The puzzle nagged at her, as Nick stepped next to her in the dim light. He was watching as the last pair of tourists—a middle-aged man in plaid shorts and his teenaged son, earbuds in and a bored look on his face—started up the curved steps toward the summit. When Nick moved to follow, Hailey held out a hand, stopping him.

“I’m not a fan of heights. So, it’s a good thing that what we’re looking for is right here, in the base.”

“Thank God,” Nick said. “That looks like a long way up. How many steps to the top?”

But Hailey was already pushing him directly ahead. Just a few feet in front of them stood a doorway cut into the interior cylinder that ran up the center of the monument. The doorway was narrow—if a set of iron bars wasn’t blocking the way, a man Nick’s size would have had to pull in his shoulders to fit through.

To Hailey’s surprise, there was someone standing in front of the barred doorway. Even though the man’s back was to them, he looked out of place; you didn’t see many sightseers—or, for that matter, state park employees—in brightly colored, body-hugging cycling gear. Stranger still, as Hailey moved closer, she saw that the man was carefully working what appeared to be an aging skeleton key into the lock halfway up the bars. When the lock clicked open, the man seemed pleased with himself, drawing the door partially open with a groan of metal against metal—at which he tossed a furtive glance over his shoulder—and saw Nick and Hailey for the first time.

There was a brief, awkward pause. The man eyed them from beneath sweeping locks of reddish gold hair. Then his lips turned down at the corners.

“Can I help you?”

Hailey was at a loss for words, so Nick filled the silence.

“You don’t look like a tour guide.”

The man’s obvious disdain grew as he continued to look them over. As he focused on Nick, his eyes narrowed.

“And you don’t look like tourists. In any event, this isn’t part of the tour. You’ll find the observation deck at the top of those stairs.”

Hailey glanced at Nick, then back at the man. She had no idea who this oddly dressed person was, but she didn’t immediately read him as a threat. She couldn’t begin to guess what he was doing in the base of the Bunker Hill Monument, but she knew that she and Nick didn’t have time to wait for him to leave. He clearly wasn’t a cop, and he didn’t seem to know who they were, or care. Which meant he might be in the way, but he wasn’t a danger.

“We’re more interested in what’s down here,” she finally responded, and then started forward.