She gave him a quick kiss, then turned on her heel. “Do not follow.”
She ran across the garden to the house until she stood right under that window. She looked up at the drape flapping in the breeze. She whistled lowly, then waited, straining her ears to hear any disturbance in the house that indicated the wrong person had heard her. Her mother, she knew, would be doing the same thing.
After two long minutes, a hand gathered the drapes and brought them in the window. A face appeared. Her mother smiled down at her, then blew her a kiss
Amanda made a circular gesture from her mother down to herself.
Her mother shook her head. She made a twisting motion with her hand, then crossed her arms.
Amanda realized Gabriel had followed after all and stood beside her.
“Her door is locked from the outside, and also barred,” Amanda whispered to him. “She can’t leave on her own.”
“You learned all of that from a few hand gestures?”
“It was clear as could be what she meant.”
Her mother’s gaze shifted to Gabriel. One eyebrow rose while she gave him a good look.
Amanda grabbed Gabriel’s arm and pulled him toward the side of the house. “I’m going in after her,” she said, her voice low and fierce.
“Hell.” He glared at her. “Listen to me. If you go, I am coming with you.”
“I won’t argue, but you must follow my lead. The goal is stealth such as you have probably never practiced in your entire, notable life.”
“You will probably get us both imprisoned along with your mother,” he muttered. “Damn good thing Stratton and Brentworth are on their way, although I will never live it down if they have to rescue me.”
Together, they slid through the shadows around the house until they found a small side door. Of course it was locked.
“Give me my little packet.” She held out her hand.
The packet landed in her palm. She unfolded the cloth and removed a thin iron rod with a tiny hook at the end. Gabriel hovered at her shoulder, watching.
“What is that?”
“It is used by furniture makers, to help with upholstery.” She inserted the hook in the lock. “Let us hope this door is not barred too or, if it is, that the bar is one you can break with your strength.”
“That would make a lot of noise.”
“Which is why we must hope there is no bar there.”
She fiddled with the lock, and felt what she searched for. She took a deep breath, then pressed down. The lock’s mechanism gave way.
Gabriel turned the latch and pressed the door. It opened.
It gave into a passage getting dark in the dusk. She entered and moved quickly. Gabriel followed, trying not to make a sound, but his bootsteps could not be totally quiet. She sought the servant stairs. They were close enough to the kitchen that she heard sounds of someone in there working. She slipped around and up the stairs. Up three flights, they hurried. At the top, she paused to get her bearings.
“This way,” Gabriel said, pointing. “That is the back of the house.”
“My mother will have left some sign at the door that it is hers. She is expecting us.”
Together they paced past doors.
“Here,” Gabriel said, pointing down outside of one.
A piece of paper showed halfway out beneath the door’s bottom edge. The makeshift bar across the door announced it as their goal more clearly.
He swung up the bar. Amanda set to work with her tool. A few seconds later, she pulled the door open.
