Page 65 of From the Darkness

In the darkened bedroom, she stroked her hand over his cheek, his lips.

“Don’t leave me, I don’t want to wake up and find you’ve vanished.”

His embrace tightened around her. “Sleep,” he murmured.

She nestled down beside him, feeling more fulfilled and peaceful than she had in years.

None of the questions and problems had gone away, but she wanted this time with Troy, so she only burrowed against him, then lost herself in sleep.

Her slumber was deep and untroubled, perhaps because Troy held her in his arms. But just as the first light of dawn crept into the room, the gentle stroking of his fingers on her cheek woke her.

Her eyes blinked open.

“It’s time to go.”

“You’re right. I shouldn’t push my luck by staying any longer.” She sat up, smoothed her hair back from her forehead as she remembered why she’d come here in the first place. With a low sound she said, “You made me forgot about looking for the strongbox.”

“We had better things to do last night. The strongbox is behind a panel on the right side of the closet,” he said, as if the hiding place were of little importance. “About three feet from the door.”

She stared at him. “How do I get into it?”

“You just press on the wall there, and it will open.”

When she started to scramble out of bed, he caught her wrist in his big hand. “It’s not going anywhere.”

“Are you going to tell me what’s inside?” she demanded.

“My birth certificate. My marriage license.” He stopped.

“Hardly worth hiding.”

“Some stuff of Helen’s.”

“Helen! What does that have to do with you?”

“You can figure that out later. But right now, you need to come outside with me.”

She stared at him uncertainly. He’d made wonderful love to her a few hours ago, and she thought—no she hoped—that everything had changed. But he was acting the way he had since she’d first arrived. Evasive. Secretive.

She sighed. “I don’t suppose you want to tell me what’s so important outside?”

At least he looked regretful. “It’s not the easiest thing to explain. You’d better come with me.”

Still, she didn’t like the tone of his voice, and she wanted to protest. Yet she felt his sense of urgency.

She wanted to tell him what she had said before. If he was in some kind of trouble—she could help. But she didn’t even know if that was true. Maybe therewasnothing she could do. So, she slowly got out of bed and began searching for the clothing they’d scattered around the floor.

She found his shirt first and silently handed it to him, her fingers lingering on his for just a moment.

Then she snatched up her own slacks and underwear.

He was dressed first, waiting while she went into the bathroom.

Back in the bedroom, he led her to the closet, then past the clothing hanging on the rod at the back. She wasn’t really surprised to find a secret passage back there, considering he’d appeared and disappeared through the closet several times. There was a flashlight hanging by a loop at the side of the doorway. He picked it up, playing it along the floor as they followed the tunnel downward.

First, they came to what looked like a blank wall. But he worked some hidden mechanism there, too, ushering her into another passageway.

A bunch of underground tunnels should look the same, but she suspected she’d been in this one before.

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