Page 26 of Spies Like Us

He leans in and looks. “That’s the movie theater, roller skating rink, and arcade now, but back then, it was the hotel.” His eyes widen with excitement, and he pokes at the empty space I inquired about. “Oh wow, rumor has it, the woman who ran the hotel also ran a brothel and a speakeasy on the side. What if that’s where it was, underground? That would explain that big area with small rooms.” He beams like he solved world hunger, and I can’t deny my own excitement.

That makes sense. Lots of foot traffic, and no one noticing extra people coming and going if it’s an entertainment precinct with a large amount of patronage.

Ben quickly makes me copies of both the town map and the tunnel overlay.

“Would it be alright if I had a look in the basement?” I ask him as we finish up. I want to see if the boarded up entrance has been disturbed.

“Go ahead, dear. I’ll put this back on your table if you want.” He takes the map from me. “Take the elevator down. We store all our mistreated books and old, outdated things down there. One day, I’ll find time to rebind or fix them, but until then, that’s where they live. I won’t join you though. I can’t leave the library unattended, you understand, and the dust gets up my nose. My poor old bones can’t handle the cold either. I’ll hang on to these things until you’re done,” he tells me as we head back to the little elevator. At the ground floor, he steps out but leans in and presses the button again, swiping a card over a security thing much like the one outside the Life Lounge.

“Hey, our elevator to our basement at the Life Lounge has one of those too.” I point to it before looking at his swipe card. There’s a logo on the side, but I can’t make it out.

“Yeah, it was a city-wide mandate. All city buildings, businesses, and homes with basements had to have them installed so that random people couldn’t just wander into basements by accident. They were worried about lawsuits.”

“And the same company installed them all?” I ask, and he nods.

“Yes, a company in the next town over won the bid, and the city paid for everyone who had basements with elevator or stair access to install them. Pain in the ass if you ask me. Nobody just wanders into a basement by mistake, but it is what it is.”

My mind is whirling as the little wrought iron gates close on me, leaving Ben on the outside. He waves, and I wave back absently as I descend.

“The light switch is—” I don’t hear the location because he disappears from sight.

The elevator goes dark as I sink into the basement, and I pull my phone out of my pocket and turn the flashlight on. As the doors open and I step out, the room lights up. Oh, that must have been what Ben was trying to tell me. It’s motion activated.

I wrinkle my nose as the odor of dust and mold hits me. There are tables with books piled high on them, but as I get a little closer, I decide that they’ve been down here a long time. Ben’s going to have his work cut out for him if he plans to restore them. I accidentally bump one table, and a pile of books tumbles to the side, and a mouse runs out. “Way more work.”

I was expecting it to be a little basement, but as I look around, the size of the room is a lot bigger than I expected. Moving away from the elevator, I walk through shelves that have all sorts of crap stacked on them. Of course there are more books, but there are also knickknacks galore as well as a very old photocopier, a couple of old TVs, some computers circa the late eighties, and some VCR players. Farther down is a whole library of VCR tapes. The next shelf has some double-stacked boom boxes, and next to them are audio books on tape.

I guess this is where they store all their outdated stuff instead of getting rid of it. Farther down, I find a whole floor to ceiling shelf of vinyl records. There’s everything from movie soundtracks to classical to hits of the seventies. I’d love to be able to flick through them, but that’s not going to be possible.

I’ve reached a wall, but there’s another door. I turn the handle and push through to find another storage room. This one smells even dustier. The light turns on as I step into the room. They’ve obviously had those features updated, even if they haven’t touched all the crap stored in here.

The books in this room are much older, all hardbound with leather and foil accented covers or stamped leather. There are a couple of ancient typewriters, and a really cool old cash register that wouldn’t look out of place in an old-fashioned malt or candy store.

I bypass all the cool stuff, even though I desperately want to fiddle with things and make my way around the walls. No one has been down here in years. There’s a fine layer of dust across everything, even the floor, and I leave footprints behind me. Finally, I get to the old tunnel entrance. It’s tucked away behind another set of shelves, and I never would have seen it unless I walked the perimeter like I did.

Although, it’s not boarded up like Ben said it was. The door has a plank across it, but it’s easy enough to lift out of the way. I go to turn the handle when I hear something. I pause and listen, my heartbeat increasing as I try to breathe quietly.

I hear something again, and as I go to turn around, a hand wraps around my mouth, and I find myself pressed up against a hard body. I start to struggle, but a low chuckle has me stilling.

“I thought you were supposed to be a super spy, but you were so distracted you weren’t keeping an ear out for anyone else,” Lathan scolds right next to my ear before releasing me, and I spin around.

I smack his chest. “You scared the crap out of me. You’re right, I wasn’t paying attention. I didn’t even hear the elevator leave and come back.”

“I couldn’t find you when I arrived, but I saw your backpack. The nice old man at the circulation desk told me you were down here and swiped the elevator to send me down. I think he thought we were having some kind of secret rendezvous, because he winked at me.” Lathan scratches his head, and I smother a smile.

“That, or he thought you were cute,” I tease him, and he blushes. So freaking adorable.

“What have you found?” he asks, peering over my shoulder.

“This is one of the entrances to the tunnel system under the town,” I reply, then I tell him what Ben told me about most of the records being destroyed. “But luckily, he has one that was missed. I have a photocopy, and we can explore the entrances.” I wrinkle my nose. “Actually, I can do Monday, Tuesday, or Wednesday, but I have to work the rest of the week.”

“It’s risky for you to sneak out. Maybe we could do it during the day. Max would cover for us at school. We’ll have to talk about it. It really depends on when they move Bishop’s body.”

“Oh! I overheard some of them talking. I couldn’t see everyone in the room, but Chief Thompson said he was having Billy move him today.”

Lathan’s eyes widen at my news. “That’s good. We’ll be able to get in there, maybe tonight while you’re at work.”

I’m annoyed that I can’t go with them, but I get it, we need to explore the tunnels. “Fine, but there’s nothing stopping us from looking at what’s behind that door now,” I suggest, and he nods and pulls out his phone to use the flashlight.

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