Chapter 4: A: Tail Marcus

👉 [Previous Decision]: You chose Option A – Follow Marcus secretly when he goes to service the boiler room.

Marcus Pendelton’s agitation lingered. He avoided eye contact, his movements stiff. I kept a discreet distance, pretending to check my mail, then loitering by the back stairwell.

Sure enough, a few hours later, Marcus emerged from his small office, a ring of keys jingling in his hand. He walked past me without a glance, heading straight for the basement door. This time, he didn’t leave it ajar. He unlocked it, disappeared inside, and relocked it from within.

I waited five minutes, then crept down the service stairs at the back of the building. The basement door was solid, heavy oak. I could hear the faint clang of metal from inside.

Finding a loose grate near the top of the doorframe, I carefully peeled it back. I could peer through the gap, my eye pressed to the cool metal. The basement was cavernous, dimly lit by a single bare bulb.

Marcus was not near the boiler. He was further back, near a section of the wall that looked different – newer brick, perhaps, or a patch job. He ran his hands along the mortar, then pressed a specific brick.

A section of the wall, about two feet wide and four feet tall, silently swung inward. It wasn’t a wall at all, but a disguised door. Beyond it was a smaller, darker alcove. Marcus stepped inside, disappearing from my limited view.

He re-emerged seconds later, carefully balancing a dusty, sealed tin box in his hands. It looked ancient, like something pulled from a time capsule. He glanced around the empty basement, then slid the secret door shut, pressing the brick again until it was seamlessly hidden.

He carried the box deeper into the basement, towards what looked like a rarely used storage area. This wasn’t just a basement; it was a family secret, a hidden vault.