Their footsteps echoed through the Blue Line tunnel beneath Bowdoin Station. Maddock looked down at the narrow walkway, scarcely wide enough for them to pass, and wondered why he’d agreed to this crazy idea. Should a car come along at an inopportune time, he doubted any of them could flatten against the wall tightly enough to avoid being roadkill.
The latest car had left the station only seconds before, and Jillian had assured them it was only a short way to the turnoff. Their mini Maglites sliced through the darkness, illuminating the damp tunnel and gleaming rail line.
They came to a battered door marked Danger. Do Not Enter.
“It’s perfectly safe,” Jillian whispered. “This leads to a mechanical room that’s no longer in use. My ex put this sign here to discourage unwanted visitors.” She grimaced. “Come to think of it, I wouldn’t be surprised if the loser is living under here. Hope he hasn’t changed the locks.” She fished a key out of her pocket, unlocked the door, and tugged on it, but it did not budge.
“Let me get that.” Bones gently removed her hands from the doorknob, took hold of it himself, and yanked it open. The door drew back with a loud, scraping sound that reverberated through the empty tunnel.
She led them down the dank passageway and into a room thirty feet square. Exposed wires dangled from the ceiling, and various conduits and electrical boxes lined the far wall.
“Doesn’t look like anyone’s found your love nest,” Maddock said.
“I don’t think he’s been back.” Jillian walked to the corner and nudged a bundle with her toe. “The air mattress is right where I left it.”
“Have I told you you’re my kind of girl?” Bones tried to slip his arm around her shoulders but she moved away.
“I was your kind of girl. That is, if you like them young and stupid.”
“Pretty much.”
Jillian rolled her eyes.
“Where do we go from here?” Maddock looked around for another door.
“Straight up.” She pointed toward the ceiling. “Give me a boost?” She moved to the far wall and took hold of a conduit. Maddock cupped his hands and, when she stepped in, hauled her up until she stood atop an electrical box. “Follow me, boys.”
Maddock was an experienced climber and had no trouble following as she scrambled up into the ceiling. He glanced back to make sure Bones was keeping pace.
“Hurry it up, Grandpa. I’m going to fall asleep waiting for you.”
“I believe I outclimbed you every time in training.” Maddock had no idea if that was true, but he wasn’t about to admit it.
“Today’s opposite day? Next time we’re on leave, I’m taking you back to North Carolina. We’ll head up into the mountains and see who’s the better climber.”
“Sounds good.” Maddock realized he halfway meant it. Rock climbing in the Appalachians sounded like fun, even if it did involve Bones.
“I’ll introduce you to my sister. All my friends think she’s cute, but they’re scared to make a move.”
“Afraid you’ll kick their asses?”
“No. Afraid she will.”
“Maybe I don’t want to meet your sister after all.” Maddock winced at the sudden mental image of Bones in a dress.
“If you two Marys are done gabbing, we’re almost there. Stay right behind me.” Jillian scrambled ahead.
They crawled forward for a good twenty yards, Bones muttering all the while about Maddock getting the “better view.” Finally, they came to a stop in front of a metal vent. They fell silent, listening for voices or footsteps, but the only sound he heard was the whir of a refrigerator.
“It’s the employee break room in the Old State House,” Jillian explained. “My boyfriend and I used to climb up here and steal food.” She pushed the vent free and slid out into the room. Maddock followed, scarcely managing to squeeze his shoulders through.
“I don’t think you’re going to make it,” he told Bones.
“Watch me. I’ve been spelunking all my life and I’ve squeezed through cracks smaller than this.” He paused, staring at Maddock.
“What?”
“Squeezed through cracks? Dude, I serve you up a fat pitch like that and you don’t knock it out of the park?” Shaking his head, he wormed his way through the gap and stood. “Still got work to do on you, Kemosabe.”
Maddock ignored him. He opened the break room door an inch and peered out into the dark, silent hallway.
“Lights out.” He turned off his Maglite and Bones followed suit.
“Why?” Jillian whispered.
“I’ve got excellent night vision, and there’s plenty of light from the street to see by.” He moved out into the hallway and crept silently through the darkness. Jillian had confirmed that the doors were alarmed, but the building had no interior alarm system. At least, there had not been one when she’d explored the building in years past.
They halted at the doorway that opened into the display room and peered inside. The lone security camera was mounted above them, aimed toward the main entrance.
Bones slipped his jacket off and tossed it up onto the camera. It took two tries, but it finally hung there. “No video evidence.”
“Jillian, watch the front door,” Maddock whispered. As she hurried across the room, they moved to the lantern.
It sat in a plexiglass box atop a pedestal. He gazed at it in the dim light that filtered through the windows. There were still streaks of dark brown encrusted within its seams. Whoever had tried restoring it to 1775 condition had failed to remove all of the molasses. There was little in the way of glass left within it, and Maddock couldn’t help but wonder how much abuse the lantern had suffered, stuck underground for so many years.
“So there it is,” he whispered. “The lantern that helped kick off our revolution. Well, one of the lanterns, at any rate. The one that wasn’t captured by the British that night.”
“Yep. There it is, all right.”
“You ever been this close to history before, Bones?”
“Yeah, I have,” Bones replied.
Maddock didn’t turn his head, but he heard the sobering tone, and he knew it took something significant to make Bones adopt such a serious note.
“I’m sure I’m going to regret this, but what was it?”
“I held Booth’s Derringer.”
Maddock snapped his head around. “Wow. How’d you manage that?”
Bones never took his eyes off the lantern. “They were cleaning the displays when some of my friends and I were walking through the theater. One of the workers left the case open, so I walked over and grabbed it.”
“How long did you hold it?”
“A few seconds. Wish I could have fired it. That would have rocked.”
“There’s someone outside!” Jillian’s soft voice carried through the empty hall.
“Time to get to work.” Bones took out a set of tiny metal tools on a ring which he’d picked up at an auto parts store. “Feeler gauge,” he explained.
“If you say so.”
Selecting one of the tools, Bones slid it into the lock and worked it. Moments later, the lock turned. “Wafer locks. Not even a challenge.”
“How did you do that?”
“As I have said many times, it’s a product of a misspent youth. Nowadays, I only use my powers for good. Or for fun.”
“Maybe hanging out with a reformed criminal isn’t the worst thing in the world.” Careful not to leave fingerprints, Maddock opened the case, took out the lantern, and slipped it into a drawstring backpack, then replaced the lantern with a folded card reading,
“THIS ITEM TEMPORARILY OFF DISPLAY”
It wouldn’t fool anyone for long, but it might delay the moment someone discovered the theft. Sweat pouring down the back of his neck, he called to Jillian. When she joined them, Bones retrieved his jacket, and Maddock led the way back to their escape route.
“You okay, Maddock?” Bones frowned at him, genuinely concerned.
“It’s stupid, but this is my first theft. I mean, I was technically an accomplice on the last one, but this time, I’m the one who actually took the lantern and carried it away.”
Jillian and Bones exchanged stunned glances.
“Not even a candy bar when you were a kid?” Jillian asked.
“Or a car when you were in junior high?” Bones took a step away from the others and held up his hands. “Don’t hate. It was a special occasion.”
Maddock sighed. “Just when I was starting to think you were all right.”
Bones gave him a high five. “I’ll straighten you out yet, Maddock. How about we go back to Jillian’s and see what’s up with these lanterns?”