CHAPTER 17 — THE KEY IN THE WALL
Emergency lights flickered on throughout the marble hall.
Rosa immediately moved the residents into the secured residential wing while Leah contacted the security company.
Victor stood near the entrance, speaking with the guards.
“No one enters or leaves until we know what happened.”
Evelyn turned to Mara.
“You said the key opens a room.”
Mara looked toward the darkened western corridor.
“Katherine said it was hidden behind the wall of the old music room.”
“There was never a music room.”
“There was before Adrian renovated the west wing.”
Rosa returned carrying two flashlights.
“There used to be one,” she said. “Mr. Vale sealed it after his father died. I was told the pipes had collapsed.”
Victor’s expression became guarded.
“My father hated music.”
“Your wife didn’t,” Rosa replied.
They crossed the west wing while security searched the grounds.
At the end of the corridor, Rosa stopped beside a decorative wooden panel.
“This wall is newer than the others.”
Evelyn ran her fingers across the carved surface.
The design showed a row of closed doors.
All except one.
She pressed the brass key against a narrow opening hidden inside the carving.
It fit.
A mechanical click echoed behind the wall.
The entire wooden panel shifted forward.
Cold air escaped through the opening.
Behind it was a narrow room no larger than a storage closet.
There were no windows.
No furniture.
Only a metal cabinet bolted to the floor.
Evelyn approached it.
The cabinet required the same key.
Inside were nine sealed envelopes, an old cassette recorder, and a leather book bearing Katherine Harlan’s initials.
Victor reached for the book.
Evelyn closed the cabinet door before he could touch it.
“You knew about this room?”
“No.”
“But Mara believes someone in the family betrayed my mother.”
Victor looked directly at her.
“She may believe many things.”
Mara stepped into the doorway.
“I believe what Katherine told me.”
“And what exactly did she tell you?” Victor asked.
“That the Covenant was never one organization.”
Mara pointed toward the nine envelopes.
“It was divided into circles. Adrian controlled only one.”
Evelyn removed the first envelope.
A name had been written across the front.
VICTOR HARLAN.
Victor’s face hardened.
“Open it,” Evelyn said.
Before she could break the seal, Leah called from the corridor.
“You need to see this.”
They followed her to the security office.
The electrical failure had erased twelve minutes of camera footage.
But one exterior camera had restarted earlier than the others.
The video showed the west side of the mansion.
A figure dressed in black walked calmly from the garden toward the house.
The person did not force a door.
They entered using an access code.
Leah froze the image.
Although the figure’s face was hidden, one detail was visible.
A silver pendant hung from the intruder’s neck.
It was shaped like an open door.
Evelyn touched the identical pendant around her own neck.
Mara whispered behind her.
“Katherine only made two of those.”
Evelyn turned.
“Who received the other one?”
May you like
Mara’s answer was almost too quiet to hear.
“The person she feared most.”
