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“It is,” Marcus acknowledge. “But we will ignore the rather distracting scent and take a very brief look anyway, but again, look at the layout of this room. The carefully placed boots, the easy to topple pile of books, the small pieces of sewing thread placed between the drawers. Anyone searching could make the mistake of just pulling the drawers out. They wouldn’t notice, or pay attention to the thread that fell to the floor.”
“But Mr Brammall would notice as soon as he got back,” Ben whispered, shaking his head in disbelief at the pieces of thread Marcus pointed out to him.
Together the men checked everywhere; as much as they could with the time they had a
vailable to them. There was nothing untoward, except for white powder on the dresser that indicated the man wore make-up of some kind.
“Let’s go,” Marcus said and yanked the door open.
“But we haven’t searched it yet,” Ben protested.
“We aren’t going to either,” Marcus grunted. “Hurry up. Get out. Now.”
“Why? Nobody is here yet. They aren’t due back for hours.”
“Do they often go out like this and stay out all day?”
“Yes,” Ben replied firmly. “Each day is the same. They go out after breakfast, stay out all day and come back an hour before dinner. As soon as they have finished their meal they all head off to their respective rooms.”
“We are not going to search those two rooms because of what I showed you. There is a way to search without warning them that we have been there, but we are not going to do it today. I strongly suspect that there isn’t anything hidden in there anyway. With the corrupt magistrate hanging around, even if they have him on their payroll, they wouldn’t be foolish enough to leave themselves vulnerable by keeping anything incriminating in their rooms that Lloyd might find. I suspect that whatever they need to hide will be in Mr Grant’s house somewhere. We just haven’t searched it yet to know for sure.”
“This room isn’t as bad,” Ben whispered. He waved toward the room he had just closed the door on.
“Yes, but it smells of perfume,” Marcus warned him.
“So?”
Marcus sighed and shook his head at him. “Why would we both smell of the same perfume Mr Brammall wears if we haven’t been in his room?”
When Ben didn’t answer, Marcus leaned toward him and sniffed.
“I can still smell it. Can you?”
Ben shook his head, his eyes full of admiration and respect. “You are good.”
“I know,” Marcus replied modestly. “You need to stand outside for a bit to get rid of the smell.”
Ben sniffed his shirt, and could smell the lingering scent but wasn’t entirely sure whether it was coming from him, or Marcus, or the room.
“Come on. I want to search your sister’s room next.”
“Why Jess’ room?” Ben protested. “She hasn’t done anything wrong. She isn’t involved in any of this.”
“I am not saying she is but, sometimes, the best place to hide something is right under everyone’s nose.”
“But why pick Jess’ room? Why not hide something in the sitting room? There are plenty of places in there that could be used to hide things. It is far easier for them to hide things in the sitting room, or the dining room, than in my sister’s room.”
“Tell me something, Ben,” Marcus began. “Was Jess’ room used before I got here?”
“Well, no,” Ben replied thoughtfully.
Marcus looked at him then motioned down the corridor. “Then we will go and search it.”
Silently, Ben led him to the room.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
“I hate the fact she had to sleep in here, even for a short time,” Marcus murmured in disgust as he studied the threadbare room. To think that someone as warm and loving as Jess had been forced to live like this filled him with absolute disgust.
