Page 137 of Disturbing the Dead
Lorna’s eyes glint. “What if I say different?”
“Who’d believe you?” Jack cuts in. “Whatever lies you tell about this household, there’ll be a dozen people to say that you are lying. A dozen people far more respectable than a guttersnipe who…”
She stands and passes over a folded piece of paper. Lorna opens it and blinks.
“Where did you—?” Lorna begins.
“None of your bloody business,” Jack says.
I sidestep to see the paper.
“Uh-uh, Miss Mallory,” Jack says, taking it back. “None of your business either. Nor, with all respect, Mrs. Ballantyne’s. This is between me and Miss Lorna.” She turns to the girl. “You heard the lady. She is not accepting or negotiating your offer. She accepts your threat to spill secrets. I do not accept it, as that tidbit might imply. Tit for tat, girl. Tit for tat.”
“Fine. I will stay on—”
“Yeah, not a chance.” I stop and look at Isla. “Sorry.”
Isla turns to Lorna. “Mallory is correct. Not a chance. You will pack and leave today. While you did not stay the full quarter, I will pay you the full quarter. That is not a bribe. I have done the same to the other maids who have not worked out. Now, go. Mrs. Wallace has your earnings.”
Lorna doesn’t leave quite so easily, but she’s gone soon enough, and I’m sinking into the guest chair as Isla takes a whisky bottle from the shelf.
“Another maid lost,” I say with a sigh. “I’m starting to think the others weren’t so bad.”
“I am sorry,” Isla says. “We will borrow a maid from Annis until I find someone.”
“So there’s a job opening?” Jack says.
“Yes,” Isla says. “If you know of any young women who might wish a fresh start in life, perhaps someone in trouble, I would love to meet them.”
“Oh, the one I know isn’t in trouble, but she will fit in much better than that.” She waves toward the door where Lorna left. “I’m applying for the position myself.”
Isla and I both stare at her.
“It’s… a housemaid job,” I say. “That means—”
“My parents were in service. I was even a parlormaid, once upon a time. I can do it, and I will, in return for special considerations.”
“What… considerations?” I say carefully.
“I want something.”
“Uh-huh.”
Jack smiles, and I swear I see canary feathers sticking out of her teeth.
She picks up the pamphlet of our latest cases. “I want to be the official chronicler of your adventures.”
“Oh, I’m sorry,” I say. “But to do that, you’d need to be a writer.”
She rolls her eyes at me. “Yes, fine, apparently I need to admit that you are correct.”
“Correct in what?” I cup my hand behind my ear. “I can’t hear you.”
“I am Edinburgh’s Foremost Reporter of Criminal Activities, as you guessed. Now I want to write…” She waves the pamphlet. “Something better than this trash. The official adventures of Dr. Gray and Miss Mallory.”
“You’d work here to get the inside scoop?”
“The what? You mean the insider’s viewpoint? Yes.”
