Page 31 of A Game of Scandal

The lights still burned in the windows above the shop, and I let Davey walk me all the way to the door, where he pressed the carefully wrapped bundle of money into my hands.

“Your winnings, my lady,” he said, and he hinged at the waist in a bow.

“Thank you, Davey,” I said. “You’ve been a very chivalrous escort.”

His cheeks turned adorably pink and he ducked his head, pleased. “Right you are, miss … my lady. You have a good night now.”

I let myself in through the shop door and up the stairs towards the offices of the Aviary, where I knew Mrs Finch would be waiting for me. What I didn’t expect was to find Maud, Winnie and Sylla in her office as well, all bent over a parcel on the desk.

“What are you doing?” I asked, making my way into the room.

“We’re defusing a bomb,” Sylla said, in the same tone of voice one might use to comment upon the weather.

“A … a bomb?” I managed.

“A small incendiary device,” Winnie said, and I realized that what she was leaning over was a bundle of wires disappearing into a brown paper parcel.

She held a pair of clippers in one hand, and her glasses were practically fogged up with the heat of her concentration. I was torn between wanting to run away and wanting to get closer so that I could examine the thing myself.

“It’s on a fixed timer,” Winnie continued, gesturing to a small gold pocket watch nestled in the wires. “The watch has been wound and I believe at a certain time it will close the electrical circuit. It’s a clever thing, far more elegant than the time bomb used in the Winter Palace.”

“That was twenty years ago,” Sylla pointed out.

“Someone left it on the doorstep at the shop,” Maud said cheerfully. “Dynamite, by the looks of things.”

“Oh,” I said. “Shouldn’t we … leave? Or, I don’t know, throw it out of the window?”

Sylla fixed me with a stare. “Please, Felicity, you’re embarrassing yourself. You act like you’ve never seen a bomb before.”

“I haven’t seen a bomb before,” I said. “Most people haven’t.”

Sylla scoffed.

Mrs Finch came round the desk towards me, a soothing smile on her lips. “It’s all under control. I have every confidence that Winnie can defuse it.”

“But someone must be trying to threaten you,” I said. “I thought your location was a secret.”

“It is,” said Mrs Finch carefully. Her smile sharpened. “Still, anyone who dares to take a shot at the Aviary will learn their mistake soon enough. Now.” She looked down at the bundle of bank notes I was clutching. “I take it your evening went well.”

I swallowed, trying to ignore the bomb ticking away only a few feet from me. “Yes,” I said. “I won.”

“Oh, well done, Felicity!” Maud cheered.

“We knew you could do it,” Winnie added, eyes on the project in front of her.

“We absolutely did not know it,” Sylla said, her tone quelling, before grudgingly adding, “But it is a pleasant surprise.”

I think that counted as a compliment.

“So you stopped Laing from winning the money,” Mrs Finch said, taking the bundle from me and flicking casually through the notes before depositing them inside a small safe in her wall.

“I did,” I said carefully. “But it’s strange. He didn’t seem too upset about it. In fact he seemed almost … pleased.”

“Pleased?” Mrs Finch frowned. “Pleased that he lost?”

“More like pleased that I won.” I tried to explain. “There was something about the way he looked at me…” I remembered those eyes, lit with a gleam of excitement, and felt a shiver run down my back. “It’s difficult to describe.”

“Your intuition is hard at work,” Mrs Finch said. “It’s always important to pay attention. Was there anything else you observed that may be helpful?”