Chapter 8
Burke had no idea someone as petite as Abby could walk so fast, but he had to race through the foyer to catch up with her. He came alongside her. “Did Sam tell you what she found?”
She shook her head. “She’s being cryptic. Very unlike her.”
His gut tightened. “Then it must be something big and not likely something good.”
“We’ll soon find out.” She swung through the library doorway.
The heavy curtains were open, flooding the space with sunlight, and revealing the room’s true neglected and shabby state, but at least this room had recently been dusted.
Sam stood in the corner, holding the edge of a closed curtain in a gloved hand. She pointed at an open bin containing her supplies. “You’ll want to glove up for this. Put on shoe coverings too.”
After a considerable amount of foot traffic had already gone through this room, Burke didn’t see the point, but he followed directions.
Abby reached the bin before him and handed him a pair of blue booties and large disposable gloves. “Why all the secrecy, Sam?”
“I didn’t want to mention my discovery in front of your homeowner. I think he’s lying to you, or at least withholding information and possible evidence.”
Interest piqued, Burke hurried to slip on the protective coverings. Abby had been right about Sam’s experience and professionalism. Many green forensics techs would’ve raced into the dining room and announced their findings without regard to the impact on the investigation.
Burke followed Abby to Sam’s location, their paper booties whispering over the wood floor.
With a great flourish, Sam drew back the curtain.
Burke had no idea what he should expect, but a blank wall wasn’t even in the realm of his consideration. He stared, taking it in, and thinking he must be missing something. “A wall? You brought us in here to see a wall?”
“Well, the curtain is definitely not hiding a window,” Abby said.
“Then why would they put it here?” Burke eased closer to look for anything that made sense to call them down here.
“I had the same question.” Sam turned to the wall. “And then I found this by accident.” Pressing on a spot where the edge of the open curtain would fall, the wall parted and swung in.
“A door!” Abby’s eyes flashed up to Sam. “A hidden door. How very mysterious.”
“And very appropriate for a place like this.” Sam’s eyes were flooded with excitement.
“And it leads to a long corridor. What it holds, I don’t know.
I didn’t go in. Figured you’d want to be the first ones in there, but I did shine my flashlight inside long enough to discover I was looking at more than a closet, so I came to get you. ”
Abby looked over her shoulder at him. “I can’t imagine Victor doesn’t know this hidden doorway is here.”
Burke agreed. “Which of course makes me suspicious of what we might find.”
Abby swiveled toward Sam. “Great work. Really great. It must’ve been hard to wait for us and not go in there.”
“You have no idea!” Sam laughed, cutting the tension.
“Do you have flashlights we can borrow?” Burke asked Sam.
She jerked a thumb over her shoulder. “In the same tote as the gloves.”
He retrieved two small but powerful LED lights and handed one to Abby.
Sam faced them both. “I don’t have to caution you about not moving anything before I take photographs, but I’m going to so you don’t let the excitement get to you.”
“Thanks for the reminder,” he said. “We’ll let you know when we need you, Sam.”
“Then have at it.” Sam pulled the curtain further back to allow them easy access.
Burke pointed at the opening. “After you, Abby.”
She aimed the beam from her flashlight ahead, revealing a long hallway he couldn’t see the end of.
Pointing his light at dingy gray plaster walls, he found an antique brass push-button switch and pressed it.
A single bulb overhead cast a weak yellow light, barely illuminating the area, but bright enough to reveal a gallery of old portraits lining one of the upper walls.
He squinted for a better look at the first ones. “These pictures resemble the ones in the hallway.”
Abby turned her light on the other end. “Likely ancestors.”
“Sounds like a good possibility, but why hide them here? Why not display more of them in the open?”
“And for that matter, what happened to the missing paintings in the hallway? Are they important to our investigation? Is any of this important to our investigation?”
“Good questions.” He ran his beam down the wall, studying the mixture of old sepia portraits. Stern-looking men and women dressed in 1800s and early 1900s formal attire stared back at him.
Abby paused her light on a woman in the middle. “Something’s off about her.”
The young woman in the picture wore a white dress, the neckline cut down far lower than the more prim and proper dresses in the other photographs. The square neck was trimmed in lace, and a large black fabric flower was fastened to one side.
