“Why?” Jack said, cocking an eye at him suspiciously. “You know what’s down there?”

Nitro turned to Jesus. “What do you think?”

Jesus shrugged. “We should check it out.”

Jack tugged the rope. The hatch had torqued a bit, and he had to tug a second time with both hands. This time the hatch lifted, revealing a dark hole and a crudely hewed wooden ladder. Cool, stale air wafted up.

Elizaveta couldn’t see the bottom. She fetched a nearby candle, returned, and lowered the candle into the hole, careful not to move too quickly and extinguish the flame. “It’s not so deep,” she said, the bottom visible now. “Two meters maybe.”

“And then what?” Jesus asked. He, Nitro, and Pita were looming over her. Jack held onto her shoulder so she didn’t fall down the hole.

“I don’t know,” she said. “It’s dark, but I think…maybe there is…how do you say…?”

“Crawlspace?” Jack said.

“Yes, crawlspace.” She maneuvered herself back to her knees and set the candle next to her.

“Crawlspace?” Nitro said. “This shithole doesn’t have pipes or nothing. Why would Solano need a crawlspace?”

“Maybe it’s a tunnel?” Pita suggested.

Jesus said, “Why would he dig a tunnel?”

“An escape route?”

“Escape from who?”

“Could be a hurricane shelter,” Jack said. “This house isn’t too sturdy.”

Pita said, “It’s holding up to this storm.”

“Fuck this dicking around,” Nitro said. “I’ll go down and have a look.”

Elizaveta glanced at him. Was Jack right? Did he know what was down there? Would he do a perfunctory search and tell them there was nothing but dirt—all the while concealing…what?

Apparently Jack was thinking along the same lines and said, “I’m going to go.”

“You?” Nitro said. “Why you?”

“Because I want to see what’s down there.”

“You’re too big, chavo. You’ll get stuck.”

“I’ll take my chances.” Jack began positioning himself to climb down the ladder.

“We’ll both go,” Nitro said.

“I think you should stay here, Nitro,” Elizaveta told him, not wanting Jack to be alone and out of sight with him. By way of explanation she added, “You have gun. Keep us safe.” He was, she’d noticed, wearing his backpack again.

“That’s why I should be the one to see what’s down there,” he said. “I can protect myself. All Jack Goff can do is scream like a girl.”

“You want to put your shirt on again, Muscles?” Jack said. “You’re giving my eyes a headache.”

“I don’t think you should go down by yourself, Jack,” Pita said.

“There’s nobody down there, Pita,” he said.

“You don’t know—”

“If someone went down there,” he told her, “how could they pull the rug back over the trap door again?”

Pita folded her arms across her chest. “I was going to say, you don’t know it’s a somebody.”