by Beth Byers
Grayson hesitated. “I fear we cannot be in accord if we don’t tell Oliver what is happening and ensure he stays with your cousin. I wouldn’t put it past Charpentier to turn to Florette instead.”
Severine wanted to argue but he was right. They needed to unify themselves and protect one another. Severine nodded and took Anubis’s collar, commanding the puppies to heel, though Severine left them on their leads. She could just imagine her brother trying something with her dogs. She would keep them with her every moment until this was over.
“All right, then?” Grayson asked after she declined his offer to take the dog leads.
They tried to find their way back to the main halls and ended up confused once again. Finally, they found an exit from the house neither of them even knew was there and almost stumbled out into a side yard like prisoners set free.
It took them several minutes to find Oliver and Florette and when they did, one of the servants had hurried across to them and explained that Grandmère was missing. Which meant that Florette gasped and lunged behind Oliver when Severine approached.
“For the love of—” Grayson snapped. “Miss DuNoir is not responsible for her grandmother being missing.” It was directed to the servant, but Florette teared up at the tone. “You were misinformed by a jealous brother who wants her money, and just so we’re clear, there is no question that Severine was with someone else when Mrs. Charpentier disappeared. Now find the old woman and stop spreading lies.”
The girl’s gaze widened, and her eyes filled with worry as she glanced at Severine. Then she fled around the side of the house.
“What do we do?” Oliver asked.
“No one has seen Mr. Brand, Lisette, or Mrs. Charpentier.”
Florette gasped.
To Severine’s cousin, Grayson said, “Neither you nor Severine could overpower Mr. Brand, so we’ll disregard the lies about Severine being the villain.”
Florette nodded frantically, her gaze avoiding Severine’s.
“Miss DuNoir believes that her dog may be able to track those who are missing. We need to acquire something first, and I think we should stay together.”
“But won’t we find Grandmère more quickly if we split up?”
“There is a plot against Miss DuNoir,” Oliver countered, “so the more witnesses to what happens with her the better.”
Florette gasped again.
“Enough,” Severine snapped, slashing her hand. “I am going to get something of Lisette’s and we’ll see if we can find her.”
“Lisette?” Florette demanded. “What about Grandmère?”
“Grandmère didn’t get dragged into this mess by me,” Severine shot back. “She knows what Andre is and has never curbed him. Not when we were children, not now. This mess is partially her fault. Lisette, however, is an innocent bystander.”
“And Mr. Brand?” Oliver asked. “He’s your greatest ally, isn’t he?”
Severine knew that he’d chosen that word purposefully.
“Don’t, Oliver,” Grayson said. “Lisette is a woman and more at risk. We’re all doing the best we can here.”
“I don’t understand,” Florette said, but no one explained to her.
“Let’s go,” Severine snapped. She headed back towards the house but before they reached the back entrance, her uncle rushed out.
“Where is Andre?” Uncle Alphonse demanded. “Where has he gone?”
“You were with him,” Grayson answered angrily. “How could you lose him?”
“We were going back up to search the master wing once more, and he was just gone.”
“Gone?” Grayson didn’t sound as if he believed it, but Severine wasn’t even surprised. They should have expected her brother would try something. She stared up at the windows, looking for some glimmer of him and her eye caught the ridiculous gargoyle on the back of the house. This place really was just full of madness.
“Oh,” Severine said as the most obvious of ideas occurred to her. “Ohhhh.”
“What?” The question came from several mouths, but Severine shook her head. She didn’t trust Florette or her uncle with the idea that had just occurred to her. Pieces were falling into place for her, but she needed to shake the others.
“Let’s split up,” Severine announced.
“But you just said—” Florette began, but Severine didn’t let her finish.
“We must. Uncle, you go with Mr. Oliver and Florette. Mr. Thorne and I will use Anubis to see if we can track Grandmère,” she said, purposefully leaving out Lisette. No need for her uncle to argue the importance of who needed rescuing first.
Severine spun and hurried inside before anyone could object. They’d either follow as a group or not, but she wasn’t waiting any longer. She rushed past a surprised housemaid and then up the stairs to the bedroom where Lisette’s things were kept.
Severine grabbed the scarf that Lisette had worn in the auto and then spun again. There had to be an entrance in the guest room she has been using, but—surely that sketch in Father’s office had been a sketch?
She found Grayson watching her.
“Severine?”
She looked past him and saw no one. Even still, she lowered her voice. “Secret passageways.”
Grayson stared and then his jaw dropped. “Of course.”
“For this place,” she added, “it’s obvious.”
“That’s why no one saw anything. And why there are no keys missing.”
“Father assigned me my tower room. I’d wager there’s no entrance there.”
“No father would want his daughter able to slip out or any monster to slip in.”
“Especially because the previous owners hated him. They had to know about the passageways.”
Grayson nodded. His eyes narrowed and his jaw clenched as he said, “We go armed.”
“Do you think your Mr. Oliver would look after the puppies? He’d be careful right? Andre would hurt them just to hurt me.”
