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there?
    Some houses had trap doors into the crawl space beneath a house just like they had doors in the ceiling to enable you to reach into the attic area.
    She heard the front door open and close and she scooted out of the closet. Jeremiah came down the hall and stopped. “What are you doing?” he asked.
    “I think I found a trap door in here,” she said, unable to contain her excitement. “I think it’s worth a look.”
    She showed him where and after running his hands over the area he sat back. “I think you’re right,” he said.
    “Should we call Mark?”
    He shook his head. “Odds are there’s nothing down there but spiders and dirt. No harm in checking, though.”
    “I don’t feel any kind of ring or anything to lift it with.”
    “I’ve got a crowbar in my trunk, let’s see if we can find a place to fit it and get this thing open.”
    Cindy waited impatiently as Jeremiah went to retrieve the tool. When he came back she gave him space to be able to work. After a minute he said, “I think I found a crack. Hold on.”
    Moments later he was lifting a trapdoor. She had been right.
    “We need a flashlight,” he said. “I don’t have one of those in my car.”
    “Here, I’ve got an app on my phone,” she said, quickly turning it on.
    She moved forward and shone the light from her phone down into the hole. The first thing she saw was a spider web and she almost laughed. Jeremiah had been right about the spiders.
    “There’s something in here,” he said.
    “What?”
    He propped the trap door open and reached in. He pulled out a long, flat package wrapped in brown paper. He put it down on the ground when he had freed it from its space. One corner of the package had been torn open and there were dark stains covering much of it.
    “It looks like a painting of some kind,” Jeremiah said.
    “Do you think it’s valuable?” she breathed, excitement rippling through her.
    “I don’t know, but we need to call Mark, right now,” he said, his voice urgent.
    “Why?”
    “It’s covered in dried blood.”
     

4
    Jeremiah called Mark and the detective was there within fifteen minutes.
    “I have to say I knew it would speed things up if I sent her here,” Mark said, eyeing Cindy. “I just didn’t expect you to find something hidden in the house.”
    “Is that why you called me?” Cindy asked.
    Mark shrugged. “Why fight it, you two are impressive together.” He gave Jeremiah a sly smile and it took all of Jeremiah’s willpower not to snap his neck.
    “I guess we do make a pretty good team,” Cindy said.
    Mark looked like he was about to make some further comment and Jeremiah glared at him, letting just enough menace show through that the detective actually looked startled. He blinked at Jeremiah for a moment and then turned to Cindy. He pulled a pair of gloves out of his pocket and put them on.
    “Show me what you found.”
    Cindy led the way to the storage closet and Mark crouched as he went inside. Jeremiah could see the detective shining a flashlight around. After a couple of minutes he reemerged carrying the painting. “There doesn’t seem to be anything else in there,” he said.
    He hauled the painting into the room with the lettering because it had the most light and set it on the ground.
    “The paper has already been loosened,” Jeremiah noted.
    Mark nodded and gently peeled back the brown covering.
    Both Jeremiah and Cindy leaned forward to get a better look and Jeremiah noted that Cindy was holding her breath. He felt a certain sense of excitement himself, wondering what was worth the trouble of hiding like that.
    Finally the detective had the paper pulled back far enough that they could get a decent look at the painting beneath.
    They all stared in stunned silence for a moment which Cindy finally broke. “I don’t believe it,” she said, disappointment heavy in her voice. “It’s just that dogs playing poker print that you see everywhere.”
    “Something seems really off