Page 43 of Unearthing the Smuggler's Heart
They had agreed to this readily, of course, and as soon as they were out of sight, they scribbled a note explaining what had happened. Then they had wasted no time stealing a set of forged visa papers that had been left in their safekeeping, and fled. They likely had hoped that Mathias was clever enough to come up with another way to get Isabelle back to her birth family without the entry papers needed for London docking.
He had. Naturally.
He was rather clever, wasn't he? Cleverness had never been his problem. In fact, it had sometimes been a hindrance, in the times when he could not stop a particularly clever rejoinder from exiting his mouth in delicate circumstances. Still, after the sting of being punched faded away, he usually found the memory of his wit and its consequences rather amusing.
"I have received an invitation to attend Monsieur Dumand for dinner," Charles told them that afternoon, coming in from a gentle rain with his neat brown hair somehow neater for the unexpected water keeping it in place, even as he shrugged off his coat and made a business of shaking the water from it. "Unfortunately, it seems to be an event he had planned to host in advance, rather than a private meeting."
"We can make do," Mathias assured him. "A party means extra servants milling around and little attention given to unfamiliar faces. Jade just needs a maid's uniform and to arrive at the height of the chaos."
"What, alone?" Jade said, her voice rising an octave in alarm. "No, no, no. You are coming with me, Captain. I have no talent for...for heists!"
"Isabelle can go with you, I suppose," Mathias replied, frowning. "If Dumand sees my face, we'll all be in a world of trouble."
"I cannot," Isabelle said with a little grimace. "I am to visit with a physician tomorrow evening, and I do not know how long it will take. It was the only time the man could see me in the week, so if I do not go, I might not have another opportunity before we have to go back to sea."
There was a beat of silence, into which Mathias released a sigh.
"If I go with you, we must beextremelycareful. It is so risky as to border on absurd." He hesitated, frowning, and said, "I assure you you are capable of managing this alone."
Jade nodded, squaring her shoulders. "I do notwantto manage it alone."
"Very well," he said softly. "I will go too."
* * *
It waseasy getting into the Dumand house. So easy that Jade felt thrown off balance.
"The trick," Mathias had said to her, as though reading her thoughts, "will be getting back out again."
The early evening that night in Marseille thrummed with energy, the streets filled with people looking to make merry and enjoy the newfound warmth of the seasonal shift. The sunset was later by the day and spent its extra moments spilling sweet, soft colors into the sky, leaving everything below in a hue of pink and orange and promise.
They had arrived in the carriage with Charles, and stayed inside after his departure to be led around to the back of the townhouse, where the servants were meant to enter and exit, unseen by people of supposed quality.
Mathias held her back from walking directly in, instead nodding to a corner near the small stables where they might loiter unobserved for a bit. "Go in too early and you'll end up with chores to do," he explained to her rising eyebrows. "We want to be as invisible as possible."
"Right, yes." She blew a breath out in an effort to calm her nerves and drew another slowly and deeply into her lungs. "I'm an old hand at invisibility."
"Well, at least one of us is," he replied with a dry laugh. "If the house is still laid out like it was when the Oliviers lived here, I know exactly where to find the clock. However, I would wager a fat sack of gold that Dumand threw his heart and soul into making the place his own, so there's no telling."
"Then where do we start?"
"On the third floor," he replied decisively. "We need to get up there as quickly as we can without being noticed and search the rooms until we find the clock. Hopefully it's somewhere quiet and out of the way, although it wouldn't surprise me if it were smack in the center of the dining room where Dumand is hosting his guests."
She pulled a face, nervous ribbons unfurling in her stomach. "What are we supposed to do if that's the case?"
"I have some ideas." He grinned at the look she shot him. "Hopefully we'll never have to test them out."
There was a sudden burst of commotion from within the house, carried by the wind through the open door. A woman was very displeased about something, from what Jade could gather, and was possibly making herself known by accompanying her shouts with the clanging of pots and pans.
Curious about the noise, some of the grooms near the stable exchanged glances and drifted toward the kitchen door, likely hopeful for a bit of entertainment.
"That's our cue," Mathias said, taking her arm and nodding toward the house. "Quickly, while attention is diverted elsewhere."
"Oh!" She rushed after him, nearly tripping in the layers of her starched skirts, and trusted that he knew where he was going. They entered in the wake of the curious grooms and took a sharp turn to the right, flush against the wall, while all eyes were fixed on two arguing scullery maids, whose disagreement seemed to be only intensifying as it went.
Mathias tugged her toward the very rear of the room, wrenched a narrow door open, and pushed her into it. Behind the door was a row of servants' quarters and to the right was a staircase meant for the kitchen staff. A row of bells was displayed next to it, intended to allow ease of summoning one's workers from the comfort of a bedchamber.
"Up!" he hissed, pulling the door shut as quickly and silently as he could. "Go!"
