“Where on earth did you get the drill from?”
“Maintenance.”
I’mapprehensive as we clear the rest of the false wall. There’s definitely a door behind it, a locked one at that.
“Shit,” Kat says, as she tries the handle.
Someone wanted to keep everyone out of this room.
The question is who?
“Kat.”
“Don’t say it.”
I hold up my hands and back away, sitting on the edge of the bed.
Kat stands with her hands on her hips, closing her eyes.
She stands stock still. When her eyes open, I recognise the glint. She’s remembered something.
When she moves out of the room, I follow her into the kitchen.
She pulls open every cupboard until she finds what she’s clearly looking for. An old coffee tin.
She grabs a teaspoon and pries up the lid, it gives with a pop.
Tipping it up, she holds up her prize.
“I remember Dad cursing because he’d left his key at the office. Told me he always kept a spare hidden in plain sight. Well, maybe not exactly in plain sight, but where no one would think to look.”
I take in the coffee tin that’s at least twenty years past production, and chuckle.
Kat grins. “Okay, so maybe his logic was a little flawed, but you have to admit, it’s a cool tin.”
She leaves before I can answer, returning to the room and placing the key in the lock. She pauses, inhaling and exhaling before she twists her wrist. It sticks.
“Shit,” she says, giving it a little wiggle.
She tries again until we eventually hear the telling click.
Kat turns, her teeth embedded in her lip, and we stare at each other.
A fluttery, empty feeling takes hold in my stomach. My heart is pounding as Kat takes hold of the door handle, swinging it open.
“In for a penny, and all that,” she says, stepping over what’s left of the semi-demolished wall and disappearing inside.
I follow closely behind. Dust particles swirl around us. The musty smell of stale air is almost stifling.
Closed curtains block out the light. Kat moves forward, pulling them open. She coughs as the movement shoots more dust into the air, but floods the space with sunlight.
She spins, taking in the room, covering her mouth with her sleeve.
“Jax, it’s exactly as I remember it,” she says, her voice so quiet I strain to hear her.
I move to stand next to her.
“So why was it closed up?”
