In the Eye of the Storm (Storm and Silence 2)

‘Indeed? That should cause something of a sensation when your aunt and grandmother next communicate with each other.’

I smiled. ‘Not really. They don’t communicate. They can’t stand each other.’

‘I see.’ His eyes stopped roaming and focused on me again. ‘I can empathize with the feeling. It seems you have everything quite neatly planned.’

‘I have, haven’t I?’ Part of me had to resist the temptation to purr and stretch like a cat. This was as close to a compliment as Rikkard Ambrose had ever gotten.

‘Sahib?’ came a voice from behind a stack of crates and suitcases on the dock. ‘Sahib, I think we-’

A massive figure stepped around the pile of luggage and froze in mid-step, staring at me. I stared back. The last time I had seen Karim, he, Mr Ambrose and I had parted ways in the lair of the evil Lord Dalgliesh. True, I had known he was alive, since Mr Ambrose had said as much, but seeing him again in the flesh (and in a large amount of muscle and beard) was a relief.

‘Karim!’ I stepped forward, not knowing exactly why. Maybe to give the big brute a hug? ‘So you got out of there alive, did you? Wonderful!’

The little black beetle eyes of the huge Mohammedan[11] bored into me. ‘This creature! It is still alive? Why did you not warn me that it would be coming with us, Sahib?’

Oh. That’s right. In my joy at seeing him alive again, I had completely forgotten for a moment that Karim and I detested each other.

‘Excuse me?’ My eyes narrowed. ‘Did you just call me “it”? I do still have a gender, even if it’s not entirely clear from my clothes which one, at the moment.’

‘I didn’t know he was coming,’ Mr Ambrose told Karim. Both completely ignored me. I felt the strong urge to hit them over the head with a crowbar. What a pity there weren’t any crowbars handy.

‘My apologies, Sahib.’ Karim bowed to his master. ‘And my condolences for your continued misfortune.’

‘Hello? Hello, you two, I’m standing right here!’

‘You came to tell me something, Karim?’

‘Yes, Sahib. The ship captain sent me to tell you we can start loading the luggage aboard.’

‘Hello? Can one of you hear me?’

‘I see. How long will that take?’

‘No more than twenty minutes, Sahib.’

‘Hello!’ Stepping forward, I waved my hand in front of Mr Ambrose’s face. ‘I’m talking to you, with the stone face and the stuffed ears!’

‘Adequate.’ Ignoring me, he took his pocket watch out and let it snap open. ‘Then we should be able to depart by seven thirty.’ He wanted to put his watch away again, but hesitated. A muscle in the side of his face twitched. ‘Or maybe it’ll take a little bit longer than that.’ With a cool glance at me, he added: ‘It appears we have additional baggage to take aboard. We will be travelling with company. Bring the special suitcases out of my carriage.’

Baggage? I hoped very much, for his sake, that he was talking about suitcases, and not about me! I glared up at him.

‘I have my own luggage, Sir, thank you very much!’

‘Not the kind you’ll be needing,’ he told me darkly. ‘Trust me.’

Turning without another word, he marched off down the dock.

‘What do you mean?’ I called after him.

No answer.

‘Hey! What the heck do you-?’

My voice broke off, and I forgot what I had been going to say. Eyes wide, jaw agape, I took in the vessel towards which Mr Ambrose was striding.

‘That?’ Panting in outrage, I ran to catch up with him. ‘That’s what we’re supposed to be travelling on?’

‘Indeed it is, Mr Linton.’