Page 102 of Surly Sheriff
And pressed down.
The boards lifted on the opposite side, and she slid her hand under the narrow gap.
And tugged.
On well-oiled hinges, the trapdoor lifted, exposing the old-fashioned safe set into concrete. Closing her eyes, she called to mind the time she had observed the old man opening the safe. The moron never considered a mere child a threat. She rotated the dial right four times, stopping at seventeen; left three times, stopping on seven; and right twice, stopping at nineteen. Then slowly,slowlyto the left again.Click. The last tumbler fell into place.
“Yes,” she whispered and grabbed hold of the handle, twisting.
The slam of the bolt echoed through the room.
Tensing, she held her breath, waiting for the bodyguards to storm the room and discover their perfidy. But the double doors remained shut, and she released her breath.
She tugged on the handle. It was heavier than expected. She tried again, grunting with effort, and the steel door finally eased up, revealing the contents.
“Open the bag,” she ordered in a low voice. This time, Kat obeyed without delay.
The first item she removed from the safe was the ledger. It was her primary goal, after all. Next, money. They weren’t greedy, taking only half of the hundred-dollar stacks.
Bracing against the weight of the door, she lowered it, engaged the lock, and turned the dial back to its original position. She closed the lid and turned the key. Sitting back on her heels, her lips curved into a small smile. “Almost there.”
She rose and replaced the key. Righting the carpet, she looked at Kat. “Ready?”
Indecision flashed across her sister’s features. “Maybe it won’t be so bad with Grandfather gone. Maybe Papa will protect us?”
Nessa snorted. Their father was a weakling, and his brother … Well, their uncle might not like young girls, but he had a violent streak that surpassed the old man’s.
She wanted to yell at Kat to buck up and grow a spine. But years of abuse had knocked the fight right out of her sister. “They won’t. I promise,” she reassured with false bravado. “And just becausehe’sdead” — she tilted her head to the body — “doesn’t mean Uncle Vasily won’t make you marry that man.”
Kat shuddered, pulled her shoulders back, and nodded. “I’m ready.”
They walked over to the enormous fireplace. The next part depended on the validity of the instructions Cousin Andrei had given her before leaving for university in South Africa.
Instructions she had memorized before burning his note.
Nessa turned the brass sconce on the left counterclockwise. The grate slid back, revealing a cavity. She glanced back, hergaze zooming in on the body sprawled across the expensive silk carpet. “Rot in hell, you evil bastard.”
A thought struck. She rushed over to a sash window, unlatched, and opened it. Hopefully, it would look like they made their escape via the garden, giving them a bit of extra time.
Back with Kat, they slipped under the marble mantel into the newly revealed space. She unclipped the flashlight from its bracket beside the opening, switched it on, and walked deeper into the hole, her sister right behind. Shining the flashlight across the wall, she located the lever and pulled it down.
The grate rolled back into position and the dark closed around them, the narrow beam of light barely making a dent in the black void ahead.
“I’m scared,” Kat whispered.
So am I.
Oh, Mama. Help us.
It came to her in a rush. “Remember the stories Mama told of brave princesses? That’s us, Kat.Weare brave princesses. And Mama will watch over us.”
“You’re right,” Kat said, taking her hand.
Side by side, they descended the roughhewn stairs into the bowels of the earth. What if the tunnel collapsed, killing them? Or worse, it caved in, sealing them off from escape, and they died a slow horrid death.
Don’t be silly, Inessa, the tunnels have held for over a century.
The mustiness of the air tickled her nose. She sniffed hard. The metallic smell of the blood saturating her clothes mixed with decades of decay created a noxious aroma that turned her stomach. She placed her hand on her belly. Another mistake. The blood there was hardening, crusting the white silk.Hisblood, she thought, shuddering.
