Chapter 7 - THE ROOM BENEATH HALCYON
Sebastian pulled his coat over his mouth.
Nora rushed toward the nearest cabinet.
“What is coming through those vents?”
Mara watched the vapor descend.
“It is too heavy to be smoke.”
“That does not answer the question.”
“No.”
Mara moved toward the central desk.
“Gabriel would not build a sealed archive without an emergency release.”
Sebastian examined the walls.
“There is no visible control.”
“He would not make it visible.”
Mara studied the items her father had left behind.
The tape recorder.
The envelopes.
A bronze statue of Saint Aurelia.
Gabriel had placed the same figure on his desk when Mara was a child.
Whenever she asked why the saint carried a broken wheel, he told her that broken things sometimes revealed the path out.
Mara lifted the statue.
A small button was hidden beneath the base.
She pressed it.
Part of the stone floor opened.
Fresh air rushed upward through a maintenance shaft.
Nora dropped to her knees beside it.
“Go.”
Sebastian entered first.
Nora followed.
Mara remained behind long enough to take Gabriel’s envelope, the tape, and three folders from the central desk.
The vapor reached her shoulders.
Beatrice spoke through the speaker again.
“You were always too curious.”
Mara climbed into the shaft.
“You were always too certain.”
She pulled the floor panel closed above her.
The shaft led toward an old drainage corridor.
They crawled for nearly twenty minutes before reaching a steel ladder.
Nora climbed first.
She pushed open a hatch.
Morning light poured down.
They emerged inside the museum’s sculpture courtyard.
Police tape surrounded the building.
Dozens of officers stood near the main entrance.
The courtyard itself was empty.
Sebastian looked toward the west wing.
“We should leave.”
Mara opened one of the folders.
Inside was a photograph of Beatrice standing beside Mara’s mother.
A handwritten date appeared beneath it.
Three years after the date Mara had been told her mother died.
Mara’s throat tightened.
“My mother survived.”
Sebastian said nothing.
“You knew.”
“I suspected.”
“You let me believe she was dead.”
“Gabriel made that decision.”
“My father lied to me.”
“To protect you.”
“People always call it protection after they steal someone’s choice.”
The words sounded familiar.
Julian had used the same excuse.
Sebastian lowered his eyes.
“Your mother entered witness protection.”
“Where is she now?”
“I do not know.”
Mara studied the photograph.
A hospital sign was visible behind the women.
Saint Catherine’s Institute.
The hospital had closed fifteen years earlier.
Nora looked toward the upper windows of the museum.
“Someone is watching us.”
A figure stood behind the glass.
Beatrice wore the same silver gown from the gala.
She had not gone to the hospital with Julian.
She had remained inside Halcyon.
Mara and Beatrice stared at each other across the courtyard.
Then Beatrice raised one hand.
She was holding the missing ledger.
Mara stepped forward.
Beatrice disappeared from the window.
A door opened on the opposite side of the courtyard.
Detective Elias Ward entered with two officers.
“Do not move.”
Mara placed the folders on the ground.
Elias approached slowly.
“You are under arrest for the attempted murder of Julian Vale.”
“The recording is false.”
“You can explain that downtown.”
“Beatrice tried to suffocate us beneath the museum.”
Elias looked at Sebastian.
Recognition crossed his face.
“You are supposed to be dead.”
“I have heard that frequently today.”
Elias turned back to Mara.
“Where is Nora’s phone?”
“Under a delivery truck.”
“That was evidence.”
“It was compromised.”
The officers moved behind Mara.
Cold metal closed around her wrists.
From the hospital, Julian had already given three interviews.
He claimed Mara had become obsessed with revenge.
He described her as brilliant, damaged, and dangerous.
He said he still loved her.
That final sentence made the story believable to people who wanted cruelty to look complicated.
As Elias led Mara toward the courtyard exit, she looked up.
Beatrice had returned to the window.
The ledger was gone.
In its place, she held a small silver pendant.
Mara recognized it immediately.
It had belonged to her mother.
Beatrice pressed one finger to her lips.
Then she pointed toward the eastern gallery.
A woman stood in the shadows behind her.
The woman’s hair was gray.
Her face was older.
But Mara knew her eyes.
May you like
Her mother was alive.
And she was standing beside Beatrice.
