Muriel’s Adventures

by Barron, Melinda

  Words much worse than she’d said filled the room, and the sound of feet pounding against the wooden floor made the cupboard where they’d taken refuge shake.

  “They went out the window,” a deep voice said. “Even with this rope it’s a long drop. One of them probably hurt a leg. They will be easier to catch. Let’s go.”

  The pounding started again and Muriel exhaled in relief. But Ewan put his hand over her mouth and shook his head.

  It was then she heard a voice say, “Why aren’t you…” But it got no further. She imagined someone holding up a finger to stop someone from speaking.

  The door to the cupboard came open, and Muriel squeezed her eyes shut in an effort to totally block out everything. If she moved at all the person searching would find them.

  One of the robes lifted from them and she bit her lip. She couldn’t help but think their ruse hadn’t worked. She waited for a second robe to lift, but it didn’t happen.

  “We’d better get outside before Scanton gets angry we’re not there,” a deep voice said. “Even if they are up here there is no way they’ll be able to escape the building without us knowing. Scanton’s posted men at all the doors.”

  There was more scuffling of feet as the men left.

  Ewan moved his hand and Muriel sighed in relief. “What do we do now?” she asked.

  “I have no clue,” he said. “Give me a little bit to figure it out, and we’ll make a run for it. The first thing we need is to get out of this room. But we need to wait a few minutes, not very long.”

  They waited a few moments, which seemed like hours to Muriel. When Ewan sat up on his knees and gently pushed open the cupboard door she expected to hear the men scream as they discovered their hiding place.

  But there was nothing. He helped her out, and when they were both standing she said, “Where do we go from here?”

  “We can’t leave the building,” he said. “We’re going to have to wait until people start showing up in the morning and try to blend in with them.”

  “How do we do that?” Muriel asked.

  “Stay here,” he said. “I’m going to check doors and see if one is open, and if it’s not, I’m going to pick the lock, hopefully very fast. If you hear noise, please get back in the cupboard and cover yourself up with the robes.”

  “I won’t leave you to fight them alone,” she said.

  He took a step close to her. “Please do as I ask. If you behave, when this is all over, I will give you a spanking that will be more intense than anything you’ve ever felt before.”

  “Anything?” she whispered, lifting her lips to his. She kissed him.

  “We don’t have time for this, just do as I say, please.”

  He left without waiting for an answer, and Muriel didn’t follow him. He could move faster without her. She hated to be without him, but she knew this was for the better.

  She moved toward the door and stuck her head out. It was dark and all she could hear was sounds that, she hoped, was of Ewan rattling doorknobs. She heard his soft expletive and she had to smile.

  There was more rustling, and then a click.

  “Come down here,” Ewan said, his voice barely audible.

  Muriel did as he asked, making sure to leave the door to the office they’d just left open. They went into the office where he stood and he shut and locked the door.

  “Unless they search it again, we should be fine,” he said. “There’s a sofa here. We should sit and wait to see what happens.”

  “I’d like to run, but I know we probably wouldn’t make it past them,” Muriel said. “So, in this case I follow your lead and we wait. I hope they don’t do another search and find us here.”

  “Don’t worry, I’ll protect you,” he said.

  “You mean if you have to,” she said with a laugh.

  “I know how to pick my battles,” he said. “It’s how I’ve stayed alive so long.”

  * * *

  “Excuse me, but what the deuce are you doing in my office?”

  Muriel lifted her head from the couch, and blinked rapidly. Unfortunately, that repetitive movement didn’t make her mind any clearer. She couldn’t remember where—but it hit her suddenly. A quick glance around the room said that Ewan wasn’t in the room.

  “I um, well…” Think, Muriel, think!

  “Darling!” Muriel puffed out a sigh of relief at the sound of Ewan’s voice. Given time she would be able to come up with an excuse, one this man might believe, for being in his personal space. But she would gladly turn that chore over to Ewan.

  “Are you all right?” Ewan asked. He rushed to her side and took her in his arms.

  “What is going on?” the man yelled.

  “Forgive us,” Ewan said. “We were here to see Mr. Seeps. I think I saw you yesterday when I was visiting with him. I wanted to ask a few more questions before we caught the train back to London. But when I opened the door to his office I found it empty. Totally empty.”

  The man narrowed his eyes. “I do remember you from yesterday,” he said. “Who are you?”

  “Ewan McClacken, writer, and this is my fiancée, Muriel Robertson.”

  The man seemed to consider things before he said, “Mick Franklin. Your explanation didn’t explain why you were in my office, Miss Robertson.”

  “Muriel was distressed at seeing the office empty, and I needed a safe spot to place her, since she was so… distressed. She fainted and I had to find somewhere to put her. Your office was the only thing open.”

  “Oh, oh,” Muriel said, fanning herself. She put her hand against her forehead. “I do hope nothing has happened to poor Mr. Seeps. He is such a nice man.”

  “Oh, oh,” she repeated. Ewan lowered her to the couch.

  “I think she needs water,” he said.

  Mr. Franklin went to his desk. He returned with a pitcher and a glass. “I’m going for a porter,” he said. “The fact that Seeps’ office is empty is deeply troubling.”

