“There’s a basement we didn’t know about?” Wes looked down inshock, as if he could see through the floor.
She took her phone and turned on the video. “Let’s find out.”
Twenty-three
Wes waited for Nadine to set her phone up to her liking, then pushed the button on the edge of the dumbwaiter at her nod. It gave a pleasant click, and the box began to drop. They pressed close to peer down as it descended, before Nadine pointed out this could get their heads chopped off if something came from above. They took a swift step back.
“This is going to be great,” Nadine enthused. “Anything could be down there.”
“Or nothing,” said Wes. He liked the idea of a hidden space in theory, but if it was as full as the attic, he would simply curl up and die.
“It could house a crypt,” said Nadine.
“Or be empty.”
“A kiss of vampires in their undead sleep.”
“I’d prefer that to more boxes.”
It felt like a year until the dumbwaiter came back up. Nadine snatched her phone, and they sat on the couch to review the footage. At first, it was difficult to make out any details as the screen went from darkness to slightly grayer darkness, which was compounded by thedistracting fact that Nadine was sitting near enough that her thigh was firmly against him. The house was hot, and he should hate the extra heat she generated. But he wanted to shift closer.
On the screen, the video gave a small jolt as the dumbwaiter reached the bottom. Luckily, there didn’t seem to be a door blocking their view.
“It’s empty,” said Wes with satisfaction. “Thank God we don’t have another warehouse worth of papers and old clothes to sift through.”
“I still want to see it for myself.”
He nodded. That was a given. Its mere existence was cool enough to merit further exploration.
“Hold on.” Nadine turned the screen around as if that would adjust the camera angle to allow her to see more. She zoomed in and pointed to the center. “There’s something along that wall.”
Wes didn’t want to agree, but he had no choice. “Damn. Boxes.”
“Boxes.” She checked the screen again. “We need to go through them.”
“This is the beginning of a horror story,” he warned.
“As long as we stay out of the forest, we’ll be fine.” Nadine was halfway out of the library. “There’s a flashlight in the kitchen. Let’s go.”
At least the heavy-duty flashlight that was stuck to the side of the wall was big enough to be used as a weapon if therewerebasement vampires lying in wait.
Nadine grabbed it and handed it to him. “Lead the way,” she said.
“What, so I get killed first?”
She gave him an exasperated look and pushed back the lock of hair that had fallen out of her high bun. “No, because I don’t know where the stairs to the basement are.”
“Me neither.” He shrugged. “They can’t be hard to find.”
Wes was wrong. An hour later, they were back in the kitchen, having checked every room for a door. He leaned against the huge island counter and rubbed his neck in frustration. “This house is wild,” he said. “How could we not find it? We looked everywhere. It’s adoor.”
Nadine came out from checking the pantry for the second time and put the flashlight on the table. “Could it be outside?”
An outside basement entrance seemed unlikely, but it wasn’t like they were having any success here. “Or the conservatory?” he said. “We didn’t look there.”
“I’ll check the conservatory, and you check the exterior.” Nadine made the decision for them in her usual confident way.
“What did we say about staying out of the forest?” he asked.
