I had a problem.
Actually, I had several, but the one currently occupying my attention was considerably more personal than the others.
Garret liked Felix.
Not me. Felix.
Well, technically, she liked me, but only when I was wearing someone else’s face. It was a rather ridiculous situation, and the more I thought about it, the more I realised how thoroughly I’d managed to complicate something that should have been relatively simple.
I had spent weeks building a relationship with her under an assumed identity. I’d taken her on dates, listened to her complaints about the estate and allowed her to believe that there might be something developing between us. Now I was supposed to approach her as Joseph, Felix’s cousin, and somehow convince her that I was worth getting to know.
It would have been easier if I could simply tell her the truth.
Unfortunately, explaining that the man she’d been dating was actually his own cousin wearing his face wasn’t exactly a conversation I was prepared to have.
I sighed as I adjusted my uniform and made my way through the estate’s service corridor. My position as Felix’s cousin had given me considerably more freedom than my previous attempts at infiltration. I could move around without constantly worrying about someone recognising the face I was wearing, and I had access to parts of the estate that would have been difficult to reach otherwise.
There was also the matter of Garret.
I’d seen her earlier that morning, carrying a stack of documents towards the household office. She’d greeted me politely, as she usually did, but there was something about the way she’d looked at me that suggested she was still trying to work out what to make of my presence.
I couldn’t blame her.
I’d made no effort to hide my interest when we’d first met, and she probably thought I was simply another man who had mistaken her politeness for encouragement.
Perhaps I had.
Still, I wanted to see where things could go, and I wasn’t particularly interested in abandoning the possibility without trying.
I found her in the adjoining storeroom, checking several boxes against a list. She had placed the inventory sheets on a nearby table, and a small pile of documents was already beginning to form beside her.
"You’re working rather hard," I remarked as I approached.
Garret looked up, and her expression changed slightly when she recognised me.
"Mr Joseph. I didn’t realise you were coming through here."
"I hope I’m not interrupting anything."
"Not particularly. I was just checking the latest delivery."
I glanced at the boxes. "More inventory problems?"
She let out a tired breath. "You have no idea. I’ve spent half the morning trying to find out why two items were recorded as delivered when they never arrived."
"That sounds frustrating."
"It is. And somehow, I’m the one who gets questioned whenever something goes missing."
I pulled out a nearby chair and turned it around, resting my arms against its back.
"Have you tried using that system we discussed?"
"I have, actually. It’s helped with some of the smaller deliveries, although I haven’t had time to organise everything properly."
"Well, that’s progress."
She gave me a faint smile before returning her attention to the papers. I watched her for a moment, considering how to approach the conversation I actually wanted to have.
There was no point pretending I’d come all this way just to discuss inventory.
"Garret, do you have a moment?"
She looked up again. "Is something wrong?"
"No, nothing like that. I just wanted to speak with you."
"About the records?"
"Not exactly."
Her expression became more guarded. She placed the papers down and straightened slightly.
"Then what is it?"
I smiled, trying to keep the conversation from becoming unnecessarily awkward.
"I was wondering whether you’d be interested in having dinner with me sometime."
For a moment, she simply stared at me.
Then her eyes narrowed slightly.
"With you?"
I tilted my head. "Unless there’s someone else standing here."
"Mr Joseph..."
"Joseph is fine."
She looked away, appearing somewhat uncomfortable. Her fingers moved towards the edge of the inventory sheet, which she began straightening despite there being nothing wrong with it.
"I’m not sure that’s a good idea."
I raised an eyebrow. "May I ask why?"
She hesitated before looking back at me.
"It’s just... I thought you knew."
"Knew what?"
Her expression suggested that she was struggling to find a polite way of saying something she considered rather obvious.
"Well, I thought there was something developing between your cousin and me."
Ah.
There it was.
I leaned back slightly, suppressing the urge to laugh at the sheer absurdity of my situation.
Of course.
Why wouldn’t there be?
"Felix?" I asked, making a point of appearing surprised.
She nodded. "We’ve been spending time together."
"I see."
"And we’ve gone out a few times," she added, perhaps feeling the need to explain herself. "I don’t know if he’s mentioned anything to you, but I thought..."
She trailed off, looking increasingly embarrassed.
I almost felt sorry for her.
Almost.
After all, the man she’d been spending time with and the man standing in front of her were, in a rather inconvenient sense, the same person.
"Has he said something to you?" I asked.
Garret shook her head. "Not exactly. But I thought things were going somewhere. He’s been rather attentive lately, and I suppose I started thinking there might be something between us."
