The Waylaid Count (21)

 21

The Significance of Room No. 1709

From: Pops

To: Vixie

Dear Vixie,

I continue to wait for your response to my messages, but I feel it is urgent to continue investigating even though I am lost without you. In the middle of the night, therefore, around 01:30, I made my way to room. After I entered, I locked the door on the inside and proceeded to examine the place. Every now and then some creak or other sound would startle me, and I would stop and listen intently for a few seconds. The bedroom was furnished in the ordinary splendid style of bedrooms, with the oaken four-poster bed hidden behind gold and white curtains, a faux fireplace with a com-tab hanging over it, and nightstands built into the headrest. I immediately pulled up the thick Oriental rug and peered along every crack, but I could discover nothing unusual.

Then I went to the dressing room, followed by the sitting room, but in none of these chambers was I any more successful than in the bedroom itself. 

I ended up in the bathroom, which was enclosed in a paneled casing of polished wood. Some baths have a cupboard beneath the sink with a door at the side, but this one had open shelves instead. I tapped the panels, but not a single one of them returned a curious hollow sound that would have alerted me to a secret place. 

I wandered over to the bathtub, which had three virtual windows over it. Curious to see if I could change the scenery, I leaned over to one of them and slipped. As I did so my knee pressed against the paneling there and caused it to give way. I saw that one large panel was hinged from the inside and caught with a clasp, also on the inside. A large space within the casing of the end of the bath was revealed. 

I could not see into the cavity, so I pulled out my com-tab for a light. Aided by this, I looked into the cavity and saw nothing except a rather large hole at the far end—some three feet from the casing. With some difficulty, I squeezed myself through the open panel and took a half-kneeling, half-sitting position within it. There I held my com-tab over the ceiling of the cavity and looked up the hole. It was an opening that appeared endless and about eighteen inches square. The curious part about it was that a rope ladder hung down it. When I saw that rope ladder, I could not stop myself from smiling.

Seeing no other way to ascend it but in the dark, I shut down my com-tab and stored it. Then, I began my attempt to climb the rope ladder in the dark. I was slightly relieved to see that once my com-tab was off, I could distinguish a very faint tinge of light at the top of the passage.

With infinite care, I compressed myself into the smokestack-like hole and carefully climbed. At length, I noticed there was a small passage leading off from it. Perspiring, but quite safe and quite excited, I stepped onto the ground of the passage. It was then that I saw the tinge of light came through a small hole in the wood. I put my eye to the peephole and found that I had a fine view of the State bathroom and through the door of the State bathroom into the State bedroom. By the massive marble-topped bed in the State bedroom, a man was visible, bending over some object which lay upon the bed.

Once I saw that man was Rocco, I again wished I could have your council on the matter. So, I have decided to send this message. I am planning on confronting him, so if something happens to me, you will know who is to blame. 

Love,

Your Pops

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