Chapter 14 - Locked Behind the Portrait
The room went dark.
Dominic stood instantly.
I reached for my phone.
No signal.
Of course there was no signal inside a sealed room built behind masonry walls.
Dominic hit the hidden panel.
Nothing.
“Can Marco open it?”
“If he knows we’re inside.”
I checked the time.
9:14 p.m.
Marco was supposed to return from the city at ten.
Rosa had gone upstairs.
The housekeepers had left.
Someone inside the mansion had closed us in.
Dominic felt along the wall.
“There has to be another exit.”
“Why?”
“My mother planned to escape.”
That was a good point.
We searched.
Bookshelves.
Fireplace.
Desk.
Floorboards.
Nothing.
Then I remembered the boarded window.
It should have faced the courtyard.
But from outside the mansion, there was no visible window in that location.
I pulled at the interior shutters.
Behind them was brick.
Dominic stared.
“It was sealed.”
I examined the brickwork.
One section had different mortar.
“Later modification.”
Together we moved the desk.
Behind it was an iron ring embedded in the floor.
Dominic pulled.
A narrow hatch opened.
Stone steps descended into darkness.
I stared at him.
“You have tunnels?”
“It’s an old house.”
“That is not an answer.”
He almost smiled.
“I genuinely didn’t know.”
We went down.
The passage smelled damp.
Dominic used his phone flashlight.
The tunnel extended beneath the east wing.
After thirty feet, we reached another door.
Unlocked.
It opened inside a wine storage room in the basement.
Marco was waiting there.
Gun lowered.
Expression furious.
“Where were you?”
“Locked inside the room,” Dominic said.
Marco’s face changed.
“By whom?”
Security footage answered that.
A house employee named Peter Lang had entered the gallery at 9:11.
Peter had worked at the estate for twelve years.
He disappeared three minutes later.
His car was found abandoned near the service gate.
Inside the car was an envelope addressed to Dominic.
One sentence.
SATURDAY DINNER IS A BAD IDEA.
Dominic read it.
Then burned it in the fireplace.
“Dinner is still happening.”
The next night the mansion filled with Carusos.
Vittorio arrived first.
Silver-haired.
Elegant.
Walking with a cane.
He kissed Rosa’s cheek.
He embraced Dominic.
Then his eyes found me.
“So this is the house-sitter.”
I smiled.
“So this is the uncle.”
Dominic choked on his drink.
Vittorio studied me carefully.
“You have caused quite a disturbance.”
“I moved furniture.”
“And portraits.”
His eyes sharpened.
“One portrait.”
The room around us continued buzzing with conversation.
But Vittorio and I stood inside something quieter.
I smiled.
“It needed restoration.”
“Some paintings become more valuable when nobody touches them.”
“Others rot behind the frame.”
His expression changed.
Dominic appeared beside me.
“Dinner.”
We entered the dining room.
Anthony Caruso sat across from Dominic.
Handsome.
Confident.
Smiling too easily.
Halfway through dinner, Anthony lifted his glass.
“To family.”
Dominic looked at him.
“To truth.”
Anthony’s smile paused.
Then the lights went out.
Again.
May you like
Only this time, when the backup generator came on, Vittorio’s chair was empty.
And the portrait of Maria Sofia Caruso was gone.