  He rushed from the office and Muriel glared at Ewan.

  “I fainted?”

  “Darling, I know you wouldn’t do such a thing, but Mr. Franklin does not,” Ewan said. “We need to stick with the story that we came here this morning to see Mr. Seeps.”

  “I can do that,” she said. You didn’t see any sign of our friends from last night?”

  “There were men downstairs, but since I don’t know what our nocturnal friends look like I can’t say if they were there or not,” he said.

  “That means we need to be on our guard,” Muriel said.

  “I have a plan for that,” Ewan said. “I’m sure the porter will summon other authorities, and…”

  Before he could finish, Mr. Franklin came back into the room with another man, whom Muriel figured was the porter. He was a beefy man, who looked like he could pummel a man with his bare hands.

  “What is happening here?” the man asked.

  Ewan held out his hand and said, “Ewan McClacken. And you are?”

  “Head Porter North,” the man said. “Now, what is happening here?”

  Ewan repeated his tale, and Muriel watched Head Porter North as the news of Mr. Seeps’ disappearance hit. He left without saying a word, and they all fell in behind him as he walked to Mr. Seeps’ office.

  “Who did this?” the porter asked. “I don’t recall seeing anyone take furniture, or boxes, out of this building yesterday.”

  “It was all gone when we came here this morning,” Ewan said. “But, I have an idea about that.”

  “Continue,” North said when Ewan didn’t speak immediately.

  “Yesterday, Mr. Seeps took me to a storage area where he showed me various items from his digs.” Ewan paused, and Muriel could see the porter, and Mr. Franklin, were listening intently. “Perhaps we should check those things to see if Mr. Seeps moved his things in there.”

  “Where was this storage space?” the porter asked, obviously confused. Either that or he was angry, because his face was twisted; maybe it was a
mixture of confusion and anger. The only thing that made her think of total anger was the fact his hands were clenched into fists.

  Did he believe Ewan, or did he think he was lying?

  “Take me to this spot where he stored his things,” North said. “I’m not familiar with him doing anything like that.”

  “It’s to the north, Mr. North,” Ewan said. He smiled, and the look on the porter’s face didn’t change.

  They started down the stairs. The hallways were teeming with people. Muriel glanced at everyone as they moved past. Most people didn’t even glance their way, except for three men who stood near the building’s doorway.

  Muriel put them in their mid-30s, and they studied the group as they neared the door. She glanced at Ewan, who also studied the three men.

  “Those men there,” he said. “They followed us yesterday to Mr. Seeps’ storage room. Maybe they have information about where he is.”

  The one in the middle glared at Ewan, but before he could say anything the other two bolted out the door. The third one followed them, and the porter took off, calling at them to stop.

  Muriel, Ewan, and Mr. Franklin stepped outside and watched as the porter chased the men across the lawn. People stopped and stared. When the men were out of sight, Mr. Franklin turned to Muriel and Ewan.

  “I believe we should go back inside and wait for Mr. North,” he said.

  Muriel glanced at Ewan, and she could see him thinking things through. She was pretty sure he didn’t want to wait, that he wanted to get out of this situation as quickly as possible. But if they left right now they would look guilty. It was better to do as Mr. Franklin asked.

  * * *

  They went into the building, climbed the stairs once more and went to Mr. Franklin’s office. He fixed them cups of tea and they sat in his office in silence, waiting for Mr. North to return.

  Mr. Franklin pulled out his pocket watch several times, and Muriel wondered where he was supposed to be right now. Did he have lectures he should be attending? Something told her he did, and after they’d been there for what she thought was about half an hour, Franklin left the office and something told Muriel he was cancelling his class.

  “I feel bad that we drug him into this,” she said to Ewan when Franklin left.

  Ewan smiled. “He’ll have quite a story to tell his wife tonight at supper. If he didn’t want to be here, he would have had us wait in Seeps’ office.”

  She supposed he was right, but things were not turning out as she thought they would when they started this trip.

  “Why do you think they took Mr. Seeps’ belongings?”

  “Good question,” Ewan said. “I’m more worried about Mr. Seeps than his affects. He was concerned yesterday about the erotic scrolls, so we’re on the right track. I hope our friends haven’t taken all of that, too.”

  She opened her mouth but closed it quickly when Franklin came back in the room, followed closely by North.

  “Did you catch them?” Ewan asked.

  “No,” North said. He sounded winded, and Muriel got up and poured him a glass of water from the pitcher that Mr. Franklin had given her when she’d pretended to be swooning.

  They were all silent for a while before North said, “Are you being truthful with me? Or were those men part of a rival gang that is after Mr. Seeps’ antiquities?”

  “I can promise you I am not after Mr. Seeps’ belongings,” Ewan said. “I met with him yesterday, and we came back this morning to talk with him again because our time was cut short.”

  “Why was that?” North asked.

  “He said he had another appointment that he had forgotten,” Ewan said.

  Muriel could see by North’s look that he didn’t believe Ewan. He’d saved her once tonight, and now it was her turn to do it for him.

