‘That’s an excellent idea!’
Once they had constructed a nest from the sacks, and Charlie and his blankets snuggled into its warmth, they sat down by his side. Harry looked at his watch. ‘Eight thirty. They should allow us to board in an hour.’
‘You must know. You will have caught this train a dozen times.’
She hoped he might talk of the journeys he had made, anything to take her mind off their situation. She should not be feeling so fearful: they were free of the palace and no one had seen them leave.
‘Did you manage to get into the library?’ she asked, still hoping for conversation. She could feel that Harry was as tense as she.
‘I did.’ He gave her a curious look and she was about to ask what it meant, when a noise sounded behind them and she jumped to her feet, ready to snatch Charlie from his bed.
‘Don’t worry, Miss Alice. All is well. It is only me.’
‘Ismet?’ she gasped. ‘What on earth are you doing here?’
‘I have come for something important – and to say farewell, naturally.’
He took her hand and kissed it. She had thought her anger had dissipated but seeing him so cheerful and untroubled, she had to bite back bitter words. It was true politics had not been the key to her sister’s downfall, but if this man had not asked her for help, Lydia would never have become entangled with the Bouchers. She would still be alive today.
Ismet seemed unaware of her hostility. He clapped Harry on the back. ‘My friend, how can I thank you enough?’
She watched bewildered as Harry took from his bag a thin manila file. ‘I hope it will be worth it,’ he said, his tone barbed.
Ismet, oblivious to his meaning, flicked through the file, peering down at it in the station’s dim light and scanning the few sheets of paper intently.
‘Yes!’ It was almost a shout and Harry hushed him. ‘This is wonderful. This is – dynamite! All these transactions, the contracts Boucher signed to build the school on land that was not his. Land he had been refused. And signed before the owner was dead. I already have his letter that threatens the man’s grandson. Together they will be sufficient to demand an audience with Abdülhamid. I can do this even though I may be thrown into prison after the event. I will give the Sultan this evidence and wait for justice to be done.’
‘Justice will be far from certain.’ Harry was deliberately downbeat.
‘It is an uphill struggle, I know, but when is something worthwhile not? And it may become easier than we think. Once it is known there is proof of Boucher’s wrongdoing, his old comrades will turn on him. People who have benefited from his crimes will try to wash themselves clean. They will not want anything to do with him. It is the beginning of the end for Valentin Boucher. And for the Sultan. Abdülhamid will be weakened by his adherence to this man. He will have to accede to our demands.’
Alice had tried to follow, but became lost somewhere in the middle of his speech. He saw her perplexed expression. ‘I am sorry, Miss Alice. I become too excited. But I will go. I need to deliver this to a safe place. You know I am a wanted man? In some ways it is flattering, but it is not at all a comfortable life. I wish you all’ – he looked at the sleeping child with a slight shake of his head – ‘a very safe journey.’ In an instant he had disappeared the same way he had arrived.
Alice was not sorry to see him go; she could not think well of him, but she was curious. ‘How did Ismet find us? And what was he talking about?’
‘When I paid the driver who brought us here, I gave him a message to deliver. I sent him to the address where we met Ismet, though I wasn’t sure he would be there. It was a gamble but I needed to pass on that file. It contains the information he asked Lydia to find. I thought you would want me to do it.’
‘But how did it come into your possession?’
‘By chance. I went to the library after I left you this afternoon.’
‘I know, to pick up papers. But not those papers surely?’
He smiled. ‘No, indeed. But while I was there, I thought to check the cupboard in my office, to make sure there was nothing I should take with me. The box at the bottom of the cupboard had been disturbed. There was a copy of Peter Pan lying half in and half out. It’s a box of children’s books – your sister used it to teach the princesses. I went to tuck the book back and close the lid, but then another book fell out. I thought I should tidy that away, too, and lifted the entire box on to my desk. I saw then that the boards at the bottom of the cupboard had been levered up to provide a hiding place.’
