MASS MURDER (38 page)

He glanced over at the tool shed.
A dark image stood out in relief against the deep shadow of the shed’s outline.
It was a tall,
New England
style bird feeder.
He remembered seeing it during the daytime, but hadn’t thought much about it.
A hunch made him walk over and shine his flashlight up into it.
It was designed like a small octagonal building, complete with shingles and windows on all sides
. It was
secured onto a flat piece of wood that sat atop a steel pipe anchored into the ground.
At the front was a wide doorway to let in its small, winged visitors.
The feeder itself sat about a foot above his reach
. A
s the beam of his flashlight cut into its interior, a glint from the inside made the hairs on the back of his neck bristle.

Quickly
, he surveyed the surrounding area until he found an old bucket thrown against the side of the shed.
H
e took it back to the birdfeeder, turned it upside down and climbed onto its rickety bottom hanging onto the metal pole to gain his balance.
The bucket sank into the soft earth, but gave him enough elevation so that with only a slight waver he could reach into the opening.

His fingers scraped across old birdseed, splintered wood
,
and bird droppings.
The bird droppings made him shudder
,
but when his fingers touched cold metal he smiled.
With
his handkerchief, he reached in and carefully
removed a heavy,
military style flashlight
. Across one side was
a
dark
splash of
color
.

A
little bird
, he thought, may have just led him to Jeff
Dorman’s
murder weapon.

Chapter Twenty-
Six

Giorgio returned to his car
to
deposit the flashlight into an evidence bag
and then decided to drive to the monastery. He could
return the
architectural drawings
to Father Damian
and maybe find Fat
her O’Leary.
When he got there,
Anya Peters was just disappearing into her office.
Not wanting another confrontation, h
e
proceeded
to Father Damian’s door
, but t
here was no answer
and t
he door was locked.
He’d have to le
ave them with Peters after all.

H
e
went to her office and
knocked
,
but there was no answer there either.
Confused, he tried
the door knob and found it open. T
he room was empty
.
He took a quick glance down the hallway
as
Grosvner pushed past
him
, sniffing
the carpeted floor.
The dog st
opped briefly at the desk
and then made a beeline for the closet
. H
e pressed his nose against the baseboard, inhaling with loud sucking noises.

C
urious
,
Giorgio placed the drawings on the desk and pushed Grosvner aside to open the full-length closet door.
The closet wasn’t any bigger than a phone booth
, but was empty. Peters’ coat was hung outside the closet on an antique coat tree
,
yet
the smell of
her
perfume was overpowering
inside the closet
.
Giorgio stared into the blank interior for thirty seconds feeling like a dancer who’d just missed a step onstage.

What was going on here?
It was clear Anya Pet
ers had been in her office
recently.
But why would her scent remain in the closet if
her coat was hung on the other side of the room
?
As his eyes roamed around the small space, the tiniest sliver of light near the floor at the back of the closet gave him the answer.
He quickly flicked off the overhead light behind him
and came back to the closet
.
H
e couldn’t help the smile that flickered across his face.
There was a light leak from somewhere behind the back wall.

He turned
the light back on
and then
ran his fingers around the edges of the closet
. He
pushed knobs and twisted hooks looking for some secret lever.
Nothing happened.
His fingers pressed into corners and pulled on anything that hung loose.
He even yanked at the coat rod.
Nothing moved.
H
e stood back and used his flashlight to play across the knotty pine panels.
The beam of light inched across the wood surface, revealing the irregular wood grain that flowed in river patterns.
Everything looked normal until he noticed a swirl of dark brown wood in the far upper right corner of the side panel.
It appeared to be just another imperfection, but closer inspection revealed that it didn’t blend into the wood
as the rest of the patterns did
.

His
heart skip
ped a beat. H
e used the knuckle of his index finger to press the center of the demarcation.
The circle receded into the wall a good half inch as the back wall opened silently toward him, bringing with it the musty smell of earth and decayed wood
.

Giorgio ordered
Grosvner to stay put
, pulled out his own flashlight
and
slipped through the opening
. He
found himself in a narrow hallway
lit by a single wall sconce,
with a low ceiling and a set of stairs descending to his right
into a well of darkness
.
A
duplicate wood panel lined the opposite wall
making him
pretty certain Peters’ office backed up against Father Damian’s
. I
f he was right, he was standing in between the two.

Remembering the lost earring and the discrepancy in time, he was forced to assume there was another hidden doorway to Father Damian’s office, allowing the two to pass back and forth
undetected
.
He listened at Damian’s wall for a moment, but heard nothing.
Either they were engaged in something private, or Anya Peters had take
n the stairs to places unknown.

Giorgio followed his instincts and decided to descend the short set of stairs.
He
stepped into
an earthen tunnel carved into shale rock that formed the foundation of the building
. It had
a low ceiling that appeared to be the underside of the floor above.
The air was dank and musty and there was hard packed dirt beneath his feet.
He used the flashlight to get his bearings.

A claustrophobic tunnel twist
ed
and turn
ed
as it followed the outline of the building above
east
.
Wh
erever Peters had gone, she may return at any moment
, a
nd she might not be alone.
He’d have to hurry.

Old wall sconces dotted the interior wall, but offered no help now.
Draped in cobwebs, they looked more like props from a Halloween fright house.
T
he hard packed
floor was uneven enough to increase
the chance of
mishap
, so he had
to be careful.
In fact, he
nearly tripped over
a timber that framed a doorway
as he hurried forward
.
Just beyond the heavy timber a small room opened up with a second set of stairs.
A tiny light, the size of a nightlight, gave off a soft illumination at the top of the stairs.
Giorgio carefully climbed the stairs but was forced to stop at a blank wall.

He used his flashlight to search for what he knew had to be there, a mechanism to open the wall.
Unfortunately, this area had not been constructed in anything as nice as knotty pine and there were no visible hooks, knobs
,
or levers.
He pushed on the wall in several places, but it didn’t budge.
He used the toe of his shoe to push against a shallow step.
Nothing happened.
He ran his fingers around what he thought must be the edges of a doorway.
Still, nothing happened.

The light switch and tiny bulb set into the ceiling were the only indications any technology exis
ted here.
Using his forefinger, he flicked the light switch.
The light above him went out.
He quickly flicked the light back on
−
but not before he heard a scraping noise that started and stopped
. His h
eart flutter
ed again
.
He flicked the light back
off an
d the wall began to move.

“Whoa!” he whispered.

With a rush of adrenaline, he stepped back just in time to allow the wall to open all the way
. When he
stepped forward
, he was
in the supply closet he and Rocky had visited earlier that day.
The smell of turpentine and cleaning solutions were intertwined with the lingering aroma of Anya Peters’ perfume.
With a soft moan, the wall swung closed behind him, leaving him in the dark.
Very clever.
As a safeguard, the light on the other side of the secret door went out as the door opened.
When the door closed, the wall inside the closet
appeared normal.

Giorgio
was just about to find the door to the stairwell when the scraping of metal alerted him that someone
had
enter
ed
the stairwell through the outside door.
The closet extended all the way under the stairs,
so h
e ducked back until he was able to effectively hide himself from view of the entrance
−
the way his ambusher had probably done the night he was attacked.
And just in time.
The door to the closet opened a
nd a robed figure
slipped through.
The figure closed the door
and
flicked on a small pen light
. The figure
reached for something directly a
bove the door.
A moment later, the wall opened
again
, allowing the monk to
glide silently into the tunnel.