To Catch a Thief
Donald and Leann Louis were very proud of their daughter. She was their only child, and she was very bright. As she grew into a young woman, they learned that she was very special person, with a special gift. She was able to solve problems that some adults could not figure out. Mara often thought outside of the box.
Over the years, Mara had solved dozens of mysteries around the country. The first mystery that she ever solved was at her elementary school, when she was in the third grade. She was just eight years old at the time.
It all started in early November. Mara’s third grade class, under the careful guidance of their teacher, Miss Curtis, and a student teacher, Mr. Gregory, was studying the holiday; Thanksgiving.
Miss Curtis told the class that the homeless would not be celebrating Thanksgiving because they had no money to buy food and no place to stay. The students suggested that each of them could save up and collect money and donate it to a homeless shelter, so that the people staying there would have a nice hot meal on Thanksgiving.
The children decided to collect twenty dollars each. With thirty students in the class, that would mean they would raise six hundred dollars. Each of the students was to bring in a twenty-dollar bill, on the Monday before Thanksgiving. By that Monday afternoon, there were thirty envelopes with the children’s names on them, sitting in a box on Miss Curtis’s desk.
When the last bell rang, that afternoon, all of the kids left the room to go home. Mara forgot a book, and had to go back to the classroom to get it.
Miss Curtis was just about to lock the door, but she let Mara get her book. On her way out of the classroom, Mara noticed that Mr. Gregory had left his sport coat on the back of his chair. When she told Miss Curtis, she told Mara to try to catch up with him before he left the building. Miss Curtis knew that Mara had a secret crush on Mr. Gregory.
Mara could not find Mr. Gregory, as he had already left the parking lot, so Mara dropped the coat off at the front office. Then, Mara ran to catch the bus.
The next morning, when Mara arrived at school, she saw Mr. Gregory standing outside of the school and she went over to tell him that his sport coat was in the main office. When she saw that he was talking on his cell phone, she waited patiently. She overheard him tell someone that he would pay his delinquent car payments that afternoon after he got off work.
Mara could not wait for Mr. Gregory to finish his phone call, since the bell was about to ring. She got into her seat, just as the bell rang.
Mara noticed that everyone was unusually quiet and wondered why. She also noticed that Billy Decker was crying.
Mara did not like Billy that much, because he was the class bully and he picked on the smaller boys in the class. He was the biggest kid in the class and he lied about things to make himself feel important. However, for some reason, Mara did not feel good when she saw him crying. Instead, she felt sorry for him.
When Mr. Gregory entered the classroom, he walked over to his desk, set his briefcase on his desk and said, “Oh, this is where I left my jacket yesterday.”
Mara assumed that the office had put the jacket back in the classroom, after she had gone home.
Mr. Gregory noticed that there was some tension in the classroom and he asked Miss Curtis, what was wrong.
Miss Curtis told the class that all of the money that the students had turned in the day before was missing. She told them that when she arrived at school that morning, she found that all thirty envelopes were missing, and that the only person in the classroom, was Billy. She told the class that Billy denied taking the envelopes, but that when she checked his desk, she found all thirty empty envelopes stuffed under the books in his desk.
“I didn’t take the money”, said Billy through his tears. Mara looked around the classroom and saw that everyone was giving Billy a dirty look, everyone, except Mr. Gregory.
Miss Curtis told Billy, that if the money was not returned by the end of the day, she would call his parents in to have a meeting with the principal.
Later, in the day, Mr. Gregory was talking to Miss Curtis and he suggested that maybe, Billy did not take the money. Miss Curtis said that there was no other explanation.
At lunch and throughout the afternoon, nobody would talk to Billy, because they believed he had taken the money.
At recess, Mara went up to Billy and asked him to tell her everything that happened when he got to school that morning.
Billy told Mara that his mom dropped him off at school at 7:15, as she did every morning. She had arranged with Miss Curtis to let Billy sit at his desk, and do schoolwork or read, until school started, since Mrs. Decker had to be at work before the school bus came by their house.
Billy told Mara that usually, Mr. Gregory would be making his lesson plan, or grading papers when he got to the classroom and the two of them would sometimes chat.
“Was he here when you got here this morning?” asked Mara.
“No” said Billy, “At first, I thought he was here, because his jacket was on the back of his chair, but he arrived after you did. He said he left his jacket here yesterday.”
That afternoon, after recess, Miss Curtis asked Billy one last time where the money was. When Billy again denied taking the money, Miss Curtis told him that she had to call his mother and the three of them would meet in the principal’s office. Billy started to cry again.
Mara felt sorry for Billy. She started thinking about everything she had learned and then she suddenly got an idea.
After school was over, Mara went to the office and talked with the school secretary. Then, she asked if she could call home. Mara asked her mother if she could please meet her in the front office.
Mara was sitting on a chair in the front office, when Mrs. Decker, her son Billy, Mr. Gregory and Miss Curtis walked past, on the way to see the principal; Mrs. Jacobs.
The meeting had been in progress for about fifteen minutes when Mrs. Louis arrived. Mara told her that she thought Billy had been wrongfully accused of stealing, and that she thought she knew who had taken the money.
Mrs. Louis knocked on Mrs. Jacobs’ door and said that she believed that Mara knew where the money was. Mrs. Jacobs invited Mara and her mother in to the office. Mara saw that Billy had been crying again.
“What do you know about the missing money, Mara?” asked Mrs. Jacobs.
“I think that Billy is telling the truth”, said Mara. “I don’t think that he took the money.”
