Uncanny Vows by Laura Anne Gilman

Author:Laura Anne Gilman
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Gallery / Saga Press
Published: 2023-11-28T00:00:00+00:00

Eleven

FRANKLIN CONGDON HAD lived a town over, in a neighborhood very different from his sister and brother-in-law’s. Children were playing stickball in the street, scattering when Aaron and Rosemary drove up and regrouping at a safe distance to gawk, either at the automotive or at Bother—or, likely, both.

“Bother, guard.”

Not that he thought anyone would try to steal the vehicle, but it gave the hound something to do.

“Which building?” Rosemary came up beside him, looking down the street at the nearly identical row houses.

“Third from the end, with the blue shutters.” Billy had driven Congdon home from dinner at the Ballantines’ more than a few times and had volunteered the information with enthusiasm. “He lives on the second floor.”

Offering her his arm, they strolled down the street without garnering any more attention, the boys losing interest when Bother showed no inclination to come out and join them, and resuming their game. There was no gate, only three brick steps up to the main door, which swung open with a touch of the handle.

“We locked the house, didn’t we?” she asked, half joking, before stepping inside, Aaron close behind. There was a door directly to their right, presumably leading to the first-floor flat, and a wooden staircase in front of them that led up to the second floor and their destination.

That door, unlike the front, was locked. Aaron pulled a pinholder and pick from his pocket and bent to work, while Rosemary stood back and kept watch. It was not encouraged for Huntsmen to break the law, but there were any number of things that polite society might frown on that were essential for their work.

The lock did not provide much of a challenge, giving way almost immediately. Aaron straightened, turning the knob and pushing open the door as though he had every right to be there, before stepping back to allow Rosemary room to go first. She moved past him, throwing arm held at chest level, ready to defend herself if anything was waiting inside, while Aaron brought up the rear, left hand resting on the stock of his pistol.

“Well, it’s clear that a bachelor lives here,” Rosemary said, stepping carefully across the main room, her arm lowering when it became clear there was no one else there.

A few steps behind her, Aaron looked for whatever had caused her to say that, then shrugged. There was a leather sofa at one end, a blanket strewn across it, a short stack of books on the floor next to it, and a wineglass balanced precariously on top of that. A thick-legged oak desk took up much of the remaining wall, next to an old-fashioned stove. The walls were covered with framed prints, mostly landscapes, with a few photographs interspersed between. He might not agree with Congdon’s style, but there wasn’t anything particularly objectionable about it.

“We need something personal,” he reminded his sister, who had already disappeared into what he assumed was the kitchen. “Ideally something family-related.”

There was the rattle of the icebox opening, and a sound of disgust, Rosemary coming back out with a hand over her nose.

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