Immediately, she set the small lantern on the desk and bent over the top drawer. After inserting her hairpin, it took but seconds before she heard the tiny click. Opening the drawer, she found more letters, but left them to work on the next locked drawer.
When she opened that one, she sucked in her breath. It was filled with old gold coins and pieces of jewelry. Did Leighhallcollect stolen treasure as well? She and her grandmother could live the rest of their lives with but half of what was there. Glancing up to see where Anthony was, she found him studying the marks in the practice wall.
Quickly, she dropped a few pieces of jewelry into her hidden pockets then filled her hand with gold coins and slipped them into her boots. She grabbed more and stuffed them beneath her breasts and into her stays, thankful once again that her chest was on the smaller size.
“Did you find anything?” Anthony strode toward the desk.
“Indeed I did. Look.” She pointed to the open drawer of wealth.
He didn’t appear impressed. “Unless that’s stolen, that won’t help us.”
That he could be so unimpressed with such a hoard reminded her that he was from a far different class than her, something that was easy to forget with him. “That drawer over there has more letters.”
“This may help.” He pulled the drawer completely out and set it on the chair behind the desk to study the letters. The only furniture in the entire room was a few small tables for lanterns.
Now that Anthony had lit a few more lanterns, most of the room could be seen, though a few dark spots still remained. The walls were covered with old weaponry, no two pieces alike. Everything from blades, to guns, to whips, and a few she didn’t recognize. They were hung from just above the floor to about twelve feet high.
It would have passed for a room in a museum if it weren’t for the blank wall planked in wood. Now that the wall was lit in full, faded figures could be made out on it. Two were sketched, one an outline and one a complete painting. Scratches and holes were all over each figure as well as in the large spaces between them. The open space in the middle would make practicingwith the various weapons easy. She shivered. If Leighhall were moderately skillful with even half the weapons, it made him extremely dangerous. Truly understanding Anthony’s concern, she moved her attention to the letters on the desk.
Maybe she needed to review the ones about women as well as the ones on weapons. She skimmed the contents of the top letters nearest her. Three were about women and one on a weapon, but then she noticed a pattern in the ones about women. “Anthony, whoever is writing to Leighhall about the ladies he’s tupping starts the letters out by being grateful for the information.”
Anthony looked over. “What information?”
“It doesn’t say. But the signature on them changes. Sometimes it’s an elaboratePand sometimes it’s a plain capitalR. Another has a smallg. The handwriting, though, looks the same. Why would someone not sign their name?”
He stepped next to her. “Because he’s worried that if the letter falls into the wrong hands, he’ll be discovered?”
She met his gaze, anticipation filling her at the prospect of figuring out what Leighhall hid, besides the ancient weapons.
Anthony pointed to another letter. “This one discusses how the claymore will be delivered and hopes it is equal to Leighhall’s trouble.” He carefully lifted the letter that was on top of the signature. “This one was signed with the plain capitalR. It sounds like Leighhall is receiving the weapons as gifts for providing information.”
Even as Anthony said the words, the content she’d read clicked into place. “That has to be it, but to what purpose?”
“We need to keep reading.” He turned back to the letters in the drawer.
With a better idea of what she needed to find, she walked around the desk searching for what kind of information was being provided.
“Ballocks.”
At Anthony’s vulgar swear, she looked up. “What is it?”
“This one references poison that could be slipped into food.”
She widened her eyes. Murder? Suddenly, the villager’s comments drifted through her head.But they do say there is a locked room at Woburn Manor that the lord doesn’t allow anyone into, not even to clean it. Some say he does terrible things to his staff in there.
She looked around her. If people were tortured in the room, they wouldn’t be heard. But she’d seen no dried blood. In fact, the room was very clean, with no dust on the weapons and the floor polished to a shine except where scratches from the weapons had marred it. Someone other than Leighhall was allowed inside. But none of that related to poison, or rather, not directly. “Poison is another weapon that causes death.”
“True. Keep searching.”
She returned her attention to the papers scattered across the desk. She’d just read a phrase commending Leighhall’s loyalty when a noise came from the china cupboard door. She snapped her gaze from it to Anthony, apprehension skittering up her spine. It could be the staff beginning the day, or it could be Leighhall! She pointed to the lantern and mouthed,Light.
Anthony immediately reached for it as she raced to the other side of the room to douse the other three. She had two of the three out when the door started to open. Quickly, she extinguished the last before crouching down to the floor, having seen Anthony do the same behind the desk.
Unfortunately, light flooded the room as Leighhall stepped inside followed by his butler.
“Who dares come in here?” The viscount’s fury was clear in his tone. “Show yourself. Now!”
Hoping Anthony wouldn’t listen, she clasped the dagger in her pocket and slowly rose.