‘But why would the Bouchers hide such incriminating papers there?’
‘I couldn’t believe what I had unearthed. Not at first. It seemed an utterly foolish place to hide such a file. But when I thought it through, it wasn’t so strange. The file must originally have been in Paul’s office. I know there was a locked drawer – the one Ismet told us Lydia had not managed to search. If Boucher senior became suspicious of her, he would wonder how safe the file was there. And the cupboard was a good alternative. The box had been returned from the schoolroom and no one would go to it again searching for books. No one used the cupboard, except me. Boucher invented the excuse of replacing the Sultan’s divan as a way of getting me out of the way and moving the papers from the drawer.’
‘But why move them now? Lydia is no longer a threat.’ She tried hard not to think what those words meant.
‘Because of you, I think. He must have come to believe you were as interested as Lydia in finding proof of his corruption. He wouldn’t understand your interest has only ever been in finding your sister. To him people are expendable. It is beyond his comprehension that anyone would travel as far as Turkey to search for someone they had lost, and put themselves in peril by doing so.’
‘I still don’t understand why he chose the cupboard in your office. There must be a hundred other places far more suitable. Or he could just have got rid of the file.’
‘He wouldn’t destroy it. It contains material he could use to blackmail his partners if it ever became necessary. And he cannot hide it in his house or his son’s house, that would be too dangerous. So why not the library – a monument to his benevolence? Don’t forget, I’m the one who manages the place and I am such an upstanding character that no one would suspect me of concealing – what did Ismet call it – dynamite? I don’t know how far Paul is implicated, but both he and his father knew the cupboard was hardly used. It is a good hiding place and clever of Boucher to invent the Sultan’s divan as an excuse for getting me out of the way.’
‘They could have done it at night when you had finished work.’
‘I often work in the evening,’ he confessed. ‘There is little else to do. And they couldn’t be sure I’d not be there.’
There was a long silence before she said, ‘So Ismet has his file after all.’
He knew what she was thinking and hugged her close. ‘Lydia would be pleased, would she not?’ Alice thought of her headstrong sister, her passion for justice, her desire for freedom, and thought that yes, Lydia would be pleased.
‘The lights are on in the train, I think.’ Harry stood up and shielded his eyes to look across the station to the far platform. ‘Yes, definitely on. We’ll give it a few minutes and then get on board. They may be a trifle surprised to see us so early, but it will be good to be safe.’
‘Not so safe.’ She gripped his hand. ‘Look.’
Chapter Thirty Four
Two men had walked out of the booking office and now stood shoulder to shoulder, an immovable column, scanning the forecourt. Then one set off to the right and the other to the left. Harry shot up and grabbed hold of the trolley handle, manoeuvring it further into the shadows.
‘Cover your dress with a sack – it’s too noticeable. And shrink as small as you can.’
She curled herself into a ball and waited, her heart racing, her limbs suddenly weak. The man who had turned left was walking towards them and she shrunk down even further. Harry bent over her, his d
ark suit extra camouflage in the gloom. From their crouched position, they could no longer see the man, but they could hear his footsteps. Closer and closer. If Charlie chose now to wake… The footsteps stopped. For what seemed an age, the man stood still. He must be peering into the darkness, looking for us, she thought. Then there was the sound of shoes scuffing the stone platform and the footsteps moved away.
‘Thank God,’ Harry breathed.
‘Don’t be too thankful. Boucher knows I am supposed to travel tonight. It’s common knowledge in the palace even if Naz has not sent him word. And she will have. I think he believed I would try to stay – that’s why we were attacked today. But now my room is empty except for an abandoned case, and when a search of the haremlik fails to find me, Boucher will deduce I have left secretly and draw his own conclusions. Why would I need to leave secretly, unless I had something to hide? That’s why those men have come and they will stay until they see the train leave. They know I have Charlie and they want him.’
