کمد لباس

CHAPTER FOUR

The Wardrobe

Nick’s room was the perfect place to plan things.

“Let’s find out more about Mr O’Nell,” said Bill. “Where did he live?”

“I’ll look it up in the phone directory,” said Michelle. “Here it is - his address was 1857 Stockton Street. That’s behind the port. Let’s try and get into his house.”

“But I’m sure the police already went there,” said Nick.

“Yeah, but perhaps they didn’t examine everything,” said Bill. “Let’s go there after dark with our flashlights.”

“When?” asked Nick excitedly.

“How about Tuesday after dinner?” said Bill.

When the school bell rang at 3/30 p.m. on Tuesday afternoon, Bill, Michelle and Nick hurried home. They did some homework and met at seven.

It was a windy autumn evening. They walked to the old part of town and Peter O’Neil’s house appeared behind some tall trees.

It was a white wooden house with a brown roof and a small garden. They were surprised to see his dog sitting outside the door. He recognized Nick from the restaurant and went to him.

“Look who’s here” said Nick smiling. “Hi, Rover! What are you doing here?”

“He’s still looking for his master,” said Bill.

“He’s friendly,” said Michelle stroking him.

“Let’s go to the back of the house and see if the door is open,” said Nick.

Rover followed them. The back door was locked so they opened the kitchen window and climbed in.

They stood in the dark kitchen for a moment - everything was silent.

“We’re in Mr O’Neil’s house” said Bill. “This is weird!”

“Let’s start looking for clues,” said Michelle.

“Where can we start?” asked Nick.

“Look, Rover’s going to the living room,” said Michelle. “Let’s follow him.”

The living room was small and there were two armchairs near the window. There was a big color photograph of O’Neil and his dog on a small table.

Michelle looked at the photograph. “It was probably taken on his boat in the summer. Look, he’s got a strange tattoo on his arm.”

“It’s a peace sign,” said Bill. “They were popular in the 1970s.”

Rover led them to the hall and sat down in front of a door. He barked and put his paw on the door.

“Let’s open it,” said Michelle.

She was scared, but she opened the door. There were stairs that went to the dark basement and the air was cold. Bill and Nick turned on their flashlights and slowly went down the stairs, and Michelle and Rover followed them.

They looked around and saw a few boxes of books, some diving equipment and a big wooden wardrobe. Rover went to sit in front of the old wardrobe and started barking.

“Why is he barking at the wardrobe?” asked Nick as he stroked the dog’s head. He barked again and looked at Nick with his big brown eyes. Then he began pushing the wardrobe door with his paw.

“Let’s open it,” said Nick.

His heart beat fast as he turned the key and opened the door.

He saw two scuba diving suits.

“There’s nothing interesting in here,” he said, closing the wardrobe.

Rover barked again and pushed the door with his paw. Nick opened the wardrobe again and looked inside carefully.

“Could there be something behind this wardrobe?” said Michelle.

“Like in mystery novels, Michelle?” said Nick laughing.

“Yes, exactly” said Michelle. “Come on, let’s try and move it to one side.”

“OK, let’s try,” said Bill. The wooden wardrobe was very heavy but they were able to move it a bit. Rover was right - there was a small opening to a tiny room!