MANSION ON THE MOUND

by

JOSEPH ARENDT

Chapter 2

The Chapters

INTRO

CHAPTER 1

CHAPTER 2

CHAPTER 3

CHAPTER 4

Solving the Case

As he got the van rolling toward the Mansion on the Mound, John said, “Not long after Mr. Rodluck was murdered, the mansion was a rundown ruin that deserved to be condemned.  Our buddies dared us into visiting the haunted house.  We did it, but brought them with us.”

Craig asked, “Wouldn’t that be trespassing?”

“Yes,” Fritz broke in and meekly admitted.  “We were less observant about such things back then.  Today, the outright danger of being in such a rundown place would worry me.  The ceiling fell in on us at one point.”

John said, “Some of our buddies thought ghosts had knocked it down.”

Fritz said, “They were half right.  It didn’t really fall down.  Viperly deliberately knocked it down on us.”

“Don’t tell me that your buddies really believed in ghosts?” Craig asked incredulously.

Fritz said, “The turn’s coming up.”

“I see it,” replied John.

Looking out the windshield, Craig saw a large, professional metal sign with an arrow pointing to the right.  It stated, “Mansion on the Mound, 2.0 miles.”

Having made the turn, John then responded to Craig’s question, “Although Fritz and I did not believe in the ghosts, it would be easy to do believe at the Mansion on the Mound in the shape it was in back then.  Viperly was making a big effort to make people think there were ghosts.  That was supposed to keep people away.  Long before he was murdered, Mr. Rodluck had grown to be a lonely old man.  He was a hermit and miser.  The last couple decades of his life, he let his family mansion go to ruins.”

Fritz said, “After Mr. Rodluck was murdered, the place went even more downhill.  It turned out Viperly had killed Mr. Rodluck because the Mansion on the Mound was an excellent site for his illegal drug smuggling operation.”

Craig asked with shock, “You two worked on an illegal drug case?  I thought you didn’t do those kind of cases.”

John remarked, “Viperly was doing opium smuggling.  It was a nasty business.  Viperly was perhaps the most violent criminal we ever faced.”

John then pulled into the driveway of the mansion.  A large, ornate iron gate blocked the way.  A metal sign mounted on the gate itself listed the museum was open.  With a glance at his watch, Craig realized it had closed over an hour ago.

John pulled a plastic card from his pocket and said, “It seems Roy Smith has already left.  I thought he’d still be here.  He gave me this card to let ourselves in.”

He unrolled the van window.  He reached out and swiped it through a magnetic card reader mounted on the wall.  Electric motors soundlessly swung open the gates.  John then drove the van through.  The large parking lot was paved in new asphalt.  There was not a pothole or crack in it.  Vivid yellow lines marked off the parking spots.  Bright blue and white signs marked the handicapped spots.  The lot was empty of vehicles.  John pulled the van in a spot close to the building.

The three then got out.  Fritz took his backpack, but John left his in the van.  Craig also left behind the sleeping bag brought for him.

Fritz pointed down to the river about a quarter mile away and far below.

Fritz declared, “That’s the Tavernfind River down there.”

“I know.  I did grow up in this city,” Craig informed him.

Fritz nodded, then said, “Viperly had opium shipped in across the ocean.  The docks in the bay were carefully watched by the police.  To get around those patrols, he’d take out a motorboat at night without lights.  He went down the river and out into the ocean.  He’d meet the ship, get the drugs, and come back with them.”

John said, “It was driving the police crazy!  It was obvious opium was coming into Port City.  Yet, no matter how hard they searched the ships and sailors, they couldn’t find it.”

“It wasn’t on the ships to find,” Fritz said.  “It was here.”

Craig scratched his chin, then said, “You say Viperly took a motorboat down the Tavernfind River to the bay?  How’d he get a motorboat across or around Catfish Dam?”

John said, “The dam wasn’t there yet.”

Fritz said, “Another reason it wasn’t suspected drugs were coming here is that it is a steep climb from here down the river.  Just like now, it was filled with thick thorny bushes.  There did not seem any easy access between the mansion and the river.”

Craig said, “I’ve heard of this place, of course, but not about the drug smuggling.  Isn’t there supposed to be a tunnel or cave down to the river?”

“Exactly.  Have you seen it?” Fritz said.

“No,” Craig admitted.

