“It was Ruthie’s idea,” said Jean, grinning in the glow of her phone.

“I realized, we don’t have to look for the chapel,” said Ruthie. “We just need to look for a path that leads to the chapel.”

“And we found it,” said Jean, training the light of her phone onto the ground where a path worn into the grass wound down the hill.

“Have you tried it?” said Patton.

“Not yet,” said Ruthie. “We wanted to wait for you, in case . . .”

“Well come on,” said Nemo, forging ahead down the path. Patton grabbed Ruthie’s hand and they followed with Jean close behind. Within a few steps the road disappeared in the darkness behind them and they all kept their lights trained on the path so as not to lose the way or trip on a rock. They had gone no more than a hundred yards when Nemo stopped and looked up, pointing his flashlight ahead. “Is that a building down there?” he said, but no one answered. Instead, all three women rushed past Nemo and in another moment they all stood in front of a small stucco structure about the size, Patton imagined, of a one-room schoolhouse. It had two arched windows on each side and a thick wooden door on the side that faced away from the road. A notice on the door read: Cappella dei Magi Chiuso al Pubblico.

“What does that mean?” said Nemo.

“Closed to the public,” said Jean.

“Perfect,” said Patton. “We won’t be disturbed by any tour buses.”

“Yes, but the door is locked,” said Jean.

“So how do we get in?” said Ruthie.

“Window,” said Nemo.

“I don’t think they open,” said Jean.

“No,” said Nemo, shining his flashlight at the window to the left of the door. “But they break.”

“We can’t do that,” said Jean. “That’s against the law. It’s breaking and entering, destruction of property.”

Nemo burst into a hearty laugh. “I’m sorry,” he said. “Did someone give you the misconception that we are on a law-abiding excursion? Do you know what I do for a living? Do you know what we’ve already done to get this far?”

“No,” said Jean, shrinking from Nemo. “I don’t know either of those things.”

“Let’s just say it’s a lot worse than breaking windows,” said Patton, searching the ground for a nice-sized stone.

“Not that way,” said Nemo when he saw Ruthie pick up a rock. “We don’t want to damage anything inside if we can avoid it.”

“You’re such a conservationist,” said Jean.

“Hey, I conserved your ass,” snapped Nemo.

Patton had ignored this exchange, instead searching for something with which to break the window. A few pine trees stood nearby, and she managed to break off a dead limb from one and hand it to Nemo.