I nodded slowly. “Maybe.”
I remembered Melanie saying the ventilation shaft was made of brick. It was old and maybe worn and uneven enough to climb. I felt like we were running out of air even though logically I knew that wasn’t the case. I knew I either had to climb out or spend the night in the office. Pounding on the door and yelling wasn’t going to help. What were the chances anyone would be in this part of the hotel for the rest of the night?
I looked at my phone again. I still had no cell service, not surprising considering I was at the bottom of an old ventilation shaft. The thought of spending all night in that room left me on the edge of panic. Climb it was.
I used the multipurpose tool on my key ring and got the brass grate loose on one side. The opening wasn’t very big but it was big enough.
“You first,” I said to Owen.
He peered into the darkness and then looked at me. He seemed doubtful.
“We’re kind of out of options,” I said. I shined my phone into the hole and Owen stepped through. I followed him.
Since we were at the bottom of the ventilation shaft there was a floor to stand on. The space was very, very dark even with the light from my phone. I forced myself to take slow breaths. I never should have gotten involved in Marcus’s case. I should have checked the truck seat because I knew how much Owen liked stowing away. I bent down, picked him up and stuffed him inside my jacket, zippering it almost closed so that just his furry head was poking out.
“This is my fault,” I said. “I’m the person. You’re the cat. I’m the one who is supposed to know better.”
“Mrr,” he said.
“We’re going to get out of this. We got out of that cabin before it exploded and we’re getting out of here. And this is the last time I am ever getting stuck in a small space. From now on we’re only going into big cavernous areas. Canyons, hockey rinks, airplane hangars.” I knew I was rambling but it helped distract me from panicking.
The shaft was maybe four feet square, no more. I put my hands out and felt the brick sides. The brick was in much better shape than I’d expected. I didn’t feel any place that I could get a handhold. And then my hand touched something cold and smooth. Metal. I shone the light up and there it was, a ladder mounted flush to the side wall. It must have been something workmen had used to maintain the tunnel. It could be close to a hundred years old. I took hold of the bottom of the ladder with both hands and pulled. It seemed to be fixed securely to the brick.
We could get out.
“You can do this, Katydid,” I could hear my mom say in my head. “Stiffen the sinews, summon up the blood.”
I gave one more yank on the bottom rung of the ladder. It didn’t move.
“Hang on,” I said to Owen. I reached for the highest rung I could grab and pulled myself up. The ladder held. I started to climb.
Because I needed both hands, my phone was in my pocket and I had no light. It was the darkest place I’d ever been in, but eventually up above me I saw a tiny glimmer of reflected light. A way out?
I was wheezing. My arms and shoulders burned. I was doing more pulling myself up the rungs than climbing. As I made my way up, I realized the faint bit of light I could see was coming from another grate-covered opening to my right. I was guessing we were about level with the floor above Melanie’s temporary office. This had to be a way out.
I leaned sideways for a better look. Was that one of the rooms that were being renovated? And how was I going to get the grate off the hole in the wall?
I pulled myself up until my feet were level with the grate. I eased Owen more to my left side. “Almost out,” I told him. I felt his cold nose on my neck.
I moved as far to the right of the ladder as I could, holding on with my left hand and bracing my right hand on the brick above the grate. Then I lifted my foot off the ladder and kicked the grate.
It gave just a little. I waited, listening, hoping maybe somebody would hear me and come to investigate.
Silence.
It took three more kicks but the grate finally fell back into the room. Now all I had to do was shift ninety degrees and reach that opening.
I felt around in the darkness with my foot and found a small foothold, a break in the mortar around two bricks. For a moment it would have to hold all my body weight.
I took hold of the right side of the opening with my right hand, stretching as far as I could. I wedged my foot against the brick. I thought of tai chi, moving fluidly from one movement to the next.
I took a breath.
I let it out.
I moved.
I grabbed the left side of the shaft with my other hand. For a moment I teetered there and then I moved my other foot over, ducked my head and shoulders into the cramped opening and threw my weight forward, rolling to my right side as I did to protect Owen. My right foot slid off its foothold but enough of my body was inside that I didn’t fall.
For a moment I just lay there, half of me in the opening and half of me out, trying not to throw up. Owen wriggled out of the top of my jacket and shook himself. He licked my chin.
“We’re all right,” I wheezed.
After a couple of minutes I pulled my legs into the room and sat up. There was construction debris all around us. We were in what was probably going to be the men’s bathroom. A urinal lay on its side next to me. I started to laugh as much from relief as anything else. This was probably the stupidest thing I’d ever done, but we’d made it.
I got to my feet and replaced the grate by propping it against the wall. I brushed as much dirt and dust off of myself as I could.
I wasn’t wasting any more time in the room. I wanted to be outside, where there was lots of fresh air to breathe and lots of space.
I stepped into the corridor. Owen wriggled out of my grasp and walked down the middle of the hallway as though he were a guest.
“Great. Now you want the whole world to see you,” I said. Somehow he knew that now I wanted him to vanish so he wasn’t going to do it.
I heard voices. “Half a sardine,” I said in desperation. His left ear twitched but he kept walking, both of which I could see because he was still visible.
I took two long steps, leaned forward and swept him up just as a man and woman came around the corner. I smiled pleasantly and said “Good evening” as we passed each other.
Owen squirmed but I had a good grip on him this time. I made it to one of the side doors, went down a flight of stairs and stepped outside. For a moment I just stood in the parking lot taking deep breaths of cool, fresh air. Finally, I speed-walked to the truck, where I deposited Owen on the seat. He refused to look at me.
I leaned sideways. “Next time take the half a sardine,” I told him.
Owen sulked as I pulled out of the parking lot and headed for home. He continued his pout as we drove up Mountain Road. I pictured Melanie’s office. I hoped I’d gotten any cat hair Owen may have left on the scarlet-and-gray blanket.
“Scarlet and gray,” I said aloud. From the corner of my eye I saw the cat finally look at me. “Those are the colors of Saint Edwin University.”
I pictured the school seal in one of the magazines Burtis had loaned me and the Latin words on it: “Virtus, Veritas, Honestas.” Valor, Truth, Honor. Gray background. Red lettering.
“Melanie Davis went to Saint Edwin University,” I said slowly. There was no other logical explanation for the woven blanket and the plaque on the wall. Melanie had told me she had worked with Wallace briefly but she barely knew him. She hadn’t said they’d gone to the same college. Coincidence? Lewis Wallace died in the hotel she managed. There was no way that was a coincidence. It had to mean something. The question was, what?
chapter 13
