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Chapter One

“Anothersecret passage?” Ellery Page, owner and proprietor of Pirate Cove’s only mystery bookshop, balanced the phone receiver between his cheek and shoulder as he hurried to finish the Crow’s Nest’s payroll. With house guests arriving for the weekend, he was in a rush to wrap things up within the next hour so he could get over to the ferry landing.

“We can’t be sure unless we open the wall up,” Tony Brambilla, Ellery’s contractor, was saying.

Brambilla and Sons had managed to pull off something close to a miracle as they’d worked to finish renovations on Captain’s Seat before the winter—and Ellery’s guests—set in. When Ellery had inherited the dilapidated 18thcentury mansion after the death of his Great-aunt Eudora nine months earlier, the place had been just about ready for the wrecking ball. A recent fire on the second floor had not helped matters.

Ellery said quickly, “No! Don’t open any walls. My friends are arriving on the one o’clock ferry.”

“All righty. Well, that door on the leeward side bedroom no longer sticks and the loose floorboards on the staircase have been repaired. If thereisa passage behind that master bedroom wall, it probably connects to the tunnel opening onto the library.”

During the extensive renovations, no less than two separate secret passages had been discovered within the walls of Captain’s Seat. That was not unusual for the oldest buildings on an island that had once served as a pirate hideout. However, as exciting as was the sound ofsecret passages, the walkways inside Captain’s Seat had turned out to be dank, dark tunnels filled with empty broken crates, spiders—one of Ellery’s least favorite things—and not much else. One day he’d get around to fully exploring those interior alleys, but they were low priority.After all, he’d happily lived nearly a year in the old mansion without even realizing they were there.

“Enjoy your house,” Tony was saying. “In the spring, we can talk about tackling those structural cracks in the cellar.”

Ellery’s heart sank at the wordsstructural cracks, but he said with determined good cheer, “Yes. Thanks for all your hard work, Tony. Captain’s Seat is like a different house.” A house not in imminent peril of spontaneously combusting every time he flipped a light switch.

“It’s good to have Pages on the island again.”

That sentiment seemed to be broadly held in Pirate’s Cove, but it still surprised and touched Ellery. Prior to inheriting Captain’s Seat, he hadn’t even known Buck Island existed—let alone his Great-aunt Eudora.

He ended the phone call with Tony, firmly blocking out all thoughts of structural cracks. He was just finishing up the payroll as the shop door’s bells chimed in welcome and Nora Sweeney, his assistant manager, returned from lunch.

Nora was a wisp of a woman, just over five feet in her sensible shoes. Her eyes were the color of steel and she wore her long gray hair in a severe ponytail. Though prone to gossip and wild flights of imagination, she was clever, loyal, and boundlessly energetic. In addition to her vast knowledge of the island and all its inhabitants (past and present), Nora possessed an encyclopedic knowledge of mystery, which had proved beyond valuable to Ellery. Before inheriting the Crow’s Nest, he’d had zero interest in crime, either real or fictional.

What a difference a few months could make!

Watson, Ellery’s black spaniel-mix puppy, hopped down from the long wooden library bench where he had been gazing solemnly out the picture windows at the empty cobblestone streets.

Pirate’s Cove in November looked suspiciously like a ghost town, right down to the eerie tendrils of white mist winding around hanging signs and plant urns and porch columns. It was hard to remember that just two months earlier, tourists had crowded the streets, buzzing around in rented golf carts and filling up the beaches, shops, and cafés. Filling up local cash registers as well.

Nora stooped to pat Watson. “Looks like we’re going to have snow this weekend,” she announced.

“You’re kidding.” Ellery went to the windows, gazing out at the ominous leaden skies and white-capped harbor. Granted, ominous was normal for this time of year. “A lot of snow?”

Nora unwound her long red scarf. “I shouldn’t think so, dearie. Not this early in the season. February’s the worst month for snow. This time of year, we won’t see much beyond a little powder. It’ll provide local color for your guests.”

“Right.” He was already regretting his decision not to invest in a backup generator. But money only stretched so far, and the roof, plumbing, and electrical wiring had taken precedence.

Nora joined him at the windows, musing, “I hope your friends won’t have too rough a crossing.”

Yikes. “Me, too.”

For a moment or two they watched the wind gusting across the waves, rocking the scattered boats in the harbor.

Yes, the island could be a bit desolate this time of year.

As though reading Ellery’s mind, Nora said, “I don’t suppose they’ll be all that interested in outdoor activities anyway.”

“No. True.” Ellery glanced down at Watson, who wagged his tail hopefully. “Let me finish up a few things, buddy. Then we’ll go for a you-know-what.” To Nora, he said, “TonyBrambilla says they think they’ve discovered another hidden passageway, but they can’t be sure without opening the wall up.”

Nora’s eyes kindled with excitement. “That makes sense. Captain’s Seat is nearly as old as the Pirate Eight.”

The Pirate Eight were the first manor houses built on Buck Island. All eight homes had started out as pirate fortresses.

“Why would Captain Horatio Page have needed a bunch of secret passages? He wasn’t a pirate. He was a pirate hunter.”

“True, a pirate hunter surrounded by pirates.”