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Dan walked over to the antique desk lamp and tilted its green shade. “These are negatives of the photos Cheryl took when she was doing her prep work for the Caravaggio. The ones she wasn’t going to use for reference, she crossed through with a Sharpie.” He held them up to the light. “You’re in here too.”
The senator frowned. “I am?” Then he nodded, his brow smoothing. “I remember. She turned and said, ‘Smile.’”
Dan pointed to the negative. “There you are. And then there’s this one.” He indicated another negative.
The senator peered at it. “What is it supposed to be? It doesn’t look like anything.”
Dan pointed to another. “See there? That’s the line I was telling you about, the one she drew through all the photos she wasn’t going to print. Now let’s go back to our mystery negative. Can you see? She started to draw a line through it, then stopped.”
“She obviously changed her mind,” Senator Cain said with a shrug.
“Butwhydid she change it? And more importantly, what made her draw a question mark on the sheet under this one?”
The senator gave him a look of exasperation. “But what is it a photoof?”
“I’ll show you.” Dan pulled a photo from the folder and placed it on the desk.
Gary leaned in to get a better look. “That looks like the archway between the office and the art room. See? That’s your desk and chair in the background.” He frowned. “It was taken at an odd angle, though, from inside the art room.”
“Ah.” Senator Cain’s eyes gleamed. “I remember now. She’d just taken the one of me. She lowered the camera and then clicked the shutter by accident.”
“That doesn’t explain why she started to cross it out and then changed her mind. Or why she wrote the question mark. And why print it?” Dan tapped the folder. “And suddenly the puzzle box starts to open.” He removed another photo and placed it in front of the senator, who stared at it with a frown. “Don’t you recognize it?”
“Why should I?”
“Because it’s a photo ofyourfloor. This is a blowup of part of this one.” He placed the previous photo beside it.
“But that still doesn’t explain why she printed the photo in the first place,” Gary remonstrated.
Dan smiled. “I thinkIknow why.” He picked up the sheet of negatives once more, and pointed to one. “I don’t know if you can see it from there, but there’s a faint white line across part of the threshold.” He tapped the blowup. “It’s clearer here.”
“A lens anomaly?” the senator suggested.
Gary shook his head. “If that were the case, it would be on every photo.”
Senator Cain made an impatient noise at the back of his throat. “I fail to understand why you’ve done a blowup of a photo that was taken by accident.”
Dan stared. “Oh, butwedidn’t blow it up—she did. This is Cheryl’s photo.”
The senator bent over to peer at it. “I know what this is. Al—James—installed the doors shortly after the floor had been waxed. The bottom rollers on the door left a mark on the floor.”
Dan went over to the right-hand door and crouched, examining the floor. “But these are pocket doors. That means they’re top hung.”
“Then something must have gotten caught or trapped under it,” Senator Cain persisted.
Dan stood. He slid the left-hand door open and walked into the art room. Gary and the senator followed him. Dan peered at the floor. “No marks.” Then he reached out and placed his hand on the protruding edge of the door. “And why isthisdoor so much heavier than its counterpart? I can open that one with a fingertip.”
Gary stared at him. “Youknowwhy, don’t you?”
Dan nodded. He inclined his head toward the left-hand door. “This? This is the final panel. That means it’s time to reveal the secret it’s been hiding.”
He didn’t miss the senator’s sharp intake of breath. “Mr. Porter….”
Dan ignored him. He drew the door back to the center until it reached the doorstop set into the arch. He peered up at it.
“Don’t.”
Dan stretched up and pressed the catch, which disappeared into the doorframe with aclick clack….
