It was a sunny morning in early fall as Brenda, (aka "the Astonishing Brenda, Fortunes Told and Palms Read") walked along the sidewalk on her way to the TV studio. Her route took her past the old Carruthers Building which was being demolished. A pile of bricks and a damp section of the exterior wall were about all that was left of the old building and of her small office. Brenda had a lot of good memories about her time at Carruthers, and often came to see how the demolition was progressing. She was a star now, with her own television show, "Meet Your Departed Relatives," and though she enjoyed reuniting her television guests with their lost loved ones, sometimes Brenda missed the old days at the Carruthers Building. "We had a lot of fun," she said to herself, "I can remember when Dawn was rocking on her desk chair and she flew back and punched a hole in the broom closet wall. Her arm came through into my office and scared the heck out of me. Or how about in winter when the radiators would steam up the rooms and it was like working in a sauna?" She put a bowl of Kitty Crunchies down on the pavement and waited. A sleek black cat appeared almost from nowhere and looked at her. Then he sidled up to her and rubbed himself against her leg.

"Hey, Coal-Face!" said Brenda, scratching him on the forehead. "Long time no see." Coal-Face purred a greeting. "I guess you miss the old Carruthers Building, too." The residents of the Carruthers Building had adopted Coal-Face and would give him scraps from their sometimes meager lunches. Coal-Face had been hard pressed to keep the rodent invasion in check at the building and had gained hero status as a result of his endeavours. When it seemed certain that the building would be demolished, Brenda arranged for Coal-Face to be adopted by a local family. They gave him a lot of love and had changed his name to Percival Wolfgang Midnight von Katt, but it was clear that Coal-Face occasionally returned to his old haunts and habits and the occasional snack from one of his old friends.

"Just wait, Coal-Face, or Percival - I keep forgetting your new name," Brenda told him. "The city is going to build a playground and a nice new library here on the Carruthers site. You will have lots of kids to play with soon." She sat down on the pile of bricks and watched Coal-Face as he nibbled delicately at his Kitty Crunchies.

A yellow city utility truck drove up the street and parked at the sidewalk. A willowy redhaired young Twinn in work clothes and toolbelt jumped out of the truck and walked towards her. "Hello," she said to the other Twinn. Nowadays when she met people, they usually recognized her from her television show and either wanted her autograph or wanted to know how to get on the show or how their late lamented Aunt was doing and where were her missing millions?

However, the city worker said something very unexpected. "Hullo, I am sorry, this is going to be private property soon," she warned. "You could be arrested for trespassing."

"Sorry," said Brenda. "My office used to be in this building before they started tearing it down. I am "The Astonishing Brenda, Palms Read and Fortunes Told"".
"Oh, I recall reading about you in the TV guide. I’m Sarah Willow." The two girls shook hands. "My family used to work for the guy that originally had the building put up, and now I am helping to tear it down. What a wreck it became. I’m surprised you could stand to work there, even reading palms and telling fortunes."
"It wasn’t all that bad, There were some very interesting spirits in it." said Brenda. "But it will be nice when the new playground and library are built."
Sarah Willow laughed and sat down on the bricks next to Brenda. "Playground and library? Are you kidding? The city is selling this property to Alberta Moore of Moore’s Motors, you know the people who have the used car lots all over town?" She gestured with her hammer in imitation of Alberta, who was well known for her singing television commercials, "They’re clean, they’re cheap, they’re oh so neat - a Moore used car is hard to beat!"

"Oh good grief," said Brenda. "I think Alberta Moore must be as bad as Madame Hi Heel was. Whatever happened to the library plans?"
Sarah pointed to a sign slung alongside her truck, "Coming Soon: The Carruthers Car Lot. Bargains Galore, courtesy of Moore Motors, Alberta Moore, CEO." was written on it. Alberta made sure that her name was on every sign on every lot in the entire city.

"Cuts in funding," explained Sarah Willow. "They barely pay us enough to get by. The city can’t afford expensive libraries and playgrounds."
"Kids can’t play in a used car lot. And I know a lot of the neighbors are tired of having to go halfway across town to get books." Exasperated, Brenda sighed. "I am going to have to talk to my friends about this. Maybe there is something we can do."

"Don’t count on it. And you’d better get that pussycat out of here. Alberta hates cats and kids and everybody else. She is a poodle person, and she is very allergic to feline dander." Sarah Willow and Brenda stood up and shook hands, "It was nice to meet you Brenda, I guess we can’t sit around chatting, much as I’d like to. I wish you could do something about getting the library back, but I don’t think there’s much hope."

"There’s always hope," said Brenda, firmly. "When you’ve told as many fortunes as I have, you start to realize that. It was nice to meet you, too, Sarah Willow. Maybe we will see each other again sometime."

