are beginning to ask questions, and Mr. Miller has come looking for Eversham. What shall I—?”
She broke off, no doubt noticing the door behind the bookshelf.
“What on earth is this?” she asked, stepping into the entryway leading to the secret room.
“Let’s talk about this later.” Katherine hurried her friend back into the study. The book she’d been holding, Eversham noticed, was no longer in her hand. And a quick glance at the shelves behind her revealed it wasn’t there either. She must have pocketed it.
Before he could ask her about it, he heard someone else come into the room. He poked his head out the door to see Miller, looking much better than he had earlier that evening.
“Sir,” the man said, his gaze taking in the presence of not one but two ladies in the private office of a recently murdered man. But some remnant of his upbringing must have asserted itself, for he bowed to each of them in turn. “I’m sorry to interrupt, Mr. Eversham, but the doctor is finished with, uh, his work.”
“We’ll get out of your way, then,” Katherine said. “I know you’ve a great deal to do.”
That she was leaving before she’d told him the contents of the book she’d pilfered was frustrating, but there was no help for it.
“Good evening, gentlemen,” said Miss Hardcastle as she and Katherine slipped from the room and shut the door behind them.
Once they were gone, Eversham turned to Miller, who was gaping at the opening behind the bookcase. Quickly, the detective outlined the purpose of the room and gave a few examples of the contents.
“You think you know a person.” Betrayal laced Miller’s tone. “All this time, I thought Green was a good ’un. Many’s the time I sat down with him and drank a pint and talked of this and that. And he was nothing but a thief.”
“Technically,” Eversham said dryly, “it was his father who was the thief, but I see your point.”
“Should I stay here and keep watch over this?”
But Eversham, despite his instinctual liking for the man, wasn’t quite sure he could be trusted. “I think you’d be of better use keeping watch over the shop to make sure that curiosity seekers don’t make their way inside.”
Miller didn’t bother to hide his shudder of revulsion. “If they do manage it, they’ll be sorry and that’s a fact.”
Eversham, who’d seen a leather satchel near the desk earlier, now brushed past Miller and carried the bag into the closet. Carefully, he began to fill it with the papers he and Katherine hadn’t had a chance to examine. “I’ve never understood the impulse myself, but the crowds that gather to watch public hangings show us that some people have a high tolerance for the gruesome.”
Finished with his task, he took the lamp they’d used to illuminate the secret room and carried it out.
“Help me with this, will you?” Together he and Miller shouldered the bookshelf back in place until a click sounded from the locking mechanism.
“It’s quite clever, isn’t it?” Miller tipped his head toward the shelf. “I suppose he had it put in when he and his family built this place.”
That in and of itself was an indication that the stationer had a source of income besides his shop. While it was possible to earn a decent living as a merchant, it was a rare man who could afford to build his own house with his earnings in a town as small as Lewiston. No matter how much trade the tourists coming round to visit the natural wonders and follow in the footsteps of their favorite poets might bring in.
Something else occurred to Eversham as well. “Where are the children?”
Miller stepped toward the door leading into the hallway and opened it. He kept his voice down, presumably so as not to wake the sleeping Mrs. Green.
“There’s just the two boys and they’re both away at school.”
If he hadn’t already known about the extra money, that fact would have certainly raised his suspicions, Eversham thought.
Aloud he said, “Someone will need to send for them.”
Before they reached the parlor where Miss Green and the ladies from the village waited, he pulled Miller aside. “I’m relying on your discretion with regard to the existence of the secret room, as well as the fact that Lady Katherine was helping me search it. We don’t want people coming to pry before we’ve had a chance to catalog the contents.”
“Lady Katherine has a reputation for doing as she pleases, Mr. Eversham.” Miller