Chapter 4 The Big Find

"Hello Peter! Hello Leah," exclaimed Mrs. Lehman brightly. "It is nice to have both of you staying here with us. I've arranged for the two of you to share the East wing. It wasn't getting any use and I thought that someone might as well use it being that we pay taxes on it every year. Leah, you can consider the East wing yours. Decorate as you see fit. We won't be using it so you might as well have it."

"Thanks! We will certainly put it to good use - studying!" Leah said, hoping that her grandmother would take her seriously so that she wouldn't interrupt them in the middle of their plans.

"Yes, I am sure you two have lots of homework. Both of your Mothers' have given me permission to allow you to study as much as you want and where ever you need to. I wasn't too worry about you two. I trust you can take care of yourself. If there is laundry to be done, be sure to throw it down the shoot, or my maid will not wash it. Hang a sign on your doorknob if you want your East wing cleaned, otherwise it will be quite ignored. So, I give you fair warning. With this, I shall leave you. I have a luncheon to go to. Tell the cook what you would prefer for lunch and he will see to it that you get it on time. Lunch is usually at noon. " Mrs. Lehman turned to her butler and ordered, "Please take these to their rooms for them in the East wing. They will follow you and choose their bedrooms."

"I can't believe it," exclaimed Leah after the Butler had left. "We get the entire East wing to ourselves! You know what this means?"

"No, what?"

"We can sneak out of here anytime we want to! There are 2 exits to our private gardens that are surrounded by a fence. On the side of the house, the fence there contains a door to the rest of the world. We can sneak out that door and go into town without being seen be anyone in the house." "We will first have to find those documents that I am sure are here. I found a newspaper article testifying that the police couldn't find a secret room that was rumored to be here. They believe that it contained more evidence of illegal behavior."

"Well, that could mean anything. "

"True, but I think it means documents, like fake identification cards and the like. The article said that the documents found on their person, was identical to the real thing and the expert couldn't tell the difference between the two documents - the real one and the fake one, that is."

"Really? Wow! What are we waiting for. Let's hop on up to the 3rd floor. Maybe it's up there. I know they concentrated their search efforts to the basement floor. My grandpa told me all about it. Something about easy access to outside where they could load up a van real quick and move out if needed."

"Precisely why we should check upstairs first. After you."

Leah led the way up the stairs, taking two at a time. Her foot didn't quite clear the second step, and she fell flat on her face.

"Ha ha ha ha! Oh Leah, lose track of your feet?" teased Peter.

"Very funny! Come on!" Leah commented grinning.

Leah moved to the side, to allow Peter to enter the third floor. Peter tripped on the top step and slid right into the floor board, pushing a secret panel that opened a secret door.

"Ha ha ha! Now who lost their feet? And you think I'm clutsy!"

"At least when I trip, I make it useful! See, I've found the secret passage."

Peter and Leah entered the room and tried to look around while their eyes attempted to focus in the dark. The light from the hallway wasn't enough to see much of anything.

"We need to find a light switch," commented Peter.

"Why don't you use your pen light? You never leave home without it."

"Oh, duh!" Peter exclaimed sheepishly. Peter swept his penlight back and forth across the room. "Look at all that dust! I swear no ones cleaned up here in years!"

"It's been about that long," said Leah. "My grandfather bought this house in 1978. That would mean that this room hasn't been cleaned in over 40 years!"

"Ah-choo! Ah-Choo! That would explain it."

"Bless you!"

"Thanks! Let's get the show on the road. We have to find something."

"Flash your light over here, I think there's a box there."

Peter flashed his light in the direction Leah was pointing. They walked over to the box and started digging through it.

"All this box contains is old clothes," Leah said disappointedly.

Peter went through another box and found only more clothes.

"Peter, in need of your light over here."

"It's only another box."

Leah opened the box and peeked inside. "Well, your 'only another box' contains some very interesting items. Two American passports, two driver's licenses, and an RV with keys..."

"Come on!" interupted Peter. "Pull the other one!"

"I'm not joking! These keys are to the storage garage the RV is in and to the ignition switch." "I bet that RV won't start. It probably hasn't been started in ages!"

"Well, we'll see about that. Won't we?"

