by Mari Carr
Only a handful of people knew that two sections of the map had been found.
Elyse wished there was some way she could distract Mrs. Wythe, find some way to text Sebastian and Grant to tell them where she was just in case the tracker failed. She’d never had a gun pointed at her. It was terrifying to think her life could be snuffed out in just a second.
“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Elyse said casually. “I told you when I called, Grant only had a portion of it. That’s all I have.”
“Sebastian and Grant are in the courtyard. Do they have the other part with them?”
They did. Juliette had given them both pieces back this morning. They had all planned to convene at the legacy house after this meeting to discuss what they’d learned.
But how the hell did Katherine know they were here? Elyse’s face must have betrayed her.
“You don’t think I came here alone, do you, Elle?”
Mrs. Wythe had never used Elyse’s nickname. Not once.
“Why would you be a part of something like this?” Elyse asked, not bothering with the pretense any longer.
“You had such potential, my darling girl. You were so insecure when I met you, a little mouse of a thing just looking for someone to love her, to understand her. I was much the same way when I was your age. Then I met Jessica and she showed me my full potential, taught me how to use my wealth and position to acquire more power. That’s the secret no one ever tells you, Elle. Power is much more exciting than love.”
Elyse shook her head, unable to believe her ears. “You can’t truly believe that.”
Katherine rolled her eyes. “So you are in love with them. I thought so. No matter. I suspect my men have already secured the second piece of the map.”
“Your men?”
Katherine grinned. “Yes. I believe Grant has already met them. This all would have been so much easier, so much neater if your lover hadn’t returned before they’d had a chance to recover the other portion from the hotel.”
Is that why Grant and Sebastian weren’t here? Had Katherine’s men harmed them? Any fear she’d previously felt for herself vanished in the face of the terror she felt now for Sebastian and Grant.
“Where does the map lead?” Elyse asked. If she was going to die, she wanted to know what it was for.
“Where all maps lead. To treasure beyond your imagination.”
“If it was that important, why did you lose it?”
Katherine scowled. “Jessica originally possessed the map, but when she realized the Grand Master had discovered her deception, she divided it into three pieces. She kept one section, then gave the others to two trusted friends.”
“You have the last piece.”
Katherine smiled evilly as she patted her bag. “Jessica died unexpectedly, when I was out of the country. Her brother had cleaned out her things and hidden the map before I could get home to recover it.”
“And the third piece? You lost that too.”
Elyse had never heard Katherine lose her temper, but it was clear her patience had run out. The elderly woman pulled the gun from her coat pocket, not bothering to hide the menacing thing any longer. Elyse had been a fool to think Mrs. Wythe wasn’t dangerous.
Katherine’s cell phone beeped and Elyse jumped, despite her attempts at playing it cool.
Katherine glanced at the screen, clearly delighted by whatever she read there. She texted a reply, then put the phone away. “And now I have it all.”
Elyse’s heart sank. If Katherine’s thugs had the map, then something very bad had happened to Grant and Sebastian. She felt like throwing up. Then a more terrifying thought struck. With the entire map in her possession, Katherine didn’t need Elyse anymore.
Her mind raced as she tried to find a way to stall, to buy some sort of time, in hopes of figuring out a way to escape.
“How do you know we’re alone down here?” Elyse asked. “The Grand Master could be watching your every move right now.”
Katherine laughed loudly, not bothering to remain quiet. “Juliette is currently dealing with a little fire at her home. I promise you, there is no one down here to save you.”
Mrs. Wythe knew far too much.
“What are you going to do with the map now?” Elyse was beginning to lose hope that she’d walk out of the library alive.
“It will be protected.” As she spoke, Katherine withdrew her piece of the map from her purse. “Here, dear. Have a look.”
Elyse took the two pieces of the map and laid them on the table side by side. She had the third piece memorized after weeks of studying it, looking for clues.
Despite her nervousness, Elyse pointed to the zig-zags. “Are these tunnels?”
“Is that what everyone thinks?”
Elyse shrugged. “I thought…that was my guess.”
Katherine grinned, and there was real pride in her eyes. “You really are quite bright. Your father destroyed you. It pains me to think what you could have become if he weren’t in the way.”
Elyse shivered at the cold-blooded assessment. “They are tunnels.”
Katherine patted the map. “And now our secret hiding spot is safe.”
“Wait. You didn’t need the map to find the entrance?”
“Dear God, my girl, you don’t know what you’ve uncovered, do you?”
Elyse wished Sebastian, or Grant, or Juliette, or anyone else was here. She wasn’t a spy, wasn’t trained to interrogate people or get them to discuss things. Their investigation had clearly triggered a nerve, otherwise she wouldn’t be in this position, but nothing seemed to fit together. She couldn’t figure this out.
Katherine reached over and patted Elyse’s arm with the hand that wasn’t holding the gun. “I know that look, dear. Don’t be your own worst enemy.”
“You…you were mentored by Jessica Breton. Her father Richard was a Nazi sympathizer and a purist, but he pretended not to be.”
“Keep your enemies close.”
“Jessica was one of the Grand Master’s counselors, and she used her position to steal some things and to try to stop people the purists didn’t like from joining, even if they were legacies.”
