Part 61

It was windy and rainy in San Angelo as Michael and Maria stood at the gravesite and watched as Charles Dupree's coffin was lowered into the ground. The funeral service had been short, the minister presiding over the service had been austere and it had been obvious that he hadn't known Charles. Only a couple of others had been in attendance; the housekeeper that had taken care of the old man and his house, the lawyer that had handled legal issues for the old man, and a reporter that was lurking somewhere around the cemetery.

Michael looked down when Maria wrapped her hand around his and even though he was still angry and hurt, he accepted the small comfort. He didn't know what he felt about the old man's death, didn't even know if he should feel anything, and it was making him edgy. He looked up when he felt someone approaching and he stared menacingly at the reporter.

"Hi, I'm Richard Atwater, reporter for – "

"Get lost, Dick," Michael snarled at him.

"I was just wondering if I could interview you for my newspaper; Dupree was kind of a legend around here. What with all of his…" he snickered, "abductions. My editor would like to have a story to run for tomorrow's – "

Maria tightened her hand around Michael's when she felt him tensing up and she shifted so that she was partially blocking him. "Mr. Atwater, we're not interested in doing an interview for your paper or anyone else's."

"You sure?"

Michael brushed the guy aside. "She said no comment," he growled.

The reporter held his hands up and took a few steps back. "Okay, man."

"Mr. Guerin?"

He turned to face the owner of the new voice and he recognized the man who had been identified as Dupree's lawyer, David Starnes. "Somethin' I can do for you?"

"The reading of Charles' will is this afternoon at two."

Michael's tone was rude as he responded. "So?"

"You're named in the will, Mr. Guerin. I wanted to let you know in case you would care to attend." He nodded when the man just stared at him. "Very well. Charles did say that you might not care to do so and in that case I was to give you this key and tell you that what it unlocks belongs to you."

Michael looked down at the key the man held out to him. "What's it for?" he asked warily as he accepted it.

The lawyer chuckled. "That I don't know, Mr. Guerin. Charles was a very secretive man, but he said that you would understand."

"Well, what's it unlock? Wall safe, safe deposit box…"

"He said Aja would tell you."

"Old man was crazy," Michael muttered. "How's a dead woman gonna tell us where to find whatever this key goes to?"

The lawyer laughed at the big man's disgruntled tone. "Well, Charles was a little on the strange side, and he was full of secrets, but he said the two of you would understand." He nodded at his car that was waiting at the edge of the grounds. "I have to get back to the office; the reading of the will is still at two.

"Mr. Starnes?"

He turned to look at the woman who had spoken. "Yes?"

"Would it be possible for us to visit Charles' home once more?"

The man nodded. "Of course, he said you would and that you had a key."

"Right, we just weren't sure if we'd be able to go out there since we didn't know what he wanted done with it after his death." She smiled. "We'll go out there later this afternoon maybe."

"Very well." The man nodded in her direction as he handed her a business card. "Just in case either of you needs to get into contact with me."

"Like we need him for anything," Michael snarled when the man left them alone. He looked down at the key in his hand. "What the hell is this for?"

"It's for something in that house," Maria said as she stared at the key.

He thought about that for several minutes and finally decided that she was probably right. "Let's go then," he said as he stalked to the rental car they had picked up at the airport. "No reason to drag this out; let's get it over with because we have another appointment in New Mexico."

Maria sighed and followed him, wondering if she was ever going to be able to talk to him about what had happened between them.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Maria watched Michael as he stalked around the house, his irritation so palpable that it was almost like a living thing in the room with them. They had been there for hours, searching for anything that would give them some clue as to how Aja was going to tell them what the key unlocked. So far nothing had stood out as being important enough to provide them with the necessary information and with each passing minute her agitated companion was becoming more and more angry.

"This's fuckin' stupid," Michael snarled. "Old man probably sent us on a wild goose chase just because he knew you'd fall for it."

She decided to ignore his taunt, pacing around the living room as she went over the lawyer's words again. "It's gotta be in the basement," she decided.

"We've been through that depressing little cell; we spent hours diggin' around down there and we didn't find a single shred…" His voice trailed off and he turned to look towards the kitchen, his expression speculative.

Maria could almost see the proverbial light bulb go on above his head. "What?"

"It is in the basement… it has to be because that's the only room in the house where there's any evidence that the old man even knew that the opposite sex existed." He ignored Maria when she started to remind him that she had basically said the same thing just minutes before and he hurried back downstairs.

He was standing in the middle of the basement office when she joined him, his gaze slowly scanning over the walls. "Where are you?" he muttered as he moved closer to the wall behind the desk.

"You're thinking it's in the wall?" she asked.