At the door of the beautiful mansion, John used the swipe card again at another magnetic reader slot.  There was a click sound.  He then pulled the door open.  After they entered, Fritz flipped a light switch.  Fluorescent lights went on all the way down a long hallway.  Although modern and energy efficient, Craig thought these lights clashed with the overall elegant look of the mansion.  So did the magnetic card readers, but those were less obtrusive.

John said, “Let’s show you the tunnel.  This way.”

Craig followed.  John led the way down the hall, turned left, then went down some stairs.  There was another hallway.  Open doors showed large rooms.

Craig peered in one of these rooms and said, “I wasn’t expecting rooms like these in an old mansion.  They look like they belong in a convention center.”

Fritz said, “Those are for seminars, classes, and things like that.”

“Roy Smith even rents them out for weddings,” John added.  “This place may be a museum, but Roy seems to always be looking for ways to generate more money.  This way to the tunnel.”

Craig then spotted a large sign with a huge arrow.  It stated in a gigantic font, “This way to the famous secret tunnel!”

As promised, following the arrow took them to a stairway that went down a long tunnel carved through stone.

Fritz remarked, “This tunnel was here when we caught Viperly, but these stairs are new.  The old staircase would have been far too dangerous for museum guests to go down.  The new one complies with government OSHA requirements.”

They went down the modern staircase.  After some time, the tunnel emerged into the open near the river next to a boat dock out on a peninsula.

John complained, “They put the dock in the wrong spot!”

Craig asked, “What do you mean?”

John said, “Anybody taking a boat down the Tavernfind River can see that dock as plain as day!  Viperly was a vicious murderer, but he wasn’t stupid.”

Fritz pointed, “The dock was back here around the corner of the peninsula.  The peninsula used to have tall pine trees on it, not those bushes like now.  Nobody in a boat on the river would ever see a dock back where Viperly had it.”

Craig turned from the river and looked up to the mansion visible far above on the tall mound.

Craig said, “All this about Rodluck and Viperly is fascinating, but I don’t see why it rated restoration of the Mansion on the Mound into a museum.  I read in the newspaper that Roy Smith spent over three million dollars fixing this place.”

John said, “This mansion is one of the oldest surviving building in the county.”

Fritz said, “Well, the core of it, anyway.  It had many additions and modifications put on it over the years.”

John added, “Long ago, we thought Viperly had the tunnel made.”

Fritz disagreed, “I thought all along it would have taken too long to make such an extensive tunnel for Viperly to have gotten down in the time after Mr. Rodluck’s murder.  I thought Mr. Rodluck himself had made the tunnel.  He owned the mansion for several decades.  Plenty of time.”

John said, “You make it sound like Mr. Rodluck might have been a criminal himself, with some nefarious purpose for the tunnel.”

“He might have been,” Fritz said.

John argued, “I don’t think he was a criminal.  I think he was just an eccentric old man who wanted to be left alone.”

Fritz said, “It’s a little late to worry about Mr. Rodluck.  After Roy Smith bought the Mansion on the Mound, he had a scientific investigation done on the tunnel by a university professor.  The estimates are the tunnel was built in the mid-eighteen hundreds, although parts of it were widened and the ceiling made higher later.”

John led the way from the river and back up the tunnel.

As they climbed back up, Fritz and John showed Craig some of the parts of the tunnel that were from the original digging.  There were also a few spots very recently modified so the new staircase would fit.

Craig pointed at the tunnel that they had just come up and asked, “Since Rodluck and Viperly didn’t make that tunnel, who did?  And why?”

Fritz said, “There are several possibilities, but none has been proven.  Whatever the true explanation, the tunnel is certainly historic.”

Craig wondered, “Why are we allowed here after hours?”

John remarked, “We told you that.  Roy Smith hired us to look for ghosts.”

Fritz snorted.

Using a thumb to indicate his brother, John said, “Despite his reaction, many of the museum guests come here because of the ghost stories rather than any other history of the place.”

Fritz said, “The supposed evidence for ghosts include hearing rattling chains, a reappearing blood spot, and ghostly images that appear on photographs.”

John chuckled and said, “Craig, why don’t you decide what we check out first?”

Craig hesitated, then decided, “Let’s go to the main lobby.”

John protested, “No ghost sightings were ever claimed there.”

“You said it was my choice,” insisted Craig.

In the main lobby, they found a sign listing the admission prices.  A cash register was next to it.