“What comes next? What would you do?”
This was the most surreal conversation Elle had ever had. It was the same sort of conversation Katherine had had with her a million times before—guiding her to ask and answer her own questions. Mrs. Wythe had never given her answers, but helped her figure them out by herself.
“If Jessica stole something, she’d need somewhere to keep it. She built tunnels from here,” Elyse gestured around them, then to the library, which was clearly represented on the map, “to the Trinity Church.”
“Not built. Found.”
“So she didn’t make the map, she stole it, then used it to hide the other things she stole.”
Elyse felt a little thrill at having put the puzzle together, before she remembered that, puzzle completed or not, a woman she trusted was still holding a gun on her.
“You needed the map in order to find the entrances to the tunnels.”
“Do you think we’re thick? We’ve always known where the entrances were.”
“There are two?”
Katherine smiled, her wrinkled skin and skinny neck making the movement bird-like. “One of our members got cold feet years ago. He sealed up the church entrance, hoping that he could hide from his own actions. He didn’t realize that wasn’t the only way in.”
“Then why do you need the map?”
“Because the tunnels are old. Old even for Boston, and they don’t all lead to the same places or take the same route.”
“So you can’t get to all the things Jessica stole?”
“The only useable entrance is not far from here.”
“In the Trinity Masters’ headquarters?”
“Yes. Which means our visits there have been severely limited since the one with easier access was sealed.”
“You wanted the map to make sure th
e Trinity Masters never realized where the entrance was.”
Katherine chuckled. “When I heard you’d been paired with Grant Breton in a trinity, I spied a way to retrieve Jessica’s portion of the map. With two-thirds of it in our possession, the final piece would have been worthless. Jessica ensured the map was impossible to read without all the parts.”
“But now you have them all.”
Katherine’s grin was pure evil. Elyse wondered how she could have missed this cold edge for so long. “An unexpected bonus.”
“How did you know we had the second section?”
“I think you’ll find our numbers are not as small as your Grand Master might hope.”
Elyse glanced toward the locked conference room door.
“They aren’t coming to save the day. My associates have dealt with your lovers. Which means all I have to do is take care of you.”
“You realize there’s no protection for you now. The Grand Master will know it was you who killed me and that you have the map. You’ve revealed yourself.”
Katherine didn’t appear concerned. “I’m ninety years old, Elyse. My legacy to those who share my same beliefs will be this map. I have protected what is ours for the future generation. That’s all that matters to me now.”
“Your beliefs!” Elyse sneered. “I can’t believe you would do all this to protect some horrible racist vision of the Trinity Masters.”
Katherine shook her head. “That may have been how we started, but that’s not what we’re about now.” Katherine tsked. “You know better than that, Elyse. How many charities have I run, donated to and worked for?”
“Then why? What’s the point?”
“I told you. Money. With the information and valuables in their archives, the Trinity Masters could rule this world. The Grand Master’s weakness is what stopped us from using all that we were, all that we have, to its full potential.”
“Money.” Elyse spit out the word.
“And power. You’ve always had both, so you’ll never understand.”
The gun wavered in Katherine’s hand as she tightened her grip.
This is it. I’m going to die.
“Katherine, wait. Please!” Terror coursed through Elyse as she faced the barrel of the gun.
“No. There’s no need to postpone this any longer. There’s no one to help you, Elyse.”
“I wouldn’t say no one.”
Elyse’s gaze flew to the door where Devon stood.
Elyse dove just as Katherine’s finger pulled the trigger. Devon’s unexpected arrival had given her the split second opportunity she’d needed. The bullet whizzed by her, piercing the wall behind her as Elyse hit the floor.
Devon moved in fast, before Katherine had a chance to turn her weapon on him and fire. He disarmed her quickly and led her to the table, forcing her to sit.
Juliette and Franco entered. Franco helping Elyse from the floor.
Juliette leaned over the table, glaring at Mrs. Wythe. “You set my house on fire.”
Katherine’s face revealed no remorse at all. “I’d rather hoped you’d burn up in it.”
Elyse shrugged off Franco’s supportive grip, recalling Katherine’s threat to harm Sebastian and Grant. “She’s not working alone. I have to get upstairs to—”
Sebastian and Grant blocked the doorway before Elyse could pass through. She jumped into Sebastian’s arms with a loud squeal, hugging him tightly.
“We’re okay, Elle.”
She kissed him hard, not bothering to stem her tears. When she released him, Grant was there, ready for her embrace. “I was so afraid. She said she had people in place to take care of you, to stop you. Then she got that text. Said she had the map.”
“Shh,” Grant soothed, cupping her cheeks to kiss her. “She walked in alone and we started up the stairs to the Sargent Gallery. That’s when I recognized the man who had broken into the hotel. He was with another guy and we figured they were the two men who’d gotten the jump on me. We managed to lure them to a private area and, well, let’s just say they’re going to be the ones suffering from headaches when they come to.”
“What about the text?”
