“Miranda was the daughter of Prospero, who was a magician, and Ferdinand was the duke’s son who wanted to marry her. The duke was sailing back to his country after attending a wedding when Prospero used his magic to shipwreck their boat so it ended up on the island where he and Miranda were living.” He paused. “Hey, you don’t seem interested in this.”

“Sorry, I am. But I’m still thinking about that painting.”

“What about it?”

“It covered a hidden keypad. When Prescott moved it aside and keyed in the code, the bookcase next to the painting slid to one side and there was a door behind it.”

“To that Masonic room you told me about?”

“Yup. Do you know what was even more odd about that painting?”

“Besides covering a keypad that opened a door to a secret room? Not really.”

“It was a copy.”

“So?”

“The Averys don’t collect copies. They collect originals.”

“Maybe they loaned the original to an art gallery and Prescott hung a copy there as a placeholder.”

It was possible. “Maybe.”

“You don’t seem convinced and you look like you’re freezing. Go on, I’ll pack up the telescope and meet you in the house,” he said. “Besides, I’ve got to finish smoking my stinky cigar.”

I blew him a kiss and started to leave. “Hey,” I said and he turned around. “Would you mind if I borrow your copy of The Complete Works of William Shakespeare?”

“It’s our copy now,” he said. “Of course not.”

I’d made space for his books on the library bookshelves when he’d moved in, plus he kept other books, as I did, on a bookshelf in the little sitting room off our bedroom that had once been my mother’s office. The Shakespeare was in the library. I found it and sat down on the sofa, opening it to the table of contents. The comedies were listed before the tragedies and The Tempest was the very first play. I found a more detailed summary of the play than the one Quinn had given me after a quick search on my phone.

Prospero, a magician, conjured up a storm at sea in order to cause a shipwreck that would bring a king and his entourage sailing from Africa home to Italy to the island where he lived with his beautiful daughter Miranda. It was a story of revenge and control—through magic—but in the end all worked out well. Ferdinand, the king’s son, would marry Miranda and everyone would return to Italy together. There hadn’t been a shipwreck after all—more of Prospero’s magic—and Prospero, who had lived on the island for years among his vast collection of magic books, was willing to give up his library to return to civilization. The play ended with him asking the other characters and the audience to forgive the mischief he’d caused.