John said, “Roy Smith told us that he runs the cash register himself.”

Along with selling tickets, there was a room that had been turned into a gift shop.  Craig went in there.  The same cash register was used for both admission tickets and the gift shop.  There was a display of books.  A couple books were about the Mansion on the Mound, but there were many other books about generic ghostly topics.  There were also little models of the mansion, ghost puppets, masks, and so forth.

Fritz remarked, “If you tell us what you’re looking for, we can help you look.”

Craig moved with determination, “No need.  I found it.”

He had found a large box filled with 35 mm film.

He then asked, “Do you have a magnifying glass?”

Fritz took off his pack.  He got one out, which Craig took.  Craig scrutinized the boxes of film with it.

John laughed and said, “You look like the stereotype of a detective.  I haven’t used a magnifying glass in ages.”

“That’s because I take all the fingerprints.  It helps a lot for that.  I have the fingerprinting kit in my backpack,” Fritz said.

“We do not take fingerprints nearly as much as we used to,” John remarked with some sorrow.

Craig took out two rolls of film.  He got out his wallet, but Fritz stopped that.

“I’ll cover this,” Fritz said.  He wrote a short note about the film.  He computed the price, including the sales tax.  He left that money and note next to the cash register.

“There is a drugstore at the base of the mound.  Drive me there, please,” Craig demanded.

“You haven’t taken pictures of anything in the mansion,” John protested.

Fritz looked at his watch, smiled, then said, “The drug store has one-hour film developing.  They don’t close for an hour and a half.  I love your idea, Craig.”

As they went back to the van and made the short drive, both Craig and Fritz refused to discuss what was going on.  John complained about this close-mouthed response.

Fritz taunted his brother, “How many times did we not let Craig in our theories?”

At the parking lot at the base of the mound, the three got out.  Looking up the hill to the mansion, it was an impressive, imposing site.

Craig remarked, “That’d make an impressive picture for a postcard.”

John said, “I’ll get the camera. Hey, guys.  That 35 mm film isn’t needed.  All I’ve got in the van is a digital camera, which doesn’t use film at all.”

Fritz replied, “Craig doesn’t need a camera.”

Craig went into the drugstore.  He went straight to the photo development counter.  The woman gave him a very funny look as he opened what seemed sealed packages of new film.  Fritz stepped in and took over.  He opened the plastic cans, each about an inch in diameter, that the film cartridges were in himself.  He touched only the edges of the plastic cans.  Fritz asked for and got a paper bag.  He put the plastic cans in that.  The film itself he handed it over for one-hour developing.

Fritz said, “I’ll pay, then bill it to the client.

“This is not good,” John said, having finally caught on why supposedly unused film was being developed.

“My guess might be wrong,” Craig said.

“I don’t think it is,” Fritz said reassuringly.

John bought some soda pop and chips to have while waiting.  Craig wandered around, finally getting a bottled water that cost more then John’s soda pop.

Craig complained, “I don’t think they have a thing in this place that’s on my diet.”

As they waited on the sidewalk outside the drug store, Fritz pulled out his fingerprint kit.  He worked on the plastic cans the film had been in.  He announced, “I got prints on these.  Not mine or John’s.  I can recognize our prints by memory.  Let me see your hands, Craig.  Thanks.  Not yours either.  If this film had really been sealed, it shouldn’t have any fingerprints on these plastic cans.”

Craig explained, “I used the magnifying glass to look at the cardboard boxes to see if any looked like they had been opened, then glued shut again.”

By then, the film was developed.  The developed shots had blurry and out of focus, but definitely present ghostly shapes.

Fritz said, “Fantastic work, Craig.  If the film had been used in a normal fashion, those would have been superimposed over the image.  Since it is likely the film bought there would be used to take pictures in the mansion, it would bolster the legend of filming ghosts.”

John admitted, “The film was a plant.  You were right, Craig.  I’ll bet it was our employer, Roy Smith himself, who put the film there.”

Fritz responded, “If so, he must have a low opinion of our abilities to have hired us.”

John reminded his brother, “Many people do have low opinions of high school boys like us.  It wouldn’t be the first time a bad guy hired us, expecting to pull the wool over our eyes.  I guess they think by hiring us, we’ll assume they are innocent and convince others of that too.”

Fritz suggested, “Let’s go back up to the mansion.  I think we can find similar explanations of the other ghostly evidence too.”

