The Mystery of Smugglers Cove (The Mystery Series, Book 1) by Paul Moxham Page B

too high to jump down.”
    “I checked that out last time I was here,” Joe announced, as he sat down on the bed. “In fact, I checked out everything. The only way out is through that door that we came in. But it’s locked with a key, and unless we get that, we’ll be here forever.”
    “Surely they can’t lock us up forever!” Sarah cried. She also sat down.
    Joe put his arm around his sister. “I didn’t mean that literally. Once they’ve finished doing whatever they are doing, we’ll be free to go. If they…” He paused as the door suddenly opened and Rocky entered.
    The crook leaned against the door as he waited for the person behind him to enter. It was a man wearing a grey coat and sunglasses. Joe assumed he was the boss.
    “I’m charge of things here,” the man said, “so I thought I would come up and interview you myself. You can start by telling me your names and why you are trespassing on private property.”
    Joe decided to be the spokesperson. “I’m Joe. These are my sisters, Amy and Sarah, and this is my friend, Will. They were on your property because they came to rescue me.”
    The boss was about to reply, when suddenly he had a fit of coughing. It was a deep, throaty kind of cough. Joe knew that if he didn’t remember anything about the man physically, he would remember the cough. After the coughing had stopped, the boss resumed talking. “Is that so?”
    “If you dare hurt us,” Sarah broke in, “I’ll tell my dad who will lock you up.”
    “And how is your father going to find you here?” the boss replied in a sneering voice. “I don’t suppose you told him that you were going to enter private property, did you?”
    “We did. And if we don’t show up then the police will storm this place and find us,” Will said.
    “Ha, ha,” the boss said, smiling. “I don’t believe you. In fact, to prove it, I will keep you locked up until our business is finished here.”
    “You can’t do that!” Sarah cried.
    “Can’t I? Just wait and see,” the boss said. He turned and left the room. Rocky closed the door and walked away.
    Will got up and went over to the door to make sure they had locked it. Unfortunately, they had.
    “It looks like this is it,” Amy said. She hung her head and stared at the floor.
    “Don’t worry,” Will replied. “Even if we don’t get out of here, someone will come searching for us.”
    “But no one knows that we’re here,” Joe said. “Even if your dad came over to check up on us later today, he would just think that we had gone for a walk or something. Let’s face it. We’re stuck here for some time.”
    “But what about our parents? Would they search here?” Sarah said.
    “Why would they?” Joe said. “Even if they came back tomorrow, why would they think of searching here?”
    ~
    As evening came, one of the crooks brought them some food to eat. It wasn’t much, just bread and jam, but at least it was something for their grumbling stomachs.
    Will was sitting on the bed and eating one of the slices of bread when he suddenly thought of something. He stood up and walked over to the window. After opening it, he glanced down. He had just remembered that he had seen ivy growing up a number of walls of the manor and hoped to find some ivy nearby. He was in luck.
    A thick vine was growing right next to the window. He tugged on it as hard as he could to see if it was strong or weak. It didn’t break away in his hand, so it seemed pretty strong.
    Will turned to the others and smiled. “I think I may have found a way out.”
    “How?” Sarah asked.
    “There’s ivy growing up this wall,” Will said.
    Joe slowly nodded. “Of course. Why didn’t I think of that earlier?”
    “Think of what?” Amy quizzed. She glanced back and forth between the two boys.
    Will explained. “One of us can climb down the wall using the ivy as a makeshift rope. That person can then get to the wall—”
    “And do what?” Amy asked. “We don’t have a