Vow of Deception (The Ministry of Curiosities #9)(38)

"You were brave too. Seth, your mother was a marvel. She acted her role brilliantly, and with no rehearsal or prompting required."

Seth stared at them both, his mouth ajar. "You removed the files, didn't you?"

They both nodded.

"All of them?" I asked.

"Give us some credit, Charlie," Lady Vickers said. "We may not be able to raise the dead, see into the future, or strike a blow with fists, but we are not entirely useless."

"Then do tell how you managed it."

"I suspected what the police wanted," Alice said, taking a seat on the sofa. Lady Vickers sat next to her, quite close. They both still sported smiles. "As soon as I realized you were all in here being interrogated, I went up to the attic to hide the records. I removed the filing cabinet drawers and carried them out of the attic to my bedchamber. I even remembered the ones on the desk. It took three trips but I retrieved all of the records before the constables searched the attic."

"They searched the attic before the bedchambers," Lady Vickers said. "Indeed, they left those to last, and the attic second last."

"It gave me plenty of time," Alice went on, "and I was able to use the service stairs to quickly navigate between floors. By that time, Lady V was delaying them."

"I also knew what they were doing, but not Alice's activities. I thought only to slow their progress to give you time to convince them to leave, Lincoln. I carried on and on about violations of privacy and the like, and I even pretended to faint at one point."

"Faint!" Seth snorted. "Poor man who had to catch you."

"Indeed," his mother said with a laugh. Seth chuckled too.

"But they did search your room, Alice," I said. "So where did you hide the files?"

"I stripped the sheets from my bed and tipped the contents of the drawers into them. I then pricked my thumb with a needle from my sewing basket and gathered up the linen with the files inside the bundle. Of course some of the blood from my thumb got on the sheets. I stacked the drawers inside the cupboard where they did not seem out of place and waited until I could hear sounds of activity in the corridor. I opened the door and pretended to have just woken from a sleep and needed to urgently take the soiled linen to the housekeeper."

"And they just let you pass?" Gus asked.

"I pleaded the women's curse," she said, avoiding his gaze. "The young constable turned as red as a radish."

Gus suddenly didn't know where to look. "I don't blame him."

"He did," Lady Vickers said. "I'd followed them upstairs and performed quite the hysterical show, begging them not to violate us poor women. I saw Alice and realized what she was doing and went along with her story. I convinced them that her courses are a source of difficulty for her and they ought not embarrass her over it. She blushed on cue and hurried past them, her head bowed. It was quite the performance."

"As was yours, madam."

Lady Vickers touched Alice's hand. "We made a good team."

"What did you do with the files?" Lincoln asked.

"They're in the basement," Alice said. "Still wrapped up in my linen."

Lincoln strode off, but paused at the door. "Thank you, ladies. Your quick thinking and bravery saved us. Those records go back a very long way. The information they contain is invaluable to the ministry, both now and in the future."

"Invaluable and dangerous if the wrong hands get a hold of them," Alice said darkly.

I leaned down and hugged her. Like me, she had a lot to worry about if the government learned what we were. Our every move would be tracked to the end of our days, at the very least.

I suppressed my shiver and kissed her and Lady Vickers on their cheeks before picking up my skirts and racing after Lincoln. I thought he would go to the basement, but he went to his rooms. He slid the painting that hung on his wall aside and checked the safe behind it.

"Has it been opened?" I asked.

He shook his head but turned the dial several times and opened it anyway. He swiftly checked the contents then closed the safe door and spun the dial. "They didn't find it," he said, straightening the picture.

"That's a relief."

The safe contained several documents, the most important of which were details of a secret deposit box at the bank. As well as the ministry's financial documents, the deposit box contained a codebook that mapped all the codes Lincoln used when noting information about supernaturals. Since his memory was formidable, his notes were generally meant for the rest of us in the ministry. I was the only other person who knew the wall safe's code so if anything happened to him, I could access it. If the police had found the safe and the deposit box details, the ministry's secrets would be exposed.

"Shall we move the files from the basement?" I asked.

"Not yet. We'll do it under cover of darkness tonight. Wear something you don't mind getting dirty."

We left his rooms and met with Seth and Gus on the staircase on their way up. "Seth, find out everything you can on Yallop. I want to know why he wants to close down the ministry."

"You think he has a personal agenda?" Seth asked.

"I'm not sure."

"He did seem vehement in his enthusiasm," I said.