“Did I prove my worth to you?” she wondered, still with that smug smirk on her face which suited her perfectly.
“I have to say you did,” he nodded.
“Will you allow me to help you now?”
He saw no other way out. In addition to this, he had to admit that he needed the help. He had been doing this for so long on his own. He was out of ideas, out of clues. After all, what did he have to lose by accepting her help?
“All right,” he said finally, realizing that this agreement brought much needed comfort. Something inside of him welcomed the thought of her by his side, helping him. “I don’t know why, but I trust you. I hope you shall prove yourself worthy of that trust.”
“I always believed that everyone deserved your trust initially,” she explained. “Eventually, it can always go one of two ways. I would rather always start with trust rather than with the opposite.”
He had to admit that she was right. What kind of a world would it be if no one trusted anyone? Then again, in this world where peopledidtrust each other, he lost his sister.
“I shall tell you all there is to know although I do believe I have told you most of the story. I shall fill in the gaps if I left any,” he said.
“You may do that while we search your sister’s room,” Lydia replied, standing up, leaving her teacup half empty.
“I have searched it several times, top to bottom,” he said, mirroring her action although he had finished his tea already. “I haven’t found anything worthy of mention, at least nothing that would point me in the direction of her disappearance.”
“With all due respect,” she suggested, “you have searched her room with your set of eyes. Mine are different. Mine see different things. Mine notice different things, mostly because I am a lady, and you are a gentleman.”
“What do you mean, you notice different things?” he wondered.
“I mean, I know how a lady thinks,” she said, mysteriously. “I know the way her brain works, what she might wish to show and what she might wish to hide.”
“I don’t understand,” Edwin was confused.
“Allow me to show you,” she smiled reassuringly. “Just take me to her room, and we may start there.”
All Edwin could do at this point was agree. After all, what did he have to lose?
CHAPTER8
Lydia was stricken by how much hers and Rachel’s room were alike. It was the room of any other young lady who loved books, lots of sunlight, bright colors, and beautiful gowns. Suddenly, a frightful realization hit her. Anyone could disappear like that. Just about anyone — her own sister, even she, herself.
Lydia fought hard to banish that thought. She was certain that if someone wished to take her away by force, she would do anything in her power to fight them. Then again, she was certain that Rachel did the same. If she were taken by force, of course. If she left of her own accord, then that was a whole different story.
“Where do we start?” she heard the Duke ask.
“Allow me a moment, please,” Lydia said, standing in the middle of the room and turning around in one place, just to get a feel of the surroundings. “I am trying to find out where I myself would hide things here?”
“You think Rachel hid something from us?” he sounded incredulous that such a thing was possible. She almost did not wish to burst his bubble, but she had to.
“It is actually in your best interest that she did,” she revealed. “Because if she hid something here, we shall find it. If we find that something, we might learn more about what happened. And of course, if we find out more about what happened…” she allowed her voice to trail off, so he could finish.
“… we may find her,” he concluded though with much less hope and optimism than she thought he would have.
Lydia walked over to Rachel’s bookshelf, just looking at the books.
“I took out every single one of those books myself,” he pointed out. “Opened them. Looked inside and outside. I didn’t find anything.”
Lydia didn’t say anything to that. If any of the books was a secret box of some sort, he would have realized it if he opened every single one of them. She decided not to check there first. She walked over to the bed and lifted everything, the pillow, the cover, then checked under the matrass.
“I checked there as well,” he told her.
She turned to him and exhaled loudly. “You checked with your eyes,” she reminded him again. “May I see with my own?”
“Of course,” he nodded, taking a defensive step back, crossing his arms in the level of his chest.