"If it's even still there!"

"Why do you say that?"

"Well, when the police arrested the mafia, several of their vehicles were impounded. We just don't know which ones."

"If the RV was impounded, then we couldn't use these documents either. It says that owner of the RV is the same person who is on this passport and driver's license. We had better pray that the RV is still there for our sake!" Leah argued.

"And where is there?" asked Peter.

"A J's storage."

"Wouldn't it being stealing if we were to take it?"

"No, This letter here, explains it all. It says 'these identification papers are to be used by anyone who needs a new identity. Just be sure to retrieve the RV and close the account out. Push the enclosed envelope in their mail slot after hours. The letter contained within will take care of everything. Keep the lock and key. The rental unit has been paid up in advance'."

"So, where is A J's?"

"About 8 to 10 blocks from here."

"Let's go!" Peter turned around and walked forward, tripping over a box. He fell, putting his hands in front of him to catch himself. "Oy vey!" The box tipped over. The fluffy peanuts flew everywhere and buried Peter. His body, however, didn't stop there. He kept on moving with a forward momentum right into a hard metal object. "Ouch!"

"Are you alright? Ha, ha,ha, ha!" Leah bent down to help Peter up. "I'm sorry, I couldn't help myself. You looked so funny all covered in peanuts!"

"Oh! My head! What was that thing I hit? It's as hard as a rock!"

"Here, I'll grab your light and find out." Leah flashed the pen light upon the metal item and jumped for joy.

"What is it?"

"We are rich! It's a safe!"

"We are set! What's the combination?"

"I don't know."

"Why don't you find us some better lighting so that we can see better."

Several boxes, several hours and 2 meals later, Peter finally found the safe combination. They had lied to Leah's grandparents and told them that they were studying hard so that they could relax the rest of the time. Truth be told, they had hoped to be on their merry little way long before school started so that they wouldn't have to do the busy work assignments that were many grade levels too easy for them. Peter fumbled with the combination, dropping it on the floor several times.

"Here, let me do that,"said Leah as she picked the piece of paper off the floor. Leah opened the safe and peered inside.

Peter gasped,"Look at all that money! There must be millions!"

"Let's count it."

"Okay."

They counted the money as quickly as they could.

"How deep is this safe anyhow? I feel like I've been counting for hours!" Leah complained. "We have. Let's take a break. Actually, we should really go to bed. How much have you counted?" Leah quickly added up her figures and answered, "$20million, 500 thousand."

"I beat you! I have 40 million."

"That should be enough to keep us for life. We don't need to count anymore."

Leah sat in the window seat, resting her chin on her pen trying to figure out what supplies they would need. Peter poured over maps trying to find a good place to set up their RV. They had finished counting the rest of the money and found that they had $20 billion.

"Peter, if a box of noodles contains 16 servings of 1/2 cup each, how many servings will we get out of that box?"

Not really answering her question, Peter commented,"I think we should buy two 20 pound bags of rice, load the freezer with veggies and vegetarian meats and fish. We'll load up on pasta as there is room."

"We will need tomato sauce and alfredo sauce. We should get canned vegetables too. They last longer. Frozen veggies we will have to be used in 6 months times."

"True. And fish will only last 3 months."

"And we can't forget spices." Leah added.

"Let's go shopping and pack out the RV."

"How are we going to get the groceries to the RV? Our bikes only hold so much."

"We will pick up the RV first and drive it around. It will make shopping a lot easier and faster!"

"I've got it! Let's see if we can get all the shopping done in one day!"

"You're on. Let's run!"

Leah and Peter quickly grabbed their backpacks and threw some books in it, not really noticing what books they were grabbing.

"Grandma, we have to go to the library and do some research. Is it okay if we go to one of the Ivy school's libraries and stay there until we get tired? They are open later."

"I guess so. Just be careful and stick together." Warned Grandma.

Peter and Leah ran out the door, backpacks in stow. The hopped on their bikes and took off full speed all the way to A J's. They arrived panting hard. Leah put her hands on her knees, gasping for breath. She asked,"Got the key?"

"No, I thought you grabbed it," Peter said, trying to catch his breath.

"I don't have it."

"Great! Now we'll have to bike all the way home!"