“Mara,” asked Miss Curtis, “Are you telling me that Billy doesn’t tell lies?”
“No, I’m not saying that,” said Mara, “but, Billy only lies about things that make him seem tough. He is a bully, I’ll admit that, but, he only exaggerates to make the other kids think he is cool, or to intimidate them.”
“Well, if he didn’t take the money,” said Mrs. Jacobs, “who did?”
“I think that I know who took it, but I would like to talk to you in private.”
Mrs. Jacobs took Mara into another office, and let Mara explain who she thought took the money. After Mara told her everything, Mrs. Jacobs asked the secretary a few questions and then, Mara and Mrs. Jacobs returned to her office, where everyone else was waiting. Mrs. Jacobs told Mara that it was okay to repeat what she just told her in the other room.
“Billy told me,” said Mara, “that every day when he arrives at school, which is an hour early, Mr. Gregory is usually in the classroom, grading papers at his desk. This morning, however, when he arrived, Mr. Gregory was not there, although his sports jacket was on the back of his chair.”
At this point, Mr. Gregory spoke up; “That’s because I left it here last night. I didn’t arrive today, until after school started.”
Mara continued, “Actually, the jacket you left here yesterday afternoon is in the front office. I took it there before I went home.” The door opened, and the secretary brought in the other sports jacket.
Everybody turned to look at Mr. Gregory, and then back to Mara as she continued. “I was almost late to class this morning. I wanted to tell Mr. Gregory where his jacket was, and I overheard him talking on his cell phone in the parking lot. He was telling someone that he would make the delinquent car payments this afternoon.”
“Here is what I think happened,” said Mara. “Mr. Gregory needed some more money for his car payments, and he knew that there was six hundred dollars in those envelopes on the desk. He came in extra early, took all of the money and put all of the empty envelopes in Billy’s desk, because he knew that he was the first person that Miss Curtis would blame. Then, he left the classroom, before Billy arrived. But, he forgot that he had left his jacket on the back of the chair,”
“I have watched how Mr. Gregory has kept his briefcase with him all day and has not let it out of his sight. I believe the stolen money is in the locked briefcase.”
When Mara had finished, all eyes were on Mr. Gregory, who looked very uncomfortable.
“Well, Mr. Gregory,” said Mrs. Jacobs, “What do you have to say for yourself?”
“I think that Mara will be good at writing fiction stories, because she has a good imagination. Everything Mara said is just a story to help Billy. I do keep money in my briefcase, and Mara has probably seen money in there in the past. The money I have in there now is for my car payments, but it is my money.”
“Then, you won’t mind opening up your brief case, will you?” asked Mrs. Jacobs.
Mr. Gregory took a key from his pocket and unlocked the briefcase. He handed Mrs. Jacobs the stack of twenty-dollar bills. He explained that the ATM he had used that morning, only dispensed twenty-dollar bills.
Mara spoke up again. “What I have to say now, is a little embarrassing. Up until now, I had a crush on Mr. Gregory. Before I put my twenty dollar bill in the envelope, I practiced signing my name and his name on it.”
Mrs. Jacobs started going through the twenty dollars one by one. When she was about two-thirds way through the stack, she stopped and held up a bill that had the signature of “Mara Louis Gregory,” and “Mrs. Mara Gregory.” She handed it to Mr. Gregory, who looked at it and then put his head down in his hands.
He admitted that everything Mara said was true. He said that he was behind in his car payments his car would be repossessed if he did not make the payments that afternoon.
Miss Curtis looked at Billy and Mrs. Decker and apologized for accusing him.
Mrs. Jacobs asked Mara what she thought should be done about the situation, if she could decide the punishment.
Mara thought about it for a moment and then gave her verdict; “First of all, I don’t think he should ever teach at this school again. I no longer have any respect for him. Not only did he steal money from our class, but he also watched the other kids treat Billy like a thief, and he watched Billy cry all day.”
“Second, since he stole money that was to go to the homeless shelter, I think that Mr. Gregory should volunteer to serve Thanksgiving dinner to the homeless.”
Mrs. Jacobs was very impressed. “Mara, I like the way you think, and I agree with you one hundred percent.”
Mr. Gregory, You are no longer welcome here at this school, and do not ask us to recommend you to any other school. Also, we will not call the police, as long as you complete forty hours of community service at the homeless shelter, starting with serving Thanksgiving dinner there.”
Mara raised her hand and said; “Miss Curtis, I don’t think it is enough to apologize to Billy and his mother here. You accused him in front of the entire class and now, everybody thinks he stole the money. I think that you should apologize to Billy in front of the entire class as well. I also think that Mr. Gregory should apologize to the class in person.”
Miss Curtis looked at Mara and said, “You are right Mara. I will do just that, first thing in the morning, and Mr. Gregory will, as well. Mara, I am sorry for letting you down. You have taught me a valuable lesson today. You might think about becoming a lawyer when you get older.”
As Mara and her mom were preparing to leave the room, Billy’s mom thanked Mara for what she did. She nudged Billy, who tried to hug Mara. Mara pushed him away, and said; “Ewww, gross, get away from me.”
“I just want to say thank you for proving that I was innocent”, said Billy.
“The only reason I defended you, was because it was the right thing to do,” said Mara. “You are still a boy and a bully. And, if you ever tell anyone that I had a crush on Mr. Gregory, I don’t care how big you are, I will beat you up in front of the entire class.”
