Simple Genius (Sean King & Michelle Maxwell 3)

Sean thought about this. “That’s right next to the bedroom I was staying in.”

Viggie put her hands on her hips and gave him a penetrating look. “Gee, you think you would have noticed then, Mr. Einstein.”

Sean headed up the stairs. Michelle and Viggie quickly followed.

A minute later they were standing on the third floor staring at what appeared to be a blank wall.

“Keep an eye out,” Sean said, giving the hallway a searching look. He began probing the wall with his fingers, trying to find a gap in the wood or a hidden latch like at the other mansion. Ten minutes later he gave up. “I can’t find anything, want to give it a try?” he asked Michelle.

After another ten minutes she said, “Nothing.”

“Viggie, are you sure this was the spot?” Sean asked.

“Absolutely,” she said tersely.

“Well, then either it’s just wasted space and there’s no secret room or there’s another way to open the door.”

“Sean, you said this is next to your old bedroom?” Michelle said. “Let’s try from in there.”

“Right!” He led them into the bedroom and started tapping on the wall. “Sounds hollow,” he said. He probed the wall for a lever of some kind but found nothing. They went to the room on the other side of the blank space, but the door was dead-bolted.

“Okay, what now? You can’t exactly cut a hole in the wall without anyone noticing,” Michelle said. “And so what if it’s a secret room. It’s probably empty like the one in that old house.”

“Michelle, we talked about this. If Rivest was right and there are spies here, they could be using that room for some reason.”

“Spies!” Viggie exclaimed.

“Keep that to yourself,” Sean warned.

“And what would spies be using this room for?” Michelle asked.

“If I knew that I wouldn’t be trying to get in there,” Sean snapped.

“Well, it doesn’t look like we’re going to be able to do that right now.” She turned to Viggie. “Thanks for your help. There’s no way Sean and I could have figured this out.”

Viggie beamed at her.

CHAPTER

61

HORATIO THANKED FREEMAN and headed back to the B&B. When he got there Horatio checked messages at his office. There were quite a few, but only one really excited him. He quickly called her back.

“Hello?”

“Mrs. Rose? Hazel Rose?”

“Hold on, she’s in the next bed.”

Horatio waited a few moments as the sounds of the phone being passed over reached him. Then a deep, southern voice came on the line.

“Hello? Who’s calling?”

“Mrs. Rose. It’s Horatio Barnes. I just got your message.”

“Oh, yes, Mr. Barnes. I wanted to thank you for what you did. They’re transferring me to that facility you talked about. I really can’t believe it. They actually have a library with real books in it instead of just magazines.”

Horatio’s enthusiasm waned. He thought she’d remembered something about Michelle’s childhood. “Right. Absolutely. I’m glad it worked out for you. I know you’ll be much happier there. Thank you for calling.”