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“Please tell Dr. Blackmore that there is a slight problem in the kitchen, and that I’m attending to it. He should therefore begin without me.”
His surprised frown turned into one of concern. “Perhaps I should fetch—”
“You needn’t say anything to anyone. I won’t be long, and I’ll just slip into the back of the room when I return.”
Before he could raise further objections, she hurried to the staircase. Obviously, the butler knew where the kitchens were, so he would realize that she was not dealing with a problem there. But Macklin was an excellent butler and, hopefully, discreet. If he told Bathsheba or one of the Kendricks where she’d gone, it didn’t really matter. And as long as Beath was kept in the dark, all should be well.
At the top of the staircase, she glanced both ways along the corridor. To the left, where the classrooms were situated, all was dark. To the right, light filtered out from under one of the office doors—out of her office, in fact.
She soft-footed it down the hall and quietly opened the door. Mrs. Girvin was seated behind Samantha’s desk. With her head bent over an open ledger, she was intently studying the contents by the light of an Argand lamp.
“Mrs. Girvin, what are you doing?” Samantha sharply asked.
While she was expecting at least a bit of a guilty start, the housekeeper simply froze for a moment before shutting the ledger and coming to her feet. Her expression was calm and frustratingly inscrutable.
“Well?” Samantha impatiently pressed.
“I beg your pardon, my lady. I wasn’t expecting you.”
She stepped up to her desk. “I would think not, since I asked you to return to your duties. Why are you in my office?”
Under normal circumstances, there would be nothing odd about Girvin’s presence. The housekeeper had keys to every room in the building, as well as access to Samantha’s desk and work cabinets. Since much of the foundation’s paperwork was kept in this office, and since Girvin worked with Samantha on the daily accounts, the housekeeper was in the room on a regular basis.
But tonight, Girvin’s actions were decidedly suspicious.
The housekeeper stood and turned to one of the glass-fronted cabinets behind her, depositing the ledger back onto a shelf.
“My apologies, Lady Samantha,” she said as she closed and locked the cabinet. “I will attend to the supper rooms immediately.”
As she came around the desk, Samantha held up her hand. “Just a moment, please. Why are you checking the ledgers in a manner I can only describe as furtive?”
The housekeeper took a step back, looking—for once—genuinely unsettled. “I . . . I simply wished to check on something before I forgot.”
Samantha crossed her arms. “Mrs. Girvin, you never forget anything.”
The housekeeper dredged up a weak smile. “It’s kind of you to say so, ma’am, but I do forget a detail, now and again.”
Samantha shook her head. “Cut line, Mrs. Girvin. You need to tell me what is so important that you had to look at it tonight, in the middle of the party, no less.”
When the woman hesitated, Samantha shot out a flat hand. “I want the truth. Now, please.”
She’d always trusted Girvin, even defending her to board members who found her cold, even arrogant. Yes, Girvin was private and reserved, but so was Samantha. The woman was also incredibly competent and an excellent role model for the girls.
This behavior was decidedly out of character.
Girvin breathed out a sigh, losing some of her starch. “I . . . I needed to check on a detail that I think I might have overlooked regarding a supplier.”
Samantha frowned. “That was the ledger you had out, wasn’t it? It’s tallied by Mr. Haxton at the end of the quarter, like the others.”
The housekeeper grimaced, which in itself was an unusual occurrence. The woman normally had iron control over her emotions. “Yes, my lady.”
“Did you make a mistake with one of the supplier contracts?”
Girvin stared down at the floor for a few moments. Then she straightened up, meeting Samantha’s gaze. “I think it quite possible mistakes have been made, but not by me.”
“So, Haxton then?”
The woman nodded. “I believe he’s grown careless in some of his quarterly audits. Particularly regarding foodstuffs we bring in for the orphanage.”
