Lexy looked down at Caraleigh, her stomach twisting with anxiety. If by "getting rid of her" Ida meant she'd killed her, she certainly hoped not. It was true she didn't like the Caraleigh, but her dislike wasn't enough to go to jail for her death.

Nans squatted beside Caraleigh and picked up her wrist, feeling for a pulse.

"She's not dead, is she?" Lexy asked hopefully.

"No," Nans said, standing and brushing off her pants. "Just knocked out."

Lexy breathed a sigh of relief. "Good. I mean I know I pushed her kind of hard ... maybe too hard, but I don't want to go to jail for murder."

"I wouldn't say you pushed her too hard," Ruth said. "I'd say you pushed her just right."

"Huh?" Lexy turned to see Ruth pointing at where the concrete had come loose. Behind it, there should have been more concrete or dirt. But instead, Lexy saw a hollow darkness indicating a space behind the wall.

"Is that what I think it is?" Nans asked.

"It looks like a space," Ruth answered.

"Maybe another room," Ida said.

"Or another tunnel and a way out," Lexy suggested.

The ladies reached into their purses and dug out their Swiss army knives and nail files, then shoved Caraleigh's unconscious body out of the way and got to work on the concrete. When the hole was big enough to look through, Nans jumped up on the empty cart that had been left in the room and shoved her flashlight into the dark hole.

"It's more tunnels!"

She hopped back down and the ladies attacked the wall with renewed vigor. Lexy spotted a thick board in the corner and helped hasten the pace by using it to bang on the wall, thus causing more cracks in the old concrete.

After almost an hour of furious work, the hole was big enough for them to walk through.

"Let's go!" Ida grabbed her purse and scurried through the hole.

"What about her?" Nans pointed to Caraleigh.

"Let's just leave her," Ruth said. "She was going to shoot us and leave us here."

Nans gave Ruth the look. "We can't just leave her. The water is rising and she'll drown. We'll have to take her with us."

"How are we going to do that?" Ida's brows knit together. "Carry her?"

Nans sighed and looked around, her eyes coming to rest on the empty cart.

"We'll wheel her on the cart!" Nans said. "Helen, get out your duct tape. We'll tie her up and tape her to the cart. That way she can't cause trouble when she wakes up and we'll be able to deliver her to the police."

"That's a great idea," Helen said, digging in her purse. "We'll have solved the mystery of the skull, recovered the money stolen in the bank robbery and be handing over a criminal."

"That should get us a write-up in the Police Gazette for sure," Ruth said as the ladies got busy securing Caraleigh's wrists and ankles before loading her onto the cart.

"Okay, now help me get this cart out into the tunnel." Lexy lifted one end of the cart. Ruth and Helen lifted the other and they climbed over the pile of crumbled concrete, lowering the cart to the ground on the other side of the tunnel wall.

"The floor here is pretty dry. I guess the water hasn't made it this far," Lexy said.

Nans aimed the beam of her flashlight down one tunnel and then the other. There was nothing to indicate where they were or which way they should go.

"So which way do we go?" Ida asked.

Lexy felt a chill run up her spine. She could hear running water near them. How much time did they have before the tunnels filled up?

"I'm not sure," Lexy said. "But we better pick one and move forward quickly while we still have the chance."

Chapter Eighteen.

"This direction is parallel to the offshoot tunnel we found the money room in," Nans said pointing straight ahead of her. "So if we go this way, I think it might intersect with the main tunnel."

"Sounds good to me," Lexy said.

They started in that direction with Lexy bringing up the rear, tugging the cart with Caraleigh strapped on it.

A few minutes later, they were at the intersection. Lexy looked at the larger tunnel, a shiver running up her spine as she noticed the water level had increased to about an inch deep.

"This must be the main tunnel." Nans aimed the beam of her flashlight to the right and then to the left.

"You mean the same one we walked down to get here?" Ruth asked.

Nans nodded.

"So, if we go to the left, we'll pass the intersection where we found the room with the money?" Ida shaded her eyes and squinted to the left as if that would help her see further into the darkness.

"Right," Nans answered. "And to the right takes us further downtown."

Helen stood in the opening, looking first right, then left. "I vote we go back the way we came. Then we can escape out the doorway in Lexy's basement."

Ruth nodded. "I agree. It's the only sure thing."

"Well, it's not really a sure thing," Lexy said. "Victor might have locked the door behind him and if he put that plank back in, we'll never get through it."

Ida's forehead creased. "But why would he do that? He thinks we're locked up in the money room. He'd have no reason to take that precaution. I vote we check it out."

"That does seem like the most logical course of action. The only other way out is the manhole cover in the center of town, and we have no idea which sewer route to take to get there." Nans turned, shining her flashlight on the group. "Are we all in?"

Lexy and the others murmured their agreement. Even Caraleigh let out a shallow groan from the cart.

As they turned to the left and sloshed into the tunnel, Lexy felt her heart squeezing in her chest. She wondered how fast the water would rise and what would happen if they got to the entryway into her basement and found the door locked. Would the water be so high by then it would block off any other route to an exit? The manhole cover in the center of town was the only other way out and, even if they could figure out how to get there, they wouldn't be able to open the cover.

