Page 14 of The Side Road (Love Chronicles #3)

‘If you go in one direction, I’ll go the other way,’ Oliver suggested. ‘Check the floor and the brickwork. We’ll meet in the middle on the other side.’

‘I’ll be disappointed if we don’t discover a hidden room.’

‘I’d be happy with a loose brick and a shoebox.’

As Oliver made his way around the basement, he realised many years had passed since anyone had been in this room. His search revealed nothing. Reaching the far side, he looked around for Mia, but there was no sign of her.

‘Mia?’ he called.

No answer.

‘Mia.’ Louder, this time.

‘I’m over here.’

After navigating a pile of fallen bricks, he found her crouched behind a stack of slate roof tiles. At her feet was a large cardboard box.

‘There’s more.’ She pointed to a low cavity in the wall. The room they were in wasn’t square; it was L-shaped. The ceiling of the adjoining space dropped half a metre, forming another small, cave-like area.

Oliver directed his torch into the grotto. Boxes. Half a dozen dusty boxes.

‘This one never made it inside.’ Mia tapped the box on the ground with her foot.

‘Claustrophobic?’ Oliver offered.

‘It might be scared of the dark.’ She crouched beside the box. ‘What do you think? Pickle jars?’

Oliver crouched beside her. ‘ Playboy magazines.’

Mia laughed. ‘Fifty years of tax receipts.’

‘Headless dolls. ’

‘Oliver, the way your mind works!’ She hesitated. ‘Love letters – a thousand love letters.’

Oliver smiled. ‘Wine or homebrew?’

‘Wine, hopefully.’

‘I hope it’s love letters. Ready?’

Together, they pulled at the cardboard flaps of the box. Inside were a dozen bottles of dusty red wine.

‘Cleanskins,’ Mia said. There were no labels on the bottles.

An hour later, all the boxes had been recovered. Oliver and Mia carried them outside and placed them on the lawn.

Nearby, Blanche and Flora sorted Elsie’s belongings into separate crates. Emptying an old woman’s closet had taken less time than he expected.

Sitting on the low rockery wall, Tash was playing a game with Snood.

She was holding a pile of disposable cups, along with a small bag of dog treats.

After hiding the treats under a cup, she rearranged the order.

Snood had to guess which cup the treat was under.

If he guessed correctly, he received the food.

She had started with three cups, but the dog was an expert sniffer.

Soon, she scaled the game up to five cups.

Arthur appeared and made a beeline for Tash.

Sitting beside her, he watched the game and cheered on the dog.

Snood no longer used his nose to indicate the cup holding the treat.

The animal had progressed to tapping the cup with his paw.

Snood was smarter than he looked. Oliver monitored Arthur's proximity to his daughter.

Over the next two hours, they combed the house. There were no secret passages or doorways. The mortar in the brickwork was loose in places, but none of the bricks slipped easily from the walls. The floorboards were secure. There were no ghosts in the attic.

Their treasure hunt had uncovered five dozen bottles of cleanskin red wine and a plastic container filled with a few old lottery tickets. Blanche offered to check the winnings. Under the bathroom sink, Leo had found a headless doll.

‘You’re psychic,’ Mia whispered to Oliver.

‘Obviously,’ he replied.

Only two crates of Elsie’s possessions survived. Inside were a handful of loose photos, a jewellery box, several old books, and some religious items that Tash thought Elsie would want to keep. Oliver regarded the belongings; after eighty years, they didn’t amount to much.

Arthur, rummaging through the bits and pieces in the crates, picked up a ragged copy of The Velveteen Rabbit .

‘I used to read this book to the babies,’ he said.

From his pocket, he pulled out a packet of barley sugar, offering it to the treasure hunters.

Everyone appreciated the sweets and helped themselves. Tash took two.

When Oliver found himself standing beside Troublemaker Flora, he attempted to make small talk, asking her about her health.

When that failed, he moved on to the weather, but he received no response.

For his last attempt, he asked her how long she had lived in Eagle Nest. He couldn’t get a word.

He thought she might be losing her hearing, but when someone mentioned food, she was first in line.

They ate lunch on the front porch. Oliver had made a salad, and Blanche had provided breadsticks. The lasagne was excellent. Tash ate a few sheets of the pasta, but only after she had scraped the sauce to one side.

‘I guess we’re done,’ Leo said. ‘There’s not a shoebox or a washing basket filled with money in this house.’

‘What about the old garage?’ Arthur pointed to the separate building at the back of the property. The garage had a tilt-style door large enough to drive a small car through and another pedestrian door at the side .

‘There’s no key.’ Leo began collecting the lunch plates.

‘But we should check.’ Blanche handed Leo her leftovers.

‘How do we check if we can’t get inside?’ Leo asked

‘We could jimmy it open,’ Mike, the neighbour, suggested. ‘I’ve got a crowbar.’ He pointed over the fence to his house.

‘Or I could call a locksmith tomorrow,’ Oliver said.

‘That’ll cost a bit.’ Mike scratched his chin.

With the treasure hunt over, the searchers gathered their belongings. As they left, Oliver handed them bottles of wine.

‘Remind me to talk to you about the Men’s Shed,’ Leo said, juggling four bottles. ‘Come by later in the week. We’ll sort you out with a few jobs.’

Oliver gave Leo his best non-committal smile. The Men’s Shed movement was vaguely familiar to him – a worthy organisation – but he wondered what a few jobs meant. He wasn’t retired. When he worked, he liked to get paid.

As the others climbed into their cars, Mia lingered on the front path. With her arms crossed, she looked back at the house. Oliver joined her and followed her gaze.

‘What will you do if you don’t find the money?’ she asked.

He realised she knew nothing about him. Tilting his head to one side, he sighed. ‘I guess we’ll scrape through, somehow.’

Another concerned glance. ‘Of course you will. But do you think we should break into the garage?’

‘I have a better idea,’ Oliver said.