"I’ll look you up if I ever need my palm read or to find out where my Grandmother left her secrets". She scribbled her telephone number on a scrap of paper, "give me a call if you need any help fighting this used car lot, I hate the idea as much as you do." Sarah clambered up onto the bricks again and propped the sign up against the wall. Coal-Face didn't seem impressed and he darted away in the direction of his new home. She swiftly secured the sign on the wall then climbed down, bid her goodbyes to Brenda and drove away.

"This is not a happy turn of events," said Brenda to herself. "A used car lot." She saw a small shiney object sticking out of the ground where Sarah had put up the sign and went to see what it was. Brenda pulled it out and brushed off the dirt.

"Wow, a key," she said. "At least I think it’s a key. I’ve never seen one like it." Brenda thought back to the keys to the doors of the Carruthers building; they were almost as unreliable as the lift, and most of the occupants could open each other’s door with the same keys. This key was very long with an unusual shape at the end. "I will have to ask Caitlyn about this."

Later that day, Brenda was heading down the hall of the television station to the studio where her show was filmed. She was anticipating a ghostly visit from the spirit of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. "I just hope he doesn’t start reciting ‘Hiawatha’," Brenda was saying to herself when she noticed a commotion in the hallway. By a remarkable coincidence she recognized Alberta Moore "Call me Al", the very woman who was going to buy up the land where the Carruthers building used to stand. Alberta was dressed in some sort of old fashioned pioneer outfit, and she was accompanied by one of the girls who did make-up.

"I am NOT going to sing this time," Alberta was insisting. "And I don’t see why I have to wear this stupid costume. I wanted to wear my red satin dress and my mink."
A harassed looking woman who seemed to be figuring out the dialogue for a commercial came hurrying down the passage, "Al, you will be in a covered wagon for the commercial and you need to be wearing a prairie dress. You don’t have to sing. You just say your lines, ‘For traveling around town or heading out west, a car from Moore Motors is the very best!"
"Oh, that is SO lame," said Alberta in a whiny voice.
"But you made it up yourself," insisted the other woman who was her PA.

"Would you hold still, Ms. Moore, you have a shiny spot on your nose," said the makeup girl.

"Well, when I made it up I was thinking of going out west to Hollywood. Not going out in a buckboard," Alberta snapped back, but then she noticed Brenda watching her. "Well, hello," she said in a sugary sweet voice. "Who do we have here? have you ever been on TV?"

Brenda was in no mood to meet up with Alberta at this moment, "I have my own show" she said.

"In that case, could I interest you in a slightly used limo? or a German sedan? A TV star needs the right wheels. You know what they say? "Whether you are rich or poor, Alberta has a car that you'll adore!"

Brenda didn't want to prolong this encounter any longer, "No thanks, I prefer my bike. I must go, I have to be at makeup. Nice to meet you."

A hazy mist drifted into Brenda’s bedroom and an image of a ghostly Twinn appeared on the wall. Brenda was used to this happening and didn’t feel panic or dread. "Greetings Spirit, who are you?" she asked, calmly.

The apparition did not give a name. "Look for the key in the kist" she whispered, and then vanished as quickly as she had come.
"In the kist?" Brenda asked herself. "I’d gladly look if I knew what a kist was." She picked up the key, which was lying on her bedside table. "If it is a kist key, maybe Caitlyn can figure out what kind of kist it is. And maybe there is a registry of kists that have been sold." Brenda sighed. "It’s not likely, though."

The next morning Brenda popped her head into Caitlyn’s office on her way to the studio, but Caitlyn wasn't in. She knew that Caitlyn generally checked the ratings on Wednesday mornings with Louise at the studio so she went to Louise's office where Louise was hard at work.
"Morning Louise, sorry to interrupt" Brenda said, "have you seen Caitlyn anywhere?"
"Hi Brenda, she phoned in this morning and said she was going down to the old Carruthers place straight from home."

"Oh that's Ok, I will catch her when she gets back. How did your visit to Birdwood Prison go?"
"It's amazing Brenda, mother is still wheeling and dealing there almost as much as she did when she was outside." Louise shook her head. "I guess she will never change. It is almost embarrassing to think we are related. She is hoping you can get through to her late father. Evidently she has an important question for him."
"If it’s what to do with the Carruthers building lot, it’s too late," said Brenda, gloomily.
Just then Dawn came in with a tin of biscuits.

"Hey, everybody, look, they are selling chocolate chips down at the cafeteria!" Dawn announced excitedly. "Oh, hi, Brenda. You look upset. Have a biscuit - you’ll feel better." Dawn had great faith in the power of chocolate and biscuits. She distributed biscuits to all.
Brenda told Louise and Dawn the news about the Carruthers lot. Everyone moaned. "I wish we didn’t have to give her studio time here, but she is one of Mother’s great friends - or at least she was before Mother went to prison - and I’m stuck with her," said Louise.
Dawn paused in her nibbling, "I thought the lot was given to the city to pay some of Madame Heel's debts."
"It was, but they need funds and are selling it," said Brenda. "I was just there yesterday and saw the sign and spoke to a city employee who told me the sad story."