“And when she does;” said Mrs. Decker, “don’t come crying to me.” Then, Mrs. Decker winked at Mara.
The next day, Miss Curtis apologized to Billy in front of the class and told them that she was wrong to accuse Billy in front of the class. When the class asked who did take the money, Mr. Gregory walked into the classroom and admitted that he did it. As he looked at all of those disappointed faces, Mr. Gregory apologized for abusing the trust they had for him. Mr. Gregory was crying when he left the classroom for the last time.
During his community service, Mr. Gregory, saw the despair in the eyes of people, who had no jobs, no education, and he realized that the children from those neighborhoods needed to be able to trust their teachers to do the best job possible. When he obtained his teaching degree, Mr. Gregory started teaching in the inner city schools, where he could really make a difference in the students’ lives. He also sent Mara a hand written letter, thanking her for turning him in.
From that day forward, Billy was no longer a bully. Perhaps, he changed, due to Mara defending him, or maybe, his parents had something to do with it. Either way, he became a better person from that point in his life. He even became protective of the smaller kids in the school and would not let anyone else bully them. Billy become more popular and he made new friends over the next couple of years. In the fifth grade, his family moved to the west coast.
Mara did think about becoming a lawyer; and she decided that if she did, she would defend people who could not defend him or herself.
The Mystery at the Old Cemetery
Mara liked to solve puzzles and mysteries. She had been solving mysteries since third grade. Now, she was nine years old and in the fourth grade.
She was reading the newspaper one morning, when she found an article about some old stolen treasure that had never been recovered. That got Mara’s attention and she kept reading.
It seemed that back in June 1861, at the onset of the Civil War; there was a very wealthy man named James Grant who lived in Northern Maryland. When the war began, he became an officer in the Union Army.
While he was away fighting for his country, his mansion was robbed. The robber got away with all his gold, over 50,000 twenty-dollar gold pieces.
His staff at the mansion identified the robber as Daniel Walker, an acquaintance of Mr. Grant.
When he was tracked down two weeks later, he did not have any of the gold with him. He had apparently buried it somewhere and refused to tell anyone where it was. He was sent to prison where he remained for the rest of his life.
Daniel Walker died in prison in 1920 at age 79. Just before he died, he told his nephew Joe Walker Jr., that he had hidden the gold in the old Calvary Cemetery in Northern Maryland. Joe Jr. was the son of Daniel’s twin brother who had died in 1862 at age 21.
Over the years, Joe Jr. searched for the gold, but never found it. After many years, the local citizens figured that Daniel Walker must have been senile when he told Joe Jr. that the money was hidden in the cemetery.
Joe Jr. died in 1940 at age 80. He had never recovered a single gold coin, nor had anyone else.
Mara knew where the cemetery was located. It was the old Civil War cemetery about 30 miles from her house.
She asked her mother if she would drive her to the cemetery so that she could look for clues. Her mother agreed, as long as Mara did not disturb anything.
When they arrived at the cemetery, they were both shocked to find the cemetery in such a rundown condition. Some of the head stones had fallen over, or were broken, and there were weeds growing out of control. The dates on the headstones ranged from the early 1800’s to the 1940’s.
Most of the headstones were about the same size, but there were a few that were much larger than the others were, probably for people of wealth or power.
One particular stone caught Mara’s eye. It was very large and shaped like a house. The stone looked out of place. It was six feet high, three feet wide and three feet thick.
Mara read the inscription on the gravestone:
Here lies
JoeThe SMIITH
Buried June 15, 1861
Mara told her mother that the person who engraved the inscription was a poor speller because he put a capital letter in the middle of a name and he put an extra I in the name Smith.
Mara made some notes in her notebook and she took some pictures with her camera of various gravestones and of the layout of the cemetery.
After they left the cemetery, Mara and her mother went to see the house that used to belong to James Grant.
When Mr. Grant died in 1912, he had no surviving family, so he left the house and the land, including the land where the cemetery was located, to the local historical society.
The house was built in 1785 and was over 200 years old. It was located a quarter of a mile from the old cemetery.
The mansion was in need of many repairs, and the historical society was trying to raise money to restore the mansion to its original condition.
Mara looked through some old records at the historical society and made copies of articles and records pertaining to James Grant, Daniel Walker, and his brother Joe Walker.
When Mara had finished writing down the information in her notebook, she and her mother returned home.
Over the next few days, Mara went through her notes and the photos she had taken, as well as the articles and documents from the historical society.
As she read the articles, she took more notes.
Daniel Walker had learned stone cutting from his father and he was a mason as well. He was very talented at working with stone and cement.
His father had cut headstones for the local cemeteries for many years with Daniel and his brother Joe helping him.
While looking through the photos, Mara kept thinking that something was peculiar about the stone for Joethe Smith.
Mara researched courthouse files and she could find no record of a Joethe Smith, or Joseph or Joe Smith having died around June 1861. She even checked for the name Smiith, but could not find anything.
One night, about a week later, Mara was watching the news with her parents and there was a story about the lost coins and the old cemetery.
Mara listened to the story very carefully, hoping to find some new detail that she did not already know. Then she heard that one key piece of information that she was waiting for.
The newswoman said that the date of the robbery was June 15, 1861. Mara ran upstairs to find her notebook. She knew that the robbery took place in June of 1861, but she did not know the exact day until now. June 15, was also the day that Joethe Smith died.
All at once, something clicked in the back of her mind. After reading all of her notes again, Mara thought that she had solved the case.
