Chapter 45 - The Forgotten Foundation
The filing cabinets required six people to move.
Behind them stood an ordinary concrete wall.
Nothing unusual.
Until Arthur tapped the surface gently with his cane.
Solid.
Solid.
Then—
Hollow.
Mercer immediately ordered engineers to examine the section.
A portable scanner revealed an empty chamber beyond the wall.
"There really is something behind it."
Within an hour, workers carefully removed the concrete facing.
Hidden beneath modern construction rested an older steel door almost black with age.
No electronic keypad.
No visible handle.
Only a circular lock unlike any Mercer had seen before.
Arthur reached into his coat.
From the small leather pouch he removed the brass key recovered from the music box.
"It won't fit," Mercer said.
Arthur smiled.
"I know."
Instead, he inserted the smaller silver key recovered from St. Bartholomew's bell tower.
The lock turned smoothly.
A deep mechanical rumble echoed beneath the building.
Dust drifted from the ceiling.
The ancient door slowly opened inward.
Cold air escaped from a staircase descending beneath Grayhaven Bureau Headquarters.
Mercer shined his flashlight downward.
"I thought Blackwood was the oldest location."
Arthur quietly descended the first step.
"So did everyone else."
The walls below were constructed from hand-cut stone far older than the headquarters itself.
This place had existed before Grayhaven Bureau.
Before the modern city.
Small brass lantern hooks lined the corridor every few yards.
Although empty now, they suggested that generations of people had once walked these tunnels long before electricity.
At the bottom, the staircase opened into an enormous circular chamber supported by twelve stone columns.
Unlike Blackwood Estate, nothing here appeared abandoned.
The floor had recently been swept.
No dust.
No cobwebs.
Someone had visited this chamber within days.
Then Reeves noticed footprints.
Only one set.
Entering.
May you like
None leaving.
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