I sat and crossed my arms. An eternity passed before he stopped.
“It’s just a silly personal journal. An old one. Nothing has been written in years. We need to find out if she kept another—or any correspondence about her fears.”
I held out my hand. He paused a moment, then tossed the journal to me. I sniffed and tucked it into my bag. I wasn’tsure why, but I wanted to read it later. I began sifting through the loose sheets in the box. Gabriel sat next to me to help. His warmth seeped into my side as we rummaged and sorted bills, letters, and notes.
I leaned into him.
If only Kennen weren’t in prison, and people weren’t being murdered, the whole thing would feel like a grand adventure.
“She owed a lot of creditors.” I set down a debtor’s note and scanned the room. “From these notes I would think her in dire straits, but the house is well-appointed.”
“Living beyond her means. Your brother is quite familiar with the state.”
I gave him a haughty stare and returned to the papers.
Butler needs replacing. Hardly knows what to do with himself. In the old days, I would have had him under my heel and begging like a dog to serve.
“She seemed quite…scathing.”
“Do you mean comments like this, ‘Maid a twit. Frame her for jewelry theft next week.’”
I stared at him and then pressed the note in his hand down so I could read it. “Does it really say that?”
“No.”
The note said to purchase legumes from the grocer. I whacked him on the thigh. “I almost believed you too. I’ve read more than a few of that sort.”
“How do you think I came up with it?”
“Knave.”
“Noddy.”
Warmth spread through me and I leaned in a little closer as we continued to read.
I gave a hoot in triumph. “She hired an investigator!” I flipped through the pages in my hand. “There are several observation pages, a name—Thorne Worley—and an address for him.”
I held out a page detailing the man’s activity on a Wednesday two weeks past. “Seemed a man really was following her around. How frightening that must have been.”
He bumped my shoulder in a comforting fashion and took the page, skimming it. “Gather everything. We’ll take it with us.”
“What if someone notices?”
“I’ll return everything after we read through it. With no servants, it shouldn’t be too difficult. I saw a lease agreement on the desk. The house is rented through the month.”
I nodded and grabbed the haphazard stack, shoving it into my bag.
“Let’s see if we can find anything else.”
Upstairs revealed zealous fastidiousness. Given the strict sense of order with everything else in the house, the writing case was even stranger for its mess.
A peek into an armoire drawer showed a few things that a straitlaced woman would not possess. Implements of various sizes were nestled into clothing that a lady would never wear.
Ladies thatweren’ttrying to free their brothers.
“If you want one of those, I can make you one. But you are assuredly not taking hers,” his low voice whispered in my ear.
“I don’t even know what these are for.”