She ran down stairs and told her parents that she had found the answer to the mystery.
The next morning, Mara called the curator of the historical society and told him that she had solved the mystery of the missing gold coins.
She asked him to meet her at the cemetery with certain pieces of equipment. The curator agreed to meet Mara and her parents at the cemetery that afternoon.
When Mara and her parents arrived at the cemetery, there were over 100 people there, including people from the local newspaper and the television station.
Mara started feeling a little nervous. If she were wrong, she would look like a fool in front of thousands of people.
Mara stood in front of the crowd and began to explain her theory about the missing gold coins.
“Daniel Walker told his nephew that the coins were hidden in the cemetery,” Mara told the crowd of people. “He never said they were ‘buried’”.
“When I was at the cemetery last week, I was intrigued by some of the old headstones, especially this one that is shaped like a house. I noticed the misspellings on the stone.”
“Last night, while watching the news, I learned that the robbery took place on June 15, 1861. That is the same day that Mr. Joethe Smith died.”
“I did some research and discovered that there is no record of anybody by the name of Joethe, Joe, or Joseph Smith or Smiith dying that day or anywhere near that date.”
“I think that Daniel Walker engraved this stone as a message to his brother Joe, but he never got a chance to tell his brother about the secret message, because Joe died a year later at age 21 in an attempted robbery, leaving a wife and an infant son, Joe Jr.”
“When Daniel told his nephew about the gold coins being hidden in the cemetery, he was old and a little senile. He forgot to tell him about the secret message he had left to mark the treasure’s location.”
“Daniel had helped his father carve headstones and he had become very skilled at working with stone and cement. I am willing to bet that there is no ‘body’ buried in this grave.”
A man brought out a large piece of sonar equipment and after passing it over the grave a few times very slowly, he said that there was nothing buried in the grave, no body, but here was no gold buried there either.
Mara continued with her theory. “I don’t think that this headstone has to do with the death of anyone.”
“If you notice, there is no date of birth, and the stone says ‘buried June 15, 1861’. It doesn’t say ‘Died’ before the date.”
“There are no misspellings on the gravestone. It was a coded message for his brother, Joe. “If I am right, the message reads: ‘Joe, The Stolen Money Is In This House.”
The curator interrupted Mara. “We have thoroughly searched the Grant House and have found no coins or hidden rooms or safes.”
Mara continued: “The money is not hidden in that house, it is hidden in ‘this’ house” and she put her hand on the headstone shaped like a house.
“I wondered why it was so deep and wide. I am certain that this headstone is hollow and that it is full of gold coins.”
Using great care, some men started to chip away cement from both sides of the headstone.
After 30 minutes, they heard a creaking and everybody stood back as the front of the headstone fell forward, revealing 50 bags of gold coins.
The coins were all dated before 1850, and they were in almost mint condition.
Everybody cheered for Mara because she solved the mystery, which made Mara felt very proud and a little embarrassed by all of the attention.
The curator said that they would now have enough money to restore the Grant House and keep it running for many years to come. He offered Mara a reward for finding the money, but Mara turned down the reward.
Mara looked around the cemetery, which had been neglected for many years. She said, “Instead of giving me a reward, how about using some of the money to restore this cemetery so that it will be a fitting memorial to all of the Civil War soldiers who are buried here.”
The curator said that was an excellent idea, and as he shook Mara’s hand and said; “You are very mature and wise for your age. You’ve got yourself a deal”. The crowd cheered again for Mara.
The curator insisted on giving Mara ten of the gold coins as an early gift for her 10th birthday. Mara accepted them reluctantly, but graciously.
Mara closed her notebook and said “Another case solved by Mara Louis, Private Eye.”
Everybody laughed and her parents hugged her and told her how proud they were of her. Then the three of them went out to get some ice cream to celebrate.
The Case of the Missing Paintings
Mara had become a celebrity of sorts. After she solved the mystery of the old cemetery in Maryland, the story was published in newspapers across the entire country.
That was not the first case that Mara had ever solved, however. She had worked on several other investigations to locate missing items in her neighborhood, as well as solving many cases at school.
About eleven months after she had found the gold coins in the cemetery, Mara received a letter, inviting her and her parents to visit the Marshall Museum in Charles City, Virginia, to help them solve a mystery.
The museum was actually a very old Colonial mansion, dating back to 1695, that had recently become a museum.
Several generations of the Marshall family had occupied the house, for a total of more than three hundred years.
With each generation, the family grew smaller. In 2004, the last direct descendant of the family; John Marshall died at the age of ninety-four. He had no living relatives and he was the last of his line.
When John Marshall died, he left the mansion, property, and all of his personal belongings, to the Charles City Historical Society.
John Marshall had been a recluse for most of his life, and a very private person. Many people considered him somewhat eccentric.
During his last few decades of life, he had carefully restored the mansion to its original condition.
When the historical society received ownership of the house, it was ready for them to move in.
The mansion became a museum, and the museum staff charged a small fee to patrons, to help defray the costs of maintaining the mansion.
The curator of the museum read about Mara solving the case of the old cemetery mystery and thought that she might be able to help the museum solve its mystery as well.
The Marshall family had been a very influential family in Charles City, over the years, and had become quite wealthy. There were rumors through the decades, that the family had accumulated a large collection of paintings over the years, and that all of the paintings were still in the mansion.
When John Marshall died, a thorough search was conducted in the mansion, but only a few modern paintings were found. People speculated that over the last several decades, the family had sold the paintings to support their extravagant lifestyle.
