The one thing he knew for certain was that the precious stone was hidden in the building.
The building in question was a derelict, twenty-room mansion. Unlike most buildings of this type, this one was surrounded by relatively small grounds. The entire property had been fenced off for years. For the first two nights he kept watch on the place. He slept in his car, tucked away in the trees, some distance away. He needed to be sure that it was empty and that nobody else knew of its significance. The precious jewel would be a life-changer. He knew that once the stone was in his hand, with the proper fencing, he was about to become a multi-millionaire. He knew that through a new private owner, it would never be seen again.
Once inside, the hunt began. Working his way slowly from room to room, he carried out meticulous searches.
It was on the third day that he found the drawer. He was in the smaller of the two studies when he came across it. The wall behind the desk, like the main study, had wainscotting on the lower half. Here, the panels were much smaller. After tapping each panel in turn for several minutes, one of them popped out part way. Finding a groove beneath, he managed to pull it out with his fingernails.
For him, who had been convinced that the building would be the treasure’s resting place, the well-deserved excitement was growing by the second. In the hidden drawer was a small jewellery case. Lifting it out carefully, he opened it.
It was empty!
Looking back in, he saw that something had been placed underneath the case. It was a piece of paper folded in half. On it, written in pencil and using block capitals, he found the following message. ‘First, congratulations, you must have searched the building thoroughly to find this secret drawer. Unfortunately, I got here first. Secondly, ask yourself whether I found it empty. If so, I wish you luck as you continue to search…’
He looked around and sighed…