Smoke in Mirrors

undisguised masculine satisfaction.
    Leonora flushed. She felt like a voyeur standing out here in the corridor, listening to Julie and Travis have sex. Okay, maybe not exactly a voyeur. She couldn’t actually see anything, she reminded herself. Nevertheless, it was a very uncomfortable feeling.
    Embarrassed, she hurried off. There was no excuse to hang around here. The small mystery was solved. The pair’s reasons for disappearing upstairs to this floor were now obvious.
    She might as well take the opportunity to have a quick look around before she went downstairs.
    Three-quarters of the way along the corridor she heard a door open behind her. Panic sizzled through her. She ducked behind the nearest large object, an antique cabinet, and held her breath.
    “Your zipper,” Julie said urgently. “Jeez, are youcrazy? Do it up. If Mrs. Brinks sees you like that, she’ll probably fire me. We both know I can’t afford to lose this job.”
    “Take it easy.” A soft hissing sound announced that Travis had corrected the oversight. “There. All neat and tidy. Happy now?”
    “This is serious, Travis.” Julie’s voice sharpened. “I mean it. If you get me fired we’re both going to regret it.”
    “Don’t worry, it’s going to be okay. Ready?”
    “Yes. Hurry.”
    Leonora heard the door to the servants’ staircase squeak when it opened.
    “What’s the big rush?” Travis asked. “Brinks went into town for lunch, remember? She won’t be back for at least an hour.”
    “There’s something I need to do today if I get a chance.”
    “What?”
    The door to the servants’ staircase closed on Julie’s muffled answer.
    Silence settled.
    Leonora waited a few seconds and then stepped out of the protective shadow of the cabinet. She went back along the passageway to the panel door and stepped into the tiny stairwell.
    Going down the narrow staircase was more precarious than climbing it. She took her time, keeping the slender beam of the flashlight focused on the steps.
    Halfway down, she saw the thin crack of slightly lighter shadow that marked the door that opened onto the second-floor hall.
    She was about to continue on down when, out of the corner of her eye, she glimpsed a second line of less dense shadow in the wall to her left. The wall that separated the library office from the staircase.

    That explained why she had heard Julie and Travis going up and down the servants’ steps so clearly through the wood. There was another door off the landing that had, at one time, been used to service the library.
    She continued down the steps, moving cautiously, not just for reasons of safety but to avoid making noise. The last thing she needed was for someone passing by in the hall on the second floor to hear her and come to investigate the strange sounds emanating from the staircase. Explanations would be awkward.
    At the foot of the stairs, she paused to aim the flashlight at the second panel door. She summoned up an image of the layout of the little office. The card catalog was positioned directly on the other side of this wall. Years ago someone had evidently concluded that the servants’ stairs were no longer practical and that there was, therefore, no reason not to shove the heavy wooden catalog up against that wall.
    She was about to switch off the penlight and let herself out into the hall when she caught the faint glint of gold. A chill went through her. She lowered the beam of light to the crack that marked the base of the narrow door that had once opened into the library.
    Approximately half an inch of what looked like the trailing end of a bracelet or a necklace stuck out below the edge of the wooden panel. It was almost invisible in the shadows. If she hadn’t noticed the second door and aimed her flashlight in that direction, she would never have seen it.
    How could anyone lose an item of jewelry in such an odd location? Perhaps it had been placed on top of the card catalog years ago. It could have fallen off the back and landed on the floor behind the catalog.
    But in that case, how had a tiny section of it ended up under the old servants’ door?

    Curiosity laced with an inexplicable sense of dread drew her toward the bit of gold. She stopped in front of the panel door, searching for a way to open it.
    The sound of rustling movements on the other side of the wall made her go cold. Someone was in the library office.
    She listened to drawers being opened and closed in the desk. Whoever it was, he