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She wiped the heat from her face. “Is there a crypt... or catacombs or something under the chapel?”
He loosened his grip. “Um, I found a wine cellar behind the altar.”
She disentangled herself. “Show me.”
He frowned but got up, then walked over to the altar, fished out a headlamp from his thigh pocket, and put it on. He motioned to her.
She followed him and he pushed against the wall behind the cross.
A door opened. The scent of age and dirt rose from the darkness. He pointed his light down the steps. “I found it when I redid the chapel. It just leads to a small room, nothing?—”
“C’mon.”
“What?”
She pushed past him. “Remember when Ethan was telling his stupid pirate story in the yard that first night of the fundraiser?”
“No.”
She had landed at the bottom of the stairs. “Rohan said he heard about bootleggers hiding whiskey in caskets.”
“From who?”
“I don’t know. But he definitely said he’d hide something in the crypt under the chapel.” She looked around the room. Dirt walls, a packed floor, a small tower of wine casks against the wall, and shelving filled with old, dusty bottles. She picked one up, blew on it. “It’s full.”
“It’s probably a hundred years old.”
“The air is cool down here.”
“What are you getting at?”
“Just thinking.” She put the wine back, looked around. “Did Rohan know this was here?”
“I don’t think so. Or... I don’t know. The kids came into the chapel sometimes when I was working, but I don’t think...”
She turned to him. “Doyle. The chapel would have been in thechurch. The prayer room in the back of the church was a chapel, used for private prayers.” She stepped up to him. “I think I know where the kids might be.”
He stared at her, his blue eyes sparking, a smile tugging his face. “I like it when you get a really crazy, brilliant idea.”
Andoh,she almost did it. Almost gave in to the impulse. Almost leaned up and kissed him.
Instead, she grabbed his hand. “Let’s hope this is just crazy enough to be right.”
ELEVEN
Her idea did sound crazy,but Doyle had nothing left but crazy, so...
He held Tia’s hand and let her pull him up the stairs, out of the remodeled chapel, and through the corridor back to the dining hall.
A few of the team had left—Jake, along with Pete Brooks and Keon—but Declan and Austen remained, sipping coffee, standing over the table and map while Ethan and Ham stared at a tablet, searching for a fresh heat source.
“You’re looking in the wrong place.”
Of course that’s what Tia led with, always jumping right to the sharp point, but maybe that’s what he liked about her. That and so many other things, like her courage, and her dedication to the things she believed in. So yes, in that way, she was like Juliet.
And yet he could hardly call Tia soft-spoken or sweet.
He was done with soft-spoken and sweet. He rather liked spirited and bold.