Of Dubious Intent by J.A. Sutherland

Author:J.A. Sutherland [Sutherland, J.A.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2018-02-14T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 21

The night dragged on and Cat kept to her place, resisting the urge to sneak up to the house and peer in the windows. There was no one on the grounds and the lights inside would keep her hidden, but she felt it unlikely she’d catch sight of Roffe there. Instead, her eyes scanned the whole of the house, looking for anything out of the ordinary.

After some time, surely after the dinner itself was over and the guests had moved on to whatever entertainment was being offered, she saw something that seemed odd.

A light shone in one of the upper windows — door, really, as it opened onto a balcony — but not the bright light of a well-lit room — this was the flickering of a single candle, only dimmer and it came and went as though being repeatedly extinguished and relit.

That’s odd enough for a look.

She scanned the grounds to be sure no one was about. A bit of mist was rising — still not a great deal, though she suspected there’d be more in the city itself.

The bare sliver of a moon crept behind a cloud and Cat moved, scurrying from shadow to shadow, bush to tree, and finally into the deeper shadows beside the house itself.

From a distance the wall looked smooth, but up close it presented Cat with all the handholds she needed. Window sills, overhangs, decorative work, and the odd bit of mortar crumbled away from a gap between stones, were her pathway up — past the ground floor, then the first, to the edge of the rail around the second-floor balcony behind which she’d spotted the light.

She lowered herself out of sight again, hanging onto the rail with just her fingertips, and edged her way around the balcony to the other side where there were more shadows to hide in. A thick drape obscured the glass doorway on that side. Once there, she pulled herself over the rail and crouched in the shadows — still for the moment as she waited for any outcry or other sign she’d been noticed.

The light in the room still shone periodically.

After a moment, Cat peeked her head along the glass of the door until she could see around the drapery.

She found she’d been right in her assumption that any odd happening would be Roffe, for it was him she saw within the room. He held a candle, but it was shrouded in a thin, metal tube that let its light out in only one direction, and only a bit at that. The bottom of the shroud was bound in leather to protect the holder’s hand from the metal heating up, and Cat could immediately see how useful such a thing would be in keeping the light less visible to others.

As she watched, Roffe opened a drawer in a large standing chest and shone the light within. He reached a hand in and shifted the drawer’s contents, frowning down at it.

Well he’s a bold one, burgling the house after eating their dinner.

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