She lowered her gaze.
"I don’t want you to misunderstand, Mr Joseph. I enjoy speaking with you, but I wouldn’t feel comfortable going on a date with my... well, with someone whose cousin I’m already seeing."
"That’s fair."
She looked up, apparently surprised by how easily I’d accepted it.
"You’re not offended?"
"Why would I be? You haven’t done anything wrong."
"I just don’t want there to be any misunderstanding."
"There isn’t."
I gave her a reassuring smile, although internally I was beginning to appreciate the full extent of the mess I’d created.
Garret had every reason to feel uncomfortable. From her perspective, Felix was a man she’d been dating, and I was his cousin attempting to pursue her. There was no reason she should welcome my advances, particularly when she believed there might be something serious developing between the two of them.
I couldn’t exactly blame her for preferring the handsome guard.
I was handsome too, obviously, but apparently that wasn’t enough to overcome the inconvenience of being related to the man she liked.
"Besides," I continued, "I wouldn’t want you to feel as though you have to accept simply because we’re working in the same household."
She seemed to relax a little.
"Thank you for understanding."
"Of course. I wouldn’t want to make things uncomfortable for you."
Garret smiled, though there was still a trace of awkwardness in her expression.
"I appreciate that."
I pushed myself away from the chair and straightened my uniform.
"Well, I should probably let you get back to work. I imagine those records aren’t going to organise themselves."
She laughed softly.
"Unfortunately, they aren’t."
"Then I wish you luck. You’re going to need it."
"Thank you, Mr Joseph."
I started towards the door, but her voice stopped me.
"Joseph?"
I turned.
"Yes?"
"Please don’t misunderstand. I do think you’re a nice person. I just..."
She seemed unsure how to finish.
I smiled.
"Don’t worry about it, Garret. I understand."
She nodded, looking relieved.
I left the storeroom without pressing the matter any further.
Well, that had gone about as expected.
I had successfully managed to ask a woman who was already romantically interested in me, albeit under a different face, to go on a date with me. And she’d rejected me because she was interested in the other version of myself.
I couldn’t decide whether that was impressive or deeply pathetic.
Perhaps both.
I continued through the corridor, eventually reaching the section of the estate where the household records were kept. My little conversation with Garret hadn’t been entirely fruitless. She’d mentioned that two items had been recorded as delivered when they hadn’t arrived, and that was precisely the sort of discrepancy I needed to pay attention to.
It could have been an ordinary mistake. Suppliers made errors, servants miscounted deliveries and merchants occasionally recorded payments before goods arrived.
But given what I’d already discovered during my previous infiltration, I wasn’t particularly inclined to dismiss it.
The question was whether these discrepancies were isolated incidents or part of something larger.
I slowed as I approached the records office. Two servants were standing near the entrance, discussing an upcoming shipment. One of them held a document while the other pointed towards a series of figures.
"...and the eastern route is still delayed?"
"That’s what I was told. Apparently, the arrangements haven’t been finalised."
"Again? I thought the Vellmores had already settled the matter."
"They’ve settled some of it. Not everything."
I continued walking, careful not to draw attention to myself.
The eastern route.
I remembered the documents from my previous infiltration, particularly the suspicious payments and the meeting involving the Thorn Collective. At the time, I hadn’t been able to establish exactly what the organisation wanted from House Vellmore. Perhaps the proposed trade arrangements were connected, although I still lacked enough information to make that conclusion.
I needed to know who was receiving the payments and why.
More importantly, I needed to find out whether the Collective was acting independently or whether someone within Vellmore was directing its activities.
I reached the end of the corridor and stopped beside a window.
There was another problem, though.
Maren.
I had no idea how much progress she’d made with her investigation, but I knew she wasn’t the sort of person to abandon something once she’d become interested in it. If she was already looking into Sera Voss and the Thorn Collective, there was a possibility that our investigations would eventually overlap.
That could be useful.
It could also become a problem if either of us moved too quickly.
I wasn’t particularly interested in having my infiltration exposed because someone decided to confront the wrong person at the wrong time.
For now, I would keep my head down, maintain my position at Vellmore and see what I could learn from the household records.
As for Garret...
I glanced back towards the storeroom.
Well, that was going to be interesting.
I couldn’t exactly blame her for preferring Felix. After all, I’d spent a considerable amount of time making sure she did.
Perhaps I should have thought that one through a little better.
I shook my head and continued towards the records office.
One problem at a time.