“Look,” I said. “We should probably split up. The taproom closes in, like, fifteen minutes.
“No way we can explore every corner in fifteen minutes,” Seb said.
Benny looked around. “Dude’s probably right about the taproom. They basically stripped it back to studs when they remodeled in here. It’s new paint and plaster, so we can eliminate all this, right off the bat.”
“What are we even looking for? Deep corners?” Lulu said, still sporting the heart-shaped glasses atop her head that she’d been wearing when I ran into her at Bean’s.
“Just like we discussed on the phone. Anything unusual. A mark, Morse code, secret panels...” Seb said. “Jaz, you take Benny and Lulu downstairs to the brewhouse. Paige and I will head upstairs. Text if you see anything.”
Jazmine frowned at Seb, then at Lulu, and I started to protest, but Benny was already heading toward the door that led down to the brewhouse. I mouthed “sorry” to Jazmine as Lulu merrilylinked arms with her, provoking the most epic side-eye I’d seen in a long time. God help Lulu. If Jazmine didn’t kill her first, I might take a crack at her.
As Benny, Jazmine, and Lulu went downstairs, Seb and I headed up an iron staircase to the second floor, where the taproom’s jangly music faded along with the chatter. A dark landing didn’t hold much but a couple of potted palms and a couple of benches. It was quiet and still until a server emerged from a restroom, tucking her shirt into her pants. My heart sped, thinking we were about to be told that this was for employees only, but she just looked embarrassed.
“Sorry,” she mumbled as she passed, jogging down the iron staircase.
“Christ,” Seb whispered. “How come I feel like a criminal?”
“If you have to ask...”
“You’re hilarious, Malone. Come on, let’s see what’s up here.”
Beyond the restroom stood a few doors. The first two were clearly labeledroom aandroom b, and when we poked inside them, we found the banquet rooms. Nothing but stacks of chairs and tables, a small stage. We flipped on the lights and raced around the rooms to check the corners for anything suspicious, and found... nothing.
No wobbly boards.
No mismatched paint.
No elaborately carved secret panels.
Just a dry-erase board and some corporate packets leftover from a team-building meeting.
Seb made a beeline for the door at the far end of the landing. It had to be Mabel’s old office; it was the last room left. Only, it wasn’t locked—a shipping carton of bar napkins was keeping itfrom closing completely. And when Seb pushed the door open and moved the carton out of the way, we were able to flip on a single overhead light and look around.
An old wooden desk and a filing cabinet. A metal-framed single bed without linens. A fireplace.
“Mabel’s office?” Seb said, glancing at a stack of boxes lined up against the wall—more bar napkins.
The furniture looked old, but it could’ve been brought in to make it feel more 1920s, to stage it for the brewery’s discontinued ghost tour. Still, Seb and I quickly checked as many corners in the room as we could find—in the fireplace, the desk, and the very corners of the room itself.
Nothing.
“Why would Mabel have an office up here if her business was on the first floor?” I wondered. “The rest of the building was a hotel back then.”
“The brewery could’ve just picked a random room up here and called it Mabel’s.”
Disappointment settled inside my chest. We only had a few more minutes before midnight. Maybe the rest of the Wags were having better luck in the basement.
Seb must’ve been thinking similar disappointed thoughts, because he sighed heavily and let his head loll backward as he stared up at the ceiling. Then his head tilted in curiosity. “Paige...”
I glanced at the ceiling. A few feet away from the overhead light was an access panel with a single piece of twine hanging down and two words stenciled.
Roof Access.
Before I could even open my mouth to speak, Seb was pulling the piece of twine. After a couple of tugs, the panel dropped and a wooden ladder unfolded from the ceiling. We stood at the bottom of the folding ladder and peered upward, into darkness.
Seb shook the ladder, testing. “Seems solid. I’ll go first.”
“Wait... oh, okay,” I said as I stared at his butt ascending. He made it to the top, and his sneakers disappeared. A moment later, a string of curses floated back down the ladder. It was followed by some pounding noises and a grunt, and finally, the squeal of metal.
