The Case of the Missing Snowman (A Barnabas Thackeray Mystery)

Chapter 15 | Locked Away

Now I was locked inside the basement of the empty magic shop while the bank robber drove away to safety. Even if I could find a way out of there it was all over now. There was nothing else I could do. Waldo was going to get away with his crime while my dad was left looking for a new job and the bank he worked with would never recover the money stolen from it.

I turned from the window and slumped back up the staircase. I tried pushing and pulling and hitting the doorknob but it wouldn't budge. The doorknob had a keyhole so I went back down the stairs and looked around the basement to try and find the key. I knew it was unlikely I would find it, but I didn't have any other ideas for getting out of there. The only other way out would be through the window but it was much too small for me to crawl through. I could tell just by looking up at it that there was no way I would be able to squeeze through it. The rest of the basement was just a big empty room except for one small closet. I opened it and looked inside but the only thing in there was the snow rake Waldo had cleared his roof with earlier.

You know how when you've tried everything you think will work you start to try things you know won't work just because you're out of options and you need to try something? That's where I was that day when I headed from the closet to the window. I looked to see if I could at least open it but I couldn't even do that. It was just an old fixed glass window that let in light but did not open.

I went back to the closet just to make sure I didn't miss anything. I saw a shelf above a closet bar and the snow rake. I couldn't see anything on it but I thought if I could get up higher there might be something on the shelf that could help me.

I jumped up and grabbed the shelf. Even though I'm really light it took all my strength to pull my chin up onto the shelf. I looked around. There was nothing up there but a thin layer of dust. I looked up above the shelf and saw a tiny door like the one that leads to the attic in my house. I thought there might be something inside there that could help me escape the magic shop.

I let go of the shelf and dropped to my feet. I look at the snow rake. It was made out of metal so I figured it would be pretty strong. I grabbed it and propped it up diagonally with one end against one corner of the closet and the other end against the opposite corner of the closet under the shelf. Holding onto the closet bar and then the shelf I walked up the snow rake until I could climb onto the shelf.

I was expecting it to break at any moment but it held me. Luckily I'm very light. I sat up on my knees and pushed on the little door. It moved. I pushed it up and to the side and then slowly peaked my head up into the space. At first I couldn't see anything. It was really dark in there so it took a while for my eyes to adjust. Then I saw a few dirty cardboard boxes. I pulled one close and then threw it down to the closet floor. I grabbed the other one and threw it down as well.

Then I climbed further into the space and swept my hands all around just to make sure I didn't miss anything. It was hard to see in the corners but I could feel that nothing else was left in the small space above the closet. I crawled back out onto the shelf and then carefully lowered myself down until my feet were on the snow rake. Then I walked back down to the floor of the closet. I opened the first box and rifled through it but the only thing inside was a stack of dusty old papers. Nothing to help me there.

I moved onto the next box and opened it. To my surprise inside was one dusty old top hat that looked just like the others I had seen on top of the living snowmen. I lifted it up out of the box and put it on the ground next to me. I looked in the box again but there was nothing else inside. So that was it then. I finally had proof that I could show the police to help them arrest Waldo, but now I was stuck in his magic shop with no way to escape. That's when I started to cry. Once again my investigation had been a failure.