Read Online The Forgotten Room by Lincoln Child - Free Book Online Page B

entrance, the visitor had been confronted with a large, oval, and comparatively stark gallery stretching up unimpeded three stories to the roofline. This was devoted to a series of standing stones—two huge menhirs at one end, surrounded by a henge of liths. Delaveaux had purchased the relics, whole, from a mysterious and very old site on Ambion Hill near Market Bosworth, Leicestershire. The original purpose of the standing stones was unknown—it was thought to have been a site for prehistoric burial ceremonies—and Delaveaux’s purchase and subsequent wholesale removal of the megaliths in 1888 caused a furor in England that, legend went, precipitated the founding of the National Trust. Early on, Delaveaux had enjoyed giving costume parties in this space, whose perimeter he’d furnished with divans, ottomans, and chaise longues. In later years, after the deaths of his wife and son, he had apparently held séances in it. Galleries ran along all four sides of the second and third levels of the open space.
    The ring of standing stones took up perhaps the first quarter of the West Wing. Beyond it had lain a confusing welter of spaces: three stories’ worth of galleries, workrooms, art studios, music salons, specialized libraries—literally dozens of interconnected chambers, each designed to indulge one of Delaveaux’s numberlesspastimes, hobbies, and avocations. According to rumor, it was the building and fitting out of this strange wing that finally exhausted the onetime millionaire’s funds.
    When Lux had taken over Dark Gables, one of the first things they did was to fill in as best they could the second and third floors, retrofitting the—to them—wasted space with offices and laboratories. Their options were limited, however, since the massive liths had been incorporated into the mansion’s foundation. When it came to the labyrinthine series of chambers that lay beyond, Lux had opted for the simplest solution: removing all of Delaveaux’s detritus and simply assigning the empty rooms as work spaces for various Fellows. But this was a stopgap solution: in order to reach one’s office, people would often have to walk through the offices of various other members of the staff and faculty: an inconvenience for all concerned. “Very confusing to get around,” Albright had observed. No wonder people had been eager to find new digs once the East Wing reconstruction was completed.
    Willard Strachey’s plan to address the vast welter of rooms was to tear down walls and gut nonstructural elements in order to create two parallel corridors running north to south. Off each corridor, modern offices and labs would be built. The original decorative elements, windows, and wood veneers would be retained and reused wherever possible.
    Logan realized that his feet had taken him all the way to the end of the central first-floor corridor. Ahead, two wooden doors blocked his way. Before them was a velvet rope, hanging from brass stanchions and holding a large sign, which contained the symbol of a hard hat and the message CONSTRUCTION AREA. AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ONLY .
    Logan had signed a long series of documents for Dr. Olafson absolving Lux of any obligation or responsibility in the case of personal injury, and he had carte blanche to roam the entire campus. Glancing over his shoulder and finding the wide corridor behind to be empty, he stepped past the velvet rope, pulled a key from his pocket, unlocked the doors, and stepped inside. It was very dark,and the air smelled of sawdust and joint compound. Closing the doors and fumbling in his duffel, Logan pulled out a flashlight, snapped it into life, and swiveled it around. Locating a bank of light switches, he flicked them on, one after another.
    He found himself in a small vestibule, apparently a kind of front office for the entrance to the West Wing. The furnishings were all covered with protective drapes, and the wooden floors were hidden beneath multiple layers of drop cloths.