Grayson nodded again. He led the way to his bedroom and retrieved his own pistol. Severine didn’t mention that she had her father’s in her pocket. Thank goodness for her custom made skirts and her insistence on pockets for her more sensible day wear. It was for a moment like this one that she was wearing a thick beast of a skirt, and that reason wasn’t the intermittent rain outside.
They found Mr. Oliver with her uncle and Florette and delivered the puppies and then headed to her father’s office where Severine unlocked the door. She crossed to the front of one of the shelves and started pulling off books. Her nimble fingers felt about, yet she could discover nothing.
“Check them all,” Severine said. “Here. I found a sketch of a shelf that Father had hidden away and it suddenly all makes sense. I should have known. Should have considered. The nunnery had passageways. They were built with the building itself and the stories about when they were needed were told often.”
“There’s no sign that anyone has been in here,” Grayson muttered. “Surely there should be a sign of that. This is your father’s office, right? If I had access to the locked room and was mad, I would have made my mark.”
Severine paused, nodded, then sighed. She tried the next shelf and this time, as her fingers ran over it, she paused. She leaned down and looked closer. “It’s a lock.”
“A lock?” Grayson cursed. “How are we supposed to get into the passageway when we don’t know where an entrance is?”
“There has to be one in that room that I was using.” Severine’s fingers lingered on the small lock and then she gasped and pulled the keys her father had hidden out of her pocket. She chose the largest one, as the lock was bigger than the others in the house, and tried with shaking fingers to get the key in the lock, then had to stop to take a deep breath. The key slid in and turned without an issue. “No wonder Father had those secret keys. He must have had locks installed in the secret passages after he bought the house.”
“The very nature of secret passageways precludes the need for locks,” G
rayson told her with a frown.
“Not when you half-steal your mansion. The fellow who built this place originally was alive when Father picked it up from the bank. He used his connections at the bank where the mortgage was held, so the bank didn’t work with the family and he bought it for a song. All legal except the bank probably would have helped the man if not for Father.”
Grayson cursed again, and Severine didn’t blame him. The burning shame of what Father had done to that man was a black seed in her heart.
Turning the key hadn’t opened the hidden door so Grayson pulled every book from the shelves and felt around. The latch was at the side of the bookshelf, near the wall. He found the opening, put his fingers in and pulled. The shelf slowly swung inward.
Severine started and then glanced back at Grayson. It was what they expected and yet they were still surprised to see that long black stretch of passage, which was only wide enough for one person.
“We need a torch,” he said, but Severine stepped into the darkness without it only to turn back and dig through her father’s desk until she found the gun. She then turned and stepped back into the passageway. “Do you know how to use that?”
Severine nodded and he said, “Most women should know how to use them.”
She was tempted to lift a brow and demand an explanation for such an unexpected opinion for a man. The darkness seemed to lean into her and loom ahead as though it were more powerful in the passageway than it was in the open. She felt around and found a button for a light.
“He must have added electric light when he added the locks,” she said. The solitary bulb that burned overhead whimpered in the darkness, barely giving a circle of light.
She could imagine a trap around any bend, or ghosts slipping through the walls, or voices in the darkness. She could imagine a hand bursting through the floor and grabbing her ankle.
She knelt down and put the scarf in front of Anubis’s nose and let him breath the scent in deeply. He barked once and Severine said, “Finden.”
Anubis put his nose to the ground and sniffed around. Then he tugged her forward. She looked back at Grayson and nodded, then wrapped her hand tightly around Anubis’s collar and let him lead her into the darkness.
Chapter Eighteen
Anubis understood Severine quite well, but she’d never made him stay with her while they were searching before. And of course, before—when she’d been training him—it had always been fun. She knew he felt her tenseness and he made an unhappy noise in the back of his throat.
“There’s a doorway here,” Grayson said before they’d gone a half-dozen steps.
She glanced back and saw him take hold of the handle. It didn’t open when he turned it and she paused, turning back and using the largest key again. The door opened and she gasped. On the other side was another office, lined with shelves and maps on the wall, file cabinets, a bottle of her father’s favorite alcohol, and a sketch of Severine on the back of her horse.
Anubis grunted and Severine sighed. She wanted to dig through the room and discover more of her father’s secrets. The ones he’d been more precious with than the things she’d overheard while she glided around his office as a child. If he was open about legally stealing this house, what did he hide?
“They’re not in here,” Grayson said.
Severine yanked herself away from the room and locked the door. “Lisette,” she told herself, but she spoke aloud so Grayson replied, “Yes.”
They moved forward and Severine started paying more attention to more than whether Lisette or Grandmère were just ahead. The hall was floored with shining wood just like the regular hallway. The walls were lined with wood panels that shone with quality even though they were lined with dusty cobwebs. There were even paintings on the walls and she noticed they were original pieces featuring the property.
Anubis moved forward, sniffing without the intensity of a sure trail to follow. They reached the end of the hall and found a turn. Grayson placed a hand lightly on her shoulder and said, “This passage must be between the walls of that big dark green dining room.”
Severine was surprised he knew. She was completely lost.
