SEVENTEEN
AS EXPECTED, SOMETHING by the bookcase clicked as he finished with the code. We turned back to see him opening a fixed part of the case, the size of a door. Behind it became visible a space the size of a reasonable walk-in closet, with a light on the ceiling automatically coming on as the door swung open—like the door to a refrigerator.
He turned to us and smiled as he asked us to follow him inside. We did. Debbie was the only one who didn’t need to hunch down to avoid hitting her head going in. Inside was much like any vault of its kind. There were shelves and safety deposit-type boxes on all three walls and a single metal bench in the middle on which one could place things. Some boxes had bigger front lids than others. The prince went to one of these and opened it up. A tray
