CHAPTER 16

"Uncle Roy, I hate to bother you, but we've got a problem." Matt had called his uncle and was now describing what had happened. "Are you sure there isn't another room in there?"

"I looked all over that house. Where was the last place you saw him?" Roy was puzzled.

"He walked through the living room and turned onto the stairs. I switched to the basement monitor and nothing. I switched back to the living room monitor and nothing. Then I checked all of the monitors, still no sign of him. He didn't just disappear into thin air. There's got to be another room in that house."

"I don't know what else we can do; we'll just have to keep an eye out for him tonight and then go in tomorrow while he's at work and check for a hidden room." He could feel Matt's frustration through the phone.

"Okay. I'll keep watching. Maybe CJ and Chris should go to the cemetery tomorrow and you and I should handle this here." Matt took a sip of his coffee.

"Sounds like a plan to me. I'll see you in the morning." Uncle Roy hung up and thought about the situation as he drove to pick up his dates for the evening.

Two and half hours later, Osterhouse reappeared on the living room monitor, coming from the stairwell. "At least we won't have to look all over the house for a secret room. It's got to be on the stairwell." Matt realized he was talking to himself. He dialed the house and CJ picked up the phone.

"Hi. How's it going?" He missed her already and he still had a long night left to go.

"It's going. I've run out of things to do so I've been channel surfing. Not much on tonight. I miss you." CJ knew it was mutual.

"I really miss you, even though you laughed at me today." He smiled, then started to chuckle. "Guess it was kinda funny. Chris came really close to passing out she was laughing so hard."

"I'm glad you can laugh about it now. So what is our suspect up to?" She wished he was at home with her, cuddled up in the recliner watching a movie.

"He pulled a Houdini on me earlier." Matt explained what had happened and told her about the plan that he and Uncle Roy had come up with for the following day.

"As long as Chris doesn't see Marquanda again, I think we can pull that off." She started to laugh again, just thinking about the look on Matt's face while he was leaning on the bar.

"That's going to be hard to live down, isn't it?" He was laughing himself, until he looked back up at the monitor and saw Osterhouse go into the bedroom that appeared to belong to a woman. "Aha! What's our boy up to now?" He watched as Osterhouse walked across the room to the wigs and began brushing them, then went to the closet and pulled out a dress and held it up to himself in front of the mirror. "Oh, boy, if Marquanda could only see this now. She might be able to help him look more attractive." He told CJ what their suspect was doing.

"Oh, goody. That's just given me the creeps." She went to make sure the doors were locked once again.

"Well, now he's put the outfit back in the closet and left the room. Looks like he's getting ready for bed. Guess I better get off of here now. Did you lock the doors?" He knew she could take care of herself, but he still worried.

"Yes, dear. You be careful out there tonight, okay? I love you." She couldn't wait until this case was over.

"Love you, too. Good night." He hung up and watched as Osterhouse got into the bed and turned out the lamp. "Time for another cheeseburger."