They closed the door to their office and started down the puddle-filled path. The rain beat against their raincapes and coats, and overhead the trees lashed wildly in the rising wind. A dead branch fell to the path behind them.
When they reached the cobblestone road they saw Phil coming toward them, huddled inside his raincoat and pushing against the wind. “I figured something was up,” he said to Bill and Ronnie when he had reached them. “Come on, out with it. What have you two got up your sleeves—and where’s that old book you had, Ronnie?”
Ronnie glanced at his friend. Bill nodded that as far as he was concerned he didn’t care if Phil was brought in on their venture. So while they walked to the padlocked building, Bill and Ronnie supplied Phil with whatever information he needed to bring him up to date.
When they arrived at the old Rorth Glassworks office building, Ronnie brought the key from his pocket and inserted it in the rusty lock. He tried to turn the key but it wouldn’t budge. It wouldn’t turn for Bill or Phil, either.
“We’ll have to use Caldwell’s secret trap door,” Ronnie said, and they hurried around to the rear of the building.
Ronnie removed the wall section and the three climbed through. Bill lit his flashlight. Then Ronnie closed the trap door again because, as he explained to the others, “We don’t want Caldwell to know we’re in here.”
Bill was exploring the interior with the flashlight. He whistled. “Wow! Caldwell sure turned this place upside down!”
Ronnie nodded. Hardly a square foot of the floor was bare of paper or overturned filing cabinet and desk drawers. Even a few floor boards here and there were torn loose.
“Looks just like my bedroom when Mrs. Butler yells at me,” Phil commented.
“We’ll never find a way down below with all this clutter,” Ronnie remarked. “Maybe we should clean up first.”