The Sign of Death by Callie Hutton (children's books read aloud .TXT) 📗

blackmailing. Let’s hope no one else knows Harding’s direction and has been there before us.”

“Or the police,” Amy added.

“Except we know he recorded his payments in a book, while the police might believe they have everything they need by taking his files. I’m sure the files might say why they were being blackmailed, but it will take some time for them to go through the paperwork and accumulated information on each person.”

They remained mostly silent for the rest of the trip until they arrived at Harding’s house on the road to Bath. Again William’s driver pulled around the house to the back, where the carriage could not be seen from the street.

After a quick reminder to the driver to watch for anyone else arriving, they climbed out, and Persephone opened her eyes, enjoyed a huge stretch, and when she saw them climbing out of the carriage, began to bark.

And bark.

And bark.

William ran his hand down his face. “Is there any way to shut that animal up?”

“If there were a way to shut Persephone up, she would right now be sleeping soundly in my bedchamber,” Amy growled at him, when she should have been growling at the animal. “We will have to bring her with us.”

“I don’t think that is a good idea, but since there seems no alternative, go fetch her.”

Amy returned to the carriage and scooped Persephone into her arms. “You are being a very bad dog tonight, Persephone. Whatever is wrong with you?”

The dog ignored Amy’s words and licked her hand.

They made their way to the back door of the house. It appeared the police must have arranged to have the house locked after their previous visit. However, with one swift punch, William broke the corner of the glass, reached in, and unlatched the door, and they were inside.

They stopped for a minute and listened to make sure they were the only ones in the house. At William’s nod, Amy followed him up the stairs and down the corridor to the library.

Once inside, she put Persephone on a small sofa and joined William at the desk. “Since we already went through the desk the last time we were here, I suggest we search the bookshelves. That would be the best place for a ledger or other record-keeping book to be kept.”

He nodded at the desk. “Take that lamp, and I will get the one from that table over there.” He waved at a small table next to where Persephone snored. “We will go slowly and thoroughly through the books. Based on what Miss Gertrude told you, we can skip any book that isn’t black. If it’s anywhere in this house, this seems to be the best place.”

Amy nodded and lit the lamp and then moved to the bookcase on the south wall. Persephone raised her head and watched. When Amy didn’t attempt to leave the room, she settled back down and closed her eyes.

Amy had no idea what was going on with Persephone. She had never been this clingy before. Hopefully her beloved pet wasn’t getting sick.

They began the tedious job of pulling out a book, flipping through it, and returning it to the shelf. The area she had chosen to search for the ledger contained shelves of biology books. She found herself stopping to look at pictures, thinking there might be something in these books she could use in her novels.

A good hour and a half passed before William pulled out what seemed like the five hundredth book and flipped it open. “Yes!”

Amy dropped the book she was holding and hurried over to him. “Did you find it?”

He walked to the desk, laid the book down next to the lamp, and flipped back to the beginning. He ran his finger down the list of entries and looked up at Amy. “It’s in code.”

“What?” She pulled the book toward her, looked at the writing and groaned. She chewed on her lip and studied the crazy entries. There were regular letters and some numbers, just jumbled up. Looking up at him, she grinned. “We’ll have to crack the code. I could use it in one of my books.”

William tugged the book back and slammed it shut. Persephone let out a bark combined with a screech. She jumped from the sofa and raced out the library door.

Amy and William stared at each other. They turned and sprinted from the room. “Persephone,” she called.

“I can’t believe this,” William mumbled as they dashed up the stairs after the dratted animal. “I swear that dog spends its time thinking of ways to bring chaos into my life.”

They reached the top of the stairs and looked right and left. The doors to the rooms on the floor had been left open, and moonlight through the windows gave them enough light to know that Persephone was nowhere in their range of vision. “This is a nightmare. Do you see how large this house is? How many rooms are here? It might take us hours to find her.”

Amy leaned on the banister and panted, sweat breaking out on her forehead as she tried to gain her breath. “It won’t take long.”

“We need light. We’ll have to go back down to the library and take those two oil lamps with us to do a proper search.”

“Wait,” Amy said. “Persephone, where are you?” She called softly, in a singsong voice, apparently trying to keep the beast quiet.

She held her hand up to keep William from speaking and got down on her knees. “Persephoneeeeeee.”

Silence.

“I’m going for the lamp.” Just as William spoke, the blasted dog came strolling past one of the doorways, her missing tail in the air. She walked up to Amy, climbed right into her arms, and nudged her hand until Amy began to run her palm over the dog’s fur.

Amy climbed to her feet. “See. It wasn’t so hard.”

William growled and headed toward the stairs. They made their way back down, William holding Amy’s hand to keep them from stumbling in the dark. As they