Over the threshold, Emily skidded to a halt to get her bearings as her eyes adjusted to the darkness.Eliza was already across the room, crouching down in front of Dr.Stone’s office door.
“Turn on the light, I need to see,” she shouted to Emily, who located the switch.The overheads flickered to life and she wove her way through the maze of beds and over to Eliza, trying to catch her breath.She watched, face screwed up against the continued noise as the girl squinted into the keyhole, working with a paper clip in each hand.
The noise from the floor above had ceased, but Emily could still hear the prisoners below.They’d never had a fire drill, and she wondered where they were congregating.The dining hall, perhaps, though the matrons might risk taking them all outside.Surely the fire brigade was on its way.Her pulse pounded as she wondered what would happen when the firemen arrived.Would that extend or cut short the time they had available in Stone’s office?
“How much long—”
“It ain’t akey!”Eliza snapped.
Emily’s finger drummed her own thigh in agitation.“Eliza—”
There was a tinnyclinkas something fell to the floor.“Damn it!”Eliza swore.“It broke!”She scrambled to pick up the pieces of the paper clip, then threw them away in anger.
Emily’s eyes darted around the infirmary for something small, something metal.Anything they could use to pick the lock…
“Wait!Here!”she gasped, reaching up and pulling the hairpins out of her bun.
“Oh thank Jesus,” Eliza breathed, snatching them.
A full minute later, she grunted, then gasped and withdrew the pins.They were in.
The room was small, with no window.There was a desk and chair in one corner, a spindly table upon which sat a hot plate, teapot and set of cups, and a coat tree with two of Stone’s white jackets hanging a few inches off the floor, hovering like ghosts above an old brass umbrella stand.
And there: the filing cabinet, just where June said it would be.
“Shit,” Eliza said, and Emily’s heart fell.There were four drawers, each with an individual lock.They were labelled:
A-E
F-L
M-S
T-Z
Emily tugged on each in turn, but of course they didn’t budge.
The relentless clang of the fire bell paused in its rhythm, and in the distance, they heard the unmistakable wail of a siren.Panic spiked in Emily’s chest, and for a moment she debated abandoning the operation.
“Which one first?”Eliza began.“We don’t have time fer all a them.”
“Um, M to S,” Emily answered quickly.Her own file would at least tell her something of the drug trial in practice.There would be notes about her treatment, and possibly something more incriminating about the trial itself, the date of infection or some such detail.
Eliza dropped down and began to work at the lock as Emily stood behind her, feeling helpless.The sirens had abated, which meant the firemen were at the prison now.
How much time do we have?
Three or four agonizing minutes later, Eliza let out a hiss of satisfaction as she wrenched the door open.
“Yes!Eliza, well done!”Emily nearly shouted to be heard over the bell.
“Which one next?”
“F to L.I need Annie’s,” Emily said.
“Why—?”
“Just do it, please!”