Mr. Anderson did not believe that theory. He believed that the mansion held clues to where the missing paintings were hidden. So far, no one had found those clues. He hoped that Mara might be able to help them.
Mara showed the invitation to her parents, and after some discussion, they decided that they would drive to Charles City for the weekend.
Mara’s mother called Mr. Anderson and told him that they would arrive Friday afternoon.
Mara was very excited at the prospect of solving another mystery. She started packing a backpack with things that she might need at the mansion. The items included, were a notebook, pens, a magnifying glass, a measuring tape, a small tool kit, flashlight, a mini-tape recorder, and a mini-camcorder.
Mara was so preoccupied with the mystery that her mother had to remind her to pack a suitcase full of clothes for the trip, as well.
With just three days until the weekend, Mara started doing preliminary research on the case. In the evenings, after she finished her homework, she went on the internet to research Charles City, Virginia as well as the Marshall family. She printed out all of the information, and put it in her backpack.
Friday afternoon finally arrived. After Mara got home from school, she and her parents started on their trip to Charles City. During the four-hour drive, Mara carefully read all of the information she had collected for the case, and then she reread it two more times.
By seven p.m., they had arrived at their destination, and checked into a bed & breakfast inn that Mr. Anderson had reserved for them. All of their expenses were paid by the Museum/historical society.
After a traditional Virginia style dinner of baked ham and all of the fixings, Mara and her parents retired to their bedrooms for the rest of the evening.
On Saturday morning, Mara was up before the sun had risen. She could not sleep for another minute. She was just too excited. She waited until 6:30 am before she dared to wake her parents.
After a quick breakfast, they drove over to the Marshall Mansion Museum. When they arrived, they met Mr. Anderson, the curator of the museum, along with six other members of the historical society and a few of the museum staff.
After introductions, Mara and her parents were taken on a tour of the mansion and the property. At the end of the tour, they were taken to the curator’s office, where Mara found the items that she had requested.
On a desk were the original blueprints of the mansion, several books about the Marshall family and some old photos which showed the inside and outside of the mansion, taken over the last one hundred years or so. After Mara sifted though the items, she asked the curator for some privacy while she did her investigation.
The first thing Mara did was to walk slowly around the property. She looked for anything that might seem out of place. Next, she carefully examined the outside walls of the mansion, which were made out of brick and stone.
When Mara had finished with her outside investigation, she proceeded inside the mansion to continue her search.
She started in the attic, looking for hidden doors, or loose boards. She found nothing.
She then went from room to room, from the second floor to the first floor, and then into the small wine cellar under the kitchen, thoroughly looking for anything out of the ordinary. Mara came up empty handed.
All of the rooms had polished hard wood floors, except for a large room on the first floor. It was in the center of the house and was used as a ballroom in the mansion’s earlier days. The room was covered with a very large Persian rug, which had seen better days.
According to the original blueprints, the room was twenty-five feet by thirty feet and had a ten-foot ceiling.
The room had no windows and had two doors leading into it.
The room was completely bare, as the museum staff had not yet furnished it.
Mara asked her father to help her measure the size of all the rooms. Mara wrote down all of the measurements in her notebook.
There was something odd about the room, but Mara could not put her finger on what it was. As she slowly scanned the room, Mara saw something out of the corner of her eye. In one end of the room, she saw the faint outline of a six by six foot square impression in the Persian rug. She took off her shoes and slowly walked over to the corner of the room. With her bare feet, she detected a slight rise in the corner of the floor, where she had seen the square outline.
Mara asked her father if he would please go find the curator, as well as the rest of the staff of the museum. When everyone was assembled, Mara asked Mr. Anderson if she could pull back a corner of the rug.
After she got permission, Mara slowly pulled back the rug where the floor seemed to be a little higher than the rest of the room. Mara noticed that a ten-inch section of the rug was folded under, and was taped underneath the rug on all sides of the room.
After Mara had rolled the carpet back six feet or so, she found what she was looking for. There was a separate section of flooring about six feet by six feet square.
From her backpack, Mara took out a screwdriver and carefully pried up one corner of the piece of flooring.
When she had lifted it up about four inches, a few members of the staff lifted the piece of wood off the floor, revealing a dark room beneath.
Mara took out her flashlight and shined it down into the room. What she saw surprised herself, as well as everyone else in the room.
There, in front of them, they saw a set of stairs leading down into a secret basement. Mara tested the stairs and since they seemed solid, she started down the steps, followed by her parents and the staff of the museum. One staff member brought down two battery-operated lanterns, which lit up the entire underground room. The room was three times the size of the ballroom above it, as it was as big as the entire first floor.
The room was filled with antique furniture from different eras, dating back to the mid 1600’s, as well as several old trunks. Inside the trunks were items from the 1600’s, 1700’s and 1800’s and even a few things from the early 1900’s.
There were sets of china and porcelain dishes, silver serving sets, crystal, and lots of well-preserved clothing spanning three centuries.
There were trunks filled with old books, family bibles, old magazines and newspapers. One large trunk was filled with old historical photos of the state of Virginia, Charles City, and the Marshall family dating back to the 1860’s. There were several old clocks, watches and assorted timepieces dating back to the late 1600’s.
All of the antique furniture was in excellent condition and dated from the 1600’s through the early 1900’s. In one corner of the room, Mara found a strongbox filled with silver and gold coins.
One of the museum staff gave Mara a big hug and thanked her for finding the secret room. “We can use this furniture to furnish this house as it may have looked over the past three hundred years. This discovery is absolutely priceless.”
