“Stop!” I said. “They’re almost done with this part. You’re making a mess!”
“I’ll pay for the extra work,” he said, intent on his task of destruction.
Soon a narrow, ancient door appeared and all my concern about the sudden chaos fled. “You didn’t tell me about any secret passages,” he said.
“That’s because I didn’t know.”
Together we tore away more of the paneling. When enough was cleared, he pushed open the door and its rusted hinges groaned. Nicolas produced a penlight. A set of solid concrete stairs led down into darkness.
Without any further word we descended, Nicolas in the lead. At the bottom he swung the light in both directions on a fairly wide, arched passageway. “Must be old steam tunnels,” he said. “Didn’t you know these were down here?”
I didn’t answer. Already my mind r
