“The doors—all of them—would have been locked, but his murderer was a friend, one he was expecting.” Christian reviewed the events of that night in his mind. “Randall wasn’t expecting Justin that evening—no reason he wouldn’t have made an appointment for a friend to call.” He looked around. “Not just any friend, but one he did business with.”
Dalziel nodded. “He unlocked the doors, and left them unlocked because he assumed his friend would shortly be leaving by the same route.”
“Which he did,” Christian said. “After he’d killed Randall.”
Nodding again, Dalziel turned to consider the shelves.
Hermione had already wandered over to them. Tilting her head, she peered at some stacked papers. “No wonder he spent so many hours, so many nights, locked in his study.”
Dalziel glanced up the steps. “It might be best if we lock the study door.”
“I’ll do it.” Hermione headed back into the study.
Letitia exchanged a look with Christian, then they joined Dalziel in staring at the shelves.
She shook her head. “I can’t see any obvious place to start.”
Christian sighed, walked to a shelf, and pulled down a ledger.
Within ten minutes they’d confirmed they were looking at the records of the Orient Trading Company. Encouraged, they spent the next twenty minutes wading through files, documents, and accounts.
Dalziel looked up, glanced at the ledger Christian held. “I have income, you have expenses, but all the entries are in some sort of code.”
Frowning, Christian nodded. He and Dalziel had a more than passing familiarity with codes. “I don’t think it’s a keyed code.” Glancing at Letitia and Hermione, he explained, “A code where there’s a defined key—so once you have the key, you can read the code.”
He looked again at the entries in the ledger. “This looks more like initials of things.”
Dalziel grunted. “If so, then there’ll be a pattern somewhere, if we look long enough.” He looked up at the towering shelves of papers.
They all mentally groaned.
A clock chimed in the study. Letitia blinked, then reluctantly shut the ledger she’d been perusing. She looked at Christian. “If we want to catch Trowbridge this afternoon, we’ll have to go.”
Dalziel cocked an inquiring brow. Letitia explained, “I received an invitation to an afternoon exhibition of garden sculptures at Lady Hemming’s house in Chelsea. Trowbridge is one of the critics her ladyship has invited to grace the event and proffer opinions on the works. I’d thought to approach him there, in a social setting, rather than call formally.”
“An excellent idea.” Dalziel looked at Christian. “I’ll continue here, but we should send for Trentham. He knows more about importing and shipping than I do—he might see something in these”—with a wave he indicated the walls of records—“I’ll miss.”
Christian nodded, closing the ledger he’d been examining. “I’ll send a message—and I’ll also see if Jack Hendon’s in town. If we need to know about importing and shipping, no reason not to go to the source.”
“Indeed.” Dalziel looked at the shelves again. “I’ve a feeling we’re going to need all the help we can get.”
They arranged for Hermione to wait in the study, from where she could look out and keep watch on the street. When Tristan arrived, she would allow him into the study, then show him the secret door.
“One last thing.” Dalziel set down the files he’d been perusing. “Let’s find out how to open the door from this side…assuming it does open from this side.”
Leaving Hermione in the study, they shut the secret door, then hunted. It was the work of a few minutes to locate the catch; the door did indeed open from both sides.
Letitia was about to leave the secret room when she recalled that both outer doors were unlocked. She mentioned it, along with, “So anyone who’s ever seen Randall open the secret door from this side—his murderer, for example—has free access to the rest of the house.”
Both she and Hermione wrapped their arms around themselves and shivered.
Dalziel exchanged a look with Christian.
Who looked at Letitia.
Just as she remembered. “I know where the keys are.”
Spinning around, she climbed the steps into the study. Going to the desk, she opened the middle drawer and pulled out a small ring with two keys. Returning to the secret room, she headed for the outer door. “Barton found these when he searched the desk. Neither he nor I had any idea where they fitted—he tried them in all the locks in the house.”