Mara noticed that Mr. Anderson, the curator seemed to be searching for something specific. She asked him what he was looking for. He told Mara that he was looking for paintings. “The Marshall family supposedly had invested a lot of money in artwork over the past few hundred years, but no one recalls the family ever selling the collection. I thought that the paintings would be in this room, but I don’t see any.”
Mara started thinking and after a few minutes, she told the curator that she had to check something, and then she would get back to him.
Mara went back up the stairs to the ballroom and started going through her notebook and all of the notes that she had jotted down. She then looked at the original blueprints and suddenly, an idea came to her.
Mara started going through the old photos of the house. When she got to a few photos of the ballroom, she took out her magnifying glass and looked closely at the photos. Then, she looked at the bottom of the rug, where part of the rug had been taped under.
Mara stood up and started tapping the walls. From the sound she heard, Mara knew that she had solved the mystery of the lost paintings.
She started yelling for Mr. Anderson to come back up the stairs to the ballroom. Everybody climbed the stairs back into the ballroom, to see what the excitement was all about.
Mara was standing there with a big grin on her face. She could barely talk. “Mr. Anderson” she said, “I believe that I know where the missing paintings are.”
When everybody quieted down, Mara carefully began explaining her theory. “When I pulled the Persian rug back, to reveal the hidden room, I noticed that a ten inch strip of the rug had been taped back around all sides. At first, I thought that when the rug was originally purchased, they found that it was too large, and rather than cut it down to fit the room, they decided to fold the edges underneath, so that the rug would fit the room. However, when I looked closely at the old photos of the ballroom, I noticed that this was the same rug in the photos, but in the old photos, I could see the border of the rug.’
“My father and I measured all of the rooms in the house, because I was looking for a secret room on one of the main floors. When I compared the measurements that we took of this room, with the original blueprints, I found that this room had shrunk twenty inches in width and 20 inches in length, which explains why the edges of the rug were folded underneath.”
“Now, since rooms can’t shrink, at least not that much. Somebody would have had to make the room smaller on purpose. If you look closely at the paneling on these walls, you will see tiny screws holding the paneling on to the walls.”
Mara was getting very excited and had to stop for a moment, to catch her breath, before continuing. “I believe that the last occupant of this house, the last surviving member of the Marshall family, John Marshall, became paranoid, and was fearful that he would be robbed.”
“I also believe that he put up false walls to cover up the original walls where the paintings are still hanging. If I may have some tools, I’d like to prove my theory.”
Mr. Anderson had a staff member bring a power driven screwdriver, and handed it to Mara.
After Mara had taken out all of the screws she could reach, Mr. Anderson got on a ladder and removed the remaining screws. Other members of the staff held the sheet of paneling in place.
When the last screw was removed, Mara and Mr. Anderson removed the sheet of paneling to reveal a two by four-frame wall sitting several inches in front of the true wall.
There, hanging on the true wall, from ceiling to floor, and wall to wall were several paintings, just as Mara had predicted. The false wall framing was screwed into the floor and to the ceiling.
Mr. Anderson looked like he was going to faint. Mara quickly got a chair for him to sit in, while someone got him a glass of water. Everybody started applauding Mara’s discovery.
As the staff began to disassemble all four fake walls, Mara checked over her notes, and the blue prints and told Mr. Anderson that she believed that there were two more false walls in the dining room, two false walls in the parlor, and in two other rooms on the first floor as well.
When all of the false walls had been taken down in the five rooms, the staff discovered there were more than two hundred fifty paintings. The paintings had been hung floor to ceiling, and wall-to-wall, so that they could all be hidden in those five rooms.
Mr. Anderson phoned a friend of his in New York, who was an art expert at the Metropolitan Art Museum in New York City. Mr. Anderson invited her to Charles City, Virginia, to look at some paintings, giving her very few details of the discovery.
When Dr. Garvey arrived that afternoon, she was led into the ballroom. She was speechless, when she saw all of the paintings. She spent the next several hours examining the collection. She made many notes and consulted several art books that she had brought with her.
By eight o’clock that evening, Dr. Garvey gathered everyone together. She asked Mara if she would like to guess the value of the art collection she had uncovered. Mara guessed ten million dollars. Dr, Garvey just smiled and addressed everyone in the room. “This art collection is the biggest discovery of this century, or any century for that matter.”
“All of these paintings appear to be originals. The oldest ones date back to the late 1400’s and even the newest ones are at least eighty years old.”
“Most of these paintings were painted by the greatest artists of history, the Masters of the art world, including Michelangelo, Raphael, Van Dyke, Rubens, Van Gough, Renoir, Rembrandt, Goya and Velasquez, to name just a few. There are even a few of Pablo Picasso’s paintings”.
“Most of these paintings were unknown works of these famous artists, and were probably done early in their careers. “
“The value of this collection is priceless. If I had to place a monetary value on the entire collection, I would guess well in to the hundreds of millions of dollars, possibly over one billion dollars.” Now, Mara needed to sit down, as her legs were starting to get a little wobbly.
Mr. Anderson swore everybody to secrecy, including Dr. Garvey, until a decision was reached concerning the art collection.
He gave Mara a big hug and thanked her for finding the paintings, as well as the room full of antiques.
Mara was feeling very proud of herself for helping the museum to find the lost treasures. She and her parents returned home and they kept their word. They did not tell a soul about the paintings.
