Chapter 6 - The Ledger of Blood
"How?" Julian asked, his voice bitter. "Marcus has thirty armed men on the payroll. We have a kitchen knife and a housekeeper."
"Marcus has thirty mercenaries who care about a paycheck," Eleanor countered coldly. "Men who fight for money run the second the money disappears. Marcus didn't build this coup on his own. He needs capital to pay off Arthur’s captains."
She walked over to my desk and pulled open a drawer, pulling out a legal pad and pen.
"The carriage house," she said. "Marcus lives in the secondary estate across the courtyard. Every Tuesday afternoon, he meets with the courier who balances the cash sheets for the east docks. If he's preparing to overthrow your father, the ledger containing his payoffs is sitting in his wall safe."
"The carriage house is wired with biometric alarms," I told her, my ribs throbbing as I sat up straight. "And Marcus never leaves it unguarded."
"He leaves at four o'clock today," Eleanor said with a grim smile. "Because I just scheduled an emergency plumbing inspection for the gas line underneath his driveway. I told the city inspectors there was a localized sulfur leak. The utility trucks will block the rear gate for an hour."
I stared at her in utter disbelief. "You called the city?"
"I called the city, filed an emergency hazard report, and cited Cavanaugh commercial zoning code 4B," she said smoothly. "Marcus is paranoid. He won't let city inspectors near the grounds without him supervising every single wrench turn. That gives us forty-five minutes inside his private study."
"I'm going with you," Julian insisted.
"No," Eleanor commanded, her voice brooking zero argument. "You stay in the main house with Toby. Lock yourselves in the library. If anyone comes near that door, you hit the silent fire alarm on the south wall. Leo and I will get the proof."
At 4:10 PM, the loud wail of city utility sirens echoed down the long private drive. From my bedroom window, I watched Marcus storm out of the carriage house, shouting into his radio as three yellow municipal trucks pulled across his private exit.
"Move," Eleanor whispered from the doorway.
We slipped down the servants' stairs, crossed the shadowed rose garden beneath the freezing rain, and reached the side door of the carriage house. Eleanor produced a heavy brass key from her pocket.
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"Where did you get that?" I whispered.
"Four housekeepers quit before me, Leo," she smirked, unlocking the deadbolt with a soft *click*. "None of them bothered to check the old master ring in the basement furnace room. Never underestimate an old woman with a bucket and a mop."
