“If we disarrange his things, he’ll notice it.” Eloisa eyed the papers. “Light the lamp, Lucy, but keep it low. We’ll see if we can read some of them without touching the piles.”
“Yes, that’s a good start.” Lucy, who was impressed with Eloisa’s calm demeanor, did as she was bid. They held the lamp over the center of the desk and cast a quick eye over the stacks. “The papers on the top seem to be mostly tradesman’s bills.” Lucy leaned closer to read one of them. “My goodness, Eloisa. Your father can’t have spent that much on a single coat, can he?” She pointed to a bill from Weston that was balanced on the top of the pile.
Eloisa leaned closer, saw the number and gasped. “You don’t think…” Eloisa swallowed as she took in the dozens of papers scattered across the desk. “You don’t suppose these are all bills, do you?”
Lucy saw the dawning despair on her cousin’s face and wished with all her heart she could say no, but shedidsuppose it. How her uncle planned to pay for all his luxuries was a mystery, unless…
“My uncle appears to be expecting a windfall, doesn’t he?” Odd, considering he was in debt to Lord Godfrey.
Lucy caught Eloisa’s gaze, and saw she and her cousin were thinking the same thing. They both knew there was only one place Uncle Jarvis could lay his hands on the sort of money it would take to pay all these bills.
Lucy’s trust.
She hadn’t any idea how he thought he could manage it. He was required to give an accounting of expenditures from the trust to the court every quarter. He couldn’t just plunder it at will.
Unless, of course, he found some way to do it without arousing suspicion.
Lucy swept her gaze over the piles of papers. They might not all be bills—it was impossible to tell with the mess—but even at a cursory glance she could see there were dozens of them. Weston. Lock & Company Hatters. J Floris, perfumer. An extortionate bill from Berry Brothers & Rudd. Well, that explained the dozens of bottles of port. Rundell & Bridge—
Rundell & Bridge!Lucy pressed her lips together. Why should her Uncle Jarvis have a bill from Rundell & Bridge? He hadn’t given her aunt any new jewels.
Not really a mystery, was it? Impotent anger rose in Lucy’s breast, but she forced herself to stay focused. There would be time enough to hold Uncle Jarvis accountable for his sins, but for now, they needed to see what he was hiding in his desk. Surely, a man careless enough to leave a chaos of tradesman’s bills lying about was also careless enough to leave his drawers unlocked?
Lucy slid her fingers under the lip of one of the drawers on her side of the desk and pulled, but it didn’t budge. Not quite that careless then, blast him. “It’s locked.”
“This one, too.” Eloisa was tugging on the drawer on the other side, but to no avail.
“We’ve made it this far. I refuse to give up now.” Lucy scanned the top of the desk. There, laying on one corner was a letter opener.
She seized it and was about to use it to pick the lock when Eloisa grasped her wrist to stop her. “No! You can’t break the lock, Lucy. My father will be able to tell.”
Lucy blew out a frustrated breath. They were so close. “We have to, Eloisa. There’s no telling when we’ll get another chance. Perhaps he won’t notice it.”
“Wait, Lucy. We didn’t try this one.” Eloisa took hold of the tiny gold knob of the middle drawer and pulled. It slid smoothly open, and both of them leaned over the desk to get a look inside.
Lucy rummaged through the drawer. “Quills, some blank paper, an enameled snuff box…there’s nothing of any interest here.”
“I beg your pardon, cousin. There is one thing.” Eloisa reached into the desk, plucked something up, and held it up to the lamp so Lucy could see it.
Lucy’s breath left her lungs in a quiet gasp. It was a small key. The sort of key that might open a gentleman’s desk drawers. “Try it.”
Lucy watched, her breath held as Eloisa fitted the key into the lock of the larger drawer. It slid right in like it was made for the lock, which, of course, it was. The drawer on Lucy’s side of the desk didn’t budge, but Eloisa’s slid smoothly open.
“Eloisa, you’re brilliant!”
She threw hers arms around her cousin and squeezed until Eloisa let out a wheezy chuckle. “You’re breaking my ribs, Lucy.”
“Yes, of course. I beg your pardon.” Lucy released Eloisa and peered inside the open drawer. “There’s not much here.” An inkstand, dry of ink, and underneath it a slim wooden box that contained stationery, a stick of red wax and a seal.
“There’s something underneath the box.” Eloisa stuck her hand into the drawer and fumbled around before drawing out a book with a soft leather cover.
“It’s an accounting book.” Lucy stared at it, her stomach turning over with a combination of excitement and dread.
There was something in that book. She was certain of it.
She held out her hand. Eloisa gave her the book, and they stood shoulder to shoulder as Lucy opened it with shaking fingers. There, right on the first page in black ink, they found what they were looking for.
Neither of them said a word, but they both watched as Lucy ran a finger down the long column of figures. They were insignificant enough at first—a few pounds here, a half-dozen guineas there—but they multiplied with every entry. One-hundred pounds. Three hundred. Five. A thousand…