About a week later, Mara and her parents were watching a movie on television when it was interrupted by special news report telling of the discovery of more than two hundred and fifty previously unknown paintings that were painted by the greatest artists of history.
The newscaster reported that the collection was discovered in the small town of Charles City, Virginia. He added that the Marshall Art Museum would be holding a private showing of the paintings that weekend. The museum would then be open the following week for the public to see the priceless collection.
The next day, Mara got a phone call from Mr. Anderson, inviting her and her parents to be his special guests for the private showing.
The three of them arrived at the museum the day before the private showing open house. Mr. Anderson took them on a personal tour of the Marshall Mansion Art Museum. The paintings were hanging throughout the museum, in all of the rooms throughout the mansion.
Mara also noticed that the artifacts and antiques from the basement had been distributed throughout the mansion as well, portraying the 1700,s, 1800,s and 1900’s.
The mansion looked like it would have looked in the past three centuries.
“This mansion looks beautiful”, said Mara. “You did a great job of arranging the antiques and paintings.”
Mr. Anderson just smiled and told her; “None of this would have possible if you hadn’t solved the mystery”.
The next afternoon, art experts from all over the world, showed up for the private viewing of the art collection. They were stunned and in awe of this magnificent discovery.
When Mara and her parents arrived at the reception, Mr. Anderson introduced them and told the guests that Mara was the girl who had discovered the paintings and solved the mystery. She received a standing ovation. Everyone wanted to meet this extraordinary girl.
The historical society and the museum wanted to give Mara a reward, but Mara refused. She suggested that instead, that the museum should not charge school groups for tours, or admission.
“You have the opportunity to encourage their creativity and help them learn to appreciate the arts,” said Mara. Mr. Anderson agreed and they shook hands to seal the deal.
One of the guests, who happened to be a millionaire philanthropist, overheard the entire conversation. He told Mara and her parents that he was so impressed by Mara’s modesty and refusal to accept a reward that he was going to set up a trust fund in Mara’s name that would pay her entire college education to include all expenses at the college of her choice. Mara thanked him and shook his hand.
As Mara and her parents returned home the next day; Mara wondered when and where she would find her next mystery to solve, or would the mystery find her. Only time would tell.
Making the Right Choice
After Mara had solved the mystery of the lost paintings, she received a lot of publicity. She became quite famous for a ten-year-old child.
Her Mom started a scrapbook of all the newspaper and magazine articles from around the country. Their phone was constantly ringing, with requests to do interviews.
Mara had appeared on the Oprah Show, the Tonight Show, and David Letterman show, as well as several radio shows. Mara could hardly go out in public without somebody recognizing her.
Mara’s parents decided after six months of the madness to take Mara on a vacation away from the pressure and the publicity.
They arranged to take some time off from work and take Mara to Disney World for the last week of July.
Mara was thrilled when she heard the news. She thought that it would be cool to celebrate her eleventh birthday while in Disney World. Moreover, she had never been to Florida before.
When they arrived at Disney World, Mara’s mother told the woman at the guest relations office their names and the three of them were escorted to the main office.
Mara’s parents had arranged a few surprises for her special day. Mara was greeted by Mickey and Minnie Mouse and after having her photo taken with them; Mara was informed that she would get to ride with Mickey and Minnie in the parade that evening as the guest of honor.
All day long, Mara had little surprises wherever she went. It was the best birthday ever.
She ate lunch with the Disney characters, and that evening, she ate dinner with all of the Disney princesses and got to sit next to Prince Charming. They even had a birthday cake shaped like Mickey Mouse.
Later that evening when it was time for the parade, Mara was escorted to the lead float, where she stood between Mickey and Minnie. As the parade started, hundreds of people lined the streets, all of them waving at Mickey, Minnie, and Mara. Mara was having a blast waving back at everyone. She had never been so excited in her life.
After the parade was over, Mara and her parents watched the fireworks and then they headed back to their hotel. Mara thanked her parents for her best birthday ever.
Over the next four days, Mara and her parents visited many other attractions in Orlando. On the evening of their fifth day in Orlando, Mara was watching the news with her parents and she saw something that got her more excited than Disney World.
Her two favorite actors of all time, Jason and Ryan Davis, who played “Nick and Chase Stevens” on the TV show, “Wish upon a Star” were going to be at an Orlando Mall the following morning signing autographs for their fans.
Mara loved the show. Jason and Ryan starred as twin brothers with magical powers. They had the ability to hear the wishes of children, and they also had the power to grant those wishes that were pure, and unselfish.
When Mara heard that news, she got so excited that she could not speak. When she did get her voice back, she begged her parents to let her go see them and get their autographs. Her parents agreed to take her there the next morning. They knew that Mara was obsessed with the Davis twins. Her bedroom had posters of them covering all four walls. She also had dozens of magazines with pictures and articles about them. Mara could possibly be their biggest fan.
When they told Mara that she could go, Mara’s parents did not realize what they were getting themselves into.
Jason and Ryan were scheduled to begin signing autographs at 8 A.M. Mara wanted to be the first one in line to see them. She convinced her parents to go to the mall at 4 A.M. and start waiting in line.
Mara’s parents waited with her until 6:30 in the morning. By that time, there were several other kids in line, as well as several parents. They left Mara in line, and then they went to their van to take a nap.
By 7am, there were over 500 children and parents in line to see Jason and Ryan. Mara was very excited. She was just an hour away from meeting her favorite television stars. She had to keep pinching herself to make sure it was not a dream.
