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Maisy made a sound that was half cough, half laugh. She stared at Sasha wide-eyed. They both winced and held their breath.
“Did you hear that?” Annette asked.
The distinctive scrape of chair legs against a floor wafted through the vent, followed by approaching footsteps.
“It sounded like it came from the bookshelf,” Tessa said, her voice nearer now.
Sasha and Maisy remained frozen in place and stared at the wall. Sasha tried hard to contain her excitement. The only thing better than a secret passageway was a secret passageway with a bookcase entrance.
“We should get back, anyway,” Annette said. “That Naya woman is positively terrifying.”
Sasha bit down on her cheek to keep from laughing.
“You think so?” Tessa answered. “I’m more worried about Daniel. He’s so brooding.”
“Oh, I’m sure they’re all lovely people. This has to stink for them at least as much as it stinks for us. Could you imagine being dropped into someone else’s friend group drama?”
“Sounds like that crew gets dropped into all kinds of drama,” Tessa told her.
Annette laughed. “Fair enough.”
Sasha and Maisy stayed perfectly still and listened as the two women crossed the parlor floor, their footsteps muffled by the rug. They heard the squeak of the French doors opening and then the soft click of the same doors closing.
Maisy eyed Sasha. Sasha held up a finger, signaling to wait a moment longer. Sasha mentally recited a silly poem the twins loved. Then she did it a second time before nodding to Maisy.
“Wow, that was a rush!” Maisy blurted.
Sasha smiled. “You’re the hidden compartments and concealed openings specialist. How do you think we get through here to the bookcase?”
“I don’t know,” Maisy pondered. “I bet on the other side, there’s something fun like a false book that operates a lever. But on this side ….” She trailed off and patted the wall.
Sasha watched her for a while, then slid down the wall and leaned against it. Her exhaustion was catching up with her. As she tipped her head back to rest it against the wall, the light from the sconce caught her eye. She spotted a slim brass bar hanging from the sconce.
She pushed herself to her feet and walked over to study it more closely. It was a long metal rectangle with a notched square cut into the end. She stretched onto her toes and lifted it off the sconce. She turned it over in her hand, examining it.
“What’s that?”
She looked up and met Maisy’s gaze with a shrug. “I don’t know. It’s not a key, but maybe it opens the door.” She tossed it to Maisy, who snagged it out of the air. “Nice catch.”
“Television station softball team MVP three years running.”
“And here everybody thinks you’re just a pretty face.”
“They all learn soon enough, sugar.” She squealed. “Ooooh, you’re right! Come have a look.”
Sasha hurried over to Maisy, who was pointing at a notch that had been cut into the paneling.
“I bet you press this little square into that little square,” Maisy said, trying it as she spoke. With a creak, the wall rotated a half circle. “Voila!”
They stared out into the parlor from behind the bookcase.
“It’s like a Scooby-Doo mystery,” Sasha declared.
They dissolved into peals of breathless laughter as they tumbled out from behind the wall into the room.
CHAPTER28
Leo couldn’t catch his breath. The icy air was so biting and cold that it stole the oxygen from his burning lungs. The snow stung like sand, and he lowered his head as he trudged forward with Bodhi to his left. By unspoken agreement, he and Hank had flanked the forensic pathologist. It was solid operational security, but in reality, if the killer was waiting in the woods to ambush them, they were sitting ducks. Leo couldn’t see a blessed thing through the snow, and he was sure Hank couldn’t either.
