The Persephone Code by Julia Golding

Author:Julia Golding [Golding, Julia]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780008636869
Publisher: One More Chapter

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Dora was getting bored and cold. She stamped her feet and blew on her fingers. She’d had fingerless gloves in her pockets when she left Kendal but now wished she’d had her winter ones.

Waiting did not suit her. Time for curtain-up on the next act.

Where would Gatskill be lodging? She eyed the upper floor of the inn. The front room appeared to be a dining parlour. There were several patrons sitting at a table. They had reached the final stages of their meal as she could see a decanter of port being passed and pipes lit. Was Gatskill among them? The odds must be high as he would elect to be among the better sort, rather than in the public bar.

Which meant this was the best opportunity they would get to search his rooms.

Gnawing a fingernail for a second, she contemplated waiting for Jacob, knowing full well what he would say if she went without him. They’d left it vague as to how they would go about this, so it wasn’t as if she was going against any carefully crafted plan, was it? Her defence? She couldn’t go in to get him, not into a well-lit bar. No, she would seize the day.

A well-run inn, as this seemed to be, wouldn’t let vagabonds just wander in and search guest rooms without a challenge. She needed a discreet way of entering. The cast-iron drainpipe looked possible, but what if someone saw? Then the jig would be up before it had started.

As she watched, a coach drew into the yard. Thank goodness she hadn’t attempted the climb. The passengers tumbled out and the driver jumped down. The yard became a flurry of activity, with bags thrown to the servants and trunks unstrapped. Some of the passengers were staying.

Dumping her coat in the shadows, Dora walked purposely forwards and took a valise from a female guest.

‘Let me take that for you, ma’am,’ she said gruffly. Not giving the woman time to protest, she seized another bag and walked right into the inn and straight up the stairs. Those that did work there would assume she was a servant of one of the guests, whilst the owners of the bags would think she belonged to the inn. Sometimes the simplest plans, if done with no hesitation, were the easiest.

How long did she have before the landlord began showing people to their rooms? Not long. She dumped the bags at the top of the stairs and moved swiftly along the corridor. She would have to identify Gatskill’s room quickly. He had worn a black overcoat with brass buttons, double-breasted, when he had interrupted them in the lock-up. If she found that, she found his room. He also came across as the kind of man to demand the best accommodation; so unless there was a nobleman passing by – and surely the village would be abuzz if that were the case – he was likely to be in the biggest room with the double windows overlooking the garden rather than the busy yard.

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