Hyde Park Heist by Bettie Jane

Author:Bettie Jane [Jane, Bettie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2018-12-01T18:30:00+00:00

Sunday Morning

Goodall Residence, Mayfair

London

Julia was up, dressed, and gone before dawn. Running on only a few hours sleep, she’d stopped by the Goodalls to check on Opal and see if Oscar had returned in the middle of the night.

It was much too early to call on the Goodall house in the typical fashion so Julia relied on a girlhood tradition when she and Opal used to sneak into each other’s homes and hide from their parents. The door on the side of the home that provided access to the root cellar was always unlocked, and there was a secret entrance into the kitchen from the root cellar that nobody had used for years. Opal, Oscar, Jimmie, and Julia had accidentally discovered it one summer day when they were playing. They’d taken great care to ensure the secret access to the kitchen was never discovered by Opal’s parents.

Julia slunk around the side of the house until she found the root cellar door and pulled on it, hoping it would open easily for her. It was still unlocked and Julie breathed a sigh of relief. She made her way through the dark root cellar using her hands to guide her through the familiar space and smiled through the black of the morning when her hands found purchase on the old ladder that gave access to the kitchen. When they were younger, Oscar had made sure to keep the hinges of the door to the kitchen greased so they could sneak in and out without notice. Apparently, he’d kept up the job because the hatch opened silently. Julia climbed out of the hatch door and into the butler’s pantry where the access let out. Once out, she straightened the rug that covered the hatch, keeping it hidden in plain sight all these years.

She thought fondly of all the times she’d used this access with Oscar and Opal and her eyes welled with tears of worry for the pair of siblings. Would Oscar be found? If not, what would become of Opal? The two had been inseparable since childhood.

Dry your eyes girl. There’s work to be done.

She turned her attention to the task at hand, allowing herself no room to feel the panic that was starting to press in on the edges of her life. Julia tip-toed through the massive house and up the stairs to Opal’s room. When she peeked in she saw that Mattie, Opal, and Edith had all fallen asleep on Opal’s enormous bed. It was good they slept.

Next, she made her way to Oscar’s room, just down the hall from Opal’s. Not wanting to wake anyone, she didn’t knock but opened the door slowly and peeked in. Her heart sunk when she saw Oscar’s made bed, which meant he was still missing.

She considered waking Mattie or Edith but ultimately decided to let them sleep. It was time for her to pay another visit to Philip Withers. She snuck back out of Opal’s house, once again using the root cellar, and shivered when she met the chilly, early November morning air.

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