Page 18 of Glasgow Rogue

Seventy bales. Annie mentally checked off the number and went over to the barrels that held the tobacco.

Nineteen. She double-checked the ledger.

Kingsley had entered twenty. She counted again.

Nineteen. Annie did a quick walk through the warehouse, looking for the missing barrel, but found nothing.

She closed the ledger and carried it back to the office.

She would ask Kingsley about the count this afternoon when he returned.

Annie was just finishing the lunch she’d brought from home when Mr. Haines came in. Pushing aside the remnants of her food, she stood quickly. “I am so glad to see ye. Mr. Kingsley brought me up to date this morning, so everything is on schedule.”

“Good, good. Glad to hear it. Is Kingsley here?”

Annie shook her head. “I think he left for lunch.”

Mr. Haines frowned. “That is unlike him. He rarely leaves the warehouse during the day.”

“Maybe he forgot to bring something to eat,” Annie replied. “Or he may have had something to take care of. He will probably be back soon.”

“Well, I really do not have time to wait. I have an appointment with a new merchant, Carl Cabot, who’s manufacturing linen winding sheets but doesn’t have enough space to store them.”

Annie widened her eyes. “I hope he is nae anticipating another breakout of typhus that will require an abundance of burial sheets to have on hand?”

“Let us hope not, but people die every day, and English law requires burial in linen,’ Mr. Haines replied. “I was hoping to take Kingsley to the meeting to provide reassurance that our storage facility is one of the cleanest in the city.”

“Why nae take me? I can attest to that.” Annie really wanted to be of assistance to make up for her missing work. “Truly.”

“I am not sure…” Mr. Haines paused, considering. “I suppose I could take you. Mr. Cabot was not one of the men present at that disastrous meeting Monday night, so he should not have any animosity towards you.”

Annie tried to keep herself from wincing. There was no cause for men to dislike her simply because she felt women should be able to earn fair wages.

“Just let me do the talking.”

She swallowed hard. Unfair as it was, men didn’t like women who spoke their minds either. If she wanted to keep her job—and she did—she needed to refrain from offering opinions at work. She’d have her chance to vent on Sunday.

“Of course, Mr. Haines. Ye are the owner.” She turned away so he wouldn’t detect her anger. “I will get my coat.”

“I have the carriage outside,” he said and walked to the door. “I will wait there.”

Annie managed to compose herself in the few minutes it took to retrieve her coat, scribble a note to Kingsley, and lock the office, then proceed down the steps.

She even managed to converse neutrally about the weather on the short ride to Mr. Cabot’s shop, but by the time the meeting was over an hour later and she’d only been allowed two short sentences, she was ready to screech like a banshee.

It was a good thing Mr. Haines had sent her back in the carriage alone or she might have unleashed a tirade of words.

Unfortunately—for Niall, at least—he was the first person she saw when she entered the office a short time later. He was leaning against the counter, one leg crossed over the other at the ankle. He looked over her shoulder through the open door just as the carriage pulled away.

Annie slammed the door shut. “Do nae even begin to lecture me on where I have been!”

One brow lifted. “I ken where ye have been.”

“Oh? Did ye follow me?” Annie stormed past him, pulled off her coat and hung it on the rack. Then she turned back. “Did ye follow me?”

“Nae.”

Annie frowned. “Then how did ye ken where I was?”

Niall pointed to the note she’d left.

Her frown deepened. “Ye went through the things on my desk?”

Niall straightened. “I didnae snoop.”

“Then how—”

“Kingsley showed me the note,” Niall replied levelly.

“Oh.”

“I doona ken why ye are so angry, lass, but I had naught to do with it.”

Annie stared at him, then dropped her gaze. He was right. Suddenly she felt like a fool. She was venting her anger on the wrong person. She worried her bottom lip for a second. Apologies did not come easy for her. She looked up. “I am sorry. I dinna mean to scream at ye like a fishwife.”

“Since I have nae been screamed at by a fishwife, I cannae compare.” A corner of Niall’s mouth quirked. “Ye remind me more of an irritated hedgehog than a fishwife.”

“A…hedgehog?”

“Aye.” The quirk turned into a smile. “Your hair is nigh to standing straight out from ye.”

Instinctively Annie put her hands to her head to brush her hair down. “It is nae.”

Niall shrugged. “Mayhap I was mistaken.”

“Of course ye were.” The image of an angry hedgehog caused Annie to smile. She probably did look like one. “Well, mayhap nae that much.”

Niall gave her a look of mock surprise. “We agree, then?”

“Agree to what?” Kingsley asked as he came in from the warehouse.

“Um, nothing important,” Annie said quickly. “I am glad to see ye back, though. I had a question about the tobacco barrels.”

“What about the barrels?” Kingsley asked.

“There were only nineteen when I counted earlier. The ledger says twenty.”

“Twenty is correct. I entered the number myself,” Kingsley replied.

“I ken that. But I wanted to double-check the inventory that came in while I was gone,” Annie said. “Ye did say two sets of eyes were better than one.”

Kingsley nodded. “So I did. Why do we not go and recount?”

She didn’t know what good that would do since she’d counted twice, but she didn’t want to offend the foreman. “Perhaps that would be best.”

“Do ye mind if I come along?” Niall asked. “Just in case of a dispute.”

“Please do,” Kingsley replied smoothly. “I am sure we will all find that there are twenty barrels of tobacco stored exactly where they should be.”

Annie led the men into the warehouse. The barrels had been rearranged. “Someone moved them.”

“I did,” Kingsley said. “When I got back from lunch I realized we did not have much room in the aisle so I shifted them slightly.” He gestured. “Please go ahead and do your count.”

Annie used her index finger to point at each barrel so she wouldn’t lose count. “Eighteen. Nineteen…. Twenty.” She looked at Niall. “What did ye get?”

“Twenty.”

“Good. Then that is settled,” Kingsley said. “Twenty barrels.”

“But there were only nineteen earlier.”

Kingsley smiled. “One was probably hidden a bit behind another one. At any rate, no harm is done. We are all agreed there are twenty barrels in stock. Yes?”

“Aye,” Annie said and followed Kingsley and Niall back to the office. She knew she had counted nineteen earlier. There hadn’t been one misplaced, either, since she’d searched the warehouse.

Where did that twentieth barrel come from?

****

Kingsley watched Annie and Niall leave and then muttered a curse. What a bloody close call that had been. After what had taken place Monday night, he hadn’t expected the chit to return to work so soon or he would have made sure he’d gotten that twentieth barrel back in place.

But then, he’d also made the mistake of assuming she wouldn’t go into the warehouse and do a physical count after he’d entered the number in the ledger. Damn it. Master spies didn’t assume anything. Not if they wanted to stay alive.

On the other hand, he now had almost all the evidence he needed.