I gave them a long look, feeling shy. “If you both,” I said, voice nervous. “If… if you both wanted to come visit me, back in America, I’d like that.”
“A visit to see the enchantress across the pond?” Humphrey exclaimed. “Why, we’d board the next flight! Isn’t that right, Reg?”
“That is right,” Reggie said kindly.
I breathed out again, happy to see a bit of Humphrey’s lightness return. It was going to be a long journey for Humphrey to accept the real role Bernard Allerton played in his life and the significant loss of a friendship he’d held dear for six decades. It wouldn’t come easy.
Maybe the tiniest amount of good could come out of this. Shifting the scales of justice, making the world better—bit by bit, person by person.
Abe, Delilah and Henry, Freya and Sam. Humphrey and Reggie. Over one week’s time, the circle of people I could trust had expanded to include all of these names.
“You two would make a fine pair of uncles,” I said, nudging his arm. Humphrey guffawed, clapping his hands in the air. He was going to be okay in the end. I could tell.
“And Reggie and I have often longed for a niece,” he exclaimed. Reggie nodded, laughed.
I smiled, chin in my hands, feeling less and less like the daughter of two con artists and more and more like the woman with a future she’d never seen coming.
“Now go get in there and be with your family,” Humphrey said. “Reggie and I will need to make some arrangements for the Society, start to unravel this shit mess Bernard and Eudora have landed us in.”
I stood and brushed dirt from my dress. “For what it’s worth, my money is on you being the next president, Humphrey.”
He clutched his chest. “Slayed! Again!”
Laughing, I gave him a final wave, then ducked close to the door to make one final call as I eyed the jubilant Codex team through the window. Louisa’s voice, when she answered, was strung tight with nerves.
“It’s a very, very long story,” I began. “But I just watched Bernard Allerton be placed in handcuffs.”
I could hear her sharp intake of breath. “Where was he?”
“London,” I said, smiling up at the starry sky. “In Adler’s Bookshop living in a secret apartment built behind a bookshelf.”
“My god,” she said.
“I’ll be in tomorrow,” I said. “I’m sure you’ll be receiving a call from the authorities soon. And I’ll tell you everything. But my contract has been completed.”
Nothing about this case had gone as I’d envisioned it. Yet everything missing in my life had suddenly appeared and made my success possible.
“Thank you, Sloane,” Louisa said. “You did an amazing thing tonight.”
I hung up. Smiled again to myself. And finally opened the door and entered the pub.
“There she is,” Freya cheered, waving a bottle of champagne. “Our sixth team member.” They gave me a silly round of applause, and I paused to bow, catching Abe’s flirtatious grin.
“How are Humphrey and Reggie doing?” Henry asked.
I took the glass of champagne Delilah handed to me. “Heartbroken yet strong. I have a feeling Humphrey and Reggie will be in our lives for years to come.”
“I’d welcome that,” Abe said. “There’s a lot that we don’t know about tonight. Bernard’s ultimate plan, who he was using, the key players. The fates of James Patrick, of Eudora, of Peter. It might take a while, but I look forward to doing that work with all of you.”
Henry raised his glass of champagne and faced all of us. Delilah was wrapped around his side, gazing at him with pure devotion. “I’d like to give a toast to Bernard.”
“Uh, what?” Freya said.
Henry smiled. “That man did his best to destroy everything he touched, let money and greed take priority over our shared culture and history. And instead of believing in the power of books, he used them. Used people, too. The night I first met Abe was the worst night of my entire life. But—” Henry paused to kiss the top of Delilah’s head. “He’s the reason we’re all here, together. He is the reason I’m going to marry Delilah in three months. He’s the reason Sam