“That is a mild statement to how I feel,” said Julia, her hands on her hips as she looked around the room. Liddy, standing beside her, copied her stance and manner.
“Liddy, I know it is a mess in here, but is your hiding place safe?” Cecilia asked.
“I think so,” she said. “But we have to move all this stuff out of the way over here first.” She waved her hands toward the piles of books, statues, and cushions on the floor before the bookcase.
Cecilia studied the empty bookshelf behind the piles. She picked up a cushion and returned it to the couch. “Then let’s get to it,” she said, picking up a copy of Aristotle and placing it on the bookcase.
They made quick work of getting all the books put back on the shelves, though not with attention to neatness or any particular order. Julia was picking up the shards of a broken vase when there was a knock on the door.
“Excuse me,” said Mr. Quetal, opening the door enough to poke his head in. “Dr. Worcham said I should find you here. I’m to tell you it is time for lunch.”
“Thank you, Mr. Quetal. I’m afraid we all lost track of time. There is so much to do here.” Cecilia said.
“This is the task Dr. Worcham gave you, to straighten Mr. Montgomery’s room?”
“Yes. Someone has been in here in a terrible temper and thrown everything around.”
“Do you think they were looking for something?” he asked
Cecilia shrugged, her eyes wide. “Possibly. Who’s to say?—Oh! I have a project for you,” she told him, her eyes now dancing with excitement. “We can discuss it at dinner tonight, is that amenable to you?”
He looked confused. “I—I suppose so.”
“Excellent,” she said. “We’ll talk later then.” She turned away from him, leaving him noticeably befuddled.
“Come, ladies. We can return after lunch. I think we have done well. Shouldn’t take much more time, I’m thinking,” she said for his benefit. It was well they hadn’t tried to find Mr. Montgomery’s hiding places yet. They would have to devise aplan to make sure they were not disturbed—or at least have adequate warning if someone approached.
After lunch, Cecilia suggested they go outside for some fresh air before returning to Mr. Montgomery’s room. “Let’s go back toward Mr. Montgomery’s room from the outside. “I’d like to see the room and the door from the outside.”
They went around right to that side of the building. This time, not as many patient residents were in the area, as it was shadier, and therefore colder in the afternoon. The grass was not scythed as well in this area, either, and the rushes along the canal grew higher. Cecilia walked toward the canal that ran along the backside of Camden House. A small thicket of trees and bracken grew at the end of the island where the canals met. It looked like it had, at one time, been as well tended as the rest of the grounds.
“This is where Ratman and Archie got in an argument,” Liddy said. “He told me to go back to the room. I didn’t want to go. I was so scared!” she said, looking down at the ground around them. She looked up. “Then I heard Mr. Turnbull-Minchin yelling, and Dr. Worcham shouting for Mr. Montgomery. I knew the doctor would be mad if he caught me out here; it was past curfew. Archie told me to go through Mr. Montgomery’s door.”
Together, they walked toward the door to Mr. Montgomery’s room. “I hid here, I couldn’t see much. But I heard them.”
“Heard who?” Cecilia asked casually.
“Archie, Mr. Turnbull-Minchin, Dr. Worcham, and that other man Mr. Montgomery didn’t like, Ratman.”
“Mr. Ratcliffe,” Cecilia said.
“Yes, him. They were all yelling at each other. Dr. Worcham, trying to get them to calm down. Archie, shouting at Mr. Turnbull-Minchin and that Ratman, and them yelling at himand each other. I ran inside, because it reminded me of Mommy and Daddy yelling at each other all the time. It was awful!”
“I’m so sorry,” Cecilia said, putting her arm around Liddy’s shoulders.
“Why did they always have to yell at each other?”
“I don’t know, sweetheart.”
“Mr. Montgomery said he didn’t either. He never yelled. Only Archie did. It was Archie who was fighting.”
“How could you tell?” Cecilia asked.
“His voice was different.”
“Oh.” Cecilia didn’t know what to make of that statement about one of Mr. Montgomery’s ‘others.’
They walked up to the door. Cecilia was surprised to notice she could not see into the room from the outside the way she’d been able to see out from the inside with the way the glass diamond panes had been cut and shaped. Perhaps if there were light emitting from the room it would be different., With light only on the outside, the inside was hard to discern.
