Page 85 of A Scandal at Stonecliffe

“I dunno, miss. But people say something bad happened down there. And some just say it’s safer to stay out of the tunnels.” She shrugged. “Sorry. That’s all, miss. People are tight-lipped about it. But they always bring that up when anyone asks ’em about the men you’re after.”

“That’s good, Sally. Thank you.” Verity dug into her coin purse and handed the girl several coins. “Now you’ll remember to share with the others, right?”

“’Course, miss,” the girl said somewhat scornfully. “I always take care of me own. You taught me that.”

When the front door closed behind Sally, Nathan and Verity looked at one another. He sighed deeply and said, “Back down to the tunnels, then.”

After loading a rope ladder and lanterns into their carriage, Nathan and Verity returned to the dilapidated building where Nathan and Sloane had fallen into the ruins.

When they climbed down into the tunnel, they found that someone had laid two planks across the gaping hole into the Roman ruins. Nathan eyed the narrow makeshift walkway with some suspicion, but he followed Verity across it.

They proceeded down the tunnel, though Nathan soon had to stoop not to knock his head. They came upon another branching passage, but it ended in a pile of rubble, so they continued on.

“Wait.” Verity lifted her light to peer into an offshoot. “Is that a door?”

“Perhaps it’s a hole where someone else fell in,” Nathan said acerbically as they started down the exceedingly narrow corridor, which had a ceiling even lower than the one they had just left.

“No,” Verity laughed. “This looks more recently built—and not as well. I think someone made it to reach the main tunnel.”

Even Verity had to duck down to go through the opening, but once through, they found themselves in a more spacious underground room.

“A cellar,” Nathan said. “They dug it out from an old cellar.”

“Look, there are some stairs. Maybe this is how they exit the tunnels.” Verity started toward the far side and the steep set of steps leading up to a doorway.

The door had long since fallen from its rusted hinges and lay in pieces, and the inside was in similar disrepair, with piles of trash and broken pieces of wood scattered around. An outside door was boarded up, and the only light aside from their lanterns came from a small square in the wall where a window had been made of chunks of old opaque glass in varying colors. A few rats ran squealing at their entrance.

“Ugh,” Verity said, pulling out a handkerchief and covering her nose. “What a stench.”

“Yes. People have been building fires here.” Nathan gestured toward the scorch marks on the stone floor. He, too, pulled out a handkerchief, adding, “And obviously using it as their ‘facilities’ as well.”

“But there’s another odor besides that. It smells like...”

“A dead animal,” Nathan finished. They looked at one another. “It’s just an animal, surely. A rat, probably.”

“I think it’s coming from up there.” Verity moved toward a set of rickety stairs leading upward. “The smell gets stronger.” They exchanged another long look.

“What if it’s not—” Nathan sighed and said in a resigned tone, “We have to see, don’t we?”

“Unfortunately, I think so.” Verity lifted her skirts a little and started up the stairs. “You needn’t come.”

“You have to be joking,” Nathan said, climbing up after her.

They stopped abruptly as they reached high enough to see the floor above.

“Bloody hell,” he said, his voice muffled by his wadded-up handkerchief. “It’s a man.”

Verity nodded, dread growing in her stomach. “Those boots...”

She forced herself to climb the rest of the way so that she could see the man’s face. Her stomach lurched, and she swallowed hard and turned away. Nathan was right behind her, and she buried her face in his chest.

“Good God!” Nathan exclaimed. “It’s Will Tolliver.”

Verity pushed at his chest. “Let’s go. Leave.”

“But surely we should see if we can figure out how he died.”

“I don’t care how,” Verity retorted. “All I need to know is that he’s dead.”