I've been gone for weeks, I'm sorry I haven't been much help."

"No, Penny, it's okay. Don't worry about it. What happened to you, anyway? We didn't see you at all after the game."

"I know." I replied, "At the game, someone knocked me out and mugged me, but I woke up a few hours later. I didn't have my phone, so I couldn't contact any of you for a while. I got really sick, so I had to stay home from school for a few weeks. Then my parents sent me up here to stay with my uncle for a little while because..."

"Because why?"

"Never mind, it doesn't matter right now." 

***Max***

Penny slammed her palm against the door, "Damn it! I can't get it open. There must be some electronic component to it."

"It's okay." I replied, "I found another way out."

Penny stood up, "Really? What?"

I pointed above my head, high on the wall, an air vent.

Penny hurried over, "It's too high for us to reach."

Nadia and Sophie came over, each lugging two cinder blocks with them, "Can these help? We found them over there."

"That's perfect." Penny replied, "Sophie, do you have another bobby pin?"

Sophie handed Penny another bobby pin, and the two stacked their cinder blocks under the vent. Penny climbed onto them and used the closed end of the bobby pin to unscrew the vent cover. It was wide enough for one particular member of the club to squeeze through.