Larry had called with a parcel for an imaginary tenant earlier in the evening, and had not only marked in his memory the stairs that creaked, but had also ascertained that Vining’s door would be comparatively simple to open.
As it lessened the chance of people coming in and catching us, we mounted the second flight at once. We were almost in darkness, I could see nothing, and the necessity for speed coupled with the need for making absolutely no sound had me, at least, keyed up to a pretty high pitch.
We were half-way up the second flight, on our hands and knees fortunately, and maneuvering a creaky step, when a door opened in the hall just below us, letting out a flood of light. Fortunately it came from a chandelier high up in the room beyond and did not reach the spot where we stood. But it was nervous work, standing, or rather crouching, with one knee in the air, while that woman put out her light, locked the door and proceeded down the stairs to the front door.
A moment later we stood in the dim hall in front of Vining’s door and donned our masks.
I stood and waited while Larry let go of my hand and stooped down. I heard a little scraping sound, a chink as of metal striking metal and then a sharp crack, that sounded as loud as a big gun in the silent hall. We stood still for a moment, but nothing happened.
“There you are, sor,” came Larry’s cheerful whisper. “You go ahead and I’ll foller and hide.”
So, with a little electric torch in one hand and the other held out blindly before me, I crept into the darkness that was, presumably, Vining’s entrance hall.
After a moment I heard the front door close softly behind me, and then I ventured to use the torch.
Have you ever gone into a strange house and tried to make out the lay of the land with a pocket torch? The torch shows up only one tiny spot at a time, and when you have swept it all over one article of furniture and made out its general dimensions, you have forgotten everything else!
However, I found my way through the tiny hall and into a room on the left, which appeared to be a sitting-room. This room was dimly lit with a faint radiance that filtered in from the street below, and I was able to make out the distribution of the furniture. One of the first things I noticed was a desk in the far corner by the window, and I decided that that was my goal. Larry was still at my heels.