An idea occurred to her. She reached out and took hold of the painting and tugged. It swung out, and there was a tiny handle set in a square of wood not flush with the wall. Grayson pulled it open and a small slit appeared just lower than his eye level.
“The first owner must have been shorter than you.” There was something about the moment that demanded a whisper. He stepped back and she pushed up on her toes and saw into the empty dining room.
“We need to find those who are missing.” Severine closed the little door and swung the painting back in place before starting ahead again.
“Severine,” Grayson said softly as they reached another corner where the only option was to go down. “If your Mr. Brand has been…ah—irrevocably hurt—”
“Killed you mean?” Severine asked. She saw no point in walking delicately around the horrible. It didn’t change the facts and wasting energy in avoiding reality did no one any good.
“Yes,” Grayson replied. “You’re in trouble.”
“I am,” she agreed. “But I was before, wasn’t I?”
“You were.”
“Maybe Father planned for anything happening to Mr. Brand. I didn’t bother to ask. Though, of course, I want him to be safe.”
“Of course.”
They let Anubis lead the way through the narrow passages. Upstairs, down halls, through shadow ways and finally Anubis rushed ahead. He was silent but powerful as they hurried forward. When he stopped, Severine started to open the door but Grayson touched her elbow lightly. Neither of them were speaking. He took a few steps back and slowly pulled back the portrait they had passed and slid the small slot back.
Grayson leaned down and breathed out a low curse. He stepped back with his finger over his lips and she nodded, pressing her lips together. She breathed, barely loud enough to be heard, and whispered, “Anubis, leise.”
She pushed up onto her toes and gasped. They’d found Lisette and Mr. Brand and they were alive! She wanted to rush in but when she started searching for the handle Grayson put a hand over her mouth and caught her arm.
“Not yet!” he hissed low and quiet. “Let’s watch.”
She nodded against his hand, hating leaving them trapped and frightened, but he had a point. They took turns watching and waited long enough to see Mr. Brand struggle against the ties and Lisette try and fail to help. Their mouths were gagged and both of them kept turning to the same direction, looking at something that Grayson and Severine couldn’t see.
Was it Andre? If so, Severine and Grayson could be heading into a trap.
Severine dropped down onto her feet and whispered, “What do you think?”
Grayson shook his head and then tried the door. It wasn’t locked and he turned the handle gently. Nothing happened, so he slowly pushed the door open and, with a gesture for Severine to watch through the slit, sidled through it. A moment later, he stepped forward. Mr. Brand’s and Lisette’s heads jerked up and their gazes widened in unison. As Grayson rushed forward to help, Severine felt Anubis tense. He growled low and she reached for him.
Anubis, though, was shoved through the door and it was yanked closed before she could react. Her brother grabbed her arm, tugging her around and smothering her with his hand over her mouth and nose. He laughed in her ear as he dragged her down the passageway. He pulled so hard and fast that she was hauled off her feet and unable to get her footing again.
Her arm twisted with pain from his iron grip, and the weight of her body made it all the more uncomfortable. He hauled her around a corner and down the stairs, seeming to enjoy her gasps as she thunked against the stairs. They reached a basement level where the passageway switched from wood-paneled to cold and stone-lined. There was an eerie echo with the sound of their footsteps and when he finally stopped she stared in shock.
The room was large, round, do
med, and torch-lined with pillars support a green ceiling. He shoved her inside and closed the door, and turning a key in the lock, and then laughed as she scrambled away from him. He took the first lit torch and walked the rounded circle of the room, lighting every torch. She faced him, slowly pushing to her feet as he laughed at her again.
“Would you look at this place?” Her brother spun in a circle, holding out his arms. “No wonder your Father stole it from the old man.”
Severine couldn’t help but follow her brother’s gaze. It was an engineering marvel. What she first took as a green ceiling was actually thick glass under the lake with filthy algae covered glass. Between the torchs were tunnel exits, open for escape. She was shocked. She had to force herself to focus on her brother while a plan formed in her head.
She could see the heavy weight in his pocket. Did he see the heavy weight in her skirt? What were they going to do? Have some sort of showdown at high noon? Then her eye was caught by something in the corner. The crumbled, broken form of Grandmère. For a moment, Severine feared the old woman was dead, but then Grandmère moaned low and raggedly.
Severine wanted to back away from her brother and towards Grandmère; however, that may well put Grandmère in greater danger.
She wanted to rail her fists at him. Instead, she turned her body slightly and carefully slid her hand into her pocket, taking hold of the gun. Her fingers were shaking, and she slowly let go of it. There was a very large pond over her head, and what would happen if the glass broke?
She swallowed thickly. “What is this place?”
Severine didn’t care, of course, but she knew that Mr. Brand and Grayson would be coming for her. If they could find her. So needed to keep Andre talking.
“It’s how I found the passageways,” Andre continued as if she was hanging on his every word. She swallowed carefully as his high-pitched laugh echoed around the room. “I heard about this place from Beau Coutelier. Have you heard of him?”
Severine shook her head. She’d backed away from him, but he didn’t care. She knew he noticed. She felt those cold eyes landing on her, and she shivered in reaction, but if anything, moving away from him amused him.