At 7:45 A.M., Mara started getting goose bumps. She was daydreaming about Jason and Ryan when she was brought back to reality by a scream. Mara saw that an elderly woman had fallen in the parking lot, and was lying on the ground.
Mara looked around and saw that no one was moving to help the woman. She hesitated for only a few seconds. She had to make a tough decision. She could either help the woman or stay at the front of the line.
In her heart, Mara knew the right thing to do. She left the line and ran to where the woman had fallen. When she reached her, she saw that the woman was about eighty years old. The woman was in a lot of pain. She told Mara that her hip hurt a lot.
Mara yelled to the adults waiting in line, that she needed help, but no one budged. They did not want to lose their place in line. “Could someone at least call 911?” Mara yelled angrily.
As soon as Mara saw someone making the call, she turned her attention back to the injured woman. Mara took off her jacket, rolled it up and placed it under the woman’s head. She started talking to the woman to take her mind off her pain.
Mara was holding the woman’s hand, as she looked over toward the mall. She saw that the doors had opened and the line of the kids and their parents was entering the mall to see Jason and Ryan.
After talking with the woman, Mara found out that, her name was Mrs. Carter and that she was eighty-three years old. She lived in a small house with her two cats. She had two grown children, and five grandchildren, but they lived in New York and California. Mara was keeping the woman calm by talking to her about her cats and her grandchildren.
About forty-five minutes later, the ambulance finally arrived. Mrs. Carter asked Mara if she would stay with her until the ambulance took her to the hospital. Mara told her that she would stay as long as the woman wanted her to.
The siren of the ambulance had awakened Mara’s parents and they went into the mall to find their daughter.
When the ambulance finally left, Mara looked at her watch. It was past 9 o’clock. She figured that Jason and Ryan might still be signing autographs, so she headed toward the mall and went to the back of the line.
About ten minutes later, two security guards closed the line and told the rest of the kids waiting that if they would leave their names and addresses, a photo of Jason and Ryan would be mailed to them.
Mara wrote down the info, and then sadly walked back to the van. When she did not find her parents, she started back to the mall, to find them. She had walked half way back to the mall when she saw her parents coming out the door. Mara ran to them. Mara wanted to cry, but she fought back the tears.
“Were they as cute in person?” asked her mom. “What did you say to them?”
“I didn’t get to see them,” said Mara.
“But, you were the first person in line. What happened?” asked her dad. None of them noticed a news crew filming them off in the distance.
Mara explained about the elderly woman who had fallen in the parking lot and had broken her hip. “I had to choose between meeting Jason and Ryan and helping the lady,” said Mara. “I chose to help the woman. I stayed with her until the ambulance took her to the hospital. By that time, Jason and Ryan had left the mall.”
“Well, we are very proud of you,” said her mother. “You had a difficult decision to make and you made the right choice.”
Mara was getting a little angry by now. “There were several grownups in that line, but not one of them would leave the line to help that lady. I had to beg them to call 911 for an ambulance,” said Mara.
Then, Mara asked her mom, “Can we stop by the hospital to see how she is doing?” Her mom told her they could make a quick stop, but then they had to get back to the hotel and start packing. They had a 2 P.M. flight back to Baltimore.
Mara’s dad put his arm around her and said, “I’m sorry that you missed Jason and Ryan after waiting in line for four hours. Sometimes life isn’t fair, is it?” It became more that Mara could take. She started crying as her dad held her in his arms.
By that time, the news crew had gotten closer and had filmed everything that Mara and her parents had said.
When Mara saw the news team, she yelled, “Get that camera away from me.” and ran towards the van. Mara’s parents told the news team to back off and they followed Mara to their car.
When they got to the hospital, Mara asked a nurse in the emergency room if she could see Mrs. Carter. The nurse had taken care of Mrs. Carter, and knew how Mara had helped her. She took Mara and her parents to see the woman.
Mrs. Carter had been given some medicine for her pain and was getting ready for surgery. When Mara walked into the room, Mrs. Carter’s eyes lit up and she said, “There’s my guardian angel. Bless you my child, for helping me and staying with me.”
After Mara’s parents introduced themselves, Mrs. Carter told them, “You have a sweet and caring daughter. Treasure her always.”
The news crew had snuck a hidden camera into the hospital and had filmed the entire meeting between Mara and Mrs. Carter.
After Mara and her parents said goodbye to Mrs. Carter, Mara and Mrs. Carter hugged. When Mara and her parents left, the news team interviewed Mrs. Carter and got the rest of the story.
The news story was the feature story on the 6 o’clock news that evening. The newscast was replayed several more times over the next day or two. Mara and her parents never saw it, because they flew back to Maryland that afternoon. However, many people did see it, including two certain people, who decided to pay Mara a visit in Baltimore.
Two days later, Mara was beginning to feel a little bit better, but she was still quite sad. When the doorbell rang, Mara answered the door. She could not believe her eyes. There, not two feet away from her, were her favorite celebrities, Jason and Ryan Davis.
Mara just stood there and could not say anything. Mara’s mom had to move her aside so that she could invite Jason and Ryan into the house.
When Mara finally regained her ability to speak, she asked them, “What are you doing here?”
“Well,” said Ryan, We saw a news story about how you waited for over four hours just to get our autographs.
That has to make you our biggest fan.”
“Then,” Jason added, “When you gave up your chance to see us, to help that elderly lady in the parking lot, we almost cried. You did what Ryan or I would have done, which makes us your biggest fans.”