“I think Lydia just wanted to twist the knife one last time,” he said with a shake of his head.
“But look at the result. We’re like a real family. And you know what they say,” Sierra answered.
“What?” he asked.
“The family that sleuths together, stays together.”
Grant screwed up his face as she shot her a glance. “That’s not a saying. That’s never been a saying.”
“Sounds like a real saying to me,” Kyle answered, narrowing his eyes as he leaned closer to the books on the shelf below him.
“Of course, you’d agree with her,” Grant said with a sigh before he leaned closer to the shelf. “What does this symbol look like again?”
Julia snapped her gaze to him. “Did you find something?”
“Maybe.”
She hurried to his side, blowing up the image on the phone. She held it closer to the book he pointed at, and they studied it. Her breath caught in her throat. “It’s a match.”
“Pull on it!” Sierra said as she raced toward them.
“No, no, no,” Grant said, blocking her hand as Sierra reached for the book. “Don’t touch it.”
“What do you mean, don’t touch it?” Sierra asked. “That was the whole point in coming here.”
“We have no idea what this could do. Just…let the two cops here handle it.”
Sierra glared at him. “Touching a book isn’t going to hurt us.”
“You never know. Brushing her teeth nearly killed Julia,” he retorted.
“Step aside, Daddy. Let me handle this.” Sierra pushed between him and Julia and yanked on the book.
It slid out at an angle as a click resounded in the room and the bookcase popped toward them. Sierra bounced back a step, her jaw dropping open. With Kyle’s help, she tugged at the bookcase, pulling it backward to reveal a dark passage. She shot them a surprised grin. “We found a secret passage!”
Julia stared at the black hole where the bookcase had stood. Her heart hammered in her chest as she wondered if this led to answers or danger.
CHAPTER 23
GRANT
The musty scent of earth filled his nostrils as Grant peered into the dark passage. The cool air floating from within sent a shiver down his spine. The blackness mirrored the trouble that had surrounded them for the past two years. And he didn’t like it. In fact, he hated it.
“We found a secret passage!” Sierra exclaimed as she shot a grin over her shoulder at them.
She shined her cell phone’s flashlight into the gaping hole. It barely made a dent in the darkness.
“Come on, let’s go!” Sierra said with a grin.
“No, no, no.” Grant grabbed her elbow and tugged her back before she could step inside.
“Daddy!” Sierra groaned. “This is exactly what we came here for. We came to find clues.Thisis a major clue. Did you never read mystery books?”
“Yes, Sierra, I have read a mystery book,” he answered with a sigh.
Sierra crossed her arms. “Well, you can’t tell because you don’t see to understand how an investigation works. You find something, and then you follow up on it. You don’t just find it and then leave it.”
“That is exactly what we’re going to do,” Grant said with a wag of his finger. “We’re going to leave it for the police.”
