Voices came from outside the vestibule door and someone rattled it, bringing her to a stop. Nick nearly plowed into her. He grasped her shoulders and pulled her away from the little room.
“Is there any other way out of the house?” he asked.
“Without our coats?”
“Maybe you could hide in the dumbwaiter down in the kitchen,” he suggested.
When Frances spun around to face him, Nick dropped his hands. She stood taller, looking proud and determined.
“I’m tired of running.”
“I understand how you feel, and under different circumstances I’d agree with you. But please consider this. If heisresponsible for your father’s death, you know what extremes he’ll go to. We’ve been here a couple of hours. If the others aren’t already on their way here, they’ll be here soon. We’ll have Luke, Charles, and Marshall.” Nick couldn’t help himself but reached out and cupped her cheek. “I don’t think it’s wise to face them when we’re outnumbered.”
“I’m not hiding in the dumbwaiter.”
Nick let out the breath he’d been holding. “Is there an attic?”
A man’s voice at the front of the house called out, “Mr. Lancaster, it looks like they got in the house in the back. No tracks showing they left.”
“Excellent.”
Nick could imagine the older man rubbing his hands in anticipation. Nick grabbed Frances’s hand, and they scrambled up the stairs to the sound of the front door being unlocked.
“Where do we access the attic? Your room?” he asked.
“Yes.” She started for the stairs, still holding his hand.
Downstairs, Lancaster was giving orders to his men to search the basement. From the corner of Nick’s eyes, he noticed that what had looked like molding at the end of a cabinet in the bathroom was actually a small door.
“What’s that?” he whispered.
“The laundry chute.”
“Time for a decoy to give us a little more time. Grab one of the furniture covers.”
She tiptoed into her father’s bedroom while Nick headed into one of the bedrooms where he remembered seeing a stuffed bear. It wasn’t as heavy as he’d have wished, but it would likely make a nice thud when it landed.
Frances met him in the hallway. “That’s your distraction?”
Nick eased closer and said in her ear, “You need to get into the attic. I’ll drop this down the chute to send them searching the basement again.”
“I’m not hiding in the attic without you.”
“Your uncle doesn’t care about me. He’s afteryou.”
Frances heaved out of breath. “I’m sorry I dragged you into this.”
“Too late now.” He pinned her with a hard gaze. “Your uncle can’t get hold of you or the key.”
“But we’ve searched the house. It doesn’t open anything—” Her eyes went wide, her cheeks now pink with excitement. “I know what it unlocks.”
“They must be upstairs,” William Lancaster called below.
“Up to the attic.” Nick gave her a push toward the stairs and then started wrapping the blanket around the bear as he ran into the bathroom. He shoved it into the swinging door of the laundry chute. When it made a satisfying series of thuds going down, he grinned. Pausing at the stairs, he listened for a second to the flurry of noise below. Nick was about to head up the stairs himself, when he felt a gust of cold air coming from the bedroom where he’d gotten the bear.
He hurried into it to find Frances with a shawl wrapped around her and trying to climb out the window.
“What are you doing?” Nick hissed, running toward her.
