Read Online The Clockwork Wolf by Lynn Viehl - Free Book Online Page B

would have ordered the butler to refill it.
    The apple and pear brandies remained full, as did all of the smaller schnapps. Only one bottle had been completely emptied, and I picked it up and lifted the stopper to smell it. The strong odor of blue ruin still clung to the inside of the decanter. The selection of spirits made it plain that Bestly often drank at home, but why bother when he could freely indulge at his club? Unless he went there for other reasons. . . .
    The door behind me opened. “Fancy a drink, miss?”
    I turned round to see a younger man grinning at me. His livery identified him as the lingering footman and, judging by the badly wrinkled state of his sleeves, trousers, and jacket, he’d evidently slept in it. His bloodshot eyes were a light blue made disagreeably insipid by the darkness of his olive skin and the greasy gleam of his heavily pomaded black hair. The distinctive bridge of his nose suggested that at least one of his parents had been Talian.
    â€œI don’t drink spirits. They make my eyes red.” I replaced the gin bottle on the trolley. “And what is your name?”
    â€œRoger Akins, at your service, miss.” He abstained from a bow and tramped toward me. “The pretty gels all call me Jolly. ’Cause I am, you see.”
    The smell rolling toward me told me what fate Lord Bestly’s blue ruin had met.
    â€œIs this jolliness a perpetual state,” I asked, “or something you enjoy only after you help yourself to the master’s liquor?”
    â€œPosh talk for a shopgel,” he said with a sneer. “What you come here to sell her? Gloves? Hats? Sashes? Give it up, she can’t wear nothing new.” He squinted at me. “Or are you one them what chases out unwholesome spirits? What they call them, exormages?”
    â€œI am here to tidy up,” I agreed.
    â€œShould have said.” Giving me more of a wary look he veered away and went to the trolley, where he filled a tumbler with whiskey. “Sure you don’t want a sip? It’s top notch, best quality. Still burns going down, but won’t leave you with a raw gullet.”
    â€œI never indulge, thank you.” I saw Lady Bestly appear in the doorway behind him. “It’s also rather early to be drinking.”
    â€œBah.” He swatted at the air between us. “Herself’s like you, don’t take no spirits. Rest of household’s run off in the night.” He leaned forward and added in a mock-whisper, “So if someone has a bit of a nightcap when the day’s work’s done, or even before it starts, who’s to know, ay?”
    â€œAs you say, mate.” I kept my gaze on him. “What did you sample besides the drink?”
    â€œCouple of them cigars.” He made a hideous face at the humidor. “Don’t smoke easy like cigs. Couldn’t hardly keep them lit.”
    He hadn’t been in the upstairs chambers or he’d have stuffed his pockets with his lordship’s pins and watches. “Nicked anything good for yourself?”
    â€œStealing from a widow’s a sin.” He drained his glass and belched. “I did see some of her good silver’s gone. Bet it walked off with that Jarvis, the coin-grubber.” He nodded as if he’d just convinced himself of that fact before giving me a leer. “Want to give the brandy a taste, then? It’s wretched sweet, but you might fancy it.”
    I glanced past him. “I believe that’s all, milady, but I recommend you have his cases checked before he leaves.”
    â€œWhat? Who?” Akins spun round, staggering as he saw Lady Bestly and grabbing a chair to right himself. “Your ladyship, I—I—I found this shopgel in here, drinking up the master’s gin—”
    â€œForgot to say,” I murmured to him. “Not a shopgel.”
    Lady Bestly strode into the room. “You are dismissed for drunkenness and