Hidden Salem by Kay Hooper

Author:Kay Hooper
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
Published: 2020-04-06T16:00:00+00:00

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GENEVA HAD TO stand on the lidded bucket, left obviously for sanitary purposes since there had been a roll of toilet tissue sitting on its lid, and it was not exactly a steady place to stand. But she moved it several times to get it in just the right place, where it seemed as stable as possible, then climbed up and concentrated on balance. She used one hand to steady herself as much as possible while the other held the single tool they had not found when they had searched her.

It was a very thin, very flexible strip of metal, easily and comfortably hidden between the insole and outsole of her shoes—and she had one for every pair of shoes and boots she owned, hiking boots included. Easily hidden, and very easily overlooked even during a thorough search.

But its uses were limited. It was stronger than it had any right to be, but it was small, slender. The sharpest end was too flexible to use as a sturdy digging tool—though Geneva knew from experience it could offer a nasty cut to an enemy, not fatal except at the carotid artery in the throat, but a deterrent for certain. It could be a lockpick—but there was no lock visible on this side of the door. Nor was there a handle, which made her balancing act on the bucket even trickier.

Still, Geneva gritted her teeth, balanced herself as best she could on the bucket, and carefully studied what all of the candles burning together had shown her.

That the door was so well fitted there was barely a seam showing its outline, she knew. But with her prison lit as much as possible by five candles placed carefully, she could now see, on the left-hand side opposite the hinges where normally there would have been a handle of some kind, a faint—very faint—glint of metal in the seam.

It was the latch mechanism: The piece of metal that originated in the door was embedded there but moved in and out of the doorframe when a handle or knob was turned. Normally there was at least a plate of metal on both sides of the door to hold the handle or knob and provide a secure seating for the latch, but on this door there was no sign of a metal plate.

But doors worked a certain way, and Geneva had to believe this one was no exception. There had to be some sort of metal anchor on the other side of the door, perhaps a plate bolted securely into only one side. That had to hold the latch in place, and it was what was holding the door securely closed, clearly designed to open only from one side. No sign of an additional dead bolt, but the worry she didn’t want to think about was that they might have barred the other side in a much simpler way—by using a stout wooden or metal bar, its brackets also seated into the door itself, since by the way the hinges were placed, this door opened inwardly.

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