Just then Caitlyn came in the door, "Morning everybody, I have just come from the Carruthers lot and there has to be something we can do to stop them," She sat down and took a proffered biscuit, "Louise, how did your mother come to be the owner of the building and the lot?"
Louise laughed. "Who knows? Probably some kind of shady deal, knowing her. I can remember visiting it when I was growing up, but back then the building was always kept up very nicely and it was very elegant - certainly not the way it ended up when all of you were working there."
"When I was there yesterday I found a key," said Brenda, producing the key from her pocket. "And then last night I was visited by a spirit who said ‘Look for the key in the kist.’ Do you think it could have something to do with the lot?"
"Maybe there is a kist full of gold bricks buried on the Carruthers lot!" said Dawn excitedly.
"What is a kist anyway?" everybody asked.
"As far as I know its a kind of wooden chest that you store linen in. Almost like a hope chest." Caitlyn advised.
"Or maybe the solution to our problem. This key may have wanted itself to be found by you Bren, and the answer will emerge if you pursue it."
"Well", Caitlyn said, "as they say in the classics, "the game is afoot"." She took the key and looked at it through her magnifying glass. "It certainly is distinctive. Let me do some research and maybe I can come up with something to help." Caitlyn’s fingers flew over her computer keyboard. "Keys, keys," she mumbled. The only other sound in the room was the enthusiastic crunching of biscuits. "I don’t believe it is a mere kist key," The computer returned a few results and Caitlyn sifted through them until she found what she was looking for. "Look." She held up the key and compared it to a picture on her screen. "It is a key for a special document case which was manufactured by the Bernetta Company. They are extremely rare."
"Why couldn’t it have been the Caitie Biscuit Company," grumbled Dawn, as the girls gathered round the computer to look at the picture.

"Maybe the key belongs to Sarah Willow," suggested Brenda. "I have a feeling she ties into this somehow. She said her family had worked for the guy who built the building originally."
"I wouldn't be surprised," said Caitlyn, reading the text below the picture. "It would help if she had some famous relatives. There were only three of these made, and we know where 2 are."
Everyone chuckled at the idea of Prince Charles actually working with tools.
"He probably wears his kilt while he is hammering," said Louise. "And maybe his mother borrows the screwdrivers sometimes to fix the throne with."
"So what happened to the third one, Caitlyn?" asked Brenda.
"It ended up right here in our town," said Caitlyn. "And, judging by this article you have found it Bren. This must be the key to the missing document case which belonged to Wilberforce J. Whitney."
"I was in school with a Whitney," said Dawn. "Her name was Rosemary. She lived in the penthouse of the Carruthers Building but they moved away when we were in the third grade. She was a little brat when I knew her."
"I knew Rosemary Whitney too," said Louise. "When I was really young, Mother used to date her father. Rosemary and I had a lot in common because her parents were divorced and so were mine, but I didn’t like her a whole lot, and I am sure the feeling was mutual."
"Still, how did the key to the document case get into the Carruthers lot? And what is the meaning of the ghost who told me to look for the key in the kist?" Brenda wondered.
"Maybe it was an old-fashioned ghost, I mean a ghost from long ago. She may not have recognized the document case for what it was originally - and probably never knew its origins." pointed out Caitlyn.
"It definitely was a very fashionable female spirit, in a very ornate dress of some sort. You may be right, Cait," Brenda agreed. "If she was one of the family who lived in the Carruthers Building she probably didn't have any contact with top secret document cases. Or, if she worked there the chances are she wouldn't have known anything about what went on in the lives of the owners outside of her duties. That old penthouse was boarded up for a long time. I wonder what happened to the case?"
"Maybe your new friend Sarah Willow can tell us more about the history of the family and that penthouse," suggested Caitlyn. "It’s worth checking. Maybe we can still save the Carruthers lot and get the library and playground after all. If the case is still around it might be worth a lot of money."
"But it wouldn’t be ours to sell," Dawn pointed out. "It probably belongs to bratty Rosemary Whitney and she would sell it to buy cellphones and fast cars. And, that deserted penthouse was a lot creepier when we had offices in the building than it was when I was in third grade."
"Did you go inside it Dawn?" Caitlyn asked.
"I went up there one night looking for the electricity box when the lights went down. The place was a mess inside and very very creepy."

"I think we must find the document case first and then we can work on who it belongs to," said Brenda. "I will go call Sarah and see what she has to say."