Page 85 of The Last Session

And this brought up another question: Were there more?

“I tried questioning Grace.” Mikki slipped her phone into her pocket. “She’s like a perky brick wall. Same with Steven. I even tried flirting with him, but it just freaked him out. In any case, I’m going to confront Moon tomorrow. You guys can come along if you’d like.”

“Is that wise?” Jonah asked. “We’re out here in the middle of nowhere, looking for a missing person…”

“Yeah, so: missing person?” Mikki looked back and forth between us.

I quickly filled her in on everything, starting with the hospital and ending with the missing sculpture.

“So when did you guys meet?” she asked when I finished.

“I met Jonah in New York.” No need to explain how. “But I wasn’t expecting him to show up here.”

“And now you’re teaming up?” Mikki looked back and forth between us again.

“Yeah.” I glanced at Jonah, who nodded in agreement.

“Did you search the rest of the castle?” she asked.

“We still have a ways to go,” Jonah said.

“And one place we definitely still need to look is the purple door.” I pointed down.

“What purple door?” Mikki asked.

“In the courtyard. It’s the only one that’s locked. And I’ve had this weird feeling, like someone in there is watching me. First on the tour, and then yesterday when Steven walked out and locked it.”

“You think Catherine’s in there?” Mikki asked.

“I don’t know. Maybe.”

Mikki jumped up. “Let’s go, then.”

Jonah nodded. “We just need to be careful. For all we know, Steven sleeps in there.”

“No, he doesn’t. Everyone here sleeps on the second or third floor.” Mikki threw a glance back as she headed to the staircase. “You sure you’re a PI?”

Jonah glared at her.

He redeemed himself when we got to the purple door, pulling out lock-picking tools with a flourish. In under a minute, the door clicked open. Jonah shot a triumphant glance at Mikki as he opened it and crept inside, his flashlight beam cutting into the darkness.

My chest ballooned with dread. Now that we were here, I really, really didn’t want to go in.

For a minute I waited in the open doorway, watching as Jonah and Mikki shone their lights around the room. It was an art studio, same as the other rooms off the courtyard. There was a long table along oneside, scattered with dozens of pieces of ceramic and glass. A standing desk. A wall of buckets. It smelled of paint and other chemicals.

It had to be Steven’s mosaic studio. By why was it locked?

I forced myself to take a step inside, then another. The air was at least ten degrees colder than outside. Mikki and Jonah pulled out drawers in the table and desk.

I had to fight the urge to leave. After all, I was the one who’d pushed us to come here. But now that we were here, I could feel it. A badness, warning me away.

“What’s this?” Mikki stopped at a door in the back of the room. It was painted the same white as the wall, and I hadn’t even clocked it at first.

“Closet?” Jonah stood in front of it, considering. “It feels like cold air coming from it.”

“And why’s it locked?” Mikki indicated the dead bolt above the knob.

“Wait,” I said.

---