“It doesn’t feel right, like its balance is off. Maybe that’s why the workers hid it here at the bottom.” Coop hefted it, then tilted it back and forth. Finally he handed it to me with a shrug. “Any ideas?”
“Let’s ask.” I held it up. “Can you help?” Something brushed my fingers at the bottom of the stone. I turned it over. The only thing I saw was a tiny indentation. I tried pressing my index finger in it, but nothing happened.
“Try this.” Coop handed me a ballpoint pen.
I pressed the indentation and a clever drawer popped out a tiny bit. Coop held the box so I could open the drawer the rest of the way. The aged but still-soft quilting fabric must have acted to muffle the sound of the necklace inside the brick. A little thrill ran through me. It looked just like the one the child had worn in the portrait.
“Now we just have to find Sir Hugh and my sister.”
The Mellie fragrance got stronger, and I thought I could almost feel little hands pressing on the small of my back, hurrying me, toward the northwest tower, the locked one we hadn’t done anything with yet. Hadn’t someone searched it? Or had my mom not located the keys yet? We had to try.
“The northwest tower.” Clutching the necklace in one hand, I grabbed Coop’s with the other, and we ran.
