The Arkham Manor was almost as large as the Wayne Manor but lacked its elegant charm. Gothic architecture combined with a lack of care for the building gave it a haunted look even in the daylight, but that only seemed to make Victor more excited as they walked up the steps. Alex wished she could share his enthusiasm.

"Don't worry, Liz," Victor assured her as he held the door open. "The cops cleared the place last week, and then I had some people check it out as well. No booby traps left… now."

Alex gave him a curious look but didn't question him further. Something told her that she didn't want to press him for details. Taking a deep breath, she walked into the manor. Shattered pieces of tables and chairs were scattered over the floor. Paintings were slashed or defaced. A lone bookshelf stood in the room among the shattered remains of the decor.

"Was the room a victim of booby traps or my brother?" Alex asked as she looked at the foyer in disbelief.

"Well… if you think about it, the booby traps were probably set up by your brother so… isn't everything his fault?" Victor asked cheerfully as he carefully stepped around the broken pieces of the Arkham heirlooms.

"Fair enough," Alex muttered as she navigated through the wreckage.

As she walked through the house, she made mental notes to herself on what needed fixing first. The plumbing and electrical issues would need to be taken care of first. Throwing out the broken furniture in the foyer wouldn't be incredibly bad, and she wasn't particularly worried about replacing it right away. Security would be the second thing on her to do list.

Most of the rooms had been thoroughly trashed. As Alex and Victor made their way around the house, Victor chatted excitedly about what she could do with each room. Alex briefly wondered if he was truly excited about the decorating or trying to distract her from the damage Jeremy had done. The corridor led to a row of rooms. Alex paused to take a closer look. A door caught her eye, and Victor trailed off. Engraved in gold was the name "Elizabeth" on the door. As Alex pushed the door open, she gasped at the inside of the room.

Blackened furniture greeted her. It was a miracle that the entire house hadn't caught fire. Luckily the fire had seemed to burn out before it got to the walls of the room, but every piece of furniture in the room hadn't been so lucky. Likely the handiwork of Jeremy and a lot of accelerants. Alex ran her hand over the blistered wallpaper as she took in the room. Victor chatted clumsily about how it just needed "a bit of fixin' up" as though trying to console her. She closed her eyes and tried to concentrate on not crying. As she tried to figure out if these were "Elizabeth's" feelings or her own, her hand felt something odd in the wall.

"What's wrong?" Victor asked, sounding worried.

"Do you have a knife on you?" Alex asked as she opened her eyes to take a closer look at the odd bump on the wall.

"Well, duh. Of course," he said in a relieved tone and walked over to her.

"There's something under the wallpaper."

Victor pulled out a switchblade and immediately got to work on the wall. An odd, gold indent in the wall was revealed after Victor pulled the wallpaper and plaster out of the way.

"The hell is that?!" Victor said as he stared at the wall with concentration.

Alex pulled an old golden locket out of her bag. In anticipation of going to the Arkham Manor, the night before she had gone through the box that Falcone had left her from Elizabeth's father, and she had found the locket, lovingly wrapped in a beautiful box. She had found it strange as the locket didn't contain a photo. It didn't even have space for a photo. The only thing inside was an odd patterned mound.

Alex opened the locket and placed the mound on top of the indent. It fit perfectly. Alex looked at Victor who was grinning like a child in a candy store and turned it to the right. There was a clicking sound, and Alex quickly pulled her hand away and took a step back. Victor moved in front of her and pulled on the locket. A drawer came out of the wall. Victor pulled out a strange piece of metal, and Alex stepped a little closer to examine it. It was shaped like a butterfly with a metal tube coming out of the thorax.

"It looks like… a wind up key?"

"A what?" Victor asked, turning the key around to get a better look.

Alex shut the drawer and turned the locket. There was another click, and the locket came right out of the wall. She answered him while staring at the locket, "Like for those old toys. You put the key in the back and turn it a few times. When you release it, the toy moves on its own."

"Fascinating… but what does it 'wind up'?"

"Not a clue. If it was something in this room, then we'll never know."

"Don't be such a downer. This could be an adventure!"

"Or a trap."

"That would have been a really good opportunity to kill us… Besides the bomb detecting dogs have already been through the house. Come on! Let's solve a mystery!"

"Yay," Alex muttered but obediently followed Victor through the house.

Despite her initial reluctance, she did feel as though something inside her was telling her to investigate. Perhaps this would lead to a valuable secret. As they checked room to room, Alex tried to figure out what they would be looking for. If the person who created this scavenger hunt was smart, then they probably wouldn't hide the answer in something that could be easily moved… or destroyed. The fact that the drawer had been hidden inside the wall seemed to confirm that possibility. The only thing they found as they walked around were broken heirlooms. Alex noticed a broken door down the hall and tugged on Victor's sleeve.

"That's weird."

"What?!" Victor turned around excitedly but then sulked when he noticed what she was looking at. "Ah, your dear brother bolted that one shut. He had left a record playing, so my people thought he might be in there. He wasn't… but a booby trap was."

"A record?" Alex asked as she took a step toward the door.

"Yeah. It was the only room that he didn't destroy…" Victor looked up and grinned.

