“High theft,” said Maud delightedly.
Edwin stood too. “Well. Yes. We think that Lady Enid visited the Lockroom at some point and made a switch, removing someone’s hair box and substituting the knife of the Last Contract.”
“She made the Assembly do the hiding for her,” said Violet. “I adore it.”
“Ironic, then,” said Jack, “if the Assembly has been ripping up carpets and killing people in order to find something that’s been under their noses all along. It seems risky, as hiding places go.”
“The Barrel is a crossing point for ley lines,” said Edwin. “Even more so than Sutton Cottage, and in fact they have a line in common. Think of it like Underground stations. I suspect that’s why that site in London was chosen for the Barrel in the first place. I’m not certain that the knife is there,” he warned. “Mrs. Sutton said that a piece of the contract would create a heavier footprint on the ley lines, if hidden in a place of power, and that’s how Bastoke’s people suspected she had the coin in the first place. I would have thought they’d have found the knife even more easily if it was somewhere as magic-dense as the Barrel. But it’s still the best lead we have.”
“Edwin went to see Kitty Kaur today,” said Robin. “She knows the Barrel better than any of us. We aren’t telling her everything, Addy. I don’t want her and Singh put in a difficult position if things go wrong.”
“If we’re caught stealing from the Barrel, after what happened at Violet’s hearing? Yes, that would qualify as going wrong,” said Jack.
“Then we don’t get caught.” Maud reached out an absent hand and took Violet’s. “Edwin, Robin? Do you have a plan?”
“So far what we have is a list of problems,” said Robin. “But thanks to Kitty, it’s at least an accurate list.”
He and Edwin took them through it, Edwin with the help of a notebook in which he’d written everything that Mrs. Kaur had told them.
Every visit made to the Lockroom to register a new magician—or to use one’s hair to locate them, though this was much rarer—was entered in the record book. Full name of requester, full name of the magician whose box was added or fetched. The same enormous ledger had been in use since the Barrel was built. It should therefore be possible to see if Lady Enid had made a visit to the Lockroom, and whose box she requested in order to make a switch.
“It could have been her own, her son’s, her husband’s—anyone’s,” said Edwin.
“Edwin has a charm which can search the record for Lady Enid’s full name,” said Robin.
“Possibly,” said Edwin. “I’m still working on it.”
Robin’s face was as good as a shout of adoring support from the sidelines during a rugby match. Edwin gave a tiny eye roll in return, but also stood straighter.
They moved on to the next page of Edwin’s notes, which appeared to be a depressing list of reasons why this was a doomed folly. Not everyone had permission to access the Lockroom, even if they knew the rune that defined it. Most of those who could were attached to the Coopers. Who worked under George Bastoke. And Mrs. Kaur’s own permission had been revoked ever since she was “threatened” into helping Robin access the room.
And even if they managed to make it into the Lockroom, any request they made to view and retrieve a box would be permanently logged with someone’s full name. The records were only reviewed weekly, but it was near-impossible to falsify them.
“Stop looking like you’ve all washed your faces in mud. We must have some things going for us,” said Violet. “I’m getting very handy with illusion disguises, for one thing.”
“Robin and Edwin and I could come up with a reason to visit almost any department in the Barrel, with the liaison work,” said Adelaide. “Robin and I have pass-tokens, and we know that Hawthorn can enter. In fact, most of us can get past the warding against non-magicians. It’s only … Maud and Mr. Ross who can’t?”
“A firm hand can get anyone in if necessary,” said Robin, grinning at Adelaide. “You had to drag me over the threshold the first time.”
“Am I likely to be necessary?” It was the first time Alan had spoken since dinner ended.
“We know Violet’s illusions don’t work on you,” said Edwin. “And I don’t imagine we’ll need a perturbator for this. Especially as the effect you have is unpredictable.”
“Fine by me.” Alan’s eyes flicked to Jack, then away. “The only other relevant skill I have is lock-picking, and it doesn’t sound like that’s what you need for those magical doors.”
“I can help!” said Maud. “What can I do?”
“You should be chained to a bedpost and made to stay home,” said Violet, “after that stunt you pulled in the cemetery.”
Maud coloured, half anger and half—Christ, Jack wished he didn’t know this—something else. Violet had indeed yelled at Maud after her unfortunate adventure in being multiply possessed, and Maud had yelled back. Maud and Violet went in for that sort of thing with great vigour, because making up after a fight was one of their favourite activities—another thing that Jack wished he didn’t know, and which he only did know because Violet was apparently incapable of conducting her affairs without a friend to chew them over with. In her usual wildly inappropriate fashion, she had decided upon Jack as that friend. Three years in a Bowery theatre had made Violet far more comfortable discussing sex than most ladies of Jack’s acquaintance.
In this particular instance, Jack had walked in on them … making up. Which he had informed Maud was natural justice being served for her bursting in on Violet and himself on the Lyric. And then he went off to try to scrape the image out of his memory with whisky. It was the first time in years he’d been tempted to get his hands on some lethe-mint.
Now Maud set her chin and turned to Edwin. “Is there some way you could make everyone evacuate the Barrel, so that it’s empty and nobody sees you getting into the room? What would happen if some kind of danger arose?”
“There’s a general exit rune,” said Edwin. “It will get anyone, through any door, back to the main foyer. People would use that if something went wrong. But … evacuate? Due to what? A building full of magicians could deal with anything as simple as fire.”
Maud frowned. “A threatened explosion?”
“Gunpowder, treason, and plot,” murmured Alan. “Difficult to fake convincingly, that one.”
“Besides, unless we can find a way to cheat the runes, we’ll still need someone else to get us into the Lockroom in the first place,” said Adelaide.
“Robin,” said Edwin suddenly. “No. I don’t think—”
“It’s worth a try.” Robin was tugging a ring from his finger. He set it down: wooden, like the ones that Violet used when she built illusions. “My visions helped Maudie on the Lyric. And you know I can direct it sometimes. I’ve been inside the Lockroom, so I know where to start.”
The ring turned out to be made of rowan. Edwin had hoped it would keep Robin’s increasingly painful visions at bay. Foresight wasn’t magic, but it seemed related enough that the ring had been helping.