Page 53 of Victorious Vice

“Sounds good to me.”

We walk in silence back to the house.

An hour later, there’s a knock at my door.

I open it, and Daniela stands there. She grabs me into a hug and presses her lips to mine.

It feels all wrong, and I’m about to push her away when I see her eyeing a camera in the corner. She’s putting on a show, of course. I feel her slip something in my pocket as she pulls away.

She then smiles at me and leaves without a word.

Back in my room, I look at what she shoved into my pocket.

It’s a key, along with a note.

Midnight. You have two hours. All surveillance will be off.

I nearly drop my jaw. How did she manage that? I shudder to think of what—or, God help her,who—she had to do. I never wanted her to help me that way. But I have the key now, and I have the cover I need.

I must take this opportunity.

At midnight, in the darkness of the hallway, I pad lightly toward the end of the hallway where the door to the attic stairs is. I unlock it and open it, stealing quietly up the creaky stairs.

I inhale the smell of a musty attic. Mothballs, cobwebs, dust.

I don’t dare make a sound. Are there cameras up here as well? Microphones? Are they part of the main system? I have no idea. If I’m caught, it will be the end of my time here and of the deal with Agudelo.

But my curiosity is piqued, and I need to know what he’s hiding up here.

He must be hiding something. Why else would he lock the door?

I’ve been here for over a week now, and I’ve never seen anyone go near this door.

I don’t have a flashlight on me or my phone. I didn’t want to take the chance of anything alerting any possible cameras.

No lights have come on, so there are no motion detectors.

Good.

I keep walking, and every time a wood board creaks beneath me, I stop, my body going rigid. Did anyone hear that? Did anyone see that?

Agudelo isn’t home, but Morehouse is, as well as the housekeepers and other staff.

I keep walking, walking, walking…

Until I finally hit a wall, nearly stumbling.

I put my ear up to the wall.

No sound, until?—

Tap. Tap. Tap.

The rhythm.

The same rhythm. And then more slowly.

Tap… Tap… Tap…

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