Page 30 of Lost Cause
Burke agreed. “Which of course makes me suspicious of what we might find.”
Abby swiveled toward Sam. “Great work. Really great. It must’ve been hard to wait for us and not go in there.”
“You have no idea!” Sam laughed, cutting the tension.
“Do you have flashlights we can borrow?” Burke asked Sam.
She jerked a thumb over her shoulder. “In the same tote as the gloves.”
He retrieved two small but powerful LED lights and handed one to Abby.
Sam faced them both. “I don’t have to caution you about not moving anything before I take photographs, but I’m going to so you don’t let the excitement get to you.”
“Thanks for the reminder,” he said. “We’ll let you know when we need you, Sam.”
“Then have at it.” Sam pulled the curtain further back to allow them easy access.
Burke pointed at the opening. “After you, Abby.”
She aimed the beam from her flashlight ahead, revealing a long hallway he couldn’t see the end of. Pointing his light at dingy gray plaster walls, he found an antique brass push-button switch and pressed it. A single bulb overhead cast a weak yellow light, barely illuminating the area, but bright enough to reveal a gallery of old portraits lining one of the upper walls.
He squinted for a better look at the first ones. “These pictures resemble the ones in the hallway.”
Abby turned her light on the other end. “Likely ancestors.”
“Sounds like a good possibility, but why hide them here? Why not display more of them in the open?”
“And for that matter, what happened to the missing paintings in the hallway? Are they important to our investigation? Is any of this important to our investigation?”
“Good questions.” He ran his beam down the wall, studying the mixture of old sepia portraits. Stern-looking men and women dressed in 1800s and early 1900s formal attire stared back at him.
Abby paused her light on a woman in the middle. “Something’s off about her.”
The young woman in the picture wore a white dress, the neckline cut down far lower than the more prim and proper dresses in the other photographs. The square neck was trimmed in lace, and a large black fabric flower was fastened to one side.
“Do you mean the clothing style?”
“No. Part of the portrait looks like it’s in 3-D.” Abby wiggled the flashlight beam over the woman’s bust. “See how it appears raised right here?”
He leaned closer to get an angle from the side. “You’re right. Seems like there’s something behind it and stretching the canvas.”
“Quick.” Her excited tone bounced off the walls. “Grab Sam to snap some photos of the portrait so we can take it down.”
Burke bolted out of the passageway. “Bring your camera, Sam. Now!”
He didn’t wait for her to agree, but rushed back to Abby.
She was still studying the woman. “What do you think’s behind there?”
“People hide safes behind pictures all the time,” he said. “If the dial and lever aren’t recessed, they could cause a lump.”
“That makes perfect sense.” The thrill of the hunt gleamed in her eyes. “If you’re right, I hope it holds something to help solve this mystery.”
Carrying a flashlight of her own and a small bin, Sam came down the hallway. “What do you need me to photograph?”
Burke jerked a thumb at the picture and explained their reasoning. “Do whatever you need to do so we can get this thing down quickly.”
Sam ran a critical eye over the painting and looked up at the light. “Step back. I need the right perspective and to record the picture size compared to the surrounding ones.”
