Mindless Rummaging || Brandon & Estelle
She had thought every possible scenario through. Estelle continued to calculate as she weaved her way through the numerous hallways she had memorized before even boarding the ship. With a memory such as hers, the twists and turns had little impact on her. She merely kept an expression that conveyed an awareness of her imminent destination. It kept crew members from stopping her as she had begun her journey. But as she went further away from other passengers, her gait and demeanor took on slight changes.
Instead of the light swishing of her skirts and quiet steps, she moved fluidly and silently. She would pause and listen before she turned a corner. It would be easy enough to create an excuse for her being so out of place, but speaking meant possible witnesses and loose ends, which was the last thing that she needed.
How could Luc have been careless enough to leave this Mr. Jordan enough time to obtain Caspar’s message? It had been the first part of the mission and somehow he had not been able to do something as simple as this. Why was it she risked her own cover for him now though? She clenched her jaw lightly at even the simplest thought of her partner. The two had grown up together that they could easily function as siblings. Estelle had no personal experience with siblings so she could only study what she observed around her and apply it. But for some reason, she hardly thought a brother and sister could tease and pester one another quite in the way the two ‘Bastien’ siblings did one another.
She slowed and glanced over her shoulder before selecting the door to the man’s cabin. Estelle went for the doorknob carefully and set her ear lightly against the door. There seemed to be no movement behind the door, but she waited a moment before she was sure she had presumed correctly. No one was inside. If she remembered correctly, and she never forgot anything, not only Dennis was resident of this room. In most situations, having another member of Caspar’s network involved would have brought her comfort, but it only heightened the stakes. If she was discovered by anyone, her failure would be told directly and she would have to reveal Luc’s failure in turn. Two failures would, no doubt, be unacceptable.
The door was easy enough to open and she took a final look left and right down the hall before she slipped into the cabin. She silently shut the door behind her and began her task. Both sides of the room appeared equally vacant of any sort of personalization. She could understand it for Brandon, but for a normal man… It did not make as much sense. With each sweeping glance about the room, Estelle took in more and more information. After she determined which side was Dennis’, she set about to rummage through his belongs carefully.
The dresser was the closest hiding place to her and went for the top drawer. Inside were his undergarments all neatly folded and obviously undisturbed. “If I were a crumpled, water damaged note, where would I be hidden?” She murmured in French to herself as her bright blue eyes continued to survey the remainder of the drawers. But every single thing appeared to be in its proper place. There were no unfolded clothing or anything that seemed to be recently disturbed. To be perfectly honest, it appeared rather as though no one truly lived in the cabin. There were no photographs of any family members. It was devoid of any form of personality. It actually looked much like Estelle’s usual residence whenever no having a persona’s belongings forced upon her.
But this man had no grown up as she had, so where were all his personal effects? Where was his central desire stemmed from? Every person had something that made them tick. If it was not out in the open, then that central desire was hidden deep within. Even regarding this fact, why hide something in a personal cabin?
There was only one other cabinet beside the bed that she had not searched. With a frustrated sigh, Estelle took a seat on the ground and started to pull open the drawers to inspect the contents. There was not much there either, but something did catch her attention finally. It may not have been her intentional goal to learn something about this man, but the opportunity presented itself beautifully. A small twinge of what could have been a smile crossed her face as she pulled out a large bundle of papers and set them onto her lap. Her eyes quickly scanned the stack for what she had been searching for, but these were too neat and preserved to ever have been stored in a water tap in the Turkish Baths.
But there was something particular about them. As she slowed her quick inspection, she noticed that they entire stack were in the same handwriting. Each letter seemed to have been crafted with care and rather neat penmanship. Obviously someone educated. She did not doubt the crewman’s education, but this was above that of a bath attendant. The next interesting piece of information was the signature. Rather interesting how each is only signed with the letter ‘A’. Plenty of situation and circumstances could make the need for secrecy necessary. But she had the make the decision if this information would be useful or not. She tucked each word into her mind as she continued to peruse the letters, which turned out to be full of romance. Would she have received such trivial missals if she had been given the opportunity to live such a mundane life? Would her current feelings of pity have been turned to compassion and sympathy if she had been able to relate?
But she would never get to answer those question, for at that moment, she heard someone about the enter the cabin! Estelle hurriedly put all of the letters back where she had taken them from and stood up, facing the doorway. She was prepared for nearly anything with an excuse beginning to tumble out of her mouth, “Oh my, forgive me for intruding. I merely must have taken this scavenger hunt too far-” Her mouth snapped shut and her act dropped the minute she was able to identify the newcomer.
