He chuckles, and I ask him how he’s doing.
“I’m working on getting to acceptance. But I’ve mostly been stuck on a merry-go-roundof the other stages.” He pauses a moment, then says, “I want to go to The Shadowridge tonight. I know that at some unknown point, things could move quickly, but since I don’t know when it will suddenly be my last day inside the building for a while, or possibly ever, I want to make sure I get a chance to give a proper goodbye. Do you want to go with me?”
I nod. “I would be honored to.”
CHAPTER 32
WELL, THAT ESCALATED QUIETLY
OWEN
I’m glad that Charlie is here with me. And I’m glad that she thwarted my plan to wallow alone at open mic night. I had also planned to be alone when I gave my goodbye to The Shadowridge, but I’m so glad she’s here with me, too. Without even saying I needed it, she has offered the kind of security and emotional steadiness I’ve been craving in a partner my whole life.
We go through the front doors, and I lock them behind us. I had planned to walk through the place, taking in every inch of its beauty in its unfinished state. To fully feel the longing I have for it, even though it isn’t gone yet. And to apologize to my grandpa for not being able to finish it like I had promised.
But now that we’re here, that’s not exactly what Iwant to do. Charlie and I walk hand-in-hand into the auditorium, right through the middle that I hope will one day be filled with refurbished seating, and we go up the stairs and onto the stage. Then we sit on the edge of it, our feet dangling, looking out at the space for several long minutes.
Right now, everything is mostly shades of Sheetrock dust and primer white. I can picture exactly what it’ll look like once everything is fully restored and in full color, though. And as we sit, I realize I came here for two purposes tonight. I thought it was just to say goodbye, but that’s not what’s grabbing me the most. I turn to Charlie. “Do you want to be a spy?”
She looks at me in shock.
“Well, more of a detective, I guess. I rewatched the video footage of the night we saw that guy sneak in. Several times, actually. And it’s been niggling at me ever since.”
“Yeah?”
“He came through that door,” I say, pointing off to our right. “Sure, he avoided the cameras as he moved through the area, but there were also cameras on all the doors into this place. Yet no matter how many times I watch the footage, even if I go clear back until the moment when we left the building for the day, I didn’t see him come through any of the doors.”
Charlie cocks her head. “Do you think he wasalready inside? Or do you think he found another way in?”
I shrug. “He could’ve come in earlier in the day. I could watch the footage from each of the cameras from the moment I opened the doors for my crew that morning. But I don’t think he was. I check everywhere before I leave each day.”
Charlie sits up taller, and I can see a bit of excitement on her face. “Do you want to check the place out for other ways he might’ve come in?”
I love that she wants to. I smile and nod.
We start in one of the offices that we’ve been using as a makeshift supply room and grab a couple of flashlights. We search that room, then the other three office rooms. We look at the windows, of course, but I’d also checked those the night of the break-in, and I hadn’t seen any signs of entry.
So, we also open every closet and cupboard, looking for… I don’t even know. Secret entrances, I guess. Most don’t even make logical sense that they could contain a hidden way in. We’d probably be more successful searching the outside of the building for anomalies.
But it’s kind of fun sleuthing around The Shadowridge with Charlie, so we search every nook and cranny. When we finish the offices and hallway, we head through the side door that leads backstage and begin searching there. We sneakup to closed doors to closets or storage spaces and pull them open quickly, like we’re about to catch someone, and honestly, it’s the lightest I’ve felt since Charlie dropped the Giovanni bomb on me yesterday.
We yank open the door to a maintenance closet near the dressing rooms and shine our flashlights around the space that’s only a few feet wide but probably twice that deep. Nothing. But as we turn to leave, I accidentally smack my elbow into the door frame and drop my flashlight. When it hits the floor, it makes a hollow clunk.
Our eyes immediately fly to each other’s. I pick up my flashlight and drop it just outside the closet, and it makes a very different sound.
“Do you think there’s something below it?” Charlie asks.
“It’s concrete,” I say, confused. But we both shine our flashlights all around the space inside the closet, anyway. Then we spot a recess in the concrete that is just big enough for a handhold. I put my fingers in it and lift. It takes a bit of shifting to figure out which way to pull and where to stand, but I’m able to raise up one side. We both gasp when we see it’s just a thin layer of concrete over a trap door. I open it all the way and shine my light inside.
It’s musty-smelling. And there’s a short vertical drop leading to a set of steep, uneven brick ledges thatwork as stairs. It’s deep enough for a person to stand fully, and it might be the opening to a tunnel.
I look at Charlie. “Maybe this leads to another location, and they got inside the building through here! That’d explain why I never saw them coming through the doors.”
“And it’s probably why the officers never saw anyone else when they were watching the building.” Charlie immediately pulls out her phone. We both shine our flashlights down into the tunnel as she takes a picture, then she backs up to take a picture of the maintenance closet that was hiding it.
“Should we go down there and see where it leads?”
Charlie’s attention flies from her phone to me, and she hisses, “No! Remember what I told you? We don’t go after bad guys. Hiding is best.” She takes my arm and pulls me further from the closet, as if I’m going to sneak down when she’s not looking or something.
