An Important Clue

Chapter Forty-eight

Janelle glanced around Jed’s office. Where should she start?

Helga said she heard footsteps—ghosts in the walls. Someone must have been able to get on the other side, at least in Helga’s office. And the back wall of her office ran in a straight line from the back wall of Jed’s office.

Janelle’s gaze traveled up the wall behind his massive desk. About eight feet up, an air vent was embedded in the paneling. Something behind that, perhaps?

She walked behind the desk and glanced at the old-fashioned paneling. The waist-high chair railing, which ran around the perimeter of the room, had those curlicues carved into the wood. “The clues are right under your fingertips.” That’s what Dad had said. Slowly she ran her hand along the railing, studying the curlicues. She stopped. One of the circles seemed to be carved more deeply than the others. She pressed it.

A wooden panel in the wall silently popped open. 

Janelle drew in a sharp breath.

         The panel was beneath the chair railing. Pushing it open, she bent down and poked her head through. On the other side, a narrow dusty passageway led to the left between two walls. 

         So that was how the murderer left the room. Another mystery solved.

         But who was the murderer?

* * *

         To be continued…