The Magician's Secret (Nancy Drew Diaries #8)(21)

CHAPTER THIRTEEN





Unlocking the Magic


I WANTED TO STAND NEXT to Mr. Galloway, the locksmith, but the judge asked us all to keep back. Mr. Galloway turned the box over on the desk and raised a pair of pliers. Frowning, he rotated the box to one side, then the other.

“There’s no latch,” he said, with a confused, blank expression. “No seams or obvious entry point.”

Mr. Galloway raised the box and looked like he was about to shake it.

“No!” Bess shrieked.

“What is your objection?” the judge asked Bess.

“Oh, please tell me the police never shook that box,” Bess muttered as she stepped up beside the locksmith.

“I don’t know whether they did,” the judge replied. “Why?”

Bess explained, “The gems that are missing are very delicate rubies and emeralds. If they are inside and knocked together, it’s likely they might get scratched. Or worse”—her eyes went wide with horror—“they might chip! The value of those stones is based on their condition.”

Judge Nguyen nodded and told the locksmith, “Be more careful.”

“Yes, ma’am,” he agreed. He continued to search for an opening to the box.

We all watched closely as time ticked away. Madeline Summers was getting impatient. By the way she was tapping her toe, I could tell she was ready to grab a hammer and open the box herself.

The carvings on the box continued to mesmerize me, especially as the locksmith rotated it and sunlight began to stream in through the room’s window. The brightness of the light striking the wood was hypnotizing.

That’s when I saw it.

At an intersection where the two colors of wood met, there was a hole. It was smaller than the dart marks in Drake’s hotel room and too tiny for any of the locksmith’s tools, as far as I could tell.

I nudged Bess. “Can I borrow an earring?” I whispered.

She looked at me as if I was crazy. “This isn’t really the time to play dress up,” she hissed.

“Please?” I held out my hand. She gave me a small pearl on a gold post. “Keep the back,” I said, pinching the pearl in my fingers.

“Uh, can I have a try?” I asked Mr. Galloway.

“If it’s okay with the judge,” he said with a shrug. “I’ve never seen a box like this. Staring at it makes my head feel foggy.”

“Mine too,” I told him. “But it also gave me some clarity.”

“That’s because it’s a meditation mandala,” Drake said.

“Stop right there,” his lawyer put up a hand. “Not another word.”

“I think it’s in the interest of the court if he speaks. Go on, Mr. Lonestar,” the judge prodded.

“The outside carving is for meditation. The ornate design is called a mandala. This particular design is meant to open one’s heart and allow for profound insight.”

“Are you certain this box does not belong to you?” the judge said. “You seem to know a lot about it.”

“The box is not mine,” Drake said in a calm voice.

“I see,” the judge said. “Then you do not know how to open it?”

Drake shook his head. “No. Each box is uniquely created for the person who purchased it.”

Madeline Summers glared at him. Drake shut his mouth.

“May I try?” I asked.

“You seem quite certain, Miss Drew,” Judge Nguyen said. “Have you seen this box before?”

“No.” I said. “But after staring at the box for so long, I felt an odd spark of insight, and then I saw the keyhole.”

“Go ahead,” the judge told me.

“Can you open the curtain a bit more?” I asked Bess. The sunlight had moved, and I wanted it to fully illuminate the carvings. I had lost the keyhole for a moment, but as the sun hit the box anew, that tiny hole became so prominent that I couldn’t believe no one had seen it before.

I took the end of Bess’s earring and slowly pushed it into the pinhole. The box top opened along seam lines that had been previously invisible.

I felt a heated rush as everybody in the room crowded around me. All eyes peered past my shoulders into the empty space within that ornate box.

“Nothing,” Ned said with a sigh. “All this for nothing.”

“There’s a false bottom,” Bess said.

“How do you know?” I asked her.

“There’s always a false bottom,” she replied, grinning at me. “Don’t you pay attention to your own mysteries, Nancy?”

I laughed. It was true; whenever we came to a dead end, it was never really the end.

I searched the interior, which was made out of the same wood as the outside, beautifully polished but not carved. I tipped the box toward the sunlight.

“I don’t see—,” I began, when George reached over my shoulder. She tucked her finger into a groove I hadn’t noticed and lifted out a large piece of the wooden interior. Beneath that was, indeed, a hidden compartment.

I gasped. Inside were three glittering red rubies.





CHAPTER FOURTEEN





Flawless


THEY WERE BEAUTIFUL. THE PUREST red I’d ever seen. I had no doubt they were real. Bess reached in to touch one, but the judge stopped her.