boy?
Tanya pulled the photo out of the frame and checked the back. There were no markings or writing anywhere to indicate who he was.
She put the photo back on the table. It was time to see what Bold was up to.
Tanya was coming down the marble staircase when she realized Max hadn’t joined her in her search.
“Max?” she called from the corridor.
“He’s in here,” came Bold’s voice from the living room.
Tanya walked in to see the chief scrutinizing the bookshelf on the far end. Max was sitting next to him. He whined as she stepped inside the room, as if calling her over.
Bold didn’t turn around. “Find anything?”
“We need to get Miller,” Tanya replied in a grim voice. “Norma’s just the sidekick.”
Bold pulled a stack of books from the top shelf. “She’s no innocent bystander though. I’d bet my pension on it.”
Tanya turned to her dog. “What are you doing, bud?”
Max barked.
“He’s been sniffing this wall,” muttered Bold, as he examined the wood panel in the back of the top shelf.
“Are you seriously looking for a secret entrance?”
“Did you find a door to the basement anywhere else?”
“What makes you think there’s a way through here?”
He straightened up and turned to her. “When someone’s hiding something in plain sight, they look in its direction. Makes them feel superior. It’s a matter of—”
“Ego,” completed Tanya as she turned to see Nurse Norma scowling their way.
“A psychological tic,” said Bold, nodding. “I know you like to go off guns blazing, but it helps to slow down a smidgen and reflect. Plus, your dog is keen about this area. There’s something here.”
Tanya stepped up to the shelves. She pushed a row of books to the floor and felt the back panel.
Nothing.
No knots, handles, or knobs. Just smooth polished wood.
She was about to push off another stack, when she realized Max was earnestly sniffing an enormous hardback that lay to the side on the floor.
She grabbed it and flipped it open.
“What’s this?” she gasped.
Bold spun around. The inside of the book had been neatly carved out. Nestled in between the cut pages was an electronic fob.
Tanya snatched the fob and clicked on the button.
She and Bold turned around, expecting a mechanical whir from somewhere. But nothing happened.
Max remained in his spot by the bookshelf, a curious expression on his face, and didn’t rush off to investigate any corner of the room.
Bold frowned. “Dead battery?”
Tanya pressed the button again.
Nothing.
“Let me try,” he said, plucking the device from her hand.
Typical man.
Tanya turned her attention to the hollowed-out book. The title read, Nine Pints: A Journey Through the Money, Medicine, and Mysteries of Blood.
Blood again.
She tapped her finger on the book cover. “The doctor has a row of blood bags in his surgery. Elizabeth said something about blood but didn’t explain.”
Bold was trying the fob, pointing it in all directions. “Don’t tell me you think the doctor is a vampire now.”
Tanya surveyed the room, her finger still tapping on the book cover. Her gut told her she was close, so close to finding Asha and the girls.
Nurse Norma was evading eye contact now.
Bold dropped the fob on the coffee table and turned back to the bookshelf, hands on his hips. “We have to find the receiver.”
“Receiver?”
“The box that catches the signal. Like how a garage door opener works.” He pulled out more paperbacks from the shelves and placed them on the floor. “It has to be hidden behind here.”
He pushed the last of the books down, letting them crash to the floor. Max jumped to the side before one hit his head.
“There’s nothing here,” said Bold as he knocked on the back of the wooden shelf.
“You almost hit Max—” Tanya stopped.
She stared at the most recent books that had fallen on the floor. Hematology. Pathology of Blood Disorders. Blood Collection. Blood Chemistry.
“Elizabeth wasn’t hallucinating when she said blood.” She picked a book at random and opened it, expecting a hollowed-out inside, but it was intact.
Bold realized what she was doing and got on his knees to join the search. Together, they flipped through the books with Blood on the title, looking for hollow insides, loose notes, hidden messages, anything.
After several minutes, Bold wiped the sweat gathered on his brow. “There’s nothing here.”
Tanya picked up the original book with the hollowed inside and ran her finger along the cover. Blood had a deep meaning to Dr. Miller.
She scanned the room.
Nurse Norma’s face had turned pink. They were getting close. She knew it.
The hair on Tanya’s arms stood as she realized they had been staring at it all along.
“Look at that!”
Bold glanced around him. “What?”
She strode over to the modern paintings on the adjacent wall. If someone had handed a can of paint to a kid and asked them to splash it haphazardly on the canvas, these would be the results.
Each painting had one unique color. One was blue, another was yellow, and the last one was red.
Tanya pointed at the corner painting. “What does this look like to you?”
Bold stared at it.
“A blood splatter.”