Page 191 of The Secret of Secrets

“You will,” he said, holding out his hand. “Come on.”

Katherine followed Langdon deeper into the maze of alleyways surrounding Prague’s town square. I’m glad he has a good memory, she thought as he retraced the path that Sasha had taken him on earlier today. The alleys grew even narrower, and the cobblestone walkways fell into dark shadows with the fading afternoon light.

“This is it,” Langdon finally announced, stopping outside a nondescript door that looked like every other doorway they had passed.

“You’re certain?” Katherine saw no numbers or markings.

Langdon pointed to the window beside the door, and Katherine was startled to see four eyes staring out at her. Two Siamese cats watched intently from inside, as if awaiting their owner’s return. Despite confirming this was Sasha’s apartment, the presence of her cats only furthered Katherine’s mystification as to why Langdon thought Sasha was actually here. “Robert, those cats look like they’re waiting for Sasha to get home.”

“They are,” Langdon said. “They just don’t know she’s here either.”

The comment made no sense to Katherine.

“Look at this alley,” Langdon said, motioning around them. “Remember I told you about the note that was slipped under Sasha’s door this morning? Within seconds of getting the note, I ran out into this very alleyway, but the messenger had vanished. Impossibly so. He couldn’t have simply disappeared into thin air.”

She surveyed the alley. Admittedly, nowhere to hide.

“And then I realized,” Langdon said, “the answer was obvious. The person who left the note…never fled the area. He simply stepped into a very convenient hiding place.”

Katherine glanced around, confused. “Where?”

“Right there,” Langdon said, pointing.

Katherine’s gaze followed Langdon’s outstretched finger up the facade of the building to a set of windows directly above Sasha’s apartment. All of the upstairs windows were boarded up with heavy wooden shutters.

“The apartment upstairs,” Langdon said. “Gessner said she owns both flats and used to live up there over her ailing mother. Now she lets Sasha use the lower apartment, and the upper apartment sits…vacant.”

Katherine studied the shuttered windows of the empty flat and pictured someone—most likely Dmitri—placing a note under Sasha’s door and then quietly slipping upstairs while Langdon searched the street in vain. Quite possible…

Langdon strode to the building’s outer door, which was made of thick wood, diagonally slatted, with a security screen. He fished the Krazy Kitten key ring from his pocket, unlocked the door, and ushered Katherine into the dingy foyer.

Despite the modest entrance, she could see that Sasha had made it her home. Her apartment door was immediately on the right, decorated with potted plants, a wisteria wreath, and a welcome mat that said: Please Wipe Your Paws.

On the back wall of the foyer, a small storage room was packed to the ceiling with old cardboard boxes. To Katherine’s surprise, Langdon headed directly for it, stopping only an inch from the blockade of boxes, his chest practically touching them. He peered upward, as if studying the architecture of the alcove, and then gave a nod, waving her over.

As Katherine approached, Langdon stepped sideways to his right, disappearing into an imperceptible opening that apparently existed between the boxes and the wall of the alcove. Startled, she quickly followed, slipping through the cramped passageway, turning left around the stack of boxes, then left again, finding herself at Langdon’s side. In the faint light filtering around the boxes, she could see that they were standing at the bottom of a narrow staircase, which ascended into darkness.

This is not a storage room at all, she realized. It’s the landing to a staircase.

“I didn’t notice initially that this foyer had no staircase to the second floor. Later, I realized there had to be access, and since there’s no separate entrance, both apartments would have to be accessible through this foyer. It also explains how someone could disappear without a trace immediately after sliding a note under Sasha’s door.”

Katherine nodded. “Hiding just a few steps away. Very clever.”

“Yes, and after I ran off to Petřín Tower, he simply emerged from hiding, entered Sasha’s apartment, and either convinced her to go upstairs or incapacitated her somehow. Either way, he must have left her upstairs so she wouldn’t have to see him killing Harris.”

Simple and clean. Katherine nodded. “And when the embassy found Harris’s body, Sasha was gone, so they logically assumed she had fled the scene.”

“Exactly.”

“So how are you going to get into the apartment?” she asked, peering up the stairs.

“I’m going to bang on the door and hope Sasha hears me.”

“That’s your plan?” Katherine demanded. “What if she’s too drugged to hear you? Or she’s restrained and can’t get to the door?”

Langdon frowned. “Then I have a plan B.”

As Langdon started up the darkened staircase, he flipped the light switch at the bottom, but nothing happened.