An Impossible Heist by Fiona Grace

Author:Fiona Grace
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: Fiona Grace
Published: 2024-04-12T06:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

The familiar sound of the grandfather clock chiming the hour of eight rang in Mary’s ears the next morning as she sneaked along the passage that led to Maxwell’s rooms. From the opposite side, she saw Hannah approaching, tiptoeing along, checking behind her every couple of paces.

“He’s definitely down at breakfast,” she whispered, when she reached Mary. “I saw him going into the dining room about ten minutes ago.”

“Right. We need to work quietly, and we need to work fast."

Mary had brought along a feather duster to justify her presence in the study, which was positioned across the corridor from Maxwell’s bedroom. Wielding it in a determined way, she opened the door and they stepped inside.

“If we hear him coming back, you leave,” she said to Hannah quietly as they entered. “You leave, and I pretend to be dusting. Right?”

“Right,” Hannah replied, her voice wobbling.

The study was dark, with the thick, heavy curtains drawn, and the smell of polished wood, with an undertone of paper, filled the air. Mary’s heart pounded as she sneaked across the room and drew one of the curtains back, so that a ray of sunlight brightened the room.

Now she could see the enormous mahogany desk, and the comfortable looking leather chair, and the bookshelves that lined the opposite wall.

“The desk first,” Mary said. This was all recent. If Maxwell had been interacting with Harold and things had gone bad, she expected that the correspondence would not be filed away in one of the folders she saw, under a pile of novels, on the second shelf of the bookcase.

It would be in one of the wooden trays on the desk itself.

Mary moved quickly to one of the trays. Hannah took the other. And for a moment, the only sound was the rustle of paper as Mary worked feverishly through the documents.

“There are a lot of bank statements here,” she whispered. “And to me, they’re all showing a positive balance. It seems like Maxwell must be doing well with this trading.”

“I’m seeing something different,” Hannah whispered back. “In this tray, I’m seeing a lot of deposits. People in the village have been giving him money to invest. That’s what this looks like.”

“Maybe Harold invested money with him?” Now the cogs were turning in Mary’s mind and the situation was starting to make sense. “Maybe Harold wanted his money back, and Maxwell got angry and refused to pay him, and he…”

But at that stage, her musings were interrupted by the sound of approaching footsteps.

Mary’s heart jumped into her throat. Maxwell was coming back, far earlier than they’d expected.. And he was walking so fast that they wouldn’t have time to get away. She’d thought there would be time and had an escape route in mind. Now, his brisk footsteps were putting a stop to that idea.

Mary had only one thought in her mind, and that was to protect Hannah. Her friend did not deserve to be caught up in this and have her life ruined.

“Under the desk!” she hissed, grabbing Hannah’s shoulder and tugging her down.

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