Grant looked far too pleased with himself. “I grabbed one of the guy’s phones and found Katherine’s number. Sent a text that said we’d been dealt with. Jackass didn’t even have a security code on his phone. She replied and told us to grab the last portion of the map. That’s when we called Devon. He was already in the library, following the tracking device and headed here.”
Sebastian grinned. “By the way, Jules, there are two bloody, unconscious servants tied to a toilet in a men’s bathroom on the second floor.”
Juliette rolled her eyes, and then looked at Devon. He sighed and grabbed his cell phone while keeping the gun trained on Mrs. Wythe. “I’ll take care of it.” He made a quick call to God only knew who.
“All we could think about was getting to you,” Grant said, his arms tightening around her.
Sebastian tugged Elyse into his embrace once Grant released her. “God. I don’t know what I would have done if she’d hurt you.”
Elyse wiped her eyes. “It’s over now. We’re all okay.”
Sebastian kissed her again, this one slower and more thorough, despite the fact there were lots of witnesses in the room.
They broke apart when Devon cleared his throat. “I wouldn’t say it’s over yet.” He turned to point at the map as he looked at Mrs. Wythe. “What does this lead to?”
The older woman sat silently, her gaze pointed straight ahead.
They didn’t need her. She’d already told Elyse plenty.
“It leads to everything Jessica stole from the Grand Master.”
Franco’s eyes widened with delight as he leaned over the table. Placing all three pieces side by side, he reared back in surprise. “You’re not going to believe this, Jules, but I think the tunnel entrance is in your office.”
Juliette looked at where Franco pointed and shook her head. “I can’t believe it. It was right there, all the time.” She glanced over her shoulder at Sebastian. “Behind the bookcase. But how…”
Elyse explained. “Apparently there had been a more easily accessible entrance in the Trinity Church, but it was sealed when one of the purists had a change of heart.”
Devon elected to remain behind to guard Mrs. Wythe as the rest of them picked up the map and headed to Juliette’s office. Grant, Franco and Sebastian strained for several minutes to move the gigantic shelf aside enough for them to be able to open the door hidden behind it.
Juliette handed Grant and Franco flashlights as they led the way down the dark, musty corridor. The tunnel was narrow and filled with too many spiders’ webs for Elyse’s comfort. She hated spiders. They passed four doors along the way, but all of them were locked.
“We can try to get into these later. Let’s see where this tunnel leads first,” Juliette told Franco.
He nodded. “My gut says we won’t get in these rooms easily, but you’re right. We can deal with that later.”
They continued moving on. By the time they reached the large chamber at the end of the hallway, Elyse was convinced they’d traveled far enough that they were directly under Trinity Church. There were two more locked doors in the chamber, but they didn’t bother with those. Their attention was riveted on what the main chamber held.
Juliette groaned. “More boxes of files.”
Franco was either having a seizure or freaking out in excitement. It was hard to tell which.
Elyse tugged the lid off one of the boxes, turning her nose up at the yellowed pages. The files had clearly been stored away for decades as the cloud of dust she’d stirred up caused her to sneeze.
Franco peered around, and then headed for a small stack of decrepit-looking cardboard boxes. He removed the top from the upper box, reached in and pulled out a tattered-looking book bound in brown leather. The cream-colored pages had pictures and letters stuck to them. Old scrapbooks seemed like a rather odd thi
ng to keep in such a super-secret location.
Franco apparently didn’t share her feelings about the album. Cursing under his breath, he sank to his knees, cradling the book. He ripped off his sweater, laid it on the ground, then carefully placed the book on top of it.
Grant lifted a piece of paper from a box near him. “This box appears to contain newer information. Shit. Elyse, this mentions the eventual possibility of using your grandfather’s pharmacies to distribute drugs that haven’t been approved by the FDA to unwitting test subjects. Apparently, it would benefit Riley Pharmaceuticals.”
Juliette glanced at the paper. “I’ll have Devon check into who owns Riley. If it’s a Trinity Master, it might give us a lead on another member of the purists.”
Elyse took the piece of paper from Grant. The document was dated twenty years earlier. “Mrs. Wythe said she had planned to recruit me. I was five years old when these plans were made.”
“Which leads me to believe the purists were unable to convince your grandfather or father to join their ranks,” Juliette said as she skimmed the paper.
“Talk about playing the long game,” Grant added.
“It’s going to take us quite a bit of time to go through all of this,” Juliette said. “Let’s get back to Devon, tell him what we’ve found. Maybe we can convince Mrs. Wythe to give us the names of the other members if we promise leniency.”
Elyse shook her head. “She won’t tell you anything.”
“Juliette.” Franco’s voice held a mix of anger and awe. “You need to look at this.”
The Grand Master walked over to her kneeling husband, who started speaking so rapidly Elyse barely understood anything he was saying. She thought she heard the word “Nazi” and the name “Rosenberg.” Juliette frowned and reached into the box, extracting another book that looked just as tattered as the first.
Franco yelled and demanded she replace the book. Juliette put it away, keeping a wary eye on her husband as she did.
Elyse looked around. There were so many boxes, so many secrets.
Juliette motioned towards the door. “We need to go back.”
They started back the way they’d come—Franco cradling the box he’d wrapped in his sweater to his chest.