Total pages in book: 103
Estimated words: 94964 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 475(@200wpm)___ 380(@250wpm)___ 317(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 94964 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 475(@200wpm)___ 380(@250wpm)___ 317(@300wpm)
* * *
“So, it’s money you want? Did my father not pay you for all the dirty work you did for him?”
* * *
Pearson glared even harder. “He was supposed to split that blunt with me, not you. That was the agreement.”
* * *
“Was it? You have paperwork to prove this?”
* * *
Pearson raised his pistol, “Here’s your paperwork. Now be a good lad and get me my money.”
* * *
Arthur spread his hands out. “I’d like to do as you ask, Pearson. Really, I would. But I don’t have a trunkful of money and I never did. My father lied to you.”
* * *
Mr. Greer cleared his throat and Arthur turned to look at him incredulously. “Actually, Your Grace, that’s not true. Your father did hoard some er…contingency funds should he be er, forced to flee to the continent. It is what I wished to discuss with you.”
* * *
Arthur just stared at him. “You have got to be pulling my leg.”
* * *
“I’m afraid not, Your Grace,” Mr. Greer said, looking regretful.
Janice held tight onto Lady Weasley’s hand, her thumb rubbing soothingly against her mother-in-law’s knuckles as they were hurried along the corridor and to her chambers. The man waited until they’d entered the room before leaving them. Janice listened intently and she could hear his footsteps receding.
* * *
“I think they’ve left us alone,” she whispered, mostly to herself.
* * *
“Now…we escape?” Lady Weasley asked.
* * *
Janice stared at her in surprise. “You…we can do that?”
* * *
“Secret…passage. Get help,” she said.
* * *
Janice came to stand in front of her, gripping her shoulders. “Are you saying there’s a secret passage out of the compound that you know about?” she asked urgently.
* * *
Lady Weasley nodded.
* * *
Janice drew a deep breath, thinking frantically. “Fine. Alright. Yes, we can do this,” she murmured to herself before going back to the door and listening intently. “I don’t think there’s anyone outside,” she said, and then turned to Lady Weasley. “Where is this passage?”
* * *
Lady Weasley turned and headed for the wall above the fireplace. It was made of stone arranged in symmetrical squares. She pressed first the bottom one and then two at the top, one to the side, and then a middle one. To Janice’s shock, an opening was revealed on one side of the fireplace. She bent down and peered into it, realizing it was a dark passageway, narrow and long. “We’ll need a torch,” she said.
* * *
Lady Weasley took the lamp sitting at her bedside and lit it. Then she strode confidently towards the opening, bent down, and stepped into it. She straightened up and began walking down the corridor. Janice hastened to follow her.
* * *
Behind them, the entrance slipped close. They were trapped in the dark. Janice really hoped that the dowager duchess knew where she was going. Otherwise, they were in a whole different kind of trouble.
“Your father’s former butler is correct, Your Grace. At least about this one matter,” Mr. Greer said much to Arthur’s surprise.
* * *
He whipped his head around to look at the other man. “And what is that supposed to mean?”
* * *
The accountant took a deep breath. “I am here for a very specific reason. To fulfill the mandate your father gave to me. I am no criminal, but your father was very good at twisting people’s arms.”
* * *
“I know that well.”
* * *
“Well then, you should know that there were many who were opposed to his treatment of you and your mother, and his supporters were few.” The accountant looked at Pearson, “Cruel men like himself, willing to go to any lengths to aid him in his endeavors.”
* * *
“Well, those men did nothing,” Arthur said bitterly.
* * *
“As much as I enjoy all the reminiscing, it does not bring me closer to my goal. Where is the trunk?”
* * *
Arthur looked at the accountant. “Do you know of the whereabouts of this trunk?”
* * *
“Unfortunately, I do. I was entrusted with it as your father wanted his illegal wealth to be stored away in the continent. I believe he had plans to retire there, away from the prying eyes of the exchequer.”
* * *
“Did he not have enough?” Arthur indicated the manor house and everything within.
* * *
The accountant smiled. “I believe you already find yourself in debt do you not? Most of the duke’s properties are indentured. The rest, run-down, neglected.”
* * *
“And yet…”
* * *
The accountant nodded. “Yes, and yet…however your father wasn’t interested in nurture as much as pillage. He preferred to take rather than to grow.”
* * *
Arthur nodded, recognizing Percy Weasley in those words.
* * *
“So, he left me with a number for a deposit box in France.”
* * *
“Why did he leave it to you?”
* * *