Later back at the house, they went to where people reported feeling a chill.  Indeed, all three felt a chill by that wall, which was located underneath an elegant staircase with carved wooden rails.  Trying to find what was behind the wall, they came to a locked door.

John said, “Not even a deadbolt.  This is an easy lock.”

He whipped out a plastic credit card.  In seconds, he had the door open by wedging the card in.  He then flipped on a light switch, and entered.  The other two followed him.

Fritz announced, “Well, that’s a much lower tech explanation than I expected.”

A small table was against the wall.  Under the table were some trays and clear plastic to catch any dripping water.  Piled on the table were several bags of ice.

John moved in closer, “These were purchased at the same drugstore we were just at.  The name is printed on the bag.”

Craig scratched at the wall behind the ice with a fingernail, then said, “I don’t think this is normal drywall.  It’s wet board.  I helped Dad remodel the bathroom last summer.  This is the kind of board you put on a wall behind a bathtub or shower.  It is much more resistant to water damage than dry wall.  Any decent hardware or home improvement store has the sheets of this stuff.  No reason to put it here unless it was expected that the wall would get wet.”

Fritz looked closely at the wall and said, “To make this wall like this where the ice rests against it, I think it is indeed our employer, Roy Smith.  I had told you there weren’t any ghosts here, but I expected a better hoax this.”

John asked, “If you were into deception like this, how would you make a cold spot, Fritz?  Embed an entire refrigerator in a wall?”

Fritz replied, “What I expected to find was thermoelectric coolers inside the wall.  That’d have a completely silent operation.  They can be made extremely thin.  It’s the same technology as the little fridge we have out in the van.  Bags of ice is disappointingly mundane.  Let’s see if I can get a fingerprint off these plastic bags.”

It took a while.  While there were prints, most were smudged or ruined by the condensation.  Near the top of one bag, Fritz finally got one partial print.  Although not even a full print of one finger, Fritz informed the others it was enough of a print to conclusively show it was by the same person who had tampered with the film.  Fritz poured out the ice and took the bag.

John remarked, “This hardly seemed worth all that effort doing the fingerprinting.”

“Why are you complaining?  I did all the work,” Fritz said.

John said, “The images on the supposedly sealed film convinced me.”

Fritz said, “We might as well do a complete job.  Let’s go check out the blood stain on the floor.  It’s supposed to be in the main ballroom.”

In the main ballroom, the bloodstain on the floor was there, darkly visible.  When John touched it with a finger, it was still wet.

John laughed heartily and said, “This is really, really dumb.  You got some chemical test in that backpack can tell if this is really blood?”

Fritz scowled and declared, “No, but there is a chemistry set down in the van.  I don’t even want to bother.  Whoever put this blood spot here didn’t do his research very well.  Mr. Rodluck wasn’t shot over here, but on the other side of the room by that fireplace.”

John laughed heartily, “Sure, I remember that.”

Craig asked, “Are you sure?”

John replied, “Come over here.  See that nick in the marble mantlepiece?  The bullet that killed Mr. Rodluck did that damage after it passed through him.  He died here, not way over there.”

Fritz noted, “Not many people other than you and I would know that, John.  That nick is very hard to find if somebody doesn’t know to look for it.”

“I certainly wouldn’t know,” Craig admitted.

John and Fritz searched around in the room.  John finally found a false panel behind the fire extinguisher.  A large glass bottle of what looked like blood was there.

John said, “This conclusively proves the hoax, as if we hadn’t already.”

Fritz took off his backpack and tiredly said, “I suppose I better fingerprint the bottle to be complete.”

After some time, he announced, “Same guy.”

John said, “I’ll be the prints are from Roy Smith himself.”

Craig suggested, “Do you have prints for Roy Smith to compare to?  How do you go about asking your own client to supply incriminating fingerprints?  It doesn’t seem polite.”

Fritz said, “There’s that cash register in the lobby.  I don’t think anybody but Roy Smith uses that.”

They went back to the lobby.  After some effort, Fritz lifted clean prints off the cash register.  They conclusively came from the same person as the prints on the tampered film cans and from the glass bottle.  That person was very likely Roy Smith.  At the very least, whoever it was had easy access to the mansion, including the cash register.

Having assisted his brother with the fingerprinting chore this time as he was tired of being teased about not doing the work, John said, “That was a ton more effort than this case deserved!”

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