It took them several minutes to find Oliver and Florette and when they did, one of the servants had hurried across to them and explained that Grandmère was missing. Which meant that Florette gasped and lunged behind Oliver when Severine approached.
“For the love of—” Grayson snapped. “Miss DuNoir is not responsible for her grandmother being missing.” It was directed to the servant, but Florette teared up at the tone. “You were misinformed by a jealous brother who wants her money, and just so we’re clear, there is no question that Severine was with someone else when Mrs. Charpentier disappeared. Now find the old woman and stop spreading lies.”
The girl’s gaze widened, and her eyes filled with worry as she glanced at Severine. Then she fled around the side of the house.
“What do we do?” Oliver asked.
“No one has seen Mr. Brand, Lisette, or Mrs. Charpentier.”
Florette gasped.
To Severine’s cousin, Grayson said, “Neither you nor Severine could overpower Mr. Brand, so we’ll disregard the lies about Severine being the villain.”
Florette nodded frantically, her gaze avoiding Severine’s.
“Miss DuNoir believes that her dog may be able to track those who are missing. We need to acquire something first, and I think we should stay together.”
“But won’t we find Grandmère more quickly if we split up?”
“There is a plot against Miss DuNoir,” Oliver countered, “so the more witnesses to what happens with her the better.”
Florette gasped again.
“Enough,” Severine snapped, slashing her hand. “I am going to get something of Lisette’s and we’ll see if we can find her.”
“Lisette?” Florette demanded. “What about Grandmère?”
“Grandmère didn’t get dragged into this mess by me,” Severine shot back. “She knows what Andre is and has never curbed him. Not when we were children, not now. This mess is partially her fault. Lisette, however, is an innocent bystander.”
“And Mr. Brand?” Oliver asked. “He’s your greatest ally, isn’t he?”
Severine knew that he’d chosen that word purposefully.
“Don’t, Oliver,” Grayson said. “Lisette is a woman and more at risk. We’re all doing the best we can here.”
“I don’t understand,” Florette said, but no one explained to her.
“Let’s go,” Severine snapped. She headed back towards the house but before they reached the back entrance, her uncle rushed out.
“Where is Andre?” Uncle Alphonse demanded. “Where has he gone?”
“You were with him,” Grayson answered angrily. “How could you lose him?”
“We were going back up to search the master wing once more, and he was just gone.”
“Gone?” Grayson didn’t sound as if he believed it, but Severine wasn’t even surprised. They should have expected her brother would try something. She stared up at the windows, looking for some glimmer of him and her eye caught the ridiculous gargoyle on the back of the house. This place really was just full of madness.
“Oh,” Severine said as the most obvious of ideas occurred to her. “Ohhhh.”
“What?” The question came from several mouths, but Severine shook her head. She didn’t trust Florette or her uncle with the idea that had just occurred to her. Pieces were falling into place for her, but she needed to shake the others.
“Let’s split up,” Severine announced.
“But you just said—” Florette began, but Severine didn’t let her finish.
“We must. Uncle, you go with Mr. Oliver and Florette. Mr. Thorne and I will use Anubis to see if we can track Grandmère,” she said, purposefully leaving out Lisette. No need for her uncle to argue the importance of who needed rescuing first.
Severine spun and hurried inside before anyone could object. They’d either follow as a group or not, but she wasn’t waiting any longer. She rushed past a surprised housemaid and then up the stairs to the bedroom where Lisette’s things were kept.
Severine grabbed the scarf that Lisette had worn in the auto and then spun again. There had to be an entrance in the guest room she has been using, but—surely that sketch in Father’s office had been a sketch?
She found Grayson watching her.
“Severine?”
She looked past him and saw no one. Even still, she lowered her voice. “Secret passageways.”
Grayson stared and then his jaw dropped. “Of course.”
“For this place,” she added, “it’s obvious.”
“That’s why no one saw anything. And why there are no keys missing.”
“Father assigned me my tower room. I’d wager there’s no entrance there.”
“No father would want his daughter able to slip out or any monster to slip in.”
“Especially because the previous owners hated him. They had to know about the passageways.”
Grayson nodded. His eyes narrowed and his jaw clenched as he said, “We go armed.”
“Do you think your Mr. Oliver would look after the puppies? He’d be careful right? Andre would hurt them just to hurt me.”
Grayson nodded again. He led the way to his bedroom and retrieved his own pistol. Severine didn’t mention that she had her father’s in her pocket. Thank goodness for her custom made skirts and her insistence on pockets for her more sensible day wear. It was for a moment like this one that she was wearing a thick beast of a skirt, and that reason wasn’t the intermittent rain outside.
They found Mr. Oliver with her uncle and Florette and delivered the puppies and then headed to her father’s office where Severine unlocked the door. She crossed to the front of one of the shelves and started pulling off books. Her nimble fingers felt about, yet she could discover nothing.
“Check them all,” Severine said. “Here. I found a sketch of a shelf that Father had hidden away and it suddenly all makes sense. I should have known. Should have considered. The nunnery had passageways. They were built with the building itself and the stories about when they were needed were told often.”
“There’s no sign that anyone has been in here,” Grayson muttered. “Surely there should be a sign of that. This is your father’s office, right? If I had access to the locked room and was mad, I would have made my mark.”
Severine