He nodded slowly and she grasped hold of his hand. ‘Harry, how on earth are we to get on that train?’
‘Can you climb? That skirt looks a trifle tight.’
‘It depends on how high I am supposed to climb. What are you suggesting?’
‘Boucher’s villains have searched the station and found nothing, so they’ll think you’ve not yet arrived. Their next move will be to watch for you. They’ll be waiting on the far side of the train – that’s where passengers for the Express will board.’
‘So how does that help?’
‘People may be boarding on the far side, but the doors facing us will be open, too. While the men wait for you to appear on the platform, the way will be clear for us to get on the train from this side.’
‘But there is no platform this side.’
‘You said you could climb.’
‘I didn’t, in fact, and the idea is completely mad. Have you seen how high the doors are from the railway track? Plus, we have Charlie and bags. Elise handed me a bag full of baby things before she left.’
‘It is a mad idea,’ he agreed, ‘but do you have a better one?’
‘We could board like normal passengers and hope the train staff stop the men from attacking us.’
‘You saw those men – is it likely that stewards and cooks would be up to a fight with them, even if they were minded? By the time the police were called, you would have lost Charlie.’
She thought of the rock-like column the two ruffians had formed and knew he was right. But it was still a crazy idea. ‘It will be hard enough for me to clamber down onto the tracks, let alone climb up to a train door.’
‘I know, Alice, but it’s our only hope. Or we will stay here as fugitives watching the Express pull out of the station without us.’
It was a fearful image. ‘I will try,’ she said, and received a warm kiss on her lips.
It proved every bit as hard to climb down from the platform as she had thought, but somehow she made it, and with Charlie in her arms and Harry carrying the several bags, they stole across the lines of track to the waiting train.
‘So far, so good,’ he whispered.
She was far from agreeing with him. She looked up to the door she was supposed to reach. It was yards above her head – it would be like climbing a mountain in slippers. Charlie had once attempted Ben Nevis with ice on the ground and without the help of crampons, and he’d confessed to her how dangerously he had failed. It looked likely she would follow suit.
But Harry was undeterred. He reached up and caught hold of the ledge of iron grating that sat some way below the door. His shoulder was still badly bruised, but slowly and painfully he heaved himself up until he was within reach of the door’s handle. He stretched out one hand, supporting his whole weight with the other, and grabbed. The door flew open. He rested for a moment and then again, slowly and with huge effort, stretched his arm forward until this time he managed to grip the floor of the train. Straining every muscle, he pulled himself upwards, inch by inch, until both knees were planted securely on the floor of the corridor.
It took a few seconds for him to regain his breath, then he whispered down to her, ‘Hand me the bags.’
She passed him her handbag, the briefcase and the bag Elise had given her, but when he said, ‘Now, Charlie,’ she baulked.
‘You must, Alice. He will be safe with me.’ From his kneeling position on the train floor, he reached out. By balancing on a rail and standing on tiptoe, she managed to hand him enough of Charlie to be safe.
‘Your turn now.’
She tried to emulate what he had done, jumping with outstretched hands to reach the iron grating, but each time falling back. Harry, with the baby in one arm, was bent nearly double trying to reach her. She was terrified he would topple over with Charlie in his arms.
‘Try again.’
She tried, but once more fell short. ‘I can’t make it,’ she said. ‘You must take my ticket – it’s in my handbag. Take Charlie home.’
‘And leave you on the railway tracks?’
‘Someone will find me.’
‘And we know who that would be. This is crazy. You can make it. You must – Charlie needs you.’
‘But how?’ She found she was crying with exhaustion and fear.
‘Wait!’ he said, and disappeared. When he reappeared, he was without Charlie.
‘Where is the baby?’ she asked, horrified.
‘He is fine. There is a bathroom down the corridor and I’ve laid him in the bath.’
She did not know whether to laugh or cry and started to do both until Harry said sharply, ‘Stop, Alice. I need you with me.’
