Jake laughed. “Sorry, Sam. Just distracted I guess. We had an incident at the site today, and I guess it’s been on my mind all night.”
He had both Sam and Katelynn’s attention instantly. “Somebody get hurt?” Katelynn asked, her face showing concern, the adventure module in her hand forgotten for the moment.
“Nah, nothing like that.” Remembering his first reaction to Rick’s appearance in his trailer, Jake almost smiled. “My men have been working in the cellar for the last several days, pumping out the river so we can lay the wood floor, you know?”
Sam and Katelynn nodded. Spending as much time together as they did, they’d become almost as familiar with Blake’s renovation plans as Jake.
“Once Rick’s team pumped out the water, they found this shallow trench bisecting the entire basement. And there, at the bottom of the trench, is a set of stairs leading down into the earth.” Jake looked up from where he was staring at the floor, to see if his friends were following his explanation.
They were, so he told them the rest.
About his gut reaction to the stone. About the tunnel he and Rick uncovered, and of the journey the two of them made into the darkness beneath. He told them of a phone call he had earlier that evening from Blake, and of the man’s request that he and his crew break through the barrier that blocked off the end of the tunnel in order to discover what lay beyond.
“What are you going to do?” Sam asked.
“Just what I was told to do. Break down that wall in the morning to see what’s on the other side.”
“Want some company?” Sam asked.
“Sure. Just come ready to work. Taking down a brick wall in open air in the light of day is one thing. Having to do the same while underground in a dimly lit and poorly ventilated tunnel is another. It isn’t going to be easy.”
Throughout the conversation, Katelynn sat quietly, doing her best to cope with the flood of feelings at Jake’s revelation. A strange sense of unease uncoiled like a snake in her belly, all cold and hungry, telling her to leave things well enough alone, not to disturb whatever it was that had lain at rest in the dark depths of that tunnel for so long. She was suddenly certain that it would do them no good to intrude.
At last she spoke up. “Do you really think it’s a good idea to go down there, Jake?” she asked tentatively, not trusting her own feelings sufficiently to protest any harder.
“We checked it out pretty thoroughly this afternoon. That tunnel is hewed from solid rock. There’s no danger of its collapsing on us,” he replied, misunderstanding her reason for caution.
Katelynn couldn’t find a way to voice her concern without looking silly and superstitious, so she let the matter drop. Mentally, she sought some rational explanation for the fear that was rapidly spreading through her, but found that none existed. Something was going to happen when they went down there, something awful. She knew it, could feel it in her bones.
While Katelynn struggled to identify her feelings, Jake and Sam quickly agreed to meet the next morning just before seven. After that, the gathering broke up quickly.
The ride home with Sam passed in silence. When they pulled into her drive, and he walked her to her door, she tried once more. “You guys really ought to just leave things alone and let Blake hire some professionals to investigate that tunnel. What if it’s unsafe, and the two of you get trapped down there?”
Sam sighed. “We’re not going to get trapped, Katelynn. You heard Jake. That tunnel has been standing for a long time. One more day isn’t going to make a difference; it’s not going to suddenly come tumbling down around our ears. You’re just jealous that you can’t go with us because you have class in the morning.” He chuckled, not recognizing the depths of her fear. “Go on, get inside,” he said. “We’ll tell you all about it at lunch tomorrow. We’ll be fine. You’ll see.” With a wave he turned away down the steps.
Katelynn was still standing there, watching, as the tail-lights of his car disappeared around the curve at the end of her street.
In the darkness, she shivered.
5
HALLORAN
As Jake was telling his friends about that afternoon’s discovery, across town another type of celebration was going on.
Kyle Halloran was getting drunk. He sat at the bar in Mikey’s Place, his oversize frame dwarfing the padded stool, his thick, meaty hands wrapped around a frosted mug of beer, his ninth of the night.
His craggy, square-jawed face reflected the emotions roiling there just beneath the surface. He sat there, dressed in the same sweat-stained T-shirt and jeans he’d been wearing all day while working under the hot sun, and let the anger swell inside him like gas in an overripe corpse.
Fuck Jake!he thought savagely.Bust my ass all day long for the guy and does he show any gratitude? Hell, no!
He slammed the mug up to his lips, drunkenly unaware that the glass cracked against his teeth. He took a long swallow, finishing off the drink.
The first time I ask for a raise and what do I get?“Sorry, Halloran, you’re just not working hard enough for me to give you one yet,” he mimicked in a high, squeaky voice.
Halloran slapped several bills down on the counter and stumbled out into the night air. The cool crispness cut through the beer-induced haze, sharpening his anger. Insisting on a raise earlier in the day had gotten him fired. Now, as Halloran stumbled off down the street, barely conscious of where he was going, his thoughts turned to how he could pay Jake back for his prejudice against him.
After considering several plans, each of which involved physical damage to Jake himself, Kyle stopped for a moment under a streetlamp, trying to discern just where he was. The sign before him readLAMPLIGHTER LANE , and it took him several moments to realize that he had wandered in the opposite direction from his apartment.
“Shit!” he swore into the darkness, turning to go back.
As he turned, the peak of a house caught his eye as it rose over the treetops to his left.
It was the Blake estate once known as Stonemoor, the very place he’d been working for the last several weeks. Seeing it brought his thoughts of revenge back into focus, and a plan began to form. He’d heard something that afternoon that he could use against Caruso.
Something about the cellar…
Then he had it.A secret passage! Cantelli’s crew had found a secret passage down in the cellar. Joey Henderson had told him about it at lunch that afternoon. He’d barely heard him at the time, and he wished he had listened more closely. Hadn’t he said something about it leading to some kind of secret room, a storage room, or a…
A treasure vault.
The idea took sudden hold.Why else would somebody build a room underground that nobody could get to? That had to be it!
It took only a moment for him to make up his mind about what to do with the information.When opportunity knocks, only a fool doesn’t answer, he thought,and I am no fool. Right here in front of me is a way to screw Caruso over and get rich at the same time.
He glanced around, satisfying himself that no one was watching, then set off through the woods in the direction of the estate.
Ten minutes later he was crouched at the corner of the supply shed by the side of the house. A quick survey of the area assured him that the idiot, Caruso, hadn’t hired a night watchman.Just shows how stupid he really is, Kyle thought wryly. He stepped out of hiding and over to the shed. Reaching out, he tried the door.