Jane Carter Investigates: Episode Eighty
I stared up at the tower which
rose about twelve feet above the forest floor. Like every other building on the
estate, it had been built to resist the ages. High above our heads was a
circular window cut in the massive wall. The only way in was a heavy oak door.
I turned the knob, then pressed my shoulder against the door and pushed with
all my might.
“Locked!”
“Then we won’t learn what is
inside, after all.”
“Yes, we will,” I said. “You lift
me up, and I’ll peep in the window.”
“You only look thin and elegant,”
complained Florence. “You actually weigh a ton. Why am I always the one doing
the lifting?”
Flo huffed and complained, but
she hoisted me up as high as she could.
“Look fast,” she panted. “What do
you see?”
“Not much of anything.”
“I can’t hold you forever,”
Florence said, and released her hold. “Didn’t you see anything at all?”
“Just a lot of machinery.”
“Tools, you mean?”
“No, an electric motor and
something which looked like it might be a pump. Oh, I get it now!”
“Get what?” demanded Florence.
“The purpose of this tower. It
must be used as a pump house. I wondered how the lily pool was ever drained,
and this must be the answer. Also, Cybil Furstenberg said something about the
pool being heated, so this must be where they keep the boiler.”
“You didn’t see any prisoners
chained inside?” Florence teased. “Why would they want to heat a lily pond?”
“Not a single prisoner,” I said,
ignoring Flo’s question about the heater. “Well, let’s be getting on to the
lily pond. It must be somewhere close.”
We continued down the path until
we reached the clearing.
“Here we are,” I said. “What do
you think of it?”
“I don’t see anything so
remarkable about it, Jane.”
“This was the place where I found
the wedding ring. And there were footprints indicating that a struggle probably
took place.”
“I read all that in the paper,”
Florence said. “From the hints you’ve been passing out, I thought you brought
me here to show me something mysterious.”
“Go close to the pool.”
“What for, Jane? You want to push
me in?”
“Oh, you’re too suspicious! Go on
and look.”
Florence went to the edge of the
pool and peered down over the high concrete sides and into the water.
“I don’t see anything.”
“You will in just a minute. Keep
looking.”
Florence was suspicious that I
meant to play some prank on her, but nevertheless, she leaned out over the wall,
so she could get a better look.
“I do see some large object on
the floor of the tank! What is it, Jane?”
“An alligator.”
Florence gave a smothered scream
and drew back from the pool’s edge.
“I—I might have fallen in. You
ought to be ashamed of yourself!”
“I only wanted you to get a nice
thrill,” I said. “Pretty fellow, isn’t he?”
“I didn’t really see him,”
Florence admitted.
Overcoming her fear, Flo once
again leaned over the edge of the pool, but with greater caution. This time she
could make out the alligator’s form distinctly.
“Horrible!” she shuddered. “I
wish you hadn’t brought me—”
Her words ended in a little wail
as a tiny object splashed into the water directly beneath her.
“My cameo pin!” she cried. “Oh, Jane, it slipped from my dress, and now it’s gone!”
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