"Whatever it is, he wouldn't have left it in plain sight; he was too paranoid to risk anyone ever seein' it. A wall safe would either be electronic or use a dial combination, not a key. This looks like an ordinary house key with the exception of the formation of the notch at the end and the teeth towards the head of the key. It's not the kind used for safety deposit boxes, mailboxes, lockers, or anything else that I can think of." He shook his head as he looked around at the walls that were covered in a myriad of maps, photographs, newspaper clippings, and sketches. "No, whatever it is, it's right here."

He took a step back and looked up at the ceiling before turning in a circle and mentally mapping out the floorplan of the house above them.

"What're you doing?" Maria asked.

"The kitchen's directly above us, right?"

"Yeah, so?"

"How far back would you say it goes?"

Maria paused to think. "Okay, well, the door to the basement is just off the entrance into the kitchen and as you step into the room it goes…" She turned to look at the wall in front of her. "The kitchen extends well past where this wall is," she said excitedly.

"Yeah." He stepped up to the wall and started removing the papers that had been hanging there, some of them for decades. He was silent as Maria started to help him, making neat stacks of the papers that Charles had spent a lifetime collecting and carefully setting them on the desk.

As the wall was slowly cleared, a portrait of the woman they had identified as the love of the old man's life, skillfully etched into the otherwise unblemished wood came into view.

"Maybe the old bastard wasn't crazy after all," Michael murmured as his fingertips traced over the markings. After a moment his fingers curled into a fist and he reached up to rap his knuckles against the wall. He glanced at Maria. "You hear that?"

Her eyes were on the wall as she nodded. "It's covering something else," she said as she pointed at the corner. "I saw it move when you knocked on it."

"It's not a solid wall," he mused as he ran his palm over the surface. "There're ridges every six to eight inches, except for right here." He tapped his forefinger against the center of the wall. "It's much closer right here, barely a three inch spacing."

"There's a gap at this end, in the corner."

"It's a set of doors," he realized aloud. "There's gotta be a releasing mechanism built in somewhere that allows them to open."

"But where?"

"I don't know. Check along that edge, see if you can feel anything… could be a button, a pin, or maybe even a space in the frame, probably just big enough to get a finger in and pull down. Don't do anything if you find it because if you do and we don't catch the doors in time you'll crush your fingers."

Maria rolled her eyes at his unnecessary warning and started to search for the hidden mechanism that would release the doors. She shook her head after going over the edge several times. "I'm not finding anything, Michael."

He frowned and shook his head. "Me either. Okay, stand back while I check the tops of the doors." He grabbed a nearby stepstool and climbed up on the top step, stretching out in first one direction and then the other, pausing when he felt a notch cut into the top right corner. "I've got it. Lean against the doors, right in the center and put your weight into it." As soon as she complied he pulled the ring hidden inside the notched area and then jumped back down to the floor. He pressed his hand over Maria's head, right against the point where the doors were divided then and motioned for her to move. Once she was back far enough he stood back slowly and let the doors open on their own, hinges and wood creaking from who knew how many years of no use.

He stared at the wide door waiting for them, the handle inlaid directly below the keyhole and he felt a moment of hesitation. After several minutes he felt Maria reach out and place her hand on his arm and he turned to look at her. "What could he have needed to hide like this?"

"Something that he left to you, so it must have been important to him."

He nodded and pulled the key out of his pocket, sliding it into the keyhole without resistance and turning his hand. He frowned when the key didn't follow the motion of his hand and he pulled the key back out. "What the hell?"

"Try it again," Maria urged him, feeling a moment of familiarity so strong that she felt like she was standing in the room beneath the dome with her Michael.

He started to protest, but something about her expression had him inserting the key once more and turning the key, once again without success. He started trying different variations, jiggling the key, pressing against the door, and easing the key back and forth as he turned it. He was on the verge of calling it a loss when the tumbler made a distinct sound as the locking mechanism released. He hooked his fingers through the metal ring that served as a handle, turning it and throwing his weight against the door to push it inward.

As the door opened lights flickered to life overhead and illuminated the small vault built into the wall. He stepped inside and glanced around, his eyes travelling over the sterile metal shelves filled with empty glass cases. All but one, he realized as his gaze landed on a glass case on the shelf directly in front of him. He moved to it slowly and reached up, his fingers automatically running over the edges and searching for any kind of hidden traps before he dared to lift it up.

He carried it out of the vault and set it on the desk, reaching for the envelope taped to the top before glancing at what looked like a velvet pouch lying inside the case. He handed the envelope to Maria as he searched for the mechanism that would release the upper part of the glass casing.

Maria opened the envelope and slid the single sheet of paper out and her eyes watered as she read the short note.