Page 178 of Storm of Bells
‘Use against himwithoutbeing hangedfor homicide,’ I clarified.
He looked severely disappointed.
‘Think letters, secret documents, orders tocommit illegal actions.’ I met his eyes. ‘I’m sure Dalgliesh hasplenty of less-than-honourable ventures going on in India, some ofwhich he would not like to have exposed.’
Suddenly, Karim didn’t look quite sodisappointed anymore. His eyes glittered darkly. ‘You can count onme,Sahiba. If there is something like that in this house, Iwill find it.’
‘Excellent. Now, first of all…’ I lookedaround the pink room with the plush, dainty furniture. ‘I assumedocuments would be most likely to be kept in Dalgliesh’s study.Call me Miss Gender Prejudice, but this doesn’t look likeDalgliesh’s headquarters.’
‘Agreed.’
With sharp eyes, I examined the room. ‘Thismust be the ladies’ back parlour or the drawing room or something.Let me think…if this manor is laid out anything like a normalhouse, the bedrooms are upstairs, so we can forget about thestaircase. The kitchens and the lavatory, along with the servantquarters, will be at the back of the house, far out of the way. Thebetter rooms will be located at the front, with a view.’ I glimpseda mental image of Dalgliesh, posing in a pretentious office withtall, towering windows. A view. A view to impress. I nodded. ‘Allright, that’s it. That way!’ Jabbing my finger at the nearest door,I started forward. ‘We’ve got to go south. The rooms with the vieware always to the south. That’s where Dalgliesh’s study willbe.’
‘That’s east,Sahiba.’
‘Oh.’
I hesitated, glancing from left to right—andfinally to Karim. I gave him an intense stare, not saying anything.I’d learned from the best.
‘That way,Sahiba.’ Karim pointed toanother door.
‘I knew that!’
‘Certainly,Sahiba.’
We headed (hopefully) southwards, throughanother parlour and a library. Peeking out of the door, Karimchecked the way ahead.
‘And?’ I hissed.
‘Another corridor,Sahiba. Leadingsouth. It has lots of doors.’
Doors. Doors meant possibilities for othersto interrupt us. Possibilities to be discovered. Damn!
We’ve got to take the chance.
‘Let’s go. I’ll keep a lookout forward. Youguard our backs.’
He nodded. Moving aside, he let me slip by,out into the corridor. Pulling my revolver out, I swiftly made myway down the corridor, pressed against the wall. At every door, Istopped to press my ear against the wood. No movement. No noise. Imoved on to the next door, and the next door, and the—
From somewhere behind me came the creak ofhinges.
I whirled. By the time I’d managed to turn,Karim had already pounced on the unfortunate cook who had steppedout into the corridor and had him in a headlock. An unfortunatesituation for the servant, considering Karim’s arm was thicker thanthe man’s head.
‘What now,Sahiba?’ Karim enquired.‘Shall I twist his head off?’
‘Grrk!’ said the cook. ‘Gnnk ssk!’
‘Um…I don’t think so.’ Lowering my gun, Islowly approached Karim’s captive. My eyes met his. ‘Would you liketo not be strangled?’
The cook started to nod energetically—thenchanged his mind when his face started to turn blue and nodded moregently.
‘Excellent! Very well indeed. You see? We’realready in agreement. Now, you wouldn’t be averse to showing apoor, lost lady the way, would you?’
The cook shook his head. Fortunately,horizontal movement was much less restricted.
‘How nice. How about showing me the way toLord Dalgliesh’s study, then?’
The cook eyes widened, and again he shook hishead, his hair flying from right to left and back again.
