Cooper Isabel - Legend Of The Highland Dragon

I need to see Carter.

The voice was deep, with a pronounced Scottish accent and a distinct sense of urgency. The owner was already speaking before the door to Professor Richard Carters outer office had closed. The words were all too familiar to Mina by now.

Professor Carter isnt in at the moment, Mina replied without lifting her gaze from the typewriter.

She spoke firmly, with emphasis on the Professor, careful to round off her vowels and clip her consonants and to leave time between each of the words. All of that had taken considerable effort when shed first taken her position. Now, two years of constant practiceespecially with that linemade her speech almost unconscious, like the motion of her fingers over the typewriter keys.

The next line was If youd care to leave your card, I can give it to him, but as she finally looked up, the visitors appearance made Mina pause.

He stood in the doorway like a knight out of some storybook illustration, or perhaps an American outlaw from a penny dreadful: someone ready to do battle, at least, and not necessarily someone on the side of the angels. He was tall and dark, broad-shouldered and square-chinned. His clothes were well-tailored and the fabric looked like it was of good quality, but the respectable dark suit looked somehow incongruous on him, as if he were wearing a very expensive costume.

He also didnt wait to hear Minas next line.

Where is he? the man asked.

That sort of response was not precisely new either, though it was rarer than the opening gambit. Most people had the sense to realize what not in meant, and the grace to respect it. This man was clearly going to be one of the other sort.

Mina put her papers to one side and fixed her eyes on the visitor. He isnt in at the moment, she repeated, more sternly and with a greater if-you-catch-my-meaning inflection. But Id be happy to let him know you called.

The man crossed the room, moving like a pantheror at least like what Mina imagined a panther would move like, as shed never seen one of the beasts herself. I need to speak to Carter, he said, planting his hands on the edge of Minas desk and leaning forward. The matter is urgent. Now, if he truly is out, you can tell me where hes gone

Im afraid Professor Carter isnt in the habit of leaving me with a detailed itinerary of his movements. Sir.

Then tell me the first place he went, and Ill proceed from there.

Up close, the strangers hair wasnt just black. There were shades of red to it in the lamplight: not ginger, but true red, like wine. His brown eyes had more than a hint of gold in them, too.

Mina wasnt sure why she was noticing such things, except that danger was supposed to make one more aware of details, and this man could certainly be dangerous. She shifted one hand to cover the ivory-handled letter opener on her desk.

Then she lifted her chin. Professor Carter doesnt employ me to give out his personal information to anyone who asks, she said. And there are at least three bobbies on this block, sir. I can scream very loudly.

What? He seemed honestly surprised. Seemed, at least. He did back up a step. Dont be ridiculous.

I try never to be ridiculous, sir.

Unconsciously, Mina had risen to her feet. The new position still left her looking up some distance to meet the visitors gaze, and she was by no means a short woman. Against the pale-papered walls and the chairs with their curving limbs and white upholstery, against the faint gray sky that she could see through the window, the man looked even bolder, more vitalas if hed sucked all the color around him into himself.

She took a breath.

The man let his out. My name, he said, as if conceding a point, is Stephen MacAlasdair. Lord Only it came out Laird when he said it. His accent was stronger now. MacAlasdair. Im an old friend of the professors, and the matter that brings me here is an extremely serious one.

Every matter that brought someone to the office was extremely serious, in Minas experience, or at least almost every visitor claimed as much. Most of them sounded sincere, too. Still, if MacAlasdair was an old friend of the professors

She looked around the office quickly. There was nothing particularly valuable or portable. A statuette of Anubis on one of the bookshelves and perhaps a number of the books themselves might have brought more than a few pounds, but the room held nothing whose absence would ruin Professor Carter.

Have a seat, Mina said. Please. Ill see if hes come back.

She waited until MacAlasdair had settled himself before turning and walking through the back doorand she made certain to lock it behind her.

Up a narrow staircase, where the smells of cabbage and bread mingled with that of old brick, she came to another door. This one opened onto a world of bookshelves and curio cabinets, with a desk and chair in the center of the room. The elderly man who sat there was short and stout, with white hair considerably longer than the current fashion. At the sound of the door opening, he looked up, his face lined and leathery and more worried than Mina had ever seen it.

Professor Carter tried to disguise that last aspect when he saw Mina, of course. Hed been trying for the last day and a half, and the strongest inquiries Mina could make had only been met with the staunch insistence that everything was fine, and hed like a cup of tea when she could manage it, theres a good girl. Or that there was nothing to worry about, and had the Museum received that letter hed sent the other day? Why didnt she go check, just to be sure?

Shed had more pointless errands over the last thirty hours than at any other time in her employment.

Now she knew better than to ask, and she hated to disturb Professor Carter yet again. Still, MacAlasdair probably wasnt going to leave without some responseand perhaps hed be a distraction.

Professor, she said, theres a Stephen MacAlasdair to see you.

The professor stiffened. MacAlasdair?

Yes, sir. I can send him away, if youd like, but

No. No, by no means. Ill see him. Professor Carter got to his feet, brushed at his coat, and pulled on his tie, the creases in his brow never fading. Have Mrs. Evans send up tea and scones, Miss Seymour.

The brief diversion to the housekeepers lair meant that Mina entered the office just a step ahead of the professor himself, who looked over MacAlasdair with, to Minas eyes, considerable shock. Good Lord, MacAlasdair, you havent aged a day.

Flattering, said MacAlasdair, but untrue. Its good to see you looking well, Carter. Professor, I should say.

They each smiled, but Mina didnt think either expression genuine. Professor Carter kept playing with the top button on his coat, a sure sign that he was nervous, and MacAlasdair had lost none of the tension in his frame. There was more to this than two old friends meeting again.

When the door closed behind them, she broke her own rules and listened for as long as she was able.

And when did you post Cerberus at your gates? MacAlasdair asked.

Mina nurtured a brief but intense wish that hed trip on the stairs and break his leg, or at least his nose.

Professor Carter made a reproving noise. Ive become an object of interest for more than a few people. Antiquities have caught the popular eye, you know. Miss Seymour does an admirable job of keeping the peace. And I daresay shed have been more amenable if Id known you were going to call.

I didnt know I was going to call, said MacAlasdair, and now his voice was grim. Not until I read the news. I take it youve seen the same piece.