Page 92 of The Shop on Hidden Lane

She adjusted her pack and followed him.

“You really were born to take charge,” she grumbled.

“What?”

“Nothing. You were right. Poor Vincent became a problem for someone.”

“Poor Vincent?”

She ignored the sarcasm. “If I read the vision correctly, he was murdered with one of those Kaleidoscope weapons. That means Orston, the guy I called Smoking Ghost, has fired the light gun at least twice that we know of and probably more often.”

“Count on it.” Luke stopped in front of a darkened hallway that was closed with a velvet rope. “Here we go. This is the corridor that leads to the wall.”

“How can you tell? It looks like all the other hallways.” Shepaused, raising her talent a little so that she could see the dark passageway. A stream of footsteps, old and new, glowed faintly on the floor. “Oh, right.”

Bruce followed Luke unhesitatingly into the hall. Once again she found herself bringing up the rear. It was getting old.

“This path has been in use for decades,” Luke said. “Probably since the house was built.”

“Yes, I can see that.” She stopped and managed, barely, to swallow a small screech. “Damn. Another one.”

Luke halted and looked back. “Another body?”

“Not a body but, yes, another murder scene.” Warily, she heightened her senses and caught a glimpse of a figure standing over a dead man on the floor. “Not Smoking Ghost this time. And not Vincent. I don’t see any signs that the killer used one of the Kaleidoscope weapons. It’s hard to estimate times but I think this murder took place about two years ago.”

“That would put it at approximately the time the last owner of the house was said to have gone mad and died in here. He was probably murdered because the Alchemist wanted control of the property. Even if he had been willing to sell, he had to be taken out.”

She slipped out of the light trance. “Because he knew the secrets of the house.”

“Yes. Are you okay?”

“What?” Then she realized he was worried she might be on the edge of an ice fever attack. “Yes, I’m fine.”

And she was, she thought. Or at least as fine as a person could be while discovering murder scenes in a maze.

“Let’s keep moving,” Luke said.

It was a command, not a suggestion. She resisted the temptation to fire back with a snappy,I’m on it, Boss.

She stopped a moment later because Luke and Bruce had halted in front of what looked like a steel wall.

“This is it,” he said.

She watched Bruce trot forward and lower his nose to the nearly invisible line that marked the lower edge of the wall. The dog sniffed and then scratched at the metal.

“There’s something on the other side.” Sophy said. “But I don’t see a lock or a security code panel.”

“That’s because someone went to a lot of trouble to hide it.”

Luke took a small device out of one of the pockets of his jacket and moved it methodically around the edge of the steel plate. He paused when a tiny green light blinked.

“Here we go,” he said.

He did something to the gadget and a small, concealed plate opened, revealing an illuminated control panel.

“I can probably unlock that for you,” she offered.

“Thanks, but believe it or not, some of us can still get by the old-fashioned way—with good tech.”