Karim met my eyes. His small, beady specimens weren’t quite as impressive as those of his master, but his were full of suspicion and animosity.
‘I sent Stone away,’ he stated. ‘The door to the hallway is locked.’
Mr Ambrose didn’t cease his pacing. I knew it wasn’t him the comment had been meant for, anyway. I gave Karim a curt nod, which he returned. If I had the slightest doubt before that Mr Ambrose could and would kill to protect his interests, it was now gone. With such servants at his command, the deed would be easy to accomplish.
I wondered why I didn’t feel more afraid.
Suddenly, Mr Ambrose stopped in his tracks and whirled around to face me.
‘You,’ he said curtly, ‘have placed me in a difficult position, Mr Linton.’
‘Because you have to kill me now?’ I inquired.
‘No.’ Maybe I was mistaken, but I could have sworn his jaw tightened a little bit. ‘Because I cannot kill you, Mr Linton. Any man under the same suspicion you are under now I would simply challenge to a duel and shoot like the dog he is. However,’ he paused for a moment to take a breath, ‘that will not be possible in your case, since you are… not quite as male as I could wish.’
There! That was why I was not afraid.
‘You mean because I’m a girl,’ I pointed out. ‘Which means I am female, not male. You can say the word, you know. It’s not poisonous.’
‘Oh, but it is,’ he responded, coolly. ‘Poisonous to my reputation, and now to my interests. I must have that file, Mr Linton. However, you were right: I am a gentleman. And because of that unfortunate condition you conceal under your trousers, I, as a gentleman, can neither search you nor kill you to gain what I must have.’
Unfortunate condition? God, this fellow really needed his head examined!
‘Why are you so bloody convinced that it was me who stole your precious papers, anyway?’ I lashed out. ‘Why so determined to think that I am the guilty one? Why not some other member of your staff? The file could have been gone for days.’
‘No, it couldn’t,’ he replied curtly. ‘Because nobody had access to the files in the safe.’
‘Nobody else had another key? And what about the one you gave me?’
‘Why these pointless questions?’ he asked, shaking his head. ‘We both know that you are guilty! There is no duplicate key, and the one I gave you was in my own possession the entire time since last Wednesday when-’
Abruptly, his head-shaking ceased. His whole body froze.
‘Yes?’ I demanded. ‘When what?’
Slowly he came out of his paralysis and turned his head to face me directly. His dark eyes flashed as though a storm was raging in them. For one moment he looked so dangerous I actually took a step back.
But then I realized that for once, his anger was not directed at me. A word passed his lips like the hiss of a snake preparing to strike:
‘Simmons!’
Karim let out a low oath in a language I didn’t understand. But the way he said it, I didn’t have to know the words to know that it was a curse. He had obviously understood. I, on the contrary, was still completely in the dark.
‘Simmons?’ I echoed, making it a question.
He met my eyes with his deep, dark, blue-grey ones.
‘Yes. Simmons, Mr Linton. Simmons, my previous private secretary. Simmons, who disappeared a few days ago without any explanation. Simmons, the treacherous snake.’
With a few long strides Mr Ambrose was over at my desk and started rifling through my drawers. The wooden ones in the desk, I mean.
‘What are you doing?’ I demanded. ‘I thought your big bull already checked those.’
Karim threw me a look that signified about a ton of displeasure. Apparently he didn’t appreciate his new nickname. I made a mental note to use it again at the earliest opportunity.
‘Karim did search the drawers,’ Mr Ambrose agreed. ‘But he searched them for the missing file, not for a sign of where the traitor who has taken the file might have gone. This was his desk once.’
‘So you think that this Simmons did it now? You no longer think it was me?’
‘No! I was a fool to ever have thought it. After all, you’re only…’ He waved his hand non-committally.
‘A girl?’ I piped up. ‘Is that what you were going to say? We females can steal things just as well as any man, thank you very much!’
‘A moment ago you were afraid of me thinking you’re guilty, and now you praise your skills as a thief?’
‘Not my skills, but the skills of womanhood in general! And I was certainly not afraid.’
‘You were not?’
‘Do I look afraid to you?’
‘No,’ he admitted. ‘You look superfluous. Leave the room. I and my men have a thief to catch.’ He nodded to the door and returned to his work of rifling through the desk, as if I had already left, or as if I had ceased to exist entirely. That, I was sure, was how he would have preferred things.
Crossing my arms, I planted myself in front of him.
‘I’m not going anywhere.’
‘I give you the rest of the day off,’ he said, not looking at me. ‘Go and enjoy your holiday. Trust me when I say I do not give holidays often.’
‘With me it seems that is almost the only thing you do! I did not come here to juggle meaningless pieces of paper like a monkey trained for some circus and then be chucked out after half a day. I came here to work! And if you have a thief to catch, I will come with you!’
‘Just for your information,’ he said, ‘the pieces of paper that you have “juggled” as you put it have most certainly not been meaningless.’
He still didn’t bother to turn around and look at me. All I could do was send my furious glares at his broad, hard back, and that did nothing to calm me down.
‘They all pertain to my business in a very real way,’ he continued. ‘And you are nothing whatsoever like a circus monkey. A monkey wouldn’t talk back at me.’
‘But it might bite!’
‘I’m not sure I wouldn’t prefer that.’
‘Is that so?’ I took an involuntary step towards him. ‘Well, I could try if you wished.’
His neck muscles tensed. ‘No need to put yourself to trouble. Go home. That is an order.’
‘No!’ I stamped my foot. I didn’t care if I made a spectacle of myself. He was going to accept me whether he wanted to or not.
‘You cannot refuse to go home if I send you away.’ I wouldn’t have believed his voice could grow colder than it already was. But he was reaching new heights of vocal deep-freezing. ‘You work for me.’
‘Exactly.’ I nodded. ‘I work for you. And just as I could protest if you were to keep me at work longer than the normal hours, I have the right to protest if you send me away early. You accepted my work in exchange for a salary, Mr Ambrose, and I intend to earn that salary. I will not accept charity from anyone, and most certainly not from you.’
He looked up then and met my gaze again. Had something in my little speech actually managed to capture his attention?
There was something in his eyes as he looked at me… Something different from before. It was intense - but I had no idea what it was.
‘You are wasting my time,’ he said. But his voice wasn’t quite as hard and immovable as just a second ago. ‘I need to catch Simmons.’
‘Then let me help,’ I pleaded.
Instead of answering, he returned to rummaging through the last drawer. Slamming it shut, he turned to Karim, who stood waiting at the entrance to the safe.
‘Nothing here. Get the men here. The entire team. Tell Warren to go over this place with a fine-tooth comb. Anything he finds, and I mean anything, is to be brought to me immediately, understood?’
‘Yes, Sahib.’
‘Why not just tell the police about this?’ I dared to interject.
‘Because I do not want this business in tomorrow’s newspapers,’ was the curt reply. ‘And because if we find the thief, they will get in my way.’
I had to swallow. Taking into account his recent threats towards yours truly, I could only imagine too well what he meant by that.
‘So what now?’ I asked.
‘Now you will go home.’
‘No. I will not!’
Karim, who had been striding towards the door to embark on his errand, hesitated there. ‘Do you truly wish me to leave you alone with her, Sahib?’