sonny's secret is a fiction novel set in south carolina in 1945. ten-year old sonny sims is swinging two stories up on a decaying, rusty gutter-drain. as the pipe separates from the wall sonny dives for a window ledge and pulls himself into the top-floor of the dark, abandoned cotton warehou se that he, tommy, and brian were planning to explore . as sonny creeps downstairs, he hears a noise and dives into a coffin -size box filled with years-old moldy cotton . just as he pulls the lid over, sonny hears voices: "help me shove this crate over by that window; i'll deal us a few hands of five-card-stud while we wait for gus ." sonny is terrified when he realizes that the ones playing cards inches above his head are highly -feared local police chief garland webb and school superintendent jt mcgloklin . gus segars, a local gambling club owner, arrives with a truckload of hijacked military whiskey . as the gang celebrates, sonny hears them discuss hijacking plans and a possible murder . as sonny 's friends tommy and brian run with their bikes, brian bumps the building . garland sees sonny 's collie and tells the group he thinks sonny was "messing round ." they vow to "take care of sonny sims ." they go outside to unload the truck, sonny slips out of box and runs home.