Book 1-Annie Adams and the Mystery Club Detectives

Annie Adams and the Mystery Club Detectives

     "My auntie taught me a lot of important stuff; like standing up for what I believe.  Not just spiritually, but in every way."  Annie said, and then she smiled and went back to her work.

     Sheriff Cooper joined the girls at dinner that night.  "Hi there."  He said, and then sat down with a tray full of food.  "Hey,"  Annie, Beth, Trisha and Katie said in unison and then looked expectantly at him.  The sheriff couldn't help but notice their eager faces, so said, "Well girls,"  he began in a low voice.  "I talked to the headmaster, Mr Hartman and told him where I found the pen, and that it was being tested for fingerprints.

     "I also told him if any legible prints were found,"  he hesitated...."we would need to fingerprint his students."  He ran his hand over his nearly bald head in a nervous way.  Annie sighed.  "I kinda thought that would be the next step," she said, and then sighed again.  Sheriff Cooper patted her hand.  "I would be very surprised if your Ridgewest friends had anything to do with this.  They seem like good boys to me."  He finished with an encouraging smile.

     "You know, I never considered the boys of Ridgewest could be suspects."  Sheriff Cooper said, then digging into his dinner.  The girls followed his lead and were soon chatting about other things while enjoying their meatloaf, mashed potatoes and vegetables.  Ruthie appeared at the end of the meal and offered to show the girls the club house.  The sheriff couldn't help but overhear.  "You're welcome to come too."  Ruthie told him.

     Immediately, Annie and the others began begging.  "We'd like that wouldn't we?"  Annie said, looking eagerly at her friends.  "Yeah.  That would be great if you came with us."  Beth said enthusiastically.  "Yeah, please come."  Katie pleaded.  "Yes. come."  Trisha echoed.  Sheriff Cooper chuckled.  "Well, I admit, I'm curious, but my wife hasn't seen much of me since I've begin this case, and I promised her I'd be home early tonight.  I don't want her to forget what I look like."  Ruthie and the girls laughed.

     "I promise I'll see it another time."  The sheriff rose to leave and Annie asked, "When are they going to start the tests on the fingerprints?"  "It's happening as we speak," he said, waving and walking off.  Then he stopped in his tracks when almost at the door, turned and added, "I should know the results by tomorrow sometime, and I'll let you know as soon as I do."

     "And you all need to remember that if we find fingerprints on the pen, that doesn't mean necessarily that, that person is the thief," the sheriff ended, and then walked out the door.  As soon as the sheriff was gone, Annie's thoughts returned to the Club room, just as Ruthie asked, "Are you kids ready to go?"  Excitement took the place of worry, and they were suddenly eager to get going.

     The girls hurriedly took their trays to the kitchen, and then followed Ruthie out of the cafeteria.  She led them through the school and around the building to the dogwood tree.  Ruthie looked around scanning the grounds for curious students.  But no one was in close proximity to their position in the yard. 

     It was a nice evening.  The sun was sitting low in the fading light blue sky, which was turning to colors of pink, yellow and orange, preparing to set.  But even though it was a perfect evening for a walk, Ruthie was happy to see that the lawns were practically deserted.  Just a few girls were on the tennis courts, two hundred yards away.  Ruthie felt confident that they wouldn't be seen going into the secret door.

     She squeezed her considerable girth between the picnic table and the basement window, flipped up a latch to open it, then she and the girls hurried through.  When inside, Ruthie grabbed a rope that was hooked to the inside of the window, and pulled it shut tight, while turning on light switch on the wall.

     The space was immediately illuminated, casting a it's light onto a spiral staircase ten feet from where they stood.  The walls stood very close on either side of them.  Not place to go but up the steps.  "Wow!"  Annie gasped.  "Cool!"  Beth said.  Trisha just stared in awe at the elaborate staircase and Katie said, "Ruthie, you know everything about this place, don't you?"  Ruthie answered with a chuckle.

     "I've done some exploring in my time," she said, her eyes full of mischievousness.  Then she led the way up the stairs.  They all stopped on a small landing and looked out of a window there to see the stunning sunset on the horizon.  They admired it for a few moments, then continued up the remaining twenty steps to the top.

     At the top was another landing and a metal door.  "This is it!"  Ruthie announced with her hand on the door knob and sounding just as excited as Annie, Beth, Katie and Trisha felt.  Ruthie flung open the door and flipped on a switch and the room was flooded with light.  All the girls gasped and giggled with glee.  Ruthie chuckled and beamed at them, delighted with their reactions.

     It was a large room with a big wide window, grimy with dirt.  The wood beamed ceiling was covered with cobwebs and spiders' webs hanging everywhere.  A good sized table stood in the center of the room surrounded by five wooden chairs.  Dust an inch thick covered everything in the room.  But Annie didn't notice the dirt and grime; her attention was fixed upon a frameless photo hanging on a side wall. 

     She hurried over to inspect it.  Annie took out the tack that held it in place, and stared longingly at it. She didn't even notice when Beth, Katie and Trisha gathered around her.  "Wow."  Annie said softly, touching her mother's face.  Five smiling faces looked back at her.  All of them about 13 years of age.  The names of each girl was hand written on the bottom of each of them.  Annie held back the tears as she gazed admiringly at the original Mystery Club Detectives.