“If I think of anything else, I’ll call you.”
Harry returned to his office and tried searching the Internet, which didn’t pan out too well. He wished Bertie was back from her trip. She was much better at research than he was… probably because she had more patience with it. Finally, he gave it up and went to pick up a pizza for supper.
Silas called just as Harry finished eating. “I know what I wanted to tell you. There was a bunker under that house. Walker had it installed.”
“You’ve got to be joking.”
“He was definitely strange.” Silas laughed. “My sister, Rebecca, was good friends with Carmelita Wooden. She once heard Mr. Wooden say that Young was tall, thin and slightly stooped. He wore glasses which he had a habit of pulling down on his nose and looking over them at you. Mrs. Wooden said he looked creepy, like a praying mantis and he made her feel like an insect. People weren’t important to him.”
“Was the bunker filled in when that writer built the current house?”
“As far as I know, the burned rubble was cleared away and he just poured this huge thick concrete slab over what was left, built the house on one corner of it and used the rest as a patio.”
“That leaves one problem,” Harry said. “How would anyone get into the bunker now?”
“That’s the best part.” Silas laughed. “There was a secret entrance – or exit, whichever you want to call it – located in the root cellar. Rebecca said that when the Wooden kids were out late at night, they would sneak into the house through the bunker, and their parents never knew.”
“And the root cellar would have been close to the house?”
“Behind the house I think, maybe 10 or 12 feet back, probably in the area where the Woodens planted the cedar hedge.”
“Do you think the tunnel would still be accessible?”
After a minute of thoughtful silence, Silas said, “I don’t know if the cellar is still there, but I suppose you could still get to the tunnel if it wasn’t filled in.”
“Thank you, Silas.” Harry disconnected the call and rubbed his chin. Perhaps a little exploration should be his next step. A plan for tomorrow…
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
The following morning, Harry headed out the door, got a coffee at Tim’s and molasses raisin buns at Janet’s Bakery. Then he headed for Ms Harris’s place. He had called the night before and told her he would be exploring the grounds this morning so she wouldn’t think he was a prowler. When he arrived, he got out and looked around. To him it looked like a double-size building lot and the house was off to one side.
Harry walked back to what had started as a hedge but was now overgrown. The now tall cedars obviously hadn’t been trimmed or pruned in years. He walked along the trees, not seeing much of anything at first. And then he saw it! The root cellar remains were still here.
Pushing through the dense growth, Harry looked closer. The roof had caved in, but someone had cleared the rubble and carefully stacked it off to one side. Trying to avoid detection? There were half a dozen steps, which Harry descended slowly, but they seemed to be in pretty good condition.
