Page 23 of A Rogue at Stonecliffe

“No.” Judy sighed and put her hand in Annabeth’s. “But I ’ave to.”

Annabeth pulled, and Judy pushed herself up with her other hand. Judy looked very pale, but she remained upright. One of her sleeves was half torn off. Her white maid’s mobcap had come off in the struggle, and her brown hair hung all around her shoulders. It made Judy look somehow different.

Annabeth felt sure she looked different, too. Her bonnet had been knocked off, and her hair was straggling down here and there. There was dust all over her skirts. Her cheek stung where the man had slapped her. She wondered if her face was going to swell and bruise like Judy’s.

The other woman gazed all around the room. “Not much of a spot, is it, miss?”

“No. I’d be very happy to leave it.”

“Then I guess we’ll ’ave to see what we can do about that.”

The two women helped each other to their feet. Judy went over to the door and knelt down to examine the keyhole. She reached up to the crown of her head. “Curse it.”

“What is it? Can I help?”

“No,” Judy replied, digging through her hair. “Just looking for me picks. Aha!” She fumbled at the neck of her dress and pulled out two little metal rods. “I carry them in me bun, yuh see, and I was afraid I lost them. But they just fell down into me dress. Lucky, that.”

Nathan was right, Annabeth thought as she watched Judy work at the lock. Judy was an unusual maid, indeed. “You’re awfully good at this.”

Judy’s grin was almost back to normal. “Aye, I am.”

“How do you—were you a thief before you became a maid?”

Judy glanced back at Annabeth over her shoulder. “I might ’ave taken a few things before. But I gave up me old life. Went into respectable work.”

“I see.”

Judy grinned at Annabeth. “Don’t worry. I never took anything from your place.”

“I didn’t think you had,” Annabeth assured her.

There was a clink outside the door as a key fell out of the lock, followed by a click, and Judy turned the handle of the door. She opened it a narrow slit, and Annabeth crowded in to look. It was the tight corridor of rough planks she had remembered seeing as she was carried. And it was empty and silent as a grave.

Carefully Judy opened the door just enough to peer down the hall the other way. “No one.” She opened the door more and slipped out into the hall, looking up and down it carefully. Finally she nodded in one direction, whispering, “This way.”

She bent to pick up the key lying on the floor.

“Why are you doing that?” Annabeth asked softly.

“Yuh never know when something might be useful. Quietly now.” She started down the hall, sticking close to the wall, moving almost silently.

Annabeth followed her, her own half boots making little noise as well. They reached a set of stairs and crept down it. One of the steps creaked, and Judy stepped back, waiting for a moment. When nothing happened, she carefully skirted that spot and continued down the stairs. At the bottom was a similar hallway, and at one end was a door.

They exchanged a look and started toward the door, but the sound of men’s voices in a room ahead stopped them. They paused. The voices inside the room rose angrily.

“—the two of them. He’s going to kill us. He only wanted the one. Why the hell did you bring the other one, too?”

“It’s not my fault! She wouldn’t quit.”

The women began to back up. The door to the room was open. They’d never get past without the men seeing them. Judy pointed back the way they’d come. On the other side of the stairs, at the end of the hallway, there was an intersecting corridor. They slipped back down the hallway and turned the corner. It was a longer corridor, with only a wall at the end. There were open doorways on the right-hand side, except for one closed at the very end, but no doors on the left.

They ran as fast as they could without making any noise, glancing back now and then to see if they were being pursued. The door at the end was sturdy and locked. It might, of course, only open into another room, where they would be trapped. But the lack of rooms on the left indicated that it was an outer wall of the building, as did the lock on the door. And, really, what other choice did they have?

“Can you pick the lock?” Annabeth whispered. There was a sentence she’d never thought she’d utter.

“Yes, but this might be quicker.” Judy reached into the pocket of her skirt and pulled out the key from their room upstairs. She slid it into the keyhole and twisted. It took some effort and let out a little squeak, but it clicked open.

Judy peeked out, then swung the door open. Across a narrow street was the wall of another building. With a last look behind her, Annabeth followed Judy out, and they closed the door quietly. Judy paused to relock it and slipped the key into her pocket.