Page 93 of Pepper, the Biker & the Vanishing Body

I studied the setup before sharing with Amy. “Someone could be waiting just beyond the light, or worse—he could have some kind of trap waiting for us.”

Amy added to the dire situation. “What if there’s also someone behind us?”

Then, somewhere ahead in the darkness, a sudden crash sent dust and debris falling from the ceiling.

Amy grabbed my arm. “Please tell me that was just an old support beam giving out and not a booby trap meant to kill us.”

My silence spoke for itself.

“I heard you loud and clear. You don’t know.”

A distant sound reached us, coming from the opposite direction.

“Someone is behind us and headed our way,” Amy whispered.

“We have to keep moving,” I murmured and took a careful step forward when?—

Something skittered over my boot.

Amy let out a strangled yelp and scrambled back, slapping at her legs like she was being attacked. “NOPE. NOPE. I AM DONE.”

“Quiet,” I warned and shined my flashlight down. “Relax, it’s just?—”

Amy kept her voice to a whisper but in my head, I heard her scream it.

“DO NOT SAY ‘JUST A RAT’ LIKE THAT MAKES IT BETTER.”

The rat, thoroughly unimpressed with us, squeezed itself between two stones in the wall and disappeared.

Amy bent over, resting her hands on her knees and breathing hard. “I swear, if that thing just crawled into a hidden passage, I quit. I’m done.”

I narrowed my eyes at the wall. The stones there were looser than the others. I stepped closer and pressed against one. It shifted slightly.

Amy groaned. “Oh no. No, no, no. You’re going to open it, aren’t you?”

“Do I have a choice? Ignatius wouldn’t let anyone know the way to the mausoleum. That was for Claire and him alone.”

“Maybe so, but you do realize this is how every horror movie starts, don’t you?”

“Then it’s a good thing we’re in a mystery.”

I pushed harder on the stone, and with a low, grinding groan, the stone shifted. A narrow gap appeared, revealing a darkened alcove. And inside…

Footprints.

Fresh ones leading deeper into another tunnel.

I turned to Amy. “Looks like whoever is here took a detour.”

She let out a long breath. “Or knows his way around.”

I stepped inside the passageway. “Coming?”

Amy hesitated, then squared her shoulders. “You always talked me into these?—”

“Adventures.” I finished with a gleeful smile. “You know that you wouldn’t want to miss such fun for anything.”

With one last glance behind us, Amy followed me into the unknown.

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