A Cat Called Kat

Chapter Twenty-Three - The Descent into Hell

I was a bit surprised to see the same guard that I'd patched up a couple of days before, sitting outside Slimeball's room... but nothing like as surprised as he was to see me out of my room in the middle of the night. "I've just thought of something," I told him. "I need to go and see Giulia straight away. You can check up with Simone if you like."

I knew that there was no way he would be doing that. I mean... Slimeball was in there with one of his women... it didn't need great feats of imagination to work out how he'd react if anyone was stupid enough to disturb him for anything less than an out-and-out invasion!

And, anyway, I didn't give him the chance to tell me what he thought about the matter because I'd disappeared up the stairs to the servant's bit of the house before he got the chance to quiz me about it.

It was all still and silent in the corridor upstairs... and impossibly creepy. I expected to bump into one of the guards at any moment and really didn't know what I would do if I did. I took the pistol out but I really didn't think I'd be able to use the thing on anyone who wasn't actually trying to attack me.

What I did not expect was to turn a corner and pretty much bump into La Governante who was sitting on a chair in the middle of the corridor. We both froze for a bit. I don't suppose she'd been expecting to see me either... particularly not carrying a gun.

After a couple of seconds, I managed to work out that she was taking the job of looking after the younger girls really seriously. This had to be where Giulia and the others slept. "Good evening," I said in Italian after looking around to check that there was nobody else about.

"Good evening, Miss," she replied, sort of getting her head back together. "How may I assist you?"

I thought for a bit. "Do you have access to a toolbox?" I asked. It was worth the risk. She was already pretty much in on my conspiracy... particularly now she'd seen the pistol.

Her eyebrows pretty much went walkabout at that but, without a word, she led me along the corridor and unlocked a door. Inside there was a well-equipped workshop and handyman's store. I quickly selected a solid-looking screwdriver and a couple of bits of heavy-duty wire. Then, after thanking her, I went on my way.

I'd never really paid any attention when I'd been staying there but I'd worked out that there pretty much had to be a servant's staircase in the north wing too and, luckily, I was right. It even had the window in the right place - it would have looked out over the courtyard at the back of the house except the view was blocked by the shutter things. I thought back to Caroline's 'breaking out of a building' lessons for a moment and then attacked the lock with the screwdriver.

After a couple of minutes, I'd managed to force the thing. I'd made a bit of a mess of it and I'd been a bit noisier than I'd have liked but nobody seemed to have noticed. And at least I had a way out.

The window was high... quite a bit higher than I'd have liked... But I climbed out and dangled down as far as I could. Then, opening my mouth and willing myself to stay relaxed, I simply let go.

I sort of scraped down the wall and let my knees flex on landing, doing the rolling over thing that Caroline had taught me to take out the impact. The crash as I'd landed sounded terrifyingly loud so I froze for a moment but nobody seemed to have noticed so I climbed to my feet and checked myself over... a couple of cuts and bruises but I'd live.

I roughly knew where I was going but I stayed close in against the building, rather than chopping straight across the courtyard, trying to lose myself in the shadows. It was hard to be quiet, with the limestone chippings underfoot, so I forced myself to move slowly and cautiously. There were guards up on the roof above me but they would have to lean right out and look down to spot me so, as long as I didn't make too much noise, I ought to be OK.