Chapter Nineteen
Trey
Well, now we know how they got in without a key tonight,” Trey said as he, Callie, and Alex emerged from the stairwell they’d found on the other side of the pocket door that had been cleverly concealed in the upstairs wall. “Why didn’t Khaki or Remy ever tell me about it?”
“I just thought of about a million ways we could have used this when we were in high school,” Alex said with a shake of his head, “and I’m pretty sure that’s why.”
The door at the bottom of the stairs had opened into the basement level in one of the rooms that Trey had been using for storage.
The main door of the room was on the outer wall of the building, and because none of the items he’d tucked away in there were particularly valuable, he hadn’t bothered to keep it locked. He wasn’t even sure where the key was.
When he flipped on the light, he saw multiple sets of tracks where someone—many someones, actually—had walked through the sand that had accumulated on the floor just inside the door.
“I can’t believe this was here the whole time,” he muttered, pinching the bridge of his nose where he could feel the beginning of a headache. “How could I not have known?”
Callie stepped up beside him and gave his biceps a little squeeze. “You’re not a mind reader. You couldn’t have known about this secret passage unless Khaki told you. And who knows, maybe she didn’t know about it either.”
“That’s a good point,” Alex said, resting his hands on his hips. “Khaki might not have known, but it’s pretty clear somebody who’s still with us knows.”
“Yeah, we only have the thousands of students who graduated from St. Ignatius before it shut its doors to question now,” Trey said dryly. “Then there’s everyone who worked there. So, just a few people to consider as suspects.”
“But only one of them has a reason to want both of us out of here,” Callie pointed out, trying to imagine what would be so important that someone would be willing to break the law in order to get everyone out of this building.
“Are you positive there isn’t some pirate treasure hidden away in here or something? ”
“Callie, be serious,” Trey said with a laugh. “If there was a pirate treasure hidden in here, the whole island would have heard about it by now. Hell, there would be multiple subreddits devoted to all the theories about how to find it and others debunking the entire notion.”
“You have a point,” Callie admitted, rolling her eyes. “The internet does love a conspiracy theory. But still, if you don’t know what motive this person might have to want us gone, then we need to do some research to figure it out.”
“A librarian suggesting we do some research,” Trey said with a grin. “Who could have imagined?”
“As much as I would love to hang around here spit-balling ideas for why your particular bad guy is so determined to push the two of you out of here,” Alex said with a yawn, “I gotta go question those meddling kids about who put them up to breaking into this place. So, let’s get something to block this secret door, Trey, and I’ll get outta your hair. ”
Callie rounded up Stella and headed back downstairs while Trey and Alex hefted a large map cabinet in front of the hidden door.
When they were finished, Trey stretched and clapped Alex on the back. “Thanks for coming out, man. Hopefully, we’ll figure out what the hell is going on soon so you don’t have to come to our rescue again for at least another week.”
“Just doing my job, bro.” Alex gave him a searching look then, and Trey got the feeling he was about to get a lecture.
But when none came, he narrowed his eyes at the other man. “What?”
“Nothin’. It’s just good to see you happy for a change.”
And before Trey could respond, his friend was gone, the heavy door shutting with a slam behind him.
When he got back to Callie’s room, he was relieved to see the door was open as if in invitation. He stood in the doorway for a minute to look at her snuggled up in the bed with Stella on the pillow just above her head.
“Hey, stranger, are you going to stand there all night like a creep watching me or are you coming to bed?”
With a grin, he shut the door behind him, stripping off his shirt and shorts as he went, then climbed into bed with her.
When she wrapped her arms around him, Trey was almost grateful that the ghost had once more brought them together.