Following the Missing Money
1107 Words
“Good afternoon, Miss. My name is Sally.” She said with a cockney accent. “Mr. Deacon sent me up with something for you to eat.”
“Thank you, Sally, just place the tray on the corner of the desk.” It was the only clear spot.
“If you need anything, you can ring for me. I’m bell number two.” Sally pointed to three bells hanging on the wall by the fireplace. “Oh, Mr. Deacon said he would be bringing by a change of clothing for you and he wanted to know if you needed anything else.”
“Some soap would be nice and maybe a hairbrush. And if it wouldn’t be any trouble, could you send someone up with hot water later this evening so I can bathe?” She asked. She hoped that she wasn’t asking for too much. Many times, when she asked another servant for something at the Winthrope household, she was ignored.
“Would be no trouble at all. There is running water up here.” Sally said and she giggled on her way out. Running water, gas lamps, and heat for the servants, was more than Amelia had seen in many years.
Amelia thought to herself that she would need to impersonate Mrs. Hunter and be sterner when addressing the staff. Mrs. Hunter rarely asked for anything. She told the staff what she wanted to be done and what was expected. Amelia went back to her books and nibbled on the food as she read. She was on her last three books when she started to notice peculiarities appear in the ledgers. It wasn’t large sums of money, but suddenly a few shillings would go missing. The receipts didn’t total what Ms. Pryce had written down. At first, Amelia thought it was a mistake, but she concluded that Ms. Pryce was skimming money from the budget. It was a small amount that Robert would never notice. Amelia concluded that other members of the staff were aware of Ms. Pryce’s actions and when she left, the practice of skimming money continued on a much larger scale. The door to Amelia’s room swung open.
“Robert, are you ready?” Someone huffed from the doorway and a woman stepped inside. She had blue-black ringlets that hung down her back. Her skin was smooth like porcelain. She had dark blue almost violet eyes and she was tall. The woman was wearing the most scandalous outfit Amelia had ever seen. She wore a midnight blue corset that barely covered her breasts. Her skirts were of matching color, but the material was so thin it was almost transparent. There was a high slit running up each side showing her stocking-covered thighs. The woman wore ropes of pearls around her neck.
“You’re not Robert.” The woman said. Her eyes narrowed as she stared at Amelia, giving the younger woman a quick once over. The woman leaned on the doorjamb and crossed her arms as she stared down at Amelia.
Amelia wiggled in her seat as the icy woman stared at her. Amelia straightened her spine. She would not let some painted lady intimidate her.
“I most certainly am not,” Amelia replied with the same amount of frost in her voice.
Sally walked in, pushing past the woman. Amelia noticed the twisted little grin on Sally’s face as she forced the taller woman out of her way. The rude woman’s glare shifted away from Amelia and onto Sally.
“Ms. Lee, Mr. Deacon found you some clothing and toiletries.” She said, her arms full of packages. She fidgeted from foot to foot doing her best to balance the packages in her arms. Sally stood at the desk waiting for directions.
“Just put them on the bed, please,” Amelia replied quickly.
“Ah, Lee, I see you’ve already met Pearl. She’s my business partner.” Robert said as he stepped around Pearl. He also had packages in his arms. Sally took some of them and laid them on the bed with the others.
“I’ll see about that bath now,” Sally said as she left the room.
Pearl stood by the door examining her fingernails waiting for Robert’s attention. Amelia waited for the rude woman to leave but seeing that Pearl refused to move from her spot Amelia decided to speak to her new employer. “I found something in the ledgers I need to discuss with you when you are free,” Amelia said looking from her work to Robert’s face.
“I’m free now.” He replied. Pearl loudly exhaled and rolled her eyes.
“Are you sure you don’t have other engagements?” Amelia asked, glancing at Pearl who was still examining her nails.
“Anything you have to discuss with me you can say in front of Pearl.” He said and Amelia reluctantly opened one of the ledgers.
“It starts here, you see.” Amelia pointed to where she first noticed the discrepancies. “It is a small unnoticeable amount, but the missing money continues for a while and slowly becomes larger as time moves on. At the end of her employment, Ms. Pryce is exceedingly sloppy and doesn’t bother to hide the fact that she’s stealing.”
“I told you that rat-faced hag was up to no good, Robert.” Pearl continued to examine her fingernails as she spoke. Amelia gazed up at her in shock. Pearl wasn’t afraid to speak her mind.
“Yes, well whoever is stealing from you now knew what Ms. Pryce was doing and thought they could get away with more.” Amelia paused, tapping her pen on the ledger. “How many staff members were friendly with Ms. Pryce?”
“The cook,” Pearl said. “She was always talking with the cook,” Pearl mumbled something under her breath about the thief in the kitchen.
“Pearl, you are so suspicious of everyone.” Robert reprimanded.
“And you give too much credit when none is due,” Pearl responded sharply. She looked at Robert but turned her attention again to Amelia. “And that is why you get so angry when someone cheats you.” Pearl’s eyes narrowed as she spoke.
“It doesn’t matter right now.” Robert huffed. “Lee will search out the culprit in the morning.”
Amelia glanced at the small clock on the mantle and realized that it was much later than she thought. Two servants were carrying a large pot filled with hot water. Sally followed close behind with fresh towels.
- Writer
