When the unearthly noise occured, Elspeth startled. "Oh!" Heart hammering in her ribcage, she stared at Father Verdoux, fingers curling around the pendant that hung from her neck. It took a few seconds for her muscles to respond, but she squeezed his shoulder and charged down the corridor, hoping that the priest was close to her heels. A calamity of footsteps could be heard all over the house, as people ran to investigate the sound.
Outside the study, she skidded to slow her momentum. She drew the little dagger from her reticule and poked her head around the door frame. But there was nothing in the room, save for a giant desk covered in cloth and rows of bookshelves. "What? How can that be?" Elspeth scurried around the desk and crouched down, searching for a person hiding beneath it.