A split-second of anger flickered across James’s face before he concealed it. I caught it, and I guessed Sloane did as well. “Eudora’s told me so much about you,” he said. His handshake was much too tight, jaw much too clenched. Sloane sized him up like a sparring partner she couldn’t wait to defeat.
“Has she?” Sloane asked. “What an absolute treasure. Daniel and I have been delighted by the warm reception she’s given to us, especially since we know how busy she is.”
Security guards appeared at the far edges of the room—a solid flank of stoic muscle. They wore uniforms identifying them as Kensley security, not Dresden, but I felt confident they were for Sloane and me.
“A treasure she is,” James said. “Humphrey, do you have a moment?”
“I do not!” Humphrey said, clapping James on the arm across the table. “I only have eyes for this at the moment, as do my esteemed guests.”
Sloane cast a sideways glance my way. Thank fucking god for Humphrey Hatcher. Of all the people I thought might be inadvertently helping me catch Bernard Allerton, I’d never anticipated it being his best friend. Another guest grabbed James’s attention, but I didn’t miss the scathing look he cast my way.
The table we stepped up to displayed the contents of Arthur Conan Doyle’s undiscovered private effects, which Humphrey was viewing with the devotional posture of a penitent.
“This,” he said, tapping the glass. “This is the man’s wallet. His wallet. Have you ever seen such a thing?”
Sloane bent over, looking sincerely captivated. I stared at her beautiful profile, backlit by the golden light, similarly captivated. When she placed her hand on Humphrey’s arm, there was such vulnerability in the gesture. I hoped, more than anything, that Humphrey Hatcher was an innocent man. Maybe it was his affectionately paternal nature that drew both Sloane and me in, that grabbed our trust and held on tight. While I at least had two mothers and Codex in my life, Sloane had not a single soul—not a funny cousin or a kind uncle or a grandparent she could call.
“It makes him human,” she said, smiling when Humphrey’s face brightened. “Brings him closer to us.”
“Enchantress, you read my soul,” he said. “To think of a genius using something as pedestrian as a wallet. I mean, it boggles even the most serene of minds. And this, see this right here? A letter to his brother, Kingsley, before he passed away after the war. These are drawings… Reggie, look at the drawings.”
Sloane was laughing, following along with Humphrey’s antics, asking questions about every single item beneath that glass. She was one hell of an undercover agent, but the woman in front of me was honestly connecting with these two scholars. It was no cover, no lie, no con.
I bent down and kissed the ball of her shoulder.
Also not part of our cover.
Every item, Humphrey exclaimed over. “We’d heard he kept letters from Teddy Roosevelt, but to see them in bloody person. Daniel, look the man’s signature. So bold!”
I bent down and eyeballed a small piece of history—a letter exchanged between two famous men who respected each other. This letter, preserving it, protecting it, that was what Codex was. I saw Sam and Freya speaking to a group of people, felt Sloane’s hand in mine, knew Delilah was patrolling the parking lot while Henry was searching for missing clues. Every single one of us was vital to protect the history right in front of us.
“Extraordinary,” I said. “A once-in-a-lifetime experience. I’m saddened to think of these items disappearing into a private collector’s hands tomorrow, if I can be brutally honest.”
“We all are,” Reggie said sadly. “These belong with the Society.”
“I won’t be able to bear the auction tomorrow,” Humphrey said. “Not now that I’m seeing them here like this.”
I scanned the crowd and found James speaking with Eudora, caught the guards at various hallways leading away from this main room. We’d studied a map online today back at the hotel and knew there to be three exits, this front entrance, and a giant basement of storage we were positive was heavily secured. And where were the—
“Oh, I love being betrayed by my closest colleagues,” Eudora said in a voice that sounded sweet but dripped poison. All four of us turned from the table. She beamed a nasty smile our way, flanked by two security guards.
“Humphrey, didn’t I ask the Society not to associate with these two liars?” she asked.