“‘Has anybody seen my girl?’” Leo bellowed, more aggressively now.
Balancing on her toes on the top step, Vivian nudged the door closed. Every sound seemed magnified to a hundred times its normal volume as she turned the handle back slowly so the latch would catch without clicking. As soon as the door was shut, she let out the breath she had been holding.
“Honor?” she whispered. “Can we get out the back while they’re busy at the front?”
She could just barely make out the two voices through the cheap, flimsy wood of the door. Honor’s soft exhale brushed her cheek, and she felt Honor fumble for her hands before pressing the pocket light into them. “You stay here and listen for them. I’ll get the door open while they’re busy up there. Count to thirty, then come down, unless it sounds like they’re going around back. If that happens, flash that thing down the stairs quick as you can, okay?”
“Got it.” Vivian pressed her ear to the door, beginning to count slowly in her head and trying not to jump at the creak of the stairs under Honor’s feet. If she had stopped to think at all, she would have been terrified, but there was no time for that. She strained to hear both the faint voices on the other side of the door and the rustle and bumpof the cellar door as Honor eased it open. They were going to make it, she thought, heady with relief. Soon they’d be out in the night and slipping away.
Then, just as her count reached thirty, a tremendous crash echoed through the shop. Vivian flinched, instinctively ducking into a crouch on the top step at the sound of shattering glass. The sound of gruff and deep male voices suddenly grew louder.
Feeling like her heart was trying to leap straight out of her throat, and all too conscious of the valuable dress slung over her back, Vivian slipped down the stairs, still in a crouch, as though that would somehow save her if they found their way to the cellar door. Her path through the storage room was faintly illuminated by the dim square of night where Honor had the alley door open. She was waiting at the top of the steps, one hand outstretched.
Vivian grabbed it, weak with relief as Honor helped her scramble out of the shop’s basement. Without a word, they both grabbed the edge of the heavy door to ease it shut. Vivian was shaking so much she could barely keep her hands on it. There was a faintthumpas it closed, and then Vivian was searching the ground to find the padlock. Honor snatched it from her hands, clamping it into place. Though Vivian knew a sound that quiet would be lost in the noise of the city, it still seemed to echo through the alley. She and Honor both crouched against the wall of the building, half-hidden among the broken crates and trash bins, waiting to see what was going to happen.
“Can we leave down the other end?” Vivian whispered. Worried about what the dress might be pressed against, she slid the bag off her back and clutched it in her arms.
She felt Honor shake her head. “I checked. Dead end. It’s a solid wall. We get out toward the street or not at all.”
Vivian held back a whimper. She could hear the crunch of glass, now, and the sounds of the two cops having a heated argument in low voices.
“I told you there wasn’t anyone in there. What the hell did you want to go breaking the glass for?”
“I’m telling you, I saw someone moving inside. Who’s going to fuss over a little broken window when we catch the bastards robbing the place?”
“Yeah, but I don’t see us catching anyone. So we’d better beat it out of here unless we want to be the ones accused of breaking and entering.”
“Keep your shirt on, pal, we still haven’t finished looking around yet. There’s an alley or something down there.”
Both women tensed. “Vivian, get behind me,” Honor whispered.
But Vivian couldn’t move. They were half-hidden, pressed against the rough brick wall of the building. As long as no one actually came toward them…
Two figures appeared at the end of the alley. Silhouetted in the glow of the streetlamp, they loomed menacingly against the night, their faces dark and unreadable.
Vivian took a deep breath. It was her fault that Honor was there, and if Honor was arrested for burglary, everyone at the Nightingale would suffer. If Vivian turned herself in, it might distract them enough for Honor to get away and turn over the dress. Vivian would be arrested, there was no way around that. Her stomach turned over at the thought. But both Honor and Florence would be safe.
Vivian took a deep breath. “Don’t move,” she whispered, pressing the bag with its valuable cargo into Honor’s hands.
“What are you doing—” Honor tried to grab at Vivian, to keep her where she was, but she was just a breath too slow.
But just as Vivian stood up, the night erupted in song once more.
“‘Everybody loves my baby, but my baby don’t love nobody but me, nobody but me!’”
The two police officers both jumped and spun around, one of them making a gesture like he was reaching for a weapon before he realized what was going on. Vivian froze, stunned into stillness.
“Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, he’s back,” Gruff Voice groaned loudly.
Neither of the cops was looking at the alley now. Honor grabbed Vivian’s arm and yanked her back down. “What the hell do you think you weredoing?” Honor hissed. Vivian could hear her voice shaking.
The singing was still going. “‘Everybody wants my baby, but my baby don’t want nobody but me, that’s plain to seeeee…’” Leo stumbled into view, throwing an arm around one of the two stunned men. “Fellas, who’s up for a nightcap?”
“Buddy, you must really want to end up in the drunk tank tonight,” Deep Voice said through gritted teeth. Vivian could see him struggling to dislodge Leo’s arm.
“I wish it were true,” Leo went on, his voice wobbling up and down like he was trying not to cry. “Shedoesn’twant me, you know. I should be singing that other one instead. ‘After you’ve gone and left me crying…’ You know that one?”
“Look here—”
