Michelangelo's Ghost by Gigi Pandian

Author:Gigi Pandian
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Amateur Sleuth, Women Sleuths, Murder Mystery Series
Publisher: Henery Press
Published: 2016-08-24T04:00:00+00:00

We arrived at the Park of Monsters after eleven o’clock. We could have been there sooner, but Ava and I had insisted we park the car a distance from the entrance and approach on foot.

“I can’t believe I’m going along with this,” Mahilan muttered as he stumbled over a rock on the road. “What two-headed monster have I created by bringing the two of you together?”

Ava laughed and wrapped her arm around Mahilan’s elbow.

We fell silent as we reached the entrance. Instead of trying to break into the main entry gate, we circled the sprawling park until we saw a thick covering of trees that would obscure our hopping the fence. I tossed the rope ladder we’d made up to the top bars, climbed over, and pulled the ladder up and onto the other side of the wall.

Though we’d planned for the clandestine visit with black clothing, gloves, and flashlights, we hadn’t done the type of reconnaissance Lane would have done if he’d been here with me. I hoped we were properly disguised in case there were video cameras.

We’d mapped out a path of stone structures that were likely candidates for a clue to Lazzaro’s studio: the Ogre, Proteus, and Pegasus.

At night, I was especially struck by the fact that none of the sculptures looked quite like Lazzaro’s sketches. I knew creative types had always used artistic license, but it makes the work of a historian much more difficult.

With clouds above, it was effectively a moonless night, so we were forced to use our flashlights. In the darkness, the harsh beams of light bouncing off the stone monoliths created an eerie sensation, as if we were slicing pinpricks of light through Dante’s Inferno.

Since the garden was laid out on multiple levels, we had to watch for stone steps that appeared in unexpected places. In the forest that had overtaken the majority of the sculpture garden, we never would have found the creatures we sought without our maps. Even though the gardens had been restored over fifty years ago after being lost to overgrowth for five centuries, nature still reigned supreme in this Sacred Wood.

“I don’t understand what we’re looking for,” Mahilan whispered. “We already looked during the day.”

“For anything we missed.” I didn’t bother lowering my voice. If anyone was looking for us, our flashlights gave us away much more than our voices. “You pulled me and Ava out of the fountain so quickly we never got a good look at that area, for one. We need to look more carefully for anything in the stones that could lead into a larger section hidden by overgrowth.”

“Which nobody has found in all this time?”

“It’s more common than you’d think,” I said. “Archaeologists and historians wouldn’t have jobs if we remembered our pasts. Remember this whole place was forgotten for over four centuries.”

“Nearly five hundred years,” Ava murmured. “You think we can find it?”

“With a stage magician for a best friend, you learn all about various ways secret passageways can be hidden and revealed.

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