Her fingers shook, not only from fear but from the knowledge that she had once signed documents without reading them because it made the marriage easier.
She asked Mrs.
Fenwick to send word to the seamstress again.
“Tell Rebecca to bring someone who can examine seals,” she said.
Mrs.
Fenwick nodded.
“And tell her to come without announcing herself,” Catherine added.
The housekeeper answered, “That is how she should have come years ago.”
Chapter 15: The Room Behind the Coal
Elijah entered the west cellar that afternoon because Richard ordered him to repair the damaged latch.
Crowe stood at the top of the stairs, and two guards waited near the outer door.
The room smelled of damp lime, coal dust, and stale blankets.
At first glance it appeared empty.
Elijah saw faint footprints near the platform and the marks of a small crate recently dragged across the floor.
The name Lydia was still scratched into the plaster.
Its hooked final stroke pointed toward a narrow seam between two stones, no longer than a hand.
Elijah knelt and pretended to check the door frame for rot.
He slid a thin blade beneath the seam and found a hollow space.
When Crowe looked away to speak with a guard, Elijah pressed the left stone inward.
A hidden catch gave slightly.
Inside lay a narrow leather parcel wrapped in waxed cloth.
He could not remove it without being seen, so he measured the recess with his fingertips and let the stone settle back.
The compartment contained something flat and heavy, large enough for a ledger or several folded maps.
Lydia’s clue had been true.
Crowe returned and asked why the repair took so long.
Elijah showed him the damaged wood around the latch and explained that a new plate would fail unless the old frame was reinforced.
Crowe demanded that he work faster.
Elijah measured a second time and quietly loosened one of the screws he had installed the day before.
He needed another visit to retrieve the parcel.
The overseer did not notice the difference.
“Finish by supper,” he said.
Elijah bowed his head and kept working.
A sound came from behind the coal platform, so faint Elijah almost dismissed it as settling masonry.
Then he heard three taps, followed by two.
He answered with a single tap from his hammer handle, uncertain whether he had imagined the pattern.
The sound came again.
Someone was on the other side of the wall.
Elijah pressed his ear against the boards while keeping his hands busy.
