Page 28 of The Housebreaker's Assistant
Greer had to give Penny credit for being clever. He leapt right toward one of the curtains, twisting to conceal himself behind it. Greer hid behind the corresponding curtain, holding his breath.
“It was probably the cat or a rat or some such,” the soft male voice said, passing directly by the dining room doorway.
“I do not have a cat,” the deeper voice said dismissively, “and my townhouse isnotinfested with rats.”
“Every London house is infested with rats,” the softer voice said.
“Not mine.”
The voices passed, but Greer could still hear them as they continued down toward the study.
He glanced to the side, just barely able to make out Penny against the wall. They needed to act quickly. Pennington, and Greer was certain that was who the deeper voice was, was seconds away from discovering the candle and the candy dish on the floor beside his desk. At best, he would think one of the servants had decided to help themselves. At worst, he would check the desk drawers and discover missing letters.
“Window,” Greer hissed, nodding toward the expanse of glass that stood between him and Penny.
Penny nodded and pivoted, reaching for the bottom of the window frame. He tugged, but nothing happened.
“Is it locked?” Penny asked.
Greer quickly felt his way around the window. He didn’t find a latch, but that didn’t mean there wasn’t one. If only they had more light.
“That damn footman!” Pennington’s voice roared from down the hall a moment later. “I’ll have his hide!”
Footsteps followed as Pennington marched out into the hall.
Greer searched the dining room as quickly as he could, spotting a doorway that likely led to the butler’s pantry andbelowstairs only a few feet to the side. He grunted to get Penny’s attention, then gestured toward the door.
Penny nodded, and the two of them made a dash away from the curtains.
“James, be quiet!” the softer male voice hissed. “Do you want them to find us?”
“I will not tolerate thieving servants,” Pennington said. He was so close in the hallway that light from whatever candle or lantern he held illuminated parts of the dining room.
“They will find me here,” the softer voice said. “What would you say to that?”
Silence followed, which forced Greer to freeze in case he so much as squeaked a board under his feet.
“You have a point,” Pennington grumbled.
The other man did. Particularly if what Greer suspected was going on between the two was the truth.
Unfortunately for all of them, the commotion that had been made so far had been enough to rouse someone downstairs. Distinct sounds of movement could be heard below the dining room. Worse still, they seemed to be heading toward the butler’s pantry.
“Dammit,” Pennington grumbled in the hallway. “Move, man!”
The lamplight increased. Greer had no time at all to grab Penny and flatten him up against the wall beside a second window and set of curtains. They didn’t have time to conceal themselves fully before Pennington and his gentleman friend walked past the dining room, heading toward the front of the house.
“That was clo?—”
Before Penny could finish his sentence, Greer slapped a hand over his mouth and pivoted to hide the two of them behind the curtain.
Seconds later, Footsteps sounded on the other side of the butler’s door, and it flew open.
“I heard them right over there,” a woman’s voice said.
“Now, now, Ivy,” an older man said. “I’m certain it’s not intruders.”
The two of them crossed the dining room as Greer held his breath and squeezed Penny so tightly he likely couldn’t breathe.
