“I assure you, that’s not true.” He paused. “Wait. You were in the library? How did you get in here without setting off the alarm?”
“The library and the house are connected. Not information I like to share, as it allows me to come and go as I please.”
To think they could have gotten out this entire time. Although Veronica had to admit it had been a few days she wouldn’t soon forget, and it wasn’t as if they could have gone anywhere with the city closed down. “Excuse me, but I need to dry off. If you don’t mind.” She started to head toward the back stairway, but the woman stopped her with a surprisingly strong grip on her arm.
“No. I’m not letting either of you out of my sight. For all I know, you’re a couple of teenagers who broke in here for a tryst.”
“I assure you that’s not the case,” said Veronica. She was about to add that she didn’t appreciate being manhandled when she noticed Joshua’s pleading look. This internship was important to him, Veronica remembered. She would feel terrible if she got him fired. She softened her tone. “I have a change of clothes upstairs, and you’re free to accompany me if you don’t believe me.”
“No, that won’t do. I have an employee list in my office, and I plan to check it, so both of you come with me.” She made a move to go, but Veronica remained where she was.
Miss Helen hesitated, looking her up and down. “You are rather wet, aren’t you? I’ll give you something else to wear.”
As she walked past them, Veronica and Joshua exchanged looks. She could tell he was eager to see the secret door, as well as avoid further ruffling Miss Helen’s feathers.
“Are you coming or not?” called Miss Helen, impatient.
Veronica nodded. “Yes. We’re coming.”
They exited out the door at the northeast corner of the garden court, into a round room lined with chairs. “The music room,” sniffed Miss Helen. “Yet another ungainly addition. My father would not be pleased.”
At the far wall, Miss Helen pushed on what Veronica thought was just a panel, until it slid open. This house was full of tricks, it appeared.
Just behind the doorway was a small foyer with a coatroom, a half circle of a desk, and an elevator, all of exquisitely carved oak. “Where are we?” Veronica asked, confounded.
“We’re just off Seventy-First Street, in the Frick Art Reference Library,” said Joshua. “I had no idea there was a secret door that connected the two.”
Miss Helen opened the half door to the coat check and disappeared inside, returning with a couple of hangers draped with long black skirts—similar to what Miss Helen wore. “One of these should do.” She pushed the elevator button, and they all crowded in. “Would you like a tour of my masterpiece?”
Veronica just wanted to get out of her wet clothes, but Joshua nodded fiercely. A private tour by Miss Helen Frick was probably not a typical intern’s perk.
They took a sharp right when the elevator opened, into a room with four long tables, each with eight wooden chairs. A gold-leafed fresco hung on one wall and a portrait of Henry Clay Frick on another. With its red-tiled floor and thick wooden beams that traversed the ceiling, the room felt more like an Italian chapel, albeit one that gave off the slightly musty scent of old books.
“The Reading Room,” announced Miss Helen. “We had it designed like the sixteenth-century reading rooms found in Italy, although they don’t have walls specially designed to absorb sound.”
“It’s stunning,” said Joshua. “To think, this all began in a bowling alley. That’s mainly where I’ve been working.”
“Poor you, why do they have you down there?” Miss Helen asked.
Joshua opened his mouth, then closed it. During their locked-in tour of the mansion, he’d alluded to Miss Helen’s rather fraught relationship with the board of the Frick Collection, which had culminated in her resigning in a huff five years ago. Veronica knew he couldn’t answer truthfully: that he was nosing through Miss Helen’s private correspondence.
But Miss Helen had already moved on. “I founded my library in 1920, and it opened in 1924. In 1933, the building was expanded, and we now welcome six thousand visitors annually. The only time we’ve closed down was during the Second World War, when we helped the War Department draft maps of important cultural sites in Europe. In doing so, we saved thousands of treasures from destruction by the bombers.”
“Incredible.”