The Hayloft. A 1950s Mystery

three-ring binder to a sheet of ruled, notebook paper, like the kind we used in school. It was written on in pencil, and I got a quick look at a drawing that might be a map. Then Ed quickly turned the page so that we could only see the back of the sheet, which was blank.
    Ed said, “After Ralph died, Cousin Dorothy asked me to go through his possessions and see if there was anything I wanted. I took some books, an archery set, and a few other things. I took this binder, because I thought it might contain some notes from his classes that I could use. Later, when I went through it, I discovered this.”
    “What does it say,” Kate asked, breathlessly. “I couldn’t read it.”
    “I’ll tell you what it says. It refers to the necklace by the letter N. It says it’s in a blue box hidden in the northwest corner of the hayloft. And there’s a map. That corner is currently inaccessible because of the hay bales.”
    “So he hid it when the bales weren’t there,” Kate said.
    “The bales were put in last fall,” I said. “A year ago.”
    “So he did it before that.”
    Ed said, “I assume he found a hole in the corner of the hayloft to hide the box in, so that the farmer wouldn’t find it. I found some cracks along other parts of the wall that might be big enough to hide something.”
    So that’s why he had been nosing around.
    “We won’t know until the hay bales are gone,” Kate said.
    “How do you know that N refers to the necklace?” I asked, reaching for the paper. I wanted to see the writing.
    Ed closed the notebook and said, “Sorry, but I think I should be the only one to handle it. After all, this is evidence.”
    “Evidence of what?”
    “Evidence that Ralph stole the necklace from his parents.”
    Kate gasped, and I said, “Do you really believe that? First of all, what makes you think that Aunt Dorothy ever had the necklace?”
    “What else can we believe? The rumor is that her ancestor, Thomas, brought it to America. Now we see that it must be true.”
    “We won’t know that until we can look for the necklace. Which might not be until next spring.”
    “Can’t we ask Cousin Dorothy about it?” Kate asked.
    “Not advisable,” Ed said. “If she kept it a secret this long, she wouldn’t admit to having it now. If she had hidden it somewhere else, herself, she may not even know it’s missing. And we don’t want to have to tell her that Ralph was a thief unless we can prove it. She will not take kindly to it. It is in our best interest not to say anything to anybody until we find it.”
    “What do you think Ralph was going to do with it?”
    “What else? Sell it and keep the money. He was probably just waiting until he was older and could get away with it.”
    “I don’t believe Ralph was a thief,” I said.
    “The proof of the pudding will be when we find the necklace.”
    “So why are you telling Kate and me about it?” I asked, cynically. “Why not find it and keep the money for yourself?”
    “I am shocked that you would say that,” Ed said in his best English accent. “Of course, we will split the money among the three families. I am letting you two in on it, because it is too big a burden for me to carry by myself. But for reasons already stated, I believe we should not tell the grownups.”
    “So we can’t actually look for the necklace until spring,” Kate said. She sounded disappointed.
    “Another secret to keep,” I grumbled. “I’m not promising anything.”
    “But I know you don’t want to hurt Cousin Dorothy, unnecessarily,” Ed said, soothingly.
    I was between a rock and a hard place. I grudgingly accepted the need for secrecy. Temporarily.
    “Well, if we can’t do anything more now, let’s go watch the train go by,” Kate said, regaining her good spirits. “We can walk through the woods right to the tracks.”
    The peanut track did run close by. That meant that the house they were living in was almost due west of the farm. The train went in one direction during the afternoon and then back in the other direction late at night.
    “I can’t go,” Ed said. “I have to write a story for the paper.”
    “Will you go with me, Gary?”
    It was a brisk autumn day outside, a good one for a walk in the woods. What could happen?
    “All right.”
    We put on our jackets, and Kate put a scarf over her head. We went out into the sunlight. It was good to see the sun again after the recent rain. The woods were adjacent to the lot where the house was