Page 40 of From the Ashes
He walked in front of me and signaled with a nod when he reached the end of the service corridor that it was clear to move forward. Muffled voices grew louder as I approached the library, but I couldn't make out their words. Gus opened the library door enough to slip through and I heard Lord Marchbank chastise Lincoln for taking matters into his own hands. I wished I could see Lincoln's reaction.
Gus winked at me then closed the door. I crept across the tiles and put my ear to it. Not for the first time, I wished the house had secret passages and rooms to make sneaking about easier.
"You're a fool," said Gillingham. "You overreacted, as usual."
"Lincoln never overreacts," Lady Harcourt snapped. How curious that she was now defending Lincoln. The last time I'd seen her, they'd argued. Perhaps my departure from Lichfield had rekindled her hopes of renewing a romantic liaison with him.
"In this case, he has," Gillingham went on. "We won't know where to find them now. What's the point of the ministry at all if we don't know where the curiosities we're supposed to be monitoring are located?"
"Agreed," Eastbrooke intoned.
Doyle joined me and I stepped to the side, out of sight. With the tea tray balanced on one hand, he opened the door with the other. All chatter ceased.
"I'll serve, thank you, Doyle," Lady Harcourt said.
A moment later Doyle reappeared and returned to the service area. I resumed my position by the door.
"It was a foolish move, Lincoln," Eastbrooke went on. "Particularly when they could have acted as bait to draw the killer out."
"No one will be used as bait," Lincoln growled. "They're not pieces of meat."
"Don't pretend they're normal humans either," Gillingham shot back.
For a man whose wife was 'inhuman' too, his words were cruel indeed. I, however, felt quite unaffected by them. I'd ceased to care what Gillingham thought of me very soon after meeting him.
"While I don't blame you for taking such drastic action, you should have consulted us," Lady Harcourt said. "We are the committee, after all."
"And I am the ministry's leader," Lincoln said with perfect calm. "I don't workforthe committee."
"You don't have to be alone either."
I rolled my eyes. Could she be any more overt? He was discussing work, and she was making suggestive remarks about his private life. That wasn't the way to Lincoln's heart. Not that I knew the way either—or even if he had one—but innuendo certainly wasn't the answer.
"I don'tworkalone," he countered. "I work with Seth and Gus."
"Thank you," Seth said. "And I want it known that I agree with your decision. Those people have a right to know their lives are in danger."
"No one cares what you think, Vickers." Gillingham sounded bored. "You're not on the committee and you're not the leader. You and your gorilla shouldn't even be involved, if you ask my opinion."
"I didn't ask it," Seth said with a laconic airiness. "No one did."
"Gentlemen," Marchbank intoned. "Let's keep to the facts. And the main fact is, we don't know where these people are now."
"They could wreak all sorts of havoc," Eastbrooke said.
"They haven't done so to date," Lincoln said.
"They may not have caused us trouble in the past, but you shouldn't have divulged the situation to them. It's ministry business. Highly confidential."
"Now they know we exist," Marchbank added. "You gave away our secret."
"They think I work for the police," Lincoln said.
"It doesn't matter what they think," Gillingham shot back. "They're aware they're being monitored."
"I fail to see how that is a problem."
Gillingham's snort came clear through the closed door. "Then you're a fool."
