The 100-Year-Old Secret by Tracy Barrett Page B

against the wall, a tall wardrobe with double doors.
    Xander pulled a bandanna from his pocket and blew his nose. The place smelled like it hadn't been dusted in a century.
    Xena opened the wardrobe door and looked in, half expecting to see Girl in a Purple Hat frowning at her from the top shelf.
    â€œNo painting,” she said. “No Narnia either,” she added.
    She turned to see Xander shoving himself underneath the mattress on the bed. He pulled back, his brown curls jutting out in every direction. “Nothing,” he said, and Xena laughed as he sneezed. “Hey, it was worth a shot,” he said. “But the only thing under there is a collection of old comic books.” He blew his nose again.
    â€œThis is ridiculous,” Xena said. “The painting has been hidden for more than a hundred years. It wouldn't be anywhere out in the open.” She surveyed the room, her hands on her hips. On the desk was a small family photo. No paintings.
    â€œMaybe it's behind a wall,” she mused. “That's the only way it could have stayed hidden this long.”
    Xander's eyes turned to the wood paneling. “I bet it wouldn't be hard to pry one of those pieces of wood out and slide something like a painting behind it.”
    But Xena was rummaging around in the backpack. “Aha!” she said, pulling out a small object enclosed in shrink-wrap.
    â€œWhat's that?” Xander asked as she worked the plastic off.
    â€œRemember when Dad was hanging that wall cabinet in the dining room back home?” she asked. “He said it was so heavy that screws would pull out of the plaster, so he had to find those pieces of wood in the wall, those supports—what do you call them?”
    â€œStuds,” Xander said and kicked the wall.
    â€œCut that out,” Xena said. “Someone will hear you. Anyway, he knocked with his knuckles so he could hear where they were but he couldn't tellso he got a little machine that could tell where the supports were. Well, tada!” She held up the object, now freed from its wrapping. “We have one! This is one of the gadgets from Mom's company. It's like a stud-finder, but instead it locates metal. It's supposed to be extremely sensitive.”
    â€œSo?”
    Honestly, sometimes Xander could be so dense!
    â€œDon't you see? The only place left to look is behind a wall, and we can't just go and tear down the whole thing.”
    â€œSister dear,” Xander said with deep sarcasm in his voice. “I think you've forgotten something. This is a painting we're looking for, not a nail. Paint. Wood. No metal.”
    â€œBrother dear,” Xena answered, her tone matching his. “Think about the paintings we saw at the gallery. Remember the frames, the ones you thought were so cool? Gold frames. Hung with thick metal wires. Metal all over them.”
    Maybe she was right. He didn't know if a metal detector could find gold, but those wires were the kind of thing they could locate.
    â€œWell, okay. But how does that help?” Xander asked. “We can't tear the room up. That would be vandalism.”
    â€œI know,” Xena said. “But if it's behind the wall and we find out exactly where it is, we can take off just one panel. I'm sure that would be okay.”
    â€œNo way,” Xander said, but it was too late. Xena was holding the stud-finder up to the wall. “Oh, shoot !” she said, and the look of frustration on her face would have made Xander laugh if he hadn't been so worried about getting caught.
    â€œWhat is it?”
    â€œI didn't know it needed batteries!”
    Silently, Xander opened his own backpack and pulled out his portable CD player.
    Xena snatched it and pried open the battery case. “You're not supposed to have that at school,” she said.
    â€œI know.” Xander was watching her insert the batteries into the stud-finder. “I forgot I had it. If Dad would just let me download tunes