Noel got in through the servant's door at the back of the house, through the kitchen corridor, and up the narrow back staircase that the staff used.
Noel was three steps from his room when he heard it.
A scream — sharp, high, cut off quickly — and then a crash that rattled through the upper floor like something heavy meeting the ground without ceremony.
He stopped.
He stood in the corridor for one full second and thought about all the reasons walking away was the sensible choice. He was supposed to be invisible in this house. Arthur was somewhere downstairs or maybe gone. The whole point of entering through the servant's entrance was to avoid notice, and walking toward a noise in the upper wing was the opposite of that.
Then he thought about the only non-servant woman in this house was only Evelina. That means, the sound was from her
He turned and walked toward the sound.
.
.
Evelina's room was at the end of the east corridor, the third door on the right.