"Oh look, here's the lipstick mark I made!" Helen aimed the beam of her flashlight toward the side of the tunnel where a bright red arrow marked the intersection with the tunnel they'd taken earlier.

"Good, then we are on the right trail." Nans' voice was edged with excitement. She picked up the pace, leading them further into the tunnel. Lexy trailed along, the last one in line.

She glanced back at the cart where Caraleigh lay, still out like a light.

Must be nice, she thought. The cart seemed to grow heavier with each step and her shoulder burned from the strain. If she wasn't faced with drowning in the cold water that was getting deeper by the minute, she might have laughed at the irony-here she was sweating it out while Caraleigh lay on the cart sleeping blissfully as Lexy pulled her to safety.

After a few minutes, Nans slowed down, shining her light on the side of the tunnel, looking for the connector that led to Lexy's basement.

"It should be around here somewhere ..."

Lexy switched the handle of the cart to her other hand to give her arm a break and concentrated on thinking positive thoughts as she listened to the sloshing sounds their feet made while they waded through the now ankle-deep, frigid water. Her feet were starting to feel numb and heavy, like they did at the beach when the ocean temperature was in the 50s-except she suspected this water was much colder. Her heart pinched as she thought of Nans and the others-they were much older than she was, how much of this could they take?

"There it is!" Ruth pointed to something up ahead. They sloshed up to the opening and turned into the tunnel.

The short tunnel angled uphill so, thankfully, the water level dropped off quickly. Lexy now realized the buildings had been built higher than the sewer with the access tunnels, so any flooding wouldn't reach into the basement. Of course, the uphill angle made the cart even heavier, but Lexy navigated it with a burst of energy-a few more seconds and they'd be free!

Or trapped.

Nans' flashlight cast sinister shadows on the wooden door ... it was closed.

"It might not be locked," Ruth ventured.

"Right." Lexy dropped the handle of the cart and she and Nans pushed against the door.

"It opens inward, so pushing should work." Nans' voice held a tremor of uncertainty. "Maybe it's just stuck."

"Back up," Lexy commanded. She took several steps backwards then launched herself at the door, butting into it forcefully with the side of her body.

Pain exploded in her shoulder as it met the unyielding mass of the door with a dull thud. She backed up and tried again.

Did she feel the door budge just a little?

She tried again.

And again.

But the door didn't open. It was locked, probably secured with the thick piece of wood they'd removed when they opened it. Victor had covered all his bases, Lexy thought as she gave in to the sinking feeling they were trapped inside the sewer with nowhere to go.

"It's no use," she said, her voice cracking. Tears stung the backs of her eyes. She turned to Nans. "We're trapped."

"Nonsense!" Nans said. "The Ladies Detective Club does not admit defeat. There has to be another way!"

Lexy felt drained from the exertion of ramming the door. Her heartbeat drummed in her ears keeping time with her pounding headache.

"I hope there is another way," she said, massaging her temple. "Too bad I can't think with this pounding going on in my head."

"Wait a minute." Nans tilted her head. "You hear that too?"

"Yeah. You mean it's not just my head aching?"

"No, I hear it too," Ruth said.

"And me," Ida added.

Nans cocked her ear toward the main tunnel and her face lit up.

"I think I know how we can get out of here!"

Chapter Nineteen.

Nans ran back into the main tunnel, the water splashing over her sensible old-lady shoes. Ruth, Ida and Helen followed with Lexy and the cart bringing up the rear.

"Mona, wait up!" Ida yelled after Nans as she waded into the tunnel.

"Can't! We have to hurry!" Nans shot back over her shoulder.

"At least tell us where we're going," Ruth said.

"Do you hear that drumbeat?" Nans asked.

"Yeees." Ida drew out the word.

"Well, that's not a migraine starting ... it's the drums from the rehearsal parade," Nans said. "You know-when they do a practice run of the entire route to make sure everything will go off without a hitch during the real parade tomorrow?"

"Yeah, so?" Helen slowed down a bit, flashing her light at the sides of the tunnel.

"Yeah, so what?" Caraleigh piped up from the cart.

Nans stopped and turned to look at them.

"Don't you guys know what that means?" she asked in an exasperated tone.

"No," Caraleigh said meekly.

"If we can follow the sounds of the parade, it will lead us straight to the center of town ..." Nans' voice drifted off as she cocked her ear toward the ceiling, apparently listening for the parade.

"And right to the manhole cover!" Ruth added.

"I think we are on the right track to head downtown, because we're passing the lipstick mark I made when we went into the tunnel where we found the money room." Helen pointed to the red arrow scrawled in lipstick on the wall at the juncture of two tunnels.

"Oh, by the way." Caraleigh's voice drifted up from the cart. "Thanks for making that lipstick mark. I might never have found you or the room full of money otherwise. Although in retrospect, I might have been better off if I hadn't."