"Hey Bess, guess what. I just got a letter from the chief of police in California. He heard about the case I just solved in Florida and they want me to help them solve a cold case file." Nancy said excitedly into the phone.

"Nancy, you just got back and you are taking another case! Well California is exciting. What is this one about?" Bess answered back.

"A Man went missing on the property of a mansion four years ago, never could solve it so now they want to try again I guess"

"They are trying to solve it now when half of the evidence is probably gone!'' Bess said angrily

"Oh don't be such a worry wart Bess. I am going on this case even if it takes me four years myself to solve it! Plus they are paying me one thou if I can solve it!"

"One Thou, you better take me shopping" Bess said in a cheerful voice.

"Don't worry Bess, I will"

Nancy was packing her suitcase when the phone rang again. It was Bess. She sounded out of breath and flustered.

"Nancy, I am coming with you. Don't argue. I already bought my ticket. I will explain everything to you on the way." Bess gasped.

"Okay Bess, meet you at the airport tomorrow." Nancy said back surprised to hear Bess say that. She never really liked solving mysteries.

''Beep…Beep…Beep…Beep…" Nancy's alarm clock sounded.

Nancy crawled out of bed and went into the bathroom. She took a shower, got dressed, grabbed her luggage and went downstairs to smell the aroma of bread and coffee floating throughout the house. She sat down and grabbed a plate of eggs and toast. A sideways glance at her watch made her realize that she was late. She snatched her jacket luggage and as a last thought a piece of toast. When she arrived at the airport Bess was sitting down looking rather upset and looked like she had been sitting in the airport for quite some time. Nancy had already checked her bags and she guessed that Bess had too.

"Flight 232 to Harleton, California. Boarding now"

Before Nancy could say anything Bess got up dragged her luggage and walked onto the plane. Nancy did the same and ran after her.

"There are two exits…………………………………"

Nancy was ignoring the stewardess giving the seatbelt instructions because she was busy talking to Bess who had not talked since the boarded the plane.

"Bess, what is the matter?" Nancy said worriedly.

"Nothing, leave me alone!" Bess shouted.

"Bess, something happened you are not telling me, I will find out eventually."

"Nancy, I never realized how annoying you can actually be,"

"I just wish you would tell me what was wrong then I would leave you alone."

"Fine, I will tell you the story. As soon as I hung up with you I got a call, someone said that the man that disappeared was my uncle. You know the one I never met since he was always "busy", anyway I asked my mom and she told me the truth. My uncle had disappeared. He was the man that disappeared in your case."
Nancy's mouth formed a shocked expression. She did not know what to do now. This was a personal case for Bess, maybe she could find him still alive or worse, and Bess would see her dead uncle's body on the mansion property.

"Bess, why didn't you tell me earlier" I was so worried that something happened to you and the trip was an escape.

"I did not want to freak you out."

"Well do you have any info on the case, you know like did your mom tell you anything?"

"No, can we stop talking about it now, Thank You"

"Now arriving at Santa Meringue, California. Please wait till the seatbelt sign has flashed……………." The assistant said.

Nancy and Bess got off the plane and met the chief of police there. He drove them to the hotel with no conversation exchanged during the ride there. As they were unpacking the phone rang. It was the front desk. There was a phone call for Bess.

"Hello?" said Bess.

Nancy could hear some muffled scratchy voice on the other end, she however could not figure out what he was saying. Suddenly Bess dropped the phone and fainted right before Nancy.

"Wee hoo. Wee Hoo." The ambulances sirens rang throughout the streets, as they drove off to the hospital. Nancy was just praying that Bess was okay.

"Bess, Bess, are you awake?" Nancy said

"Nan, is that you." Said Bess

"Oh Thank God! She is okay. Yes Bess it is me."

"Good, I have to tell you something." She nodded to the nurse signaling for her to leave." Listen, the man on the phone said that we were dead if we took on this case. He said he would hang our bodies from the mansion for all to find."

"Bess, we always get death threats. What's to worry about?"

"He knows………He knows………He knows your father and my mother. They will die too. And he knows where we all live."

"Don't worry Bess. Now both of our families are involved. I will call them and warn them then we will get down to business on this case once you are better. Hopefully that will be soon.

"Okay, Nancy, will you call George and ask her a question," Bess replied

"Sure, what is it?"

