Chapter 24 #2
“That’s all right. Father apparently opened one here at the Bank of Ireland.”
I turned to him in surprise.
He shrugged. “I’m not sure when, but I suppose it must have been one of those visits when he was followed by Ardmore’s men.”
A tingling sensation began at the base of my scalp as I considered this new information. A memory was prodding at me from deep in my brain until with a jolt I realized what.
“Max, do you have the key with you? The one your father left you.”
My excitement must have been evident, for he didn’t speak, reaching into the interior pocket of his coat to extract it. The key was old and heavy, and I suddenly had a vivid memory of extracting a different key from a different metal box just six months earlier.
Alec had left the key to his safety deposit box at the Bank of Ireland in the keeping of his handler, Mr. Finnegan, until I arrived to claim it.
Inside had been a message meant to convince me to leave Ireland.
His key had been newer, fitting into one of the shiny, upgraded safety deposit boxes recently installed in the bank’s vault.
However, there had still been one section of old, tarnished boxes that Finnegan had explained belonged to loyal customers who hadn’t yet come to move their belongings to a new one.
“I know what this is,” I gasped in exhilaration, so certain that I wanted to smack myself in the forehead for not having realized it sooner.
When I’d first pulled Alec’s key from inside the box it had been stored in, I’d even thought of this key.
I’d had a sense of déjà vu, recalling how we’d unearthed Lord Ryde’s key from a battered golf ball tin buried in the ground at the Roman site in Norfolk we’d been directed to by Max’s father’s clue.
Since Alec had been in Norfolk with us, I’d decided he’d sought to emulate that experience on purpose, and I’d dismissed the similarities as merely that.
But now I was convinced my subconscious had been trying to tell me this was the solution to our conundrum all along. I just hadn’t listened.
Willoughby had said that the late earl had visited the old parliament house, which was now utilized by the Bank of Ireland. He must have visited the other sites to obscure the fact that he was storing documents at the bank.
Max eyed me warily at first and then with dawning hope. “Are you sure?”
“Yes,” I stated resolutely. “But there’s only one way to prove it.” I tugged him toward an approaching tram.
I held my breath as Max slid his key into the second slot, turning it as Finnegan had turned his master key in the first slot. The snick of the box unlocking made my heart slam into my ribs as if it might soar out of my chest. I’d been right!
Fortunately, upon our arrival at the bank, Tobias Finnegan had been there to assist us.
Max’s father had scratched out the number etched into his key that corresponded to his safety deposit box, so Finnegan had been forced to search the bank’s records for the correct information.
He’d also overlooked a number of security protocols that Max would normally have needed to abide by in order to gain access.
Finnegan opened the door and pulled the box from its slot, setting it on the table behind us.
Then he nodded to each of us in turn and withdrew.
It was clear he understood the significance of this discovery and the discretion required.
I might have learned since my arrival in Dublin that he was a double agent working with Alec, but he was loyal to C in this mission.
Much as I wanted to fling open the box to reveal what was inside, I knew that Max needed a moment to gather himself.
His thoughts were clearly in a tumult, so I waited patiently as he settled them.
After all, since learning about it a little over a year ago, almost every waking moment had been focused on finding this.
If we were correct, it would contain evidence of not only Ardmore’s treason, but also Lord Ryde’s.
Still, the late earl had painstakingly gathered it and concealed it, even knowing it would seal his death as Ardmore sought to stop him, as well as his infamy.
Whatever the documents inside were, this would not just be an end for Max, but also a beginning.
The ramifications would extend beyond Ardmore.
I pressed a hand to his where it rested against the box’s lid, letting him know I understood, and that Sidney and I would be behind him, supporting him every step of the way.
He glanced sideways at me, offering me a tight smile before straightening. Then with one swift movement, he flipped open the lid.
It took us some time to sort through the contents, but suffice it to say, there was more than enough evidence to see Ardmore not only discredited, but for him to also face criminal charges.
It was by no means a foregone conclusion, but the government would have questions for him, and once the newspapers got ahold of the story, he would be ruined.
Or he should be. But Ardmore was a slippery one, and I didn’t discount his ability to wriggle out of almost anything and still come out looking like a saint.
There was no celebration as we read through the documents one by one, only a solemn observance and acknowledgment of the number of lives Ardmore had tainted or destroyed with his vile machinations.
More than we had been aware of, and that had already been enough.
There was also a growing sense of astonishment at the depth of materials Lord Ryde had collected, including items that I marveled he’d gotten his hands on.
I supposed when Max’s father’s guilt had become clear to him, and he’d realized that he could never hope to hide his fault and gullibility and still bring Ardmore down, he’d thrown all caution to the wind.
It was no wonder Ardmore had been desperate to prevent us from obtaining this cache of materials.
But it was by no means over. We still needed to transport these documents to C in London.
Despite everything, I still trusted the Chief.
Or at least, I trusted him more than any of the officials here in Dublin.
He was our best chance of seeing the information disseminated to those who needed to see it rather than buried under bureaucratic finagling.
Max agreed. He also agreed that he was the one who would have to transport it.
Not only because it was his father’s evidence and it would be best if he retained custody of it until he could hand it over to the authorities, but also because Sidney and I still weren’t allowed to leave Ireland, and if we tried to, Ardmore would be instantly suspicious.
As it was, we had to hope Ardmore remained unaware of what we’d found a little longer.
Long enough for Max to travel safely to London.
But in case we were wrong, I refused to allow Max to make the journey completely unprotected.
So I had a quiet word with Mr. Finnegan while Max transferred the documents into a satchel we borrowed, having no choice but to risk the possibility that if we were being followed, our watchers would notice we’d not arrived at the bank with the bag.
Transporting the papers by hand would be foolhardy, and now that we had them, I wasn’t about to let them out of our sight.