So Kat stepped away from the desk, walked to the far corner of the room, and studied not the carvings but the desk as a whole. It was gorgeous. At least three different kinds of wood had been used, and they blended together beautifully. Seamlessly. Alternating one with the next. It was almost like…
“A chessboard,” she whispered, the words only for herself.
Carefully, Kat circled the desk, eyeing it from every angle.
“Uh…” Hamish said through the comms unit. “You know how no one was supposed to realize who spilled the drink?”
“Yeah?” Gabrielle sounded worried, but Kat kept her gaze locked on the desk, walking around and around.
“I think they figured it out!” Angus yelled. “Run!”
Somewhere on the grounds of the Henley, the Bagshaws were making a break for it, but Kat never took her eyes off the desk.
There were so many intricate pieces. They had to fit together somehow, Kat was certain. She walked to the front of the desk again, pushed against one of the panels, but nothing moved. She repeated the gesture on every square, but they were all firm and solid. She was about to give up when her fingers traced over something that felt different.
Kat leaned down and shined her light onto the small square. The difference in the coloring was so minuscule, she doubted anyone would ever notice; but the feel was off, somehow. Kat took her fingernail and scraped against the priceless desk, and a small amount of a very soft substance rubbed away. Restorer’s putty, Kat knew. Something was there—some blemish or flaw that had been covered over within the past week.
Kat found that place, pressed again, twisted; and from somewhere deep inside the desk, she heard a tiny click.
“Hamish, don’t go down the alley!” Gabrielle yelled through her comms unit, but that wasn’t the reason Kat’s pulse was racing as she walked to the back of the desk, looking for any other moving pieces.
“Kat,” Simon said, but Kat barely heard him. She might have been looking at a desk, but what she saw were patterns and pictures, a map through the maze.
“Kat!” Simon shouted in her ear. She was about to lash out that she was busy when he whispered, “Hide.”
Before Kat could ask what he meant, there was a slice of light across the concrete, and Kat’s mouth went wide with shock. She darted from the desk, crouching low and diving behind the tall shelves that filled the center of the room. She felt her flashlight slip from her hand and go skidding across the concrete floor, but she couldn’t chase it. She could do nothing but stay low, hidden in the shadows, while three men walked toward her.
“There’s a light switch around here.… Yes. There,” a man said, and a moment later the overhead fluorescents flickered to life.
It took all of Kat’s willpower not to gasp when she heard a familiar voice saying, “Now, perhaps you can tell us what you meant—the Hale desk was involved in an accident?”
“Yes, Mr. Garrett. As I was trying to tell you earlier, it’s nothing, really. Our restoration department is the finest in the world, more than capable of mopping up a little spill. I assure you, Mr. Hale, you have nothing to worry about.”
Mr. Hale.
Kat peeked through the crack in the shelves, and what she saw was broad shoulders and a charismatic smile. But there was something infinitely sad about the boy in the very nice suit who stood with two men, staring down at the desk.
“I guarantee you…sir,” the stranger said, “your late grandfather’s desk is—”
“Grandmother’s.”
“Pardon?” the director asked.
“My great-great-great-grandfather purchased this desk, but it was my late grandmother who truly owned it.”
“I see,” the man said with a solemn nod.
“Where’s that artist, Duncan?” Garrett asked, and the director began to squirm.
“I’m sure she’ll be right along.”
“You’re the director of this facility. Go find her,” Garrett snapped.
“Of course, sir. Right away.”
Kat watched in silence as the man from the museum scurried through the swinging doors, leaving Hale and Garrett alone among the paint and the brushes.
“Why are we here?” Hale sounded like he was mid-con and playing a bored and elusive billionaire. Then Kat had to remind herself he wasn’t playing.
“I told you, Scooter. Hale Industries has a significant presence in Europe. It’s important for you to at least put in an appearance at the London headquarters.”
“No.” Hale took a deep breath. “Why are we here?” He held out his arms and gestured at the walls and shelves covered with priceless paintings and delicate sculptures. He sat on a workbench as the man looked down on him and gave a condescending smile.
“Well, it’s the finest museum in the world.”
“I know.”
“Oh, I know you do,” Garrett said, and for a split second, Kat wondered exactly what he was saying. She watched Hale, but the words didn’t seem to register with him.
“You’re an important man now, Scooter. You have responsibilities.”
“Isn’t that why I have you?”
“Well, yes.” Garrett laughed a little. “I guess it is.”
Hale stood and reached for the desk, ran his hand along the small section that Kat had been examining only moments before.
“What is it?” Garrett asked.
“I did that,” Hale said, pointing to the flaw that had been filled with putty.
“You carved into an original Petrovich?”
“Hazel told me to,” Hale countered. “I was…I don’t know…six or seven and she gave me a knife—told me that that was where H would mark the spot.”
First, there was a pair of ruddy-faced boys who were scaling the fence that surrounded the gardens. Two guards were in hot pursuit, but no one bothered to summon Scotland Yard or even the police. And once the boys had run into the nearest Tube station, the guards, huffing and puffing, gave up their chase and went back inside.
The second fairly strange thing was that a long black limousine was sitting at the opposite side of the building. It wasn’t parked. It did not circle. Instead, the car just idled by the main entrance as if, at any moment, a very well-financed thief was going to stroll out the front doors of the Henley and make an incredibly elegant escape. But anyone expecting that scenario would have been disappointed when a boy emerged through the Henley’s doors, an older man at his side.
The man hurried away from the museum, throwing cautious looks over his shoulder. But the boy walked into the fleeting sunlight as if there were no place on earth where he would not feel at ease.
The pair was almost to the limousine when the man said something, and a moment later, the boy climbed into the backseat alone. When the limo drove off, the man continued on foot, disappearing into the crowded streets. He seemed perfectly unaware when yet another boy emerged from the Henley’s doors with the last few straggling visitors of the day. This boy wore dark glasses and kept an even, steady pace, always fifty feet or so at the man’s back.
But the oddest sight of all came when the janitorial staff carried the day’s rubbish to the large bins in the back of the building. The men chatted as they dumped the cans into the massive dumpster, straining a bit under their weight before going back inside.