Page 130 of Capturing You

Had the mansion’s eccentricities been mentioned? Could Forbes’s enemies know about the secret hiding places if they did any research at all?

Maybe.

She’d barely had time to process what she’d learned that morning, that Ford was Forbes. That the man she knew had lost his parents and his sister to murder. That he was trying to solve their murders, not because he was writing a book but because the killers needed to be brought to justice.

She didn’t want Forbes to get hurt. If somebody could learn about the house’s secrets, then she needed to let him know.

And maybe there were more secrets he didn’t know about.

After skimming the first few chapters and finding nothing helpful, she reached the center section of glossy photographs.

She stopped on one and stared. It wasn’t people or old images of the mansion. It was a blueprint of the house’s first floor.

Notations with arrows pointed out the secret staircase and the hidden hallway that led to the basement door. Other arrows pointed to hiding places and hidden compartments.

All the secrets were right there for anybody to find. But a caption at the bottom of the page told her this was the only sheet of the blueprints uncovered, that the rest of them had gone missing.

She checked the book’s copyright—mid-nineteen seventies, decades before The Network had started operating.

Even if they got ahold of this book, they wouldn’t know anything about the hiding places on the second and third floors.

She snapped a photo of the page and texted it to Forbes.

The first-floor hiding places aren’t safe, but the blueprints of the other floors seem to have been lost.

He responded immediately.

We need to talk.

No. I just wanted you to see this.

She added the information she’d learned about the seagull logo.

I haven’t found the logo of the charter boat company, but it’s a lead you could follow. Also, Nathan says Bryce is still missing. No info on Niles from him or Alyssa.

Her phone vibrated. It was Forbes.

She ignored it. But he called again. And then he texted.

After we talk, I’ll leave you alone. But considering everything, I deserve the opportunity to explain.

She squeezed her eyes closed. She didn’t want to talk to him, but he’d saved her life, maybe more than once.

Perhaps he had earned the right to a conversation.

A moment later, he texted again.

Please?

Fine.

Aside from the librarian, the library was empty. Leaning on her cane, the pebble in her shoe reminding her to move slowly, Brooklynn made her way to a small room off the back, closed the door softly, and dialed.

Forbes answered with, “Thank you for calling.”

“You wanted to explain.”

“Can we talk in person? Let me take you back to the house.”