of doing yard work—temporarily. Hey there.” Mike gave Barbie a rub as she sniffed his pants. “I heard you got a dog. What’s his name?”
“Her.” Eli struggled with a wince. “Barbie.”
“Dude.” Pain and sympathy covered Mike’s face. “Seriously?”
“She came with it.”
“You can use that unless you get her a buddy and call him Ken. I haven’t been in here for a while,” Mike added as he wandered the foyer. “Hell of a place. Maureen said your family came up for Easter. How’s Mrs. Landon doing?”
“Better. A lot better. I’m hoping she’ll be back in Bluff House by the end of summer.”
“It’ll be great having her back. Not that we want to kick you out of Whiskey Beach.”
“I’m staying.”
“No shit?” Mike’s grin stretched as he gave Eli a punch on the shoulder. “Man, glad to hear it. We could use some fresh meat in our monthly poker games. And we’d class it up holding it here when you’re up.”
“What’s the buy in?”
“Fifty. We’re small-time.”
“Let me know next time you’re setting up. The thing’s upstairs,” Eli said, gesturing and turning for the steps. “Third floor.”
“Cool. I’ve never been up there.”
“It hasn’t been used since I was a kid. We would play up there in bad weather, and once or twice we got to bunk up there, tell ghost stories. Just storage now, really.”
“So, we’re hauling something down?”
“No. Just moving a piece. Big-ass armoire. Double armoire,” he added as they topped the stairs. “In here.”
“Nice space, bad wallpaper.”
“Tell me.”
Mike scanned the room, landed on the armoire. “Big mother.” He crossed to it, ran his fingers over the carved front. “A beauty. Mahogany, right?”
“I think.”
“I’ve got a cousin who brokers antiques. He’d piss his pants at a chance on this. Where are we moving it?”
“Just out a few feet.” At Mike’s blank look, Eli shrugged. “So . . . there’s a panel behind it.”
“A panel?”
“A passageway.”
“Fucking A!” As he punched a fist in the air, Mike’s face lit up. “Like a secret passage? Where does it go?”
“All the way down to the basement, from what I’m told. Just told. I had no idea. They were servants’ passages,” Eli explained. “They made my grandmother nervous, so she closed them up, but she just blocked off this one, and the one in the basement.”
“This is very cool.” Mike rubbed his hands together. “Let’s move this sucker.”
Easier said, they discovered. Since they couldn’t lift it, and trying to shove it from either side proved impossible, they realigned, both on one end, then both on the other, walking it out a couple inches at a time.
“Next time we get a crane.” Straightening, Mike rolled his aching shoulders.
“How the hell did they get it up here?”
“Ten men, and one woman telling them it might look better on the other wall. And if you tell Maureen I said that, I’ll swear you’re a dirty liar.”
“You just helped me move a ten-ton armoire. My loyalty is yours. See here? You can just see the edge of the panel. The ugly wallpaper mostly camouflages it, but when you know it’s there . . .”
He felt around the chair rail, sliding his fingers over, under until they hit the release. When he heard the faint click, he looked at Mike.
“You game?”
“Are you kidding? Game is my middle name. Open her up.”
Eli pressed on the panel, felt it give slightly, then open an inch in his direction. “Swings out,” he murmured, and pulled it fully open.
He saw a narrow landing, then the drop of steep steps into the dark. Automatically, he felt the inside wall for a switch, and was surprised to find one.
But when he flipped it, nothing happened.
“Either there’s no electricity in there, or no light. I’ll get a couple of flashlights.”
“And maybe a loaf of bread. For the crumbs,” Mike explained. “And a big stick, in case of rats. Just the flashlights then,” he said to Eli’s stony stare.
“Be right back.”
He grabbed a couple of beers while he was at it. The least he could do.
“Better than a loaf of bread.” Mike took the beer and a flashlight, shone the light upward in the passage. “No lightbulb.”
“I’ll get some next time.” Armed with the flashlight, Eli stepped into the passage. “Pretty narrow, but wider than I figured. I guess they’d need the space for carrying trays and whatever. The steps feel sound, but watch it.”
“Snakes, very dangerous. You go first.”
Snorting out a laugh, Eli started down. “I doubt we’ll find a detested butler’s skeletal remains or the dying words of a