She looked upward as if scanning her mind for the answer, then she smiled. “Yes, the chapel.” She moved away from the dining room. “This way.”
They followed her down a long, darkened hallway that led them directly to two double doors opening into the small chapel. Graeme lit the wall sconces, and the warm firelight scattered over the sanctuary.
Seven wooden pews were lined up in the middle of the room, and the altar still hosted the carved wood pulpit where the priest would have given his homilies.
“We didn’t look around in here on our tour. He merely opened the door and showed me the inside,” Esme said.
“Well, it certainly looks original,” Vanessa said, running her hand over one of the pews. “It’s not as polished as the rest of the abbey.”
“I don’t think this part of the abbey was destroyed, so that’s probably the reason Randolph never touched it,” Graeme said.
“So we’re looking for a stone,” Fielding said. “Like the one in Westminster?”
“Precisely,” Graeme said.
Four arched windows lined the right exterior wall, while the wall behind the altar was solid stone. Together they made their way to the wall.
Graeme watched Vanessa run her hands over the stones with purpose. She had no claim to this journey of his, yet every day she worked beside him. Tirelessly. And rarely, if ever, complained. She expressed interest in his work and research. Granted, she was a curious sort; still her understanding moved him. She was a good mate for him. A good partner.
She was beautiful and intelligent, and she made him laugh. Precisely the sort of woman he would have searched for had he known they existed. In his previous experience, women were either smart or attractive, but rarely both. They would have a good marriage together; a good partnership. No matter what, he vowed to never desert her the way his father had done. Nor would he ever ask her to leave, or make her feel as if she wasn’t a welcome addition to his life.
“It has to be here somewhere,” she said.
“Unless it was removed or destroyed,” Graeme offered. But he didn’t stop examining their surroundings. He’d come too far in this damned quest to stop. Though he longed to return the Stone of Destiny to the Scots, he knew it belonged in Solomon’s, with the rest of the Kingmaker, for safekeeping.
Graeme ran his hands over the wall once more, but still felt nothing save the cold, uneven surface of the stones and mortar. He stepped up into the pulpit, getting a better glimpse of the carvings. His foot hit something as he entered the priest’s lectern, and a loud thump sounded around him.
“Vanessa! Quick, grab my hand.” She did as he bade, and he had barely pulled her against his body when the floor beneath them began to shift. There was another loud noise and they began to sink, the floor shifting downward.
“We’ll stay here, and if you don’t come out, we’ll find a way to get to you,” Fielding said.
“Good luck,” Esme added.
“A lift,” Vanessa said, her voice tinged with wonder. “These monks were highly advanced in their technology.” She allowed him to hold on to her, but she held her lantern out and watched as they sank farther and farther below, the cold darkness covering them up to their waists and then chests. “Where do you think it leads?”
“I’m not certain, but we’ve got to be on the right track.”
“I believe you are correct,” she said.
The darkness surrounded them until they were completely swallowed below. The area around them was icy, and the echoes traveled far.
“Clever monks,” she said.
“Indeed,” Graeme said with a smile.
Finally, the lift jerked to a stop, and they found themselves in a much smaller area. Their lanterns didn’t disperse much light, but gingerly Graeme stepped off the lift and motioned for her to follow. Vanessa exhaled slowly, trying to relax the excitement in her stomach.
They walked closely together to investigate the space. Gooseflesh covered Vanessa’s skin. “It’s very cold,” she said, then rolled her eyes at her need to state the obvious.
“And dark,” Graeme added, which only served to make her smile. Her husband had a keen sense of humor. He was quick and witty, and she couldn’t help but appreciate it. Graeme lit their lanterns, then used the match to also light the torches attached to the wall.
They were in a hallway directly beneath the chapel, made of four solid stone walls. The wall at the end of the narrow room looked to be made entirely of sandstone bricks, all of them slightly reddish in color, different from the rest of the stone walls they’d seen. “It could be any one of these,” she murmured.
“Precisely.” Graeme didn’t seem unnerved or frustrated, merely intrigued and focused. His shrewd gaze never left the wall, and when he stepped forward toward the wall, he nearly lost his footing. It was only then that they realized there was no floor between where they stood and the stone wall.
Vanessa grabbed Graeme’s jacket and pulled backward. “You almost fell,” she said, her heart thundering in her ears.
“So I did. Evidently the monks were not only clever, but diabolical as well.” He crouched down to better examine the area in front of them. “Shine your lantern outward.”