A Soul's Worth by T. S. Barnett

Author:T. S. Barnett [Barnett, T. S.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2014-12-11T23:00:00+00:00

Chapter Fifteen

The next afternoon, Warren was having a cup of tea and looking over the newspaper when the telephone rang, its metallic bell chiming throughout the house. He didn’t get up, as he was by now quite accustomed to Cam answering the telephone, but the golem shortly poked its head into the room and said, “Ben is calling you.”

He went to the sitting room to pick up the line there, and Ben greeted him in a grim voice. He wasn’t looking at the screen, and a frown pulled at his lips.

“Something’s happened,” he said. “Can I come by tonight?”

For a moment, Warren hesitated, running a dozen scenarios through his mind as to what excuses might be made or what reasons might be given. He almost laughed at himself. What purpose was any of this if it didn’t actually protect him? “Come by whenever you like,” he said with a smile.

“You’ll leave the back door unlocked?”

“No,” Warren answered, feeling like a weight had been lifted from his shoulders. “No. Just come whenever you’d like. Through the front door.”

“You aren’t worried about your neighbors?”

“You’re just a friend, of course. I’m allowed to have friends—especially an upstanding constable such as yourself. Not long ago I convinced a notable attorney to give me the entire inheritance of a man to whom I had absolutely no relation except for my word that he was once my employer. I know these people now, Ben. Which one of them is going to report me?” He laughed. “Here I spent days agonizing about it, but there isn’t a thing they can do to me.”

Ben watched him through the screen for a moment, his brow furrowed. “If you say so,” he said warily. “But if you don’t mind, m’lord, I’m still going to be careful for a while. I don’t have quite so many high-society friends. I’ll come after dark.”

Warren clicked his tongue at the mocking title, but let it pass. “As you like. But do come. I want to show you our home.”

“I will,” Ben answered, and Warren would have been able to tell he was smiling without the help of the screen.

Before he could hang up the receiver, the bell at the front door buzzed grumpily, and he paused before glancing down the hall. He wasn’t expecting anyone today. Usually new clients called first—to show up entirely unannounced wasn’t very polite at all. Cam appeared in the hallway, dressed in simple clothing not dissimilar to some Warren himself might have worn while Sir Bennett was alive. The tailor had given them quite a stare when he brought the golem in, but Cam had insisted upon having his own small collection of clothing.

He watched Cam open the door and strained to hear his quiet conversation with whoever was at the door, but when he caught a glimpse of his guest as she stepped over the threshold, he panicked and hid behind the corner. Trentham. Why would she come here? He pushed away from the wall and skittered down the hall into the master bedroom just in time to avoid being seen.

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