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Once the door was closed behind her, Kate’s eyes struggled to adjust quickly to the darkness of the hallway. She could faintly see the black and white tiles on the floor, and the glint of light of the attractive chandelier-like fixture hanging above. There was a mirror on the wall across from her, and Kate could see the shadowy reflection of the child, a boy perhaps ten years old, in what appeared to be the living room off to the left...
“Move!” Marshall snapped at her. He used the barrel of the shotgun to poke at her back. Kate bit her lips, trying not to retaliate with a retort, or just plain whirl around and punch him in the face. She hated being poked... She noticed Mrs. Newcastle a few steps ahead of her. They were being wrangled into the living room, or so she thought...
“You! Boy! Get over here!” The child paled, and looked to his mother for guidance as to what to do. She held out a hand in reply, and pulled him close to her the minute he took her hand.
“Please, I—”
“Shut it!” The tip of the barrel waved menacingly before swinging around toward Kate. “You! Lead the way upstairs! You two...” He jerked his head toward the staircase. “Follow her!” Seconds later, they were all climbing the stairs. Kate allowed her eyes to wander, scanning the pictures on the wall... the edge of the carpet on each stair where it met the wood... the carefully turned balustrade... They reached the top and Kate stopped.
“Keep moving!” Marshall snapped.
Kate turned slowly, her face as impassive as she could manage under the circumstances as she replied. “Where are we going?” She raised her hand, gesturing to the handful of doorways around the hallway, then turned to the mother and child. Her voice softened as she asked again, “Where are we going, Mrs. Newcastle?”
“Second doorway on the right. And it’s Jess.”
Kate was relieved to see Jess relax a bit, especially after Kate addressed her. The little boy was calming a bit, too, and Kate decided to keep talking, asking him his name and getting a quiet, “Nicholas,” in reply. She stopped in front of the second doorway, if you could call it that. It wasn’t much of an office, just a corner alcove area about the size of a small bathroom. The door had clearly been added later and wasn’t part of the home’s original layout. In fact, as they entered the room and Kate tried to take in as much as she could for future reference, this room probably led somewhere else originally... perhaps a hallway leading to an access door...
There... the beading and chair rail work were very well done, but a good eye could spot the door. It probably led to an attic crawlspace of some kind. She turned, about to ask Jess about it when she noted the expression on the woman’s face. Kate blinked a couple of times and shifted gears. “Is that... the file cabinet that needs opening?” The relief in Jess’ eyes and posture was hard to miss, though thankfully Marshall did. She nodded vehemently, and Kate managed to wink at her before turning to Marshall. “Want me to start?”
Marshall was silent, but motioned with the gun for her to go ahead. He kept his position between them and the doorway, blocking any exit from the room save jumping out the window at the far end. Kate moved to the file cabinet and knelt to look at the lock. It was a simple tumbler, easy enough to pop in a matter of minutes... but it didn’t have to be.
“It’s going to take a while...” she said, trying to keep her face neutral as she did. “Everybody’d better get comfortable.” Kate reached in to her bag for the lock picking kit and opened it, carefully laying the tools out on top of the file cabinet. She could make this last for a while, but not forever... She took a deep breath and rubbed her thumb over the lock.
Pierce had better hurry up and get there... soon.