And Alice’s brain, having restored itself, collapsed again.
“Uhngh,” she said.
Daniel gave her a slightly perplexed look, then turned to insert the pin into the door. Alice hastily tidied her consciousness yet again. She did not tap even one finger. She was after all a master spy! Her entire focus remained on the mission’s sex.
No, wait—the mission’ssuccess.
Suddenly, footsteps sounded.
“Quick,” Daniel whispered, turning to Alice and angling himself so the door’s lock was hidden. “Act married!”
Someone appeared around the nearby corridor... Daniel reached for her...
“And furthermore,”Alice said in a strident voice, slapping his hand away and shoving her fists against her hips. “When you take off your shirt at the end of the day, you should leave it in the hamper, not on the floor!”
Stunned, Daniel opened his mouth to reply, but closed it again wordless. There would have been no time for him to respond in any case, for the person was upon them.
“I say! Fancy seeing you here, what!”
“Snodgrass.” Daniel directed a chilling stare at the scientist, who grinned back cheerfully. Behind him came a footman carrying a ladder. “What are you up to, Doctor?”
“Up to?” The scientist’s limbs jerked slightly, as if they’d taken the question as a command to jump.
“Why do you have a ladder?” Alice specified.
“Oh! It belongs to this fellow. We simply happen to be going in the same direction and fell into chatting, ha ha. I say, what areyouup to?” He peered at the door behind them. “Trying to open that? Ah! I can help! I have a specially designed key here somewhere.” He patted his various pockets; something buzzed, and smoke puffed from the hem of one trouser leg.
“We don’t need it,” Daniel said hastily.
“No, no, I’m sure I have it, my own particular invention, what, and it’s the perfect gadget for a—”
Daniel closed his eyes. Alice flapped a hand at the scientist, mouthingGo! Quickly!, and the man finally had enough sense to do as he was told. By the time Daniel opened his eyes again, Snodgrass was almost to the end of the corridor, out of the range of assassination.
The footman lingered, however. Biting his lip nervously, he glanced along each direction of the corridor, then leaned forward.
“I heard you brought down a pack of thieves in St. James using only two fingers and a hat,” he said. “Don’t suppose you could teach me how?”
He was allowed to leave in full possession of his life and limbs because killing a man who held a ladder would inevitably be noisy.
Watching the footman run after Snodgrass, Alice exhaled. “That was a close call. I feared if Dr. Snodgrass patted one more pocket he might explode.”
“Hm,” Daniel said, packing into one syllable a fervent monologueon how much he wished such a thing would happen. He unlocked the door to Frederick’s office and peered inside.
“Clear.”
They entered and, closing the door behind them, began searching the room. But no weapon lay hidden behind its several mirrors, nor amongst the colognes and hair-care products cluttering its desk, nor inside the mannequin dressed in a white shirt and pink silk waistcoat.
“Ned Lightbourne has a waistcoat just like this,” Daniel remarked, inspecting the garment’s pockets in case a catastrophically dangerous assassination device was hidden inside their two inches of space.
Alice set down a locket containing Jane’s portrait and, turning, noticed several marks on the floor. “What are these?” she asked, bemused.
Daniel regarded them thoughtfully for a moment, then began to follow them with his feet.
“It’s the tango,” he said, moving with the easy, fluid grace of a man whose body was a finely honed weapon. “Frederick must be trying to learn.”
“He doesn’t seem the type who would dance well,” Alice mused.
Daniel turned on his heel and followed the marks back again. “What type would that be?”