"Tell her to go on the computer and look for a man named Carlstel Manuel"

"Why him?"

"You will find out soon enough. Just tell her to do it"

Nancy called George and told her Bess's command. She agreed to do it as long as Nancy kept an eye on Bess. Nancy was going to do that anyway without anyone telling her to or not. The doctor said that Bess could leave today so that would mean that Nancy and Bess could start the investigation. One of Nancy's favorite past times in the world.

"Bess, You feelin' better?"

"Little, Thanks Nancy."

"No problem, and I got a call from George this morning."

George had told Nancy that a Carlstel Manuel had disappeared on the mansion property six years ago, before Bess's uncle had gone missing.

"Bess, Now will you tell me why you wanted George to look that man up."

"That is what the man said his name was. I had heard of the name before and was positive he had disappeared which is why I fainted, I was so surprised."

Nancy and Bess drove back to the hotel to do a little more snooping for clues in what they had already been given. It turns out the police had very little information so they decided to go to the mansion and search for themselves. They find a mud pit and a moat around the castle.

"That is a little odd. Having both right in front of the entrance, some one who lived here must have been very secretive about their life." Said Nancy to Bess.

When they walked into the mansion they were surrounded by a wide hall covered in medieval décor such as suits of armor a big table at the front and swords and animal heads all over the walls. The table was covered in piles of notebooks with cobwebs on top of those. Nancy and Bess walked over to them and picked up a notebook with much fussing from Bess. Inside were notes all about the castle and its surroundings. Bess called her mother at home to ask what her uncle was doing at the mansion in the first place and found out that he had been there researching. These must have been Bess's uncle's notes about the castle.

"Lets take a few of these home. We can clean them up and we might be able to get a few ideas on where he could be." Nancy said to Bess.

"Yea sure but your will be the one carrying them, you know me. I hate spiders and cobwebs." Bess said back.

"Oh Bess" Nancy said as she rolled her eyes.

When they arrived back at the hotel they began to search through the books. In some there were just descriptions of plants and bugs outside and inside. In others there were pictures of the mansion and secret rooms and tunnels. Nancy could not resist those words. She and Bess decided to go exploring more tomorrow after a quiet breakfast at a nearby diner. Just as they were closing the books the phone rang, it was the sheriff. It turns out he had found out some more information. Bess's uncle had disappeared four years ago but they have a witness saying that they seen two men walking around the property. One appeared to be hurt.

"Couldn't they have been the caretakers of the mansion?" Nancy asked the sheriff.

"No, that mansion hasn't been taken care of for three years."

"Three years? It has been four since the man disappeared."

"There was one caretaker that was willing to stay on."

"Can you get us an appointment to talk to him. I think we need some more questions answered"

The Sheriff got them an appointment to talk to the caretaker whose name they found out was Baldversair Gallo.
Meanwhile Bess and Nancy went back to the castle to snoop through those tunnels that they had found in the books. As they went through the tunnels they did not find much. There was only one tunnel left. They hoped that there was something to help them out in that one. They went through and found a trap door. When they opened the trapdoor it lead to another tunnel that had not been written about in the books. Inside was an office. There were books and newspapers spread everywhere. Chinese boxes lay on the floor along with pizza boxes. The strange thing however was the fact that the desk and shelves were spotless. No dust lay on anything and everything seemed to be in order. The only thing that was a mess was the floor and sofas spread around the room. The paint was peeling off the walls but otherwise this room would be relatively easy to search. Insome of the newspapers they found articles about both men's disappearances. Some other ones were about the mansion and how it was going to be torn down but the historical society changed their minds last minute. The books were not much help. They were mostly Science fiction books and books about different types of plants. Nancy wrote all of this information down in her notebook and they went back to the trap door. It would not open; they were trapped in a room all thanks to a trap door.

"I guess they do what they are supposed to do" Nancy said to Bess.

They went back to the other books they had found earlier in the lobby and found that from that tunnel there was another opening however it was further down from the one Nancy and Bess had found. They began to search the walls and sure enough there was a door hidden in the room. They followed that and they were back in the tunnel. They decided to go back to the hotel for now and review all of the facts. Then in one hour they had to meet Gallo.

It was ten thirty. They were late by a half an hour. Bess and Nancy caught a cab and went to where they were supposed to meet Gallo, The Courageous Lion. There were only four people in the restaurant, Bess, Nancy, Gallo, and the matridee.

