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"Why isn’t there a door?" Sara asked

"Maybe to keep people froerators at the duested

Robiquet studied that doorless fraot a bad history of closed doors around here," Sara suggested The idea chilled her Maybe whoever was responsible for overseeing the island as a National Historic Site had grown a little afraid of the doors on George’s Island over the years

The sheriff looked at Robiquet In the gray light that streamed in from outside, Sara saw the concern on Jackson’s face

"But this isn’t the door we’re looking for, right?"

Robiquet shook his head "No Your world isn’t on the other side of the door ant And there would be guards, remember? It’s this way"

The fastidiousin the damp, dusty fort offended his sensibilities He did not lead therass of the fort’s interior but across the chah what appeared to be a sequence of cells or bunk rooe chamber whose entire inner as open to the vast courtyard at the heart of the fort Wan daylight flooded the room, and Sara welcomed it

"It’s here," Robiquet said

Surprised, Sara narrowed her eyes At the back of the charanite, was a heavy iron door The first door they had seen inside the fort

Her heart skipped A moment of uncertainty made her pause

Sheriff Norris had no such hesitation He strode over to the door as though confronting a troublemaker in a bar, every inch the cop that he’d been all of his adult life The sheriff reached out and grabbed the door handle and gave it a pull

Rust flaked and sifted to the floor, but the door did not budge

"It’s not going to open for you What kind of secret would it be if any ordinary huh?"

Sara stared at the door, then stepped up beside Robiquet In the half-light at the back of that chaoblin face beneath his huuise

"Open it," she said

A flicker of fear crossed his face Then he nodded and stepped up to the door Sheriff Norris rasped the handle and pulled With a scrape oftoward the in her stomach

"What the fuck is this?" Sheriff Norris demanded "What does this mean?"

Robiquet shook his head slowly, dumbfounded "I have no idea"

On the other side, the door had been bricked up with stones and mortar Wherever it had once led, it was a dead end noall

"Jackson?" Sara said

The sheriff ran a hand over the stones He dragged his fingers over the mortar When he turned to look at her, his eyes were full of frustration and fear

"This is recent So just in the past feeeks No more than that Maybe less"

The three of the at the wall Sara was surprised that it was Robiquet who spoke first

"I don’t knohat this means," he said "It’s been sealed from the other side In all likelihood, it isn’t just a wall There are probably ical wards placed upon it as well Whoever did this meant it to be permanent"

"So what now?" Sara asked

Sheriff Norris ran his hand over the wall again "Noe go ho toward Robiquet "If this Falconer got through, it wasn’t here, right? I e--closer to the Bascoh?"

Robiquet nodded "It’s on Chadbourne Bridge"

Sara looked at hie?"

"You’ll see"

"Then you’ll colanced away When he looked up again, his gaze had turned hard

"I loved Melisande I don’t mean I was in love with her, but I adored her And her children were always good to ed later in his life, after he lost her, but in the early days Max Basco ordinary ence that made him the smartest man in any room, but he could set anyone at ease Melisande was seduced by his intellect and his charish, and Max shared those passions Heordinary Losing her destroyed hihed, and he never danced after she was gone He becaot the man he had been, and how much he had loved her I swore my loyalty to him because of that

"But I ran away, Sara I never should have done that The only way to o back, and hope that we can all find answers to our questions in the place where this all began"