listen to the professional. Now’s that time.” He kissed her cheek. “I’ll see you soon and we’ll finish that conversation from earlier.” Without another word, he peeked out the doorway and darted out. It was time to catch a criminal.
CHAPTER 14
BELLA PINCHED HER LIPS together in frustration. “If he thinks I’m going to run and hide while he has all the fun, he’s got another thing coming.” Grabbing her cell phone from her bra, she texted her grandmother, hoping Grandma Claire had her phone on her.
Bring the sheriff. We found the saboteur.
Stuffing the phone away, she peeked out into the hallway. Bella bit her lip. Hank and the other guy were gone, but that didn’t mean it was all over yet. “But where can I catch up with them?” Her eyes drifted to the closet the guy had come through. “Perfect.”
Not bothering to grab her shoes, knowing they would slow her down, Bella slid across the floor in her stockings and opened the closet door. “Come on, come oooon,” she begged as she searched the walls. A broom and vacuum had been pushed to the side and Bella searched the wall carefully, but found nothing. “Where is it?” She finally bent her knees and looked at the bottom of the wall. “Aha!”
A thin line drug through the dust and Bella followed it until she was able to pull at the edge of the door. “Duh,” she muttered to herself when she realized the door was only waist high. “I forgot Enoch said the bedroom entrance was the same way.” She blew out a long breath. “I guess that’s one way of keeping it from being seen.”
She got on her hands and knees and started to crawl into the door, when she heard footsteps on the hardwood.
“Bella?”
She grit her teeth. “Of all the times for Henry to come back.” Pretending she didn’t hear him, Bella hurried to crawl through the entrance. She knew he would stop her if he caught her.
“BELLA!” he shouted, his footsteps loud on the floor as he came her way.
With a squeal, she scrambled into the hidden passage, stumbling to her feet when she made it inside and slamming the door shut.
“Bella...” Henry warned. He pounded on the closed opening. “What are you doing? Come back out here!”
“I’m going to see if I can figure out where they were coming from,” she snapped, brushing off her dirty knees. Pulling her cell phone back out, she turned on the flashlight feature.
“Sweetheart, you’re going to get hurt. Come out here, please.” The please was said through a tight jaw and Bella knew she was pushing things with him.
“Henry, you know I love you, but I won’t let you lock me away and never get in on the action.”
“I have no intention of locking you away, but we still don’t know what we’re dealing with here.” Henry grunted and Bella realized he was trying to get through the opening, but the door must have jammed when she slammed it. Who knew how warped the old wood was.
He sighed. “Just come out. I lost track of them and could use your help at the party. You might see who looks out of place.”
Bella paused. His plan did sound good. She might know who didn’t belong, or at least who hadn’t been there earlier, but she was afraid if she came out, he would force her to stay back when the excitement came.
“Bella, please,” he begged, his voice sounding defeated. “It would kill me if you got hurt.”
The sound of muffled footsteps came from somewhere farther in the house, and both she and Henry froze.
“He’s in here,” she whispered, sweat breaking out on her forehead. For the first time since this all started, she was starting to feel real fear. Henry was right. They had no idea who they were dealing with, only that someone wanted to sabotage the inn. And she was standing right now in a passage that Henry couldn’t get into in order to help her if there was trouble.
NO! she screamed internally. You want to be a crime journalist? Then you need to be willing to push past the fear. Go for the story. Catch the bad guy. That all happens right now.
More footsteps went over their heads and dust rained onto her hair. “He’s above us,” she whispered. “You go through the house, and I’ll go this way.”
“Bella, no! Bella!”
Hank’s voice was loud in the dark passageway she was currently navigating, and the frightened part of her