Chapter 84

 

The deadbolt slid back with a laborious click. Pen pushed the door open and flashed her light around the interior.

Three stone vaults, large rectangular boxes made to contain human remains. Aside from some carved stone plaques on the walls, the small room held nothing else. The Heist Ladies stared. No one had thought what it would mean to get the lid off one of these things, to possibly encounter a corpse.

“Where do we start?” Sandy asked.

Pen noticed the lid of one box sat less straight than the others. “This one’s been moved.”

Each woman took a corner and shoved with all her might. The stone lid might have moved a quarter inch.

“This could take forever,” Gracie said.

“It could break our backs,” Pen added, feeling a twinge already.

“Okay.” Amber paced to the doorway and back. “We need to be smart about this. We don’t have to remove it completely, right? Sliding one end of it aside just enough for a peek inside would be good enough.”

They gathered at one end and concentrated their effort. The lid moved three inches.

“Again!”

Six more inches.

Amber aimed her light into the dark space. “Well, it’s not a skeleton.”

A noise from outside caught their attention. Gracie crept toward the door, her flashlight in her fist in case the guard needed another sedative.

Two more bursts.

“Oh my god, I think it’s gunfire!” Gracie said.