The Fatal Folio by Elizabeth Penney

Author:Elizabeth Penney [Penney, Elizabeth]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: St. Martin's Publishing Group

CHAPTER 14

My phone bleeped with a text, a very modern intrusion into this atmospheric nook. I sat on the chaise longue to read, immediately raising a huge cloud of dust. Ugh. I hopped back up.

Where are you? Kieran.

I’m in a tower room off the library.

???

He didn’t know about this room? I started to write back before realizing it was ridiculous and called him instead.

“Molly. Where did you go? I’m in the closet and you’re not there.”

“Someone locked me in. I didn’t have service so I tried to find another way out.”

“I know. Mum got the text.”

“Go to the back right-hand corner and look behind the shelf.” Footsteps and shuffling noises informed me that he was following my instructions.

“Up these stairs?” His voice echoed.

“Yes. Haven’t you been in there before?”

“No.” Footsteps. “We weren’t allowed to mess around in the closet, in case we destroyed anything important. Not that we wanted to, anyway. Old papers didn’t interest us.”

The footsteps grew louder as he continued upward. I went to the landing to wait, grinning as I shut the door partway behind me. I wanted him to experience the same wonder and surprise that I had earlier.

He appeared around the last bend, his face turned up toward me. “There you are.”

“Here I am.” I couldn’t hold back a giggle of glee. “I didn’t know you were coming out here today.”

“I wasn’t. I ended up delivering bicycles in the village so decided to pop by and see you.”

“I’m glad you did.” I was still blocking the door and he gestured in confusion. “Hold on. You’re going to love it.” I stepped back as I opened the door. “Ta-da.”

Kieran walked inside, head swiveling as he took in the room. “Wow. Talk about untouched by time.”

“Sure looks that way.” I darted over to the desk. “And guess what?” I held up the page. “Selwyn Scott wrote this. It isn’t too much of a stretch to think that this was his or her writing room.”

He came to stand beside me. “This is from the new book.” He glanced around. “Where’s the rest of it?”

“Not here.” The desk didn’t have any drawers and I didn’t see anywhere else a manuscript could be concealed.

Still holding the page, he said, “I hope someone didn’t discard it.” He nodded toward the fireplace. “Or burn it.”

“I pray they didn’t,” I said, groaning. Where could the book be? Hazelhurst House was huge and we might never find it.

Kieran carefully set the paper on the desk, in the approximate position it had rested. “We should document everything. In case we’re right about Selwyn using this room.”

“Good idea.” I started snapping photos of the room. “By the way, I wonder who locked me in the closet?”

“About that,” Kieran said. “When I tried the door, it wasn’t locked.”

I lowered my phone. “You’re kidding. It certainly was when I tried it. In fact, it shut by itself first. I thought it was a draft.” A thought occurred to me. “Was the key in the lock?”

Kieran’s eyes widened. “Actually, yes.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.