Nancy Drew: 2 . The Hidden Staircase

A Big Mistake

Helen let out a scream as the guy closed the shutters. Nancy gunned the car and quickly parked in the driveway. She turned off her engine, pulled the key out, and was racing towards the front door. Helen had her key out and was unlocking it quickly.

"Izzy! Ida!" Nancy shouted. "He was in the sitting room!" Two pairs of feet came rushing down the stairs. The twins met up with Nancy and Helen at the doorway to the sitting room.

"What's this you said about him being in here?" asked Ida, a little breathless from their dash.

"He, he was!" exclaimed Helen. She pointed to the window. "He was just there!"

"What?" exclaimed the twins.

Nancy nodded. "He was there, glaring at us from the window."

"Yes, not more than five minues ago!" Helen glanced around the room. "I hate this, I hate this!"

Nancy put an arm around her friend's shoulder. "Helen, calm down. He just made the biggest mistake."

The three glanced at her. "He did?"

"Yes he did," said Nancy with a nod. She turned to the room and shouted into it. "You hear me? You just made the biggest mistake!"

"Nancy, I don't think that was a good idea," whispered Helen.

"You may be right," muttered Nancy, "but I'm done with all of this. I'm done with them trying to scare you and your grandmother out of this house that has been in your family for generations now, and I'm done with them threatening me and my father!" A tear fell down her cheek. She clenched and unclenched her fists a few times while taking a few deep breaths. She glanced around the room. "And now we know there's got to be a secret entrance in here. Just, where is it?"

"Maybe there's a similar one at Lilac Inn!" exclaimed Ida.

"But we need to find this one first," said Nancy firmly. "Everyone, take a side and go over every corner carefully."

"Nancy, this could put your father in more danger!" said Helen.

"Or it could save him. We've just got to try!"

"Any chance we have at saving him is better than no chance," remarked Izzy, placing a reassuring hand on Nancy's shoulder. The others agreed and the four went about searching the room as if with a fine-tooth comb. But nothing turned up or happened.

Nancy was feeling particularly frustrated and felt the need to leave the room. She wanted to scream, she wanted to throw things, she wanted to kick down the walls, but she knew that would make her worse than her adversaries. She opened the front door and walked out onto the porch.. She took in a few deep breaths of air. What was she missing? How was she going about this the wrong way? Something must be missing, otherwise, she would have found it by now. The Caldwells didn't want anyone else to find it except their heirs using the poems Jim Caldwell wrote. But, since she didn't have that book, she literally had no clue how to find it or even what to look for. She just had definite ideas of the rooms where the secret doors were hidden, just not which part of the room exactly to find them in. She clenched her fists. They had to get into Gomber's room at Lilac Inn somehow, some way. But she knew he wouldn't let her, not without kidnapping her to use her to get her father to do whatever he wanted. She took another deep breath and squeezed her eyes shut. There had to be another way. They had kept looking in both houses, Twin Elms three times now, and nothing showed up. What was she missing? If only she had the book of poems!

"Nancy dear, are you alright?" Nancy blinked. Emily and Rosemary were helping Flora to the front door.

"Why Aunt Flora, Aunt Rosemary! Should you even be here?"