Dot and Mr Holmes have found ANOTHER secret door in the attic room with the equipment that’s been making the spooky spectacles at Dendringham Hall – this one leading down between two walls inside the house. There doesn’t seem to be any way out, so Dot goes back up the circular stairs to see if they can get back that way. They can’t! But when she gets back down the stairs, she finds Mr Holmes has found a way to get out – and vanished…
“Er… Mr Holmes?” said Dot.
Her voice sounded all nervy and it cracked a bit. How A-NNOY-ING!!!
But there seemed to be no-one to hear. Outside the strange walled garden – half dump for old bits of stuff, half-abandoned vegetable plot – lay silent in the moonlight. There were heaps of stuff everywhere – broken garden tools, a wheelbarrow with its wheel missing, a pile of something or other covered with old sacks. But no sign of the detective wherever she looked!
Where’s he gone, thought Dot very crossly. Grown-ups! TOTAL sigh!!!
It was just like her Dad, vanishing when they were out shopping because he’d seen some gadget or other in a shop window.
One time Mum had only JUST caught him before he bought a special SatNav thing for using when you’re riding on a horse. He’d said they could get the horse later!
“And what is the great detective DOING, may I ask?” said Mr Mouse, climbing out from under the shoulder of her dress and yawning and stretching. He still looked very smart in his special little suit, even if the collar was a bit crumpled from where he’d been having yet another of his naps.
“I don’t know!” hissed Dot. “But whatever it is, I wish he’d - ”
She froze. The heap of sacking was moving!
“EEEK!” went Mr Mouse, burrowing down back into his hidey-hole.
It scared Dot too – but she stayed rooted to the spot. Couldn’t move. And then…
Out from under the pile of sacking came Mr Holmes! He’d been hiding there all the time, camouflaged to look like a pile of old rubbish!
He brushed some bits of hay from his coat and smiled at her just like her Dad had done - a bit sheepishly (weird word, but as Nan had explained to her once, it meant the kind of smile you smile when you know you’ve done something a bit naughty but couldn’t help yourself!)
“Ah!” he said, flicking a spider off his sleeve. “There you are! I was… ermmm... just lying in wait in case someone… er… came back!”
Oh yeah? thought Dot. Just like Dad!! Excuse! He just couldn’t stop himself messing about!
It was obvious Mr Holmes could see she didn’t believe him, so he did what all grown-ups do – kept talking!
But to be fair, what he had to say made sense.
“I think this”, he said, waving with his funny pipe towards the opening in the wall “I think this is where whoever brought all that equipment up to the attic room managed to smuggle it in! Brilliant workmanship, again! Look!”
He walked over to the door that had opened out into the walled garden from the foot of the stairs – it was covered in smooth stones that looked exactly like the wall around it - and gave a little push with his finger.
Without a sound it swung shut. As if to say “Well just look at that!”, an owl hooted as it went hunting over in the Dendringham woods.
Once shut, it was completely impossible to see where the door had been – even though the moonlight above the Hall was falling directly onto it.
“It was just the same at the top of the stairs!” said the detective, running his hands over the smooth stones. “A perfect fit! What workmanship!”
“How did you find out how to get out?” asked Dot.
“I didn’t!” said Mr Holmes, shaking his head. “I just kept pushing different parts of the wall, and suddenly it just swung open!”
“So… what do we know?” asked Dot, in her best detective mode.
“Very good question, Miss Dorothea!” said Mr Holmes. He struck a match and lit his funny curved pipe. A cloud of smoke rose up in the moonlight.
It smelt quite nice, actually…
“One” said Mr Holmes, tapping his finger “we know what’s been causing these ghostly visitations. Two” he tapped another finger “We know, as a result, that the legend of Dendringham Hall and Black Sir Crispin is just a fairy tale. This is modern electrical science, not myth and legend. Three!” he pointed straight at Dot "We know where the ghostly nonsense has been coming from – the attic room. FOUR” and he fixed Dot with a steely gaze “We know how all that heavy equipment might have found its way into the room. And FIVE – when I talk to my friend the Boots tomorrow as he cleans the shoes of everyone at the Hall, we may well be able to PROVE who was up there with you last night – by checking the soles of a certain lady’s boots, for traces of my sticky Powder of Alum!”
It sounded perfect. Then Dot had a thought, which had been bothering her ever since they’d seen the ‘Phonoscope’ projector suddenly working in the attic room.
“But why were those pictures from the projector so... so small, when we saw them on the roof from the inside?” she asked.
“Ah!” said Mr Holmes. “That is because, when shone onto the ceiling so close to the projector – the sliding hatch through which they were meant to come not being open - they appear very small. Once projected over a distance, they would be much larger!”
“Oh!” said Dot. She felt a bit silly. She remembered now, putting her hand in front of an old-fashioned film projector at school once, just for a moment – the whole scene had gone from the screen and appeared on her hand. Strange…
“So what do we - ” she began.
“Dorothea! DOROTHEA! Where ARE you?” came a voice, from over the high garden wall.
Oh no! It was Miss Walsingham - and she didn’t sound very pleased!
