Her Forgotten Betrayal(34)

Cole looked around the room, his eyes like blue lasers, seeing everything. A muscle along his jaw ticked as he concentrated. He got to his feet and rounded the desk, heading her way. He studied the dated computer that she assumed hadn’t been turned on in years, then continued to the corner of the office. His back to her, he used his fingers to trace along the seams of the wall’s ancient oak paneling.

She joined him, drawn as much by his quiet concentration as by the mystery of what he was doing. What was he looking for? What had she wanted him to see?

Pressing against one of the panels, he dropped his gaze to the floor. She knelt, seeing closer up that the carpet was worn in an odd sort of arc pattern. A soft click was the only warning she got before the panel swung toward her, its bottom dragging along the worn patch.

Shaw scrambled backward, rising to her feet and staring at the hidden door built into the outer wall. Cole was studying his discovery closely.

“Did you know this was here?” he asked.

“No.” She waited. He didn’t turn around. “But you did, didn’t you? Do you think someone might have been able to sneak inside through this?”

His attention flicked to her, but only long enough to say, “Try and open it.” He moved behind her and waited. “I don’t want to get my prints on it.”

“Prints?” She reached for the brass knob, then stopped. “Fingerprints?”

“In case we discover there’s been a break-in, you’ll want to call the local authorities. I’m not interested in finding myself on their list of suspects.”

She didn’t correct him by saying that if she called law enforcement, there wouldn’t be anything local about it. She tried the knob, turning it easily, but the door itself wouldn’t budge. That’s when she noticed the serious-looking deadbolt halfway up its face.

“Key?” Cole asked.

“You’re asking me?”

She shuddered, though not because she thought the secret entrance was a threat. Clearly it could only be opened from the inside. But what other surprises might be lurking in her home, in her life, in her mind, while she stumbled around blindly, trapped by her ignorance?

“How did you know this was here?” Her question came out shaky, when she wanted so much to sound and be strong in front of this man.

His touch on her hand made her jump, but within seconds she’d intertwined her fingers around his.

“We used to play in here as kids during the summer,” he said, “when your father was away on business. All over the house, actually. Your babysitter du jour never cared, as long as we were quiet and stayed out of her hair while she watched soap operas all day.”

Shaw tried to remember. She wanted to remember the happy, carefree times he’d described. But nothing but a blank was there, where the past had hovered so close only minutes ago.

“Are there more secret passages?” she asked.

“Not from the outside, as far as I know.” He tugged her hand and led her to the desk. “Your father kept a key in the center drawer, taped to the left side near the back.”

He made no move to check for it himself. His overt care not to put himself on the radar of local police was yet another peculiarity they’d have to discuss eventually. For the moment, she opened the drawer so slowly it should have come with a spooky movie soundtrack. She half expected something sinister to fly at her.

It turned out to be nothing more than an ordinary drawer filled with papers and a few ledgers. She felt along the left side until her fingers encountered the blunt edges of something metal and rounded, with ridges down one side. Peeling it away from the tape that held it to the pine interior, she lifted the key out and tried to hand it to Cole.

He shook his head. “You open it.”

She confronted the dust-covered door. She lifted the key, as she suspected she had many times before. It inserted cleanly without a hint of resistance. The smooth feel of it sliced into more than the lock.

She closed her eyes, fresh memories breaking free. She waited for them this time, instead of grasping and finding only emptiness.

Do you think he ever used this when your mother was alive? asked Cole’s voice from long ago. He was much younger than in the last memory. They both were. Young enough to still need a babysitter.

I wish I could remember my mother, Shaw had said. I wish he’d talk about her.

Open it, and let’s see where it goes, Shaw?

“Shaw?” Cole asked, his deep voice pulling her back to the present. He was behind her, standing in almost exactly the same place as in her newest flash of their past. “Are you okay? What—”

“I’m fine.” She turned the key, which took more effort than she’d expected.