Lucy nodded, although her throat felt too tight to speak. She stepped back as he carefully widened the opening, dust clouding the air between them. When he finally cut a section large enough to duck through, the beam of his torch revealed the cramped boundaries of a hidden room, barely wider than a corridor.
Harris knelt beside the opening, shining his torch deeper into the chamber. “Look here,” he said quietly. “There’s a thin wooden panel at the far end—probably the original door, sealed from outside. And something’s hanging off a nail…” The beam caught a rusted chain, swaying faintly as stale air stirred.