“How did you know about this?” Michaels whispered. “Really?”
“Did you really think I would stay tamely cooped up in this house? I appreciated the opportunity the Marquess tried to give me, but I needed some fresh air now and then. Rooftops are an excellent place to catch the breeze.”
“I guess so,” Michaels replied, stepping into the attic room. “So I suppose you know how to get downstairs from here?”
“Yes, I do. But we’d best go more quietly now. I don’t want to rouse the household. We will soon lose the light, and I didn’t bring any candles.”
Michaels nodded his understanding. They crossed the room, and opened a door that led to a narrow stairway that headed down. “We’ll come to the hall that goes to the Marquess’s study three floors down from here. Once we get that far, we can check the lay of the land. Step where I step. The stairs squeak.”
Tiffany forged ahead, trusting that Michaels would follow her instructions. As they neared the bottom, the stairs gave an angry squeak under Michaels greater weight.
They froze, holding their breaths, but no one came to investigate. Slowly, Tiffany continued down onto a landing that led to a small door. She eased it open just in time to see Sophie pass by with a loaded tea tray.
Tiffany held the door open just a crack, so that she and Michaels could watch the maid walk to the door of the withdrawing room.
The room door was open, and there were several men standing in it. Tiffany recognized Lord Ronald.
Sophie called out to the occupants of the room, “I’ve brought yer tea.”
The men shifted to make way for her, even though Lord Ronald protested, “We should not stop here long enough for tea.
“Will you not take tea with us?” Lord Northbury’s calm voice responded. “Surely that is the least that you can do.”
There were some indistinct murmurs that Tiffany could not understand, although she picked out Mr. Quentin and Mr. Kenault’s voices.
When Sophie passed them, going back down the hall and through the door to the servants’ stair, Tiffany whispered, “We’ll go around through the library, and come back up from Lord Northbury’s study. We’ll get nowhere trying to go through that lot.”
Michaels nodded that he understood. They withdrew, took the servants’ entrance to the library, and then came to the study door. It was locked.
“What shall we do now?” Michaels whispered.
Tiffany reached up to the back of her hair and pulled out two hairpins. She stuck one in and jiggled it about. Then she used the second. She held her breath. She could just catch the lock mechanism, but it was stubborn. One reason Lord Northbury usually left it unlocked.
Tiffany bit her lip, then closing her eyes so that she could completely concentrate on the unseen mechanism. With a tiny squeak and a thump, it gave way, and the door handle latch responded to her touch.
Cautiously, Tiffany opened the door and peeked in. The room seemed to be empty, so she beckoned for Michaels to follow her.
Tiffany gaped at the sight that met their eyes. All of Lord Northbury’s treasured ledgers and books were stacked haphazardly around the room. Some of them were in the process of being packed up in shipping crates.
“Was Lord Northbury planning to move?” Tiffany asked Michaels.
“Not that I knew of. Nor was this room like this when I brought up His Lordship’s tea this morning. He asked for me special because he wanted to talk to me about somethin’.”
“What was he asking about?”
“Just how well I knew Baker Bentley, and how often I saw you. That kind of thing. He didn’t seem upset that I didn’t know much. But this room wasn’t like this when I left him. Still, it wasn’t long after that Lucas told me that there was trouble.”
“I see,” Tiffany said. “Well, we can’t help him from here. Let’s slip into his rooms.”
The door to the stair that led up to Lord Northbury’s personal rooms was also locked, but this time they were on the inside. Tiffany noticed a rack of keys beside it. She tried one after the other until she found one that fit. She then tiptoed back over to the first door, locked it behind them, motioned Michaels out, and locked the second door, and pocketed the key.
“I don’t know what is going on,” she whispered, “but let’s not make it easy for the next person who tries to get in.”
Michaels nodded his understanding, although he made no comment. He followed Tiffany, carefully stepping where she stepped as they did before. As they approached to door leading into Lord Northbury’s personal rooms, they could hear the murmur of voices beyond.
Two doors opened onto the landing. Fortunately, this one was unlocked, and the room was empty.
Inside, the bed was rumpled, with the covers thrown back, as if someone had recently clambered out of it. Swag curtains hung over a doorway, from which male voices rumbled.