“Do you mean the clothing style?”
“No. Part of the portrait looks like it’s in 3-D.” Abby wiggled the flashlight beam over the woman’s bust. “See how it appears raised right here?”
He leaned closer to get an angle from the side. “You’re right. Seems like there’s something behind it and stretching the canvas.”
“Quick.” Her excited tone bounced off the walls. “Grab Sam to snap some photos of the portrait so we can take it down.”
Burke bolted out of the passageway. “Bring your camera, Sam. Now!”
He didn’t wait for her to agree, but rushed back to Abby.
She was still studying the woman. “What do you think’s behind there?”
“People hide safes behind pictures all the time,” he said. “If the dial and lever aren’t recessed, they could cause a lump.”
“That makes perfect sense.” The thrill of the hunt gleamed in her eyes. “If you’re right, I hope it holds something to help solve this mystery.”
Carrying a flashlight of her own and a small bin, Sam came down the hallway. “What do you need me to photograph?”
Burke jerked a thumb at the picture and explained their reasoning. “Do whatever you need to do so we can get this thing down quickly.”
Sam ran a critical eye over the painting and looked up at the light. “Step back. I need the right perspective and to record the picture size compared to the surrounding ones.”
As they backed away, she mounted a flexible ruler on the wall next to the portrait for scale, then lifted her camera, that was hanging around her neck, up to snap photos of everything from various angles.
When Burke first met her, she seemed relaxed and carefree, but her concentration now would rival his when on the job.
“Done.” She eased away from the wall and scanned the hallway as she stepped away.
Burke carefully lifted the picture down.
An ancient-looking safe protruded out of the wall in the same shape as the misshapen canvas.
The safe’s rusted metal had originally been black, but most of the paint had chipped away, revealing the raw steel underneath.
A circular handle along with a round combination wheel were mounted in the middle, and heavy hinges secured the door.
Burke glanced at Abby. “A safe, just like I thought.”
She inched closer to it. “Clearly an antique. Must’ve been here for some time.”
“Do you think Victor knows about it and has the combination? If he did, when we mentioned the hidden compartment, why not tell us about the hallway and the safe too?”
Abby’s eyes tightened. “I’ll add one more question. What could possibly be inside there?”
“And, more importantly, is it related to the theft of the crown?” Burke asked. “We need to question Victor about it and get him to open it.”
“I’ll just get this stuff packed up.” Sam tapped her small bin.
Burke turned his light down the hall. “Let’s see where this hallway goes, then we’ll talk to Victor.”
“Sounds like a plan,” Abby said, but didn’t move for some reason.
“Hopefully, he hasn’t purposely been withholding this information.
” Burke looked down the hallway, eager to see what else they might find.
“If we discover this is related to the crown and he hasn’t been open about it, we can’t rule him out for stealing his own crown.
In fact, even without an obvious motive, I’d move him to the top of my suspect list.”
Abby took one last look at the safe. She wanted to give Victor the benefit of the doubt.
Believe he didn’t withhold this information on purpose, but she couldn’t help but think he knew about it.
Burke could be right. By Victor not mentioning it, he could be involved in the crown’s theft.
Sure, they couldn’t see a motive right now, but that didn’t mean he didn’t have one.
Between the hidden passageway and the safe he’d kept secret, what else wasn’t he telling them?
The very question she would ask him as soon as they finished checking out this hallway.
Burke waved her ahead. “After you.”
She took a few steps but slowed to let him come closer. “Not that I’m complaining, but what’s up with all of the ‘after yous’, pulling out chairs, and offering to help Sam with her cart and bins? Or do you seriously still do things the old-school way?”
He looked at her. “You don’t need to worry—I’m not working some hidden angle here. I know I haven’t exactly shown it, but I was raised in a strict Christian home. I was taught to respect women, to step up and help when I can.”
She stopped and faced him. “Because we’re the weaker sex?”
“No way. The Bible says men should respect women the same way they’d respect their own mother or sister.
I don’t agree with everything my parents drilled into me, but this is one thing I’ve carried into adulthood.
” He held her gaze. “It’s not about thinking women need a man to intervene—it’s about giving the respect God expects me to show. ”