Read 2 The Patchwork Puzzler for Free Online

Mrs. Beanie could make her getaway for all she cared. Chief Purdue would catch her and lock her away behind bars. That’d teach her to help some crook steal that valuable Pennington quilt.
    Now how to get out? The incline she’d tumbled down was too steep and slick to climb. She clutched her dog’s leather collar and whispered, “Lead me outta here, boy.”
    The dog surged forward, practically dragging her along. She had to shuffle along at double-time to keep up. The smooth marble flooring made it difficult to maintain her footing.
    After a few minutes she could make out a faint glow in the distance, a fluorescent light as it turned out. She found herself in a large chamber, like a medieval dungeon with a domed ceiling. Only the artificiality of the fluorescent lighting reminded her that this was the Twenty-First Century. And that she and her dog had been chasing a dastardly art thief, one Mrs. Nancy Ann Beanie.
    There had to be some way out of this underground hideaway. She looked around for an exit. In the far corner of the chamber she could see stone steps leading upward, a likely egress. “C’mon, Tige,” she said. “Let’s go find Grammy.”
    “Not so fast!” came a voice.
    Aggie stopped in her tracks. Even her dog hesitated. She looked around for a source of the male voice. It obviously wasn’t Mrs. Beanie speaking, but rather a hoarse baritone belonging to an unseen man.
    A spook?
    After all, she was wandering about in a hidden recess under a cemetery. She halfway expected to see a bony skeleton come clattering from a side tunnel, a hatchet in hand, just like in that movie Horrifying Creature from the Haunted House her babysitter had let her watch that time her mom and dad attended a dance at the VFW Hall.
    But no skeletons or ghouls made their appearance. Not even any deranged mole men. She and Tige were all alone in this underground chamber.
    “Stay where you are!” ordered the disembodied voice.
    “Where are you?”
    “Never you mind, young lady. The important thing is, I know where you are. And you’re trespassing!”
    “Trespassing? I’m inside a grave.”
    “Not exactly. This chamber was built in the mid-eighteen hundreds as a way station of the Underground Railroad. Escaping slaves were hidden away here as they traveled to freedom in Canada.”
    “This doesn’t look like a railroad station,” said Aggie.
    “Not the kind with trains,” the voice corrected.
    “What other kinds of railroads are there?”
    “Look, this is a historic monument. Listed with the National Registry.”
    “And who are you? A ghost?”
    “Of course not.”
    “Then why can’t I see you?”
    “Look up over the stairway. You’ll see the speaker box. I’m with an alarm company in Indianapolis. We have the contract to monitor this facility.”
    “Oh. So can I get out of this hole? It’s cold and damp down here.”
    “You have to wait for the police. They’ve been notified of a forcible entry.”
    “I didn’t force anything. I just fell down a hole.”
    “Tell it to the cops.”
    ≈≈≈
    She did.
    Chief Purdue bought her an ice cream cone at DQ on the way back to headquarters. “So you and Maddy were chasing Nan Beanie?” he said in a bemused manner. The image of Beauregard Madison’s wife and granddaughter galloping through the cemetery i n hot pursuit of a suspected quilt-napper would have been quite a sight to see!
    “I almost caught her, but she ducked into that railroad station. Maybe she escaped on a train.”
    “No, I don’t think so,” he chuckled. “More likely she’ll try to catch this afternoon’s bus out of town. I’ll send my deputy down to pick her up.”
    “Am I going to jail for trespassing?”
    “Don’t worry about that. I’m releasing you into your mother’s custody. She’s on her way down to pick you up.”
    “What about Grammy?”
    “Maddy’s in the next room swearing out a warrant for Nan Beanie’s arrest. Mrs. Beanie’s husband backs up what you and Maddy have