Once again, he knelt down on the corridor floor, but this time leant out with both arms so far he was in danger of falling onto the tracks himself. ‘Now try for the ledge,’ he commanded. ‘If you can get yourself there, the rest will be easier.’
She used all her strength to jump one last time and catch at his fingers. He had her, just, in one hand, her feet swinging wildly and looking likely to pull him down on top of her.
‘Move your feet up the train side,’ he gasped, ‘and try to find the grating.’
She did as he said, scrabbling her feet against the smooth blue and gold livery until she felt one shoe connect with the iron ledge. He had her by the arm and had hauled a little further up the side of the door. ‘Now reach up with your other hand and take mine.’
Very slowly she reached up. Both his hands were holding her now, but her arms were almost pulled from their sockets. She wanted to scream with the pain, and bit down on her lips to keep herself silent. It seemed a lifetime before her second foot found the ledge, and Harry was able to pull her the last few yards up and into safety.
They collapsed together on the floor of the train, their hearts pounding, their breathing erratic. She looked across at him – his suit was crumpled and smeared with dirt – then down at her beautiful wool dress, covered from head to toe in dust. She pushed a loose hair back from her face and left a smear across her cheek. Tenderly, he rubbed it clean.
‘We must rescue Charlie,’ she said, suddenly panicked, and scrambled to her feet.
Charlie lay sleeping in the bath, as peacefully as if he were in a Mayfair nursery. Anxiously, she bent over him. ‘He seems fine.’
‘Of course he’s fine. He is a brave chap like his mother. And his aunt.’
‘I wasn’t very brave just then. I’m sorry I broke down.’
‘Darling Alice, you misjudge yourself all the time. And that has to change. You were brave, you are brave, believe me! I must go for the bags now before anyone sees them.’
When he returned, she delved into her handbag and found her ticket. ‘I am in carriage H, compartment ten. Fingers crossed there’s no one sharing with me. What carriage is this, do you think?’
‘I’m not sure, but it might be wise to wait before we look. The men will be searching the platform and might see us. We’re certainly not inconspicuous.’ He pointed to the b
aby.
‘So we stay here?’
‘Until the whistle goes. I’ll lock the door.’
‘We could have a worse hideout, I suppose – a bathroom that’s a work of art.’ She gazed at the tiled walls and floor. ‘At least this is more cheerful than the one on my outward journey.’ She moved her feet slightly and studied the floor. ‘A mosaic of Perseus, I think. It was Medusa last time – she gave me a scare in the middle of the night.’
They fell silent, listening as the bustle from the corridor gradually increased with more and more passengers arriving. There was a bumping of luggage, the polite tones of the steward, exclamations from husbands as they fought a path through the crowded corridor with cloak bags and hat boxes.
‘Just look at this wood,’ a woman said on the other side of the door. ‘The inlay is magnificent.’
A squeal came from the compartment next to them. ‘Oh, Dicky, how absolutely adorable! There’s a washbasin behind this cupboard. Fancy that!’
The huffing and puffing seemed to continue a very long time, every minute feeling like an hour. The bathroom was windowless and there was no possibility of being seen from the platform, but Alice was in dread that a passenger might need the room and they would be discovered, or worse, that the two ruffians would board the train in desperation and make straight for the only locked door.
At last, the moment they had been waiting for. A whistle. They felt the jolt of the engine as it began its slow pull, heard the rattle of carriages as they followed suit.
‘Time to go,’ Harry said.
Alice scooped Charlie into her arms and they crept from the bathroom, hurrying along the corridor and looking for a sign that would take them to carriage H. There was a shout from outside and Alice stopped in her tracks. Out of the window she saw one of the men running along the platform. He was trying to grab at a door handle. She held her breath and Harry froze beside her. But the train was gathering speed and gradually the man fell further and further back until the Express broke free of the station canopy and his figure disappeared from sight.
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