“Third door on the right,” I muttered as I wound my way through the crowd, still ignoring all of the interested slash concerned looks I was getting. I didn’t want to waste any more time. “Third door on the right.”
I trucked down the near identical hall to the one on the opposite side of the estate.
Bingo!
I’m not sure why Matthew had called it the old billiard room. There was a new-looking pool table in it, and the room itself had a pretty modern man-cave feel. But that was a question I was sure could wait for his engagement party.
Now the secret door.
I walked up to the cold fireplace and checked out the wood panels on either side. You wouldn’t be able to see the outline of the hidden door if you weren’t looking for it, but I was, so it didn’t take long. I gave it a little push, and that was enough to release the spring mechanism keeping it shut. It popped right open.
Well, that was easy.
I took a step into the darkened space and looked up.
Yup, totally easy.
All I needed to do now was climb up the very dark, very narrow, claustrophobic stairs to the closed door at the top without spontaneously screaming. Seriously, if I half straightened my arms out, I could touch both walls. It was like they were hugging me … until I could no longer breathe.
I turned on the light on my phone, gulped, and took the first step.
Wow, old wood sure knew how to groan.
I almost thought about shouting out Grady’s name but quickly decided against it. The thought of hearing my own voice yelling at me in this confined space might set off that screaming I was thinking about earlier.
This was probably silly. Grady wouldn’t still be up here.
Thump!
Great. It had come from the room at the top of the stairs. But no, it was totally good. I was looking for a live, moving person after all. Then again, given all of the experience I had had with murderers lately, it wasn’t unreasonable that I was just a little bit freaked out. But not, you know, freaked out enough to stop investigating. I wasn’t that much of a chicken. And I was looking for a man, who I had been told was looking for a woman, who had gone up these stairs and—
Thump!
Okay, that thump sounded exactly like a body hitting the floor.
Maybe I was that much of a chicken.
I couldn’t do this alone …
… but I couldn’t wait either!
What if Grady needed my help?
I tapped the first number on my phone, waiting on the stairs as it rang.
“I said text messages only.”
“Yeah, but I’m climbing up a hidden staircase in real time,” I said, taking a step, “and I want you to hear it if someone jumps out of nowhere and kills me.”
“What?” Freddie snapped. “You’re exploring a secret passageway without me?”
“Hey,” I said, swiping at a phantom cobweb by my head. I think it was probably just my hair. “You’re the one who wanted to partner up with Bethanny.”
“True,” he said. “Oh, and by the way, she’s really kind of offended that you thought she might be the one trying to kill her sister.”
I froze mid-step. “You told her? Why would you tell her?”
“We’re bonding,” Freddie said, voice rising a pitch. “And I had to explain what we were doing. Where is this secret staircase?”
I resumed my climb. “In the old billiards room.”
“Wait for us. We’ll come. We’re on the other side—”
“Whoa…”
“What? What?” my phone asked.
Now that I could see the foot of the door, I realized something was blocking it. A pipe maybe? It was pretty big for a pipe. And heavy by the looks of it. Maybe the iron chimney of an old stove? It was wedged between the wall and the door. So … maybe somebody was trapped inside?
“Something’s blocking the door at the top of the stairs.” I crept up another step. “Maybe Grady’s trapped inside.”
“Or maybe someone else! Who’s about to kill you!”
This whole situation was suddenly feeling a little Jane Eyre-y. Matthew didn’t seem the type to lock up family members, and or insane wives, in the attic, but then again the creepiness of the situation was making it hard to be rational. And another spiderweb, a real one this time, had just brushed over my shoulder, so, you know, I was pretty sure I was going to die.
“Erica?”
“Hang on a second,” I whispered.
I looked over my shoulder. Maybe I should wait for them.
Nah, it was silly. I was being silly. Grady might need me … and if it was someone else trapped in there, well, they were trapped. As long as they didn’t have a gun to shoot me in the face with through the closed door, I was pretty safe.
I snorted a nervous laugh.
“Are you laughing? What is wrong with you?”
“Just stay on the line, okay?” I whispered. “I’m going to knock on the door.”
“What? You’re going to knock!” I think Freddie went on muttering some knock-knock joke that ended with me being dead, but I was too scared to appreciate his punch line.
I climbed the remaining steps up to the last two. You know, silly or not, I didn’t want to be at shooting height, so I stretched my belly over the landing and knocked softly at the very bottom of the door. “Grady?”