The Basement

Due to the hurry, the metal door falls close so hard that it falls into the lock... Your neighbor Jack van der Vee has been a pest controller for 30 years. His wife left the country two years ago. Since then, there have been many rumors about what caused the break, but also about the reasons why he was fired three years ago... Every morning, Jack puts on clean white overalls and takes his gas mask and poison syringe from his basement. Before he was forced to start his own business three years ago, he did this with ease. But now that he is his own boss, he always looks around nervously, slamming the heavy outer door of the cellar shut and feeling whether it is properly locked. Then he gets in his van and drives around Grand Fenwick to rid people of a plague of moths, cockroaches or muskrats. For some time now you have noticed that there is regularly dim candlelight burning in his basement in the early hours of the night. You always see him carrying heavy boxes, bottles and preserving jars from the basement to his van. Before he gets into his van, he looks anxiously over his shoulder into the street, as if he could be caught at any moment. Then he drives away quietly, only to return from his nightly ride exactly fifteen minutes later. You have the feeling that something is not right and after a rather pleasant evening with friends, you decide to find out what your neighbor is doing in that small space under his house. The only way to find out is to take a look in his basement for yourself. That night you immediately get a great opportunity, you see him walk to his van again and immediately speed away. So he will be gone for the next fifteen minutes. You quickly go to his basement and what luck, the heavy door is still open! You quickly run down the stairs, but because of your haste the metal door closes so hard that it falls into the lock... Your eyes have to get used to the darkness of the basement. A nauseating smell makes it all worse. You see the spare key in a box on the wall, but the box has a code lock. Can you find the code within fifteen minutes?