"Hello Baldversair, My name is Nancy, and this is Bess." Nancy said

"Pleasure to meet both of you." Gallo replied back

"May we sit down?" Nancy said, her legs were beginning to hurt. Also the awkward silence was also getting to her.

"Of course, now if I understand correctly you would like to ask me some questions." Gallo replied.

"Umm...Yes, that is correct. Why did you stay on after the man disappeared?" Bess said hesitantly.

"Well, at first I thought it was a prank. Then I began to get chills every time I went near the moat and that weird mud pit. Also late at night you could hear howling like someone was hurt."

Nancy and Bess looked at each other. They had both had the same idea; they dismissed themselves and thanked him. If they ever needed to talk to him again the police could always get hold of him for them. They went back to the hotel to discuss what they found out.

"Well, the witness said one man appeared to be hurt...Gallo said that one of the moans sounded like someone was hurt. That sounds like it goes." Nancy said while she was chewing on her pencil.

"Also the moat and mud pit sound like we should check them out. Un less it is a trap." Bess said back as she was flipping through Nancy's notebook.

"Now you are beginning to sound like a detective Bess, just don't take over my job!"

After a quick breakfast Nancy and Bess caught a ride back to the mansion. They went back inside to check that out first and looked at all the notes again, however some of the notes that they remebered seeing were gone. It was like someone was there but no one was. There was no evidence of someone being there is what I mean. There were no footprints or fingerprints on the huge amount of dust, and there was no liter, trash, or leaves even though Nancy and Bess ahd tracked in tons. It was rather odd. They walked back out to the moat which had turned a funny greenish color. In the corner of the moat it looked like something was floating.

"Hey, Bess, come over here, what is that , that thing" Nancy called out

"I don't know, it looks like a bag of some sort, or a bottle" Bess replied

The carefully lowered themselves onto a ledge just above the floating object, it was a bag. Nancy reached for it and pulled it up and out of the water. Inside was a puzzle box covered with pictures and holes.

"what are we supposed to do wiht this" Bess asked stunned

Indeed thias box was important but how would they open it? The holes must have been for something and what did the numbers symoblolize?

"Maybe come sort of keys fit into these small holes."Nancy commented.

"Wait these numbers on the box look very similar to the numbers on my uncles notes" Bess replied excitely

"You are right, lets go back in and look more closely at these specific numbers of notes"

They walked in but the door was locked. nancy and Bess knew that they had not locked it. Nancy called the sheriff on her cell phone and asked him to come and check it out. Meanwhile Bess and nancy were going to investigate the mud pit next. Inside the mud pit they saw footprints everywhere. Yesterday there had been none whatsoever. Nancy took a picture with her cell phone and took a smaple of the mud to check up on certain chemicals and other thigns in the mud. Their plan for the next day was to go through the mud and see if anything was in there, just as they werre discussing the possibility of something actually being there the sheriffs car pulled up.

They brought him to the door and tried to open it but it wouldnt budge. The sheriff had a key and opened it. They thnked him and he left. Nancy and Bess walked in and saw that some of the notes had been spread along the floor. They kenw someone else had been in here. They decided to take all the notes back to the hotel and make sure no one else could go through them.

When they got back to the hotel they began to look through all the ntoes and realized that every number mentioned on the box that they matched up, the notes on that page had to do with the tunnels and architecture of the moat. They knew that this was an improtant clue, now if they could only find out what was inside the box.

Bess and Nancy decided they would go and investigate the certain tunnels mentioned on each sheet and hopefully they would find something that would open the box.

When they woke up they noticed that the door to their hotel room was unlocked. both girls were sure they had locked it. They called room service and ordered their breakfast and asked if anyone had come up to their room, the receptionist said no. They knew something was wrong, the only thing was they didnt know what.

When Bess walked into the bathroom a scream echoed throughout the room. There was a man in there, covered in mud, his hair was very long, he appeared to be asleep and he was very thin. Besses scream seamed to wake him up however because he sprung up from the tub where he was laying.

"Bess, is that you. You look so much like your mother. How old are you now?" The man said.

"Who are you, and whyar e you covered in mud?"Bess replied.

"You don't remeber me do you, i'm your uncle"The man answered, seeming a little hurt.