She wanted to tell Viktor that she could take care of herself.
But she also wanted to melt into his arms and drag him upstairs like some kind of cavewoman. It was kind of satisfying to be in a relationship with someone who wanted to destroy your enemies.
“What is it, Dru?” he asked.
She glanced up to find him studying her with a half-smile.
“Can you actually hear my thoughts?” she asked.
“No,” he told her. “But I can feel your emotions now. They are not subtle.”
She felt her cheeks burning, but she maintained eye contact. Drucilla Holloway was no delicate flower.
“Let’s focus on the book,” she said. “There’s treasure to be found.”
“Of course,” Viktor purred. “But this book seems rather silly.”
The book was definitely silly. It was nothing but a run-down of all the classic ghost stories and urban legends of rural America, thinly adjusted to fit into the Hemlock House myth. It probably sold well to tourists, and the author’s mother, but it felt like practically no real research had been done in its writing.
Tyler Park thought it was priceless, but Dru would have described it as worthless. She had half a mind to return it to him.
The only cool thing about the book was the collection of photographs of the hotel, all taken around the time of the crime.
Dru had already scanned the photos, but she hadn’t spotted her grandmother in any of them. They seemed less like candid shots, and more like pictures for a brochure, documenting each room and its amenities.
The kitchen had been put forth as extremely modern, with its wall of stainless-steel appliances. And even the furniture in the Gentlemen’s Smoking Lounge was newer in the picture.
“Wait,” Dru breathed. “Let’s go back to the part with the pictures.”
Viktor obliged, flipping to the photo section.
“Which room did you want to see.”
“The Gentlemen’s Smoking Lounge,” Dru said. “I want to see if the uniform was in the same spot back then.”
“Great idea,” Viktor said as he turned the pages to a black and white image of the sitting room.
Everything looked very similar to modern day. And the uniform was right where it had always been.
But in the picture, there wasn’t a moose head over the uniform.
In its place was a familiar bust of a very well-endowed naked woman. It was pretty easy to figure out why it had been removed once the room was no longer just for men.
“Holy crap,” Dru whispered.
“That’s not a moose head,” Viktor said.
“I think I’ve seen that bust,” Dru said. “It was in the abandoned wing.”
Viktor glanced at the grandfather clock.
It was almost seven in the morning. The sun would be up in half an hour.
“Why don’t you go to bed,” Dru suggested. “I’ll check it out and catch you up tonight.”
Viktor was on his feet in a rush of air.
“No,” he said firmly. “You’re not going anywhere alone. We go together now, or we wait until tonight and go together then.”
“But—” Dru began.
“It’s out of the question,” Viktor said. “Johnny’s still out there.”
Dru pressed her lips together.
“Come on, we’ll go now,” Viktor said. “If you know where it is, then it should only take a few minutes.”
She got to her feet, resisting the urge to yell at him that he wasn’t the boss of her.
Realistically, he was one hundred percent right. It didn’t make sense for her to explore the abandoned part of the hotel alone right now. Johnny was still around somewhere. And the last time she’d spent five minutes away from Viktor, she’d wound up in a confrontation with Tyler.
“Come,” he said, taking her hand and giving her a smile.
She knew he was only encouraging her for surrendering, but it was impossible not to feel a surge of satisfaction of his approval.
They headed upstairs, past his rooms, to the section of wallpaper that could be peeled away to reveal the door to the abandoned wing.
The hotel was silent. Soon, the bodies would begin stirring, but for now, the corridor was still cloaked in silence.
Dru held up her phone flashlight, while Viktor pulled the paper aside and opened the door.
The smell that greeted them was mustier than she remembered, with a sweet, cloying undertone. It reminded her of the odor in the catacombs, where the carpet-wrapped body was still decomposing. She hoped Officer Wagner could get someone to dispose of it soon, or the rotten smell was going to permeate the entire hotel.
“Watch the last step,” she reminded Viktor as they entered the darkened corridor and headed down the creaky stairs.
When she got to bottom of the stairs, she noticed it was actually the last two treads that were gone. She must have done more damage than she thought when she’d almost fallen through. The gap reminded her of a smile with some missing teeth, and a cold draft drifted up from the dark, open space.
She steadied herself for a moment, then jumped over the missing treads to land on the more solid floor below.
Viktor followed, skipping the damaged portion with ease, and landing with surprising grace on the floor.
Once he joined her, Dru made her way forward into the ballroom, shining the flashlight around until the beam landed on the upturned sculpture of the anatomically improbable angel.
It was exactly where she remembered, in the far corner of the room, just beneath the small stained-glass window. It sat, wings down, breasts lifted toward the ceiling, the nipples pointing upward like the peaks of two circus tents.
It was definitely the sort of decoration that wouldn’t go over well with the modern clientele.
“Got it,” she said, heading over, the floor creaking angrily with each step.
“Careful,” Viktor said, following.
She crouched to examine the bust, but there was nothing special about it as far as she could see.
She turned it over in place. Though it had looked like marble in the picture, it was definitely plaster. But it was still very heavy. There didn’t appear to be anything out of the ordinary with it. It seemed solid, and she couldn’t feel any seams.
“Can you step back with the flashlight?” she asked Viktor. “I want to look at the floor around it.”
He stepped back and slowly panned the light around the area.
There was plenty of dust and debris, but nothing resembling a treasure, or even a clue.
“I guess it’s something to do with the bust itself,” she said.
She lifted it up, to bring it back with them so that she could examine it further in her room. The sun would be up soon, and Viktor was starting to look a little nervous. She didn’t want to waste any more time.
She carried the heavy sculpture back to the stairs, Viktor following behind with the light.
The jump up looked a little tougher, but it was only two stairs.
She turned back to Viktor, but he had stopped to examine what looked like an antique sliver mirror.
Dru faced the stairs again, and without overthinking it, she tightened her grip on the angel’s wings and leapt across the gap.
But the weight of the bust and the force of the jump proved to be too much. There was a deep, trembling groan, and then the squeal of splitting wood as Dru felt the tread give out from under her.