Curious Minds (Knight and Moon 1)

“No.”

“Case closed,” Riley said. “Does this secret space lead somewhere?”

“It opens to a narrow corridor and then stairs.”

Emerson put his hand to the panel in front of them, slid the cover on a peephole, and looked into the library.

“He’s still there,” Emerson whispered. “I’ll have to take the back stairs.”

Emerson tapped the flashlight app on his smartphone, pulled the Good Delivery bar out of his rucksack, and handed one of the halves to Riley. “Give this to Rollo, and tell him everything. If he’s working for the NSA he needs to know. If he’s working for whoever is behind all this, he already knows. Either way you can’t go wrong with the truth.”

“What about you?”

“Places to go. People to see. Rollo isn’t one of them. After you’ve been debriefed by Rollo, you can meet me at Maxine’s townhouse. I’m going out the back way. Count to sixty and depress the silver lever in front of you. It will open the door and you can return to the library. Rollo won’t hurt you. He’ll assume you’re a helplessly confused pawn who can be exploited.”

“That’s so flattering,” Riley said.

“Sarcasm,” Emerson said. “I like it.”

Riley watched him disappear into the darkness, counted to sixty, and depressed the lever. The secret panel slid open and she stepped out.

“There you are,” Rollo said. “I was hoping you’d reappear.”

&nb

sp; She handed over her half of the fake gold bar. “Emerson thought you would want this.”

Rollo examined it. “Interesting. And he has the other half?”

“He does.”

“What does he propose to do with it?”

“I have no clue.”

Rollo cut his eyes to the wall with the secret passage. “I don’t suppose he’s hanging out back there.”

“He had places to go and people to see.”

“Of course. What were his instructions to you?”

“He said I should cooperate with the NSA.”

Rollo considered that for a beat. “Tell me everything.”

Riley gave him the short version of her life with Emerson.

“So you’re sure you saw Hans Grunwald, William McCabe, and Maxine Trowbridge together?” Rollo asked when she finished talking.

“Yes.”

“In the interest of national security we’re going to rearrange things,” Rollo said. “When you walk out of this room you’ll be quite sure you didn’t see Hans Grunwald or William McCabe at Fletcher’s Cove. And you didn’t see Maxine Trowbridge there either. Because you were never at Fletcher’s Cove at all. Do you understand?”

Riley nodded.

“Good. That way everybody stays healthy.” He glanced over at the monkey. “Even Mr. Pip here.”

“You know the monkey’s name?”