Alex and Victor raced each other down the hall and swung the broken door wide open. The door fell off of the frame to reveal a study. Dark beautiful bookshelves and a matching desk created a very "Wayne-style on a budget" vibe. A phonograph in the corner of the room caught her attention. It was partly built into the wall. Alex felt along the sides of the marble base until she felt a panel move. She held out her hand for the butterfly, and Victor gently placed it into her hand as he waited in excitement. She inserted the key and turned the butterfly.

An odd click made Alex jump as the bottom of the phonograph's wooden base moved to reveal another odd drawer. Inside was a record. Alex took the record out and slid the drawer back in place as she took the key out of the base. Victor motioned for her to hurry as he had already removed the previous record.

Alex set up the record and set the music to play. Gentle piano music came from the record player and a woman with a beautiful clear voice began to sing. The music sounded familiar even though it was in another language.

"Is that it?" Victor asked, sounding disappointed. "Or is 'Ave Maria' a clue?"

"'Ave Maria'? Do you know what the song is about?"

"I think it's some kind of Catholic song… or something. Last time I heard it was at a wedding. These people were really religious. Is that the clue? We need to go to church… or a wedding?"

"I doubt it," Alex replied, checking around the room to see if anything was different. "Unless there's a church on the grounds… Whoever set this up seemed to be tied to this place. I doubt the next clue would be at a random church."

"Well, there aren't any churches around here. Rich people don't exactly need God's help, do they? …But there is a cemetery and one of those rich people houses for the dead."

"Do you mean a mausoleum?"

"Yup, that's exactly what I said," Victor said with a cheeky smirk.

"Well, let's check it out before we completely give up."

"That's the spirit."

Victor led the way out of the back door and guided her along an old pathway to the entrance of the Arkham cemetery. Alex felt a chill as she saw the gate. The Arkham surname loomed above the entrance, and Alex gripped her arm and approached the gate. As they passed through the gate, Alex could see a large marble building just ahead of them. Alex took a look at the graves as they made their way toward the mausoleum. The names on the headstones were covered by dirt and moss. Another sign of the years of neglect. Jeremy clearly didn't believe in assigning someone to keep up with the graves of his ancestors.

Victor jogged ahead and grabbed the door handles. The doors to the mausoleum opened wide, revealing a dusty and musty interior. Alex hesitated for a moment before following Victor inside. Names littered the walls, and Alex felt a twinge of sadness for the people entombed here. While it certainly saved space, it was odd to see what were essentially lockers for people's dead bodies stored away from the sunlight. Not that it would matter at all to a dead person.

"So here we are. Dead people central," Victor said as he looked around the chamber.

Alex took a look around the center of the chamber and noticed three statues. An owl and a raven lurked in an alcove above the Holy Mother Mary. Alex walked over to the statue of Mary and ran her hands along the marble base. Victor did the same on the opposite side.

"I found something!" Victor shouted excitedly, and Alex ran over to him.

Sure enough, there was another panel, revealing a spot for the key. As Alex turned the key, there was a loud bang. Victor grabbed onto her shoulders to steady her. Behind Mary, a section of the floor had opened to reveal a staircase.

"Oh, I don't know about that," Alex said, feeling the tremor in her voice.

"I'll go first," Victor assured her and held out his hand.

After a moment of hesitation, Alex grabbed onto his hand. Curiosity had won out over fear. Alex just hoped that it wasn't a mistake as she followed Victor down into the unknown. Lamps lit up slightly ahead of them as they moved into the depths. They arrived at the bottom to find a study. The thick veil of dust told Alex that no one had been down here in quite some time.

A lone box caught Alex's attention as she walked further into the room. With a quick dusting off, she found the latch and opened the box to find a sealed envelope, a videotape, and a letter. Alex opened the letter and read it aloud: "My darling Elizabeth, by the time you find this letter I will have long since left this world behind. Take the sealed envelope and the videotape to your lawyer. The envelope has been sealed with our family crest, so they will know it is directly from my hand. I have hidden all of this from Jeremy as I suspect that unfortunately he cannot be trusted. I have left a copy of my will with him as well. If you bring this copy to the lawyer and he has been honest, then there will be nothing for him to fear. I hate to leave you with this responsibility as I know that you have gone through enough in your short life. Just know that I have always and will always love you dearly. And I am sorry for the many mistakes that I have made. I hope you will find it in your heart to forgive me. Your father, Tiberius Arkham."

"And what mistakes would that be? Leaving someone he already didn't fully trust to 'be honest'?" Victor said with irritation. "He could have left this with Falcone. Then making sure his will was followed would have been a guarantee. It seems like a lot of chance to leave this all up to the possibility that anyone would find this."

"Well… it is possible that Jeremy found a way to destroy the letter before Falcone could get it. Especially if he knew that his… our father was suspicious of him. This was probably his last resort," Alex said, feeling odd for defending a man she didn't know and had never met.

Victor muttered under his breath but seemed to believe her words. In all honesty, Alex wondered how much her father had trusted Falcone. Or perhaps he assumed that Falcone would have a much more violent reaction to Jeremy's betrayal of his father's wishes.

Picking up the envelope and the videotape, Alex took a long look at the room around her. There was too much to unpack about this secret study. And it was something that didn't have to be dealt with at this exact moment.

"I'm done for the day. This can, and will, wait until I have the energy to process it. What I need at this moment… is a drink."