The Charade – Chapter 21

Chapter 21

Carl stood in the darkened room, she was getting feisty, a month ago she wouldn’t have said boo to him and now she was standing her ground. He liked that, it was more of a challenge. He was looking forward to what she had to say to him when she came round. He hadn’t found the necklace in her room, he had looked but to no avail, this job wasn’t going to be as easy as he had initially thought. He watched her as she slept, the rhythm of her shallow breathing calmed him and he found her strangely attractive.

Meanwhile less than a mile away from Carl’s rented room, Mr Joseph Peasbody was pacing around his hallway, worried half to death about where the girl had disappeared to, he had promised Robert he would keep her safe and now he had lost her. He was confused she had seemed happy enough at breakfast, had he scared her with talk of revealing her parentage to her or was she annoyed that it had all been kept from her for so long. There was no point in sending a letter to Robert, he would be on his way to York by now. Joseph called for his butler, who appeared almost immediately holding out a glass of whiskey for him. “I thought you may need this, you look pale sir.”

“The girl… please go out and look for her, we need to get her back.”

“Where should I look Sir?”

“I don’t know, keep an eye open for Carl too, I know you will remember him after our last encounter.” Joseph downed his whiskey on one swig and watched as John, the butler, retrieved his jacket from the cloakroom and headed for the front door with no hesitation. He knew the city well and knew some quite unsavory characters, the sort of people who would know how to find people even when they didn’t want to be found. Joseph could do nothing but wait for Robert, knowing that he was going to be far from pleased.

Carl watched out of the grimy window, making sure that there was no one watching this place, he had been careful but now he’d taken the girl he was nervous, it had been an impulsive move and he was beginning to regret it already. To add insult to injury she had not been wearing the necklace and he couldn’t find it on her anywhere, although he had enjoyed looking for it. He needed to decide what to do with her now, he couldn’t take her back, he’d been lucky to gain access to the house last time. He scooped her sleeping body up in his arms, he needed to put her somewhere she would be found, he certainly couldn’t keep her here where he would be discovered too.

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