  “Mr. Seeps was very excited about the interview,” she said. “But when he returned he was concerned about something, I don’t know what. He returned before Ewan did. When Ewan did come back, he was upset with Mr. Seeps, who apologized for forgetting about his previous engagement.”

  She could feel Mr. Franklin staring at her, and finally he said, “I remember seeing the three of you downstairs. Mr. Seeps did seem rather annoyed about something.”

  Muriel’s throat seized. Was that all that he’d seen? She wondered if he’d seen her coming out of Seeps’ office after she’d searched it. What had he said earlier in the day? She couldn’t really remember, but since he didn’t call her out, she tried to remain calm.

  “I think it is time for us to go to this storage area you spoke about,” North said. “Depending on what we find there, I will decide whether or not we need to contact the Oxford authorities.”

  That idea didn’t set well with Muriel. So far, their cover story about doing a story on Seeps and his adventures in Egypt was working. But if the authorities were called in to investigate the theft, would that still hold true?

  “Has someone talked with Mr. Seeps?” Muriel asked. “I am concerned that his belongings are gone and I wonder if he has any insight into what has happened.”

  Mr. North looked shocked, and she knew at that instant that he hadn’t even considered going to Mr. Seeps’ home.

  “Maybe we should go there,” she said.

  “Out of the question,” North said. “I will send a porter there to check on Mr. Seeps, but I will not take you there. For all I know the two of you are responsible for the theft, and his possible disappearance.”

  “How dare you!” Ewan said.

  Muriel could tell he was trying as hard as possible to keep his temper under control.

  “We don’t know you,” North said.

  “If we had done something to harm Mr. Seeps would we have stayed here?” He shook a finger at Mr. North. “Or would we have run like the three men that got the better of you?”

  “Darling,” Muriel said. She put her hand on arm. “Please stay calm.”

  He huffed, but then he looked at her and smiled. “You’re right. I apologize, Mr. North. I do believe we are overlooking Mr. Seeps.”

  “Yes, we are,” Mr. North said. “I will go downstairs and send someone to his lodgings to see if he is there. We will go to the storage area you visited yesterday. I will ask Mr. Seeps to join us there.”

  Muriel hoped Mr. Seeps was able to respond to that invitation. To her, the fact that his things were gone and he was not here now, was not a good sign of things to come.

  They moved into the hallway. “How long do you think it would take someone to move all of Mr. Seeps’ things from the building?” she asked. “And, of course, why would they do it?”

  “That is something Mr. Seeps will be able to answer, hopefully,” North said.

  He continued to talk, about how long it would take to move things from the building. Most people were gone, he said, by seven. If they had enough men it wouldn’t be hard to empty the office. They could do it overnight.

  But could they get it done between seven and the time she and Ewan had shown up? She didn’t want to voice that, of course, because it would tear their story apart. But it made her wonder where they, whoever they were, placed the missing items. This was a three-story building. Was there a chance that it was still there?

  It made sense, really. It would explain why the men had been so close at hand when she and Ewan had shown up last night.

  If that was indeed the case, then Muriel thought she needed to go upstairs and have a look around.

  “This building is so very large,” she said. “Are you sure no one is around at night?”

  “The building is locked at night,” North said.

  Hmm, Muriel thought to herself, it wasn’t locked when we showed up last night. She needed to stay here and do some investigating.

  “Gentlemen, I am not sure I have the energy to go to the storage area,” she said. “Would it be all right with you if I stayed here.”

  Both the Oxford men agreed at once. Ewan frowned at her, but then he smiled.

  “Of
course, my love,” he said. “Can I get anything for you?”

  “I just need a place to sit,” she said. “Is there a lounge somewhere?”

  “There is one on the first floor,” Mr. Franklin said. “You can stay there, as my guest.”

  “Thank you,” she said.

  Ewan took her hand as they headed toward the first floor. She squeezed it, hoping he would realize she had a plan for staying behind. He squeezed back, which told her he understood.

  When they were at the bottom of the stairs she said, “Just point me in the right direction, Mr. Franklin.”

  “The last door on the right,” he said. “If anyone asks, tell them you are waiting for me.”

  She told him she would, then watched as they headed out the door. When they were gone, Muriel headed back up the stairs, wondering what she would find on the top level.

  Chapter 12

  No one said a word to her as she headed toward the stairs, even to the top floor. When she reached the landing, she saw there was no one about. For the first time, since the idea had popped into her mind, she wondered about her sanity. If some of the men were up here, why had she come alone? She was pretty sure Ewan would be angry with her for taking this risk.

  She tried to tell herself she couldn’t wait for him to be there. It was now or never.

  “Mr. Seeps?” She worried that her voice hadn’t been loud enough so she repeated his name. There was no answer.

  Muriel moved to the first door and turned the knob. The door opened, but the room was empty. It was the same for the room across the hall. Maybe her idea wasn’t such a good one. She took another step and called out Mr. Seeps’ name again.

  This time there was a loud noise, as if someone had knocked something against the wall. She gasped and put her hands against her chest.

  “Mr. Seeps?” she said again. This time the noise was louder. There were four doors on either side of the hallway. If men were moving things from downstairs, they would try, at least to her thinking, to stay as close to the stairs as possible, so they wouldn’t have to carry things as far.