Welch wrote down the address and handed it over. “As I said, the sooner you find the document, the better.”
Steele nodded.
Raven offered nothing.
Welch gave Raven an icy look of disapproval and departed.
“Thank you, Jesus!” Raven declared once they were alone.
Steele chuckled.
“I really don’t like that woman,” she stated.
“Do tell.”
Raven showed her smile.
“I must agree with you though. I don’t like her at all.”
“Plus I don’t think she knows a gator from a butter churn. Another plan indeed.”
“You don’t have to hide your true voice when we’re alone,” he told her.
“I do. Going back and forth between them isa good way to get tripped up. I don’t want New Orleans accidentally slipping out and have to explain why my speech has changed.”
“That makes sense, I suppose, but I’ve grown accustomed to your New Orleans speech, and find that I’m missing it.”
Raven thought that was one of the sweetest things a man had ever said to her but wasn’t sure she wanted to reveal that. He was already more than she could handle. “My true accent will return in time. Promise.”
“I’m holding you to that.”
His tone affected her senses like slow ripples across a pond. Needing to change the subject, she asked, “So, what are your impressions of our employer?”
“More astute than Welch relayed, and definitely not having an enjoyable time in her marriage.”
“Philandering and adulterous. I got the sense that his sins aren’t a secret.”
“As did I.”
“I do agree with Welch on one thing. I vote we find this document as quickly as possible so we can get the hell out of here.”
“I vote the same.”
She glanced around the cottage’s interior. “Thanks to Welch’s poor intelligence gathering, we don’t know if it’s tucked away or lying around in plain sight, but let’s assume hidden for now. If you were him and wanted to hidesomething in an unlikely place, where would it be?”
“Do I get a reward if I give the right answer?”
She snorted. “Be serious.”
“I am serious.”
She rolled her eyes.
“Okay. Were I the adulterous and philandering legislator, I’d hide it in the slave sleeping quarters. Not this little place here, but in the building we passed on the way.”
“Why?”
“It’s not being used.”