“Mr. Schlattner, are you sure?” one of the archaeologists asked gently. “Maybe it was removed during the reconstruction?”
“No,” Rudy said, wiping sweat from his forehead. “There was a string. A loose piece of wood.”
He moved to a sloping section of the roof in the far corner. The wood paneling looked seamless, just like the rest of the attic. But Rudy spotted something the others had missed.
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There was a small knot in one of the wooden boards. To the naked eye, it was just an imperfection in the timber.
Rudy reached out with shaking fingers. He wiggled the knot. It was loose.
He pulled it.
A faint click echoed in the silent attic. A thin string dropped down from the gap.
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