Betrayal

Betrayal Part 2

Lucy took another sip from her champagne glass.

She was standing on the edge of a large crowd of party-goers, dressed in their black-tie best. The haughty faces of noteworthy DEPRAC agents stared down at them from the portraits that gave the vast hall its name.

At one end of the room couples were swaying to the sound of a string quartet, while at the other end guests mingled and drank to their heart's content.

There was a festive mood in the air, unusual for agents. There was a sense that, while the Problem was still all-encompassing, it might not always be that way.

If Lucy had to put a name to it, she would say it was hope.

Unfortunately, while the partiers were giddy with it, she could feel hers draining away.

After an awkward taxi ride with Holly and Edith, they had re-joined the boys at the ball. George had disappeared almost immediately, spotting a waiter carrying trays of tiny posh pastries, while Holly and Edith had taken to the dance floor.

Lockwood had also made himself scarce after a perfunctory goodbye. Lucy had watched him stop and chat to a group of tittering girls, a charming smile on his face, before he too disappeared into the crowd.

Only Kipps remained, skulking off to the side with Lucy to avoid his former Fittes colleagues.

While he had been redeemed after their victory against Marissa, Kipps was still wary of the agents who had shunned him before.

"So....'' Kipps began after a long period of uncomfortable silence. "What's up with Lockwood?''

"I don't know what you mean,'' Lucy said tersely, her fingers tightening around her glass.

Kipps rolled his eyes.

"Oh come off it, Lucy. He's been odd since we got back from the Lister job, and tonight, frankly he's been a bit of a prick. Are you two fighting or something?''

"Why would we be fighting?"

"Don't deflect a question with a question,'' Kipps said. "I thought after Fittes, you two had finally.... You know...gotten your crap together.''

Lucy met his eyes, and her throat constricted. Underneath all of his, well, Kipps-ness, she could see he was genuinely concerned. After all, it took quite a lot for Kipps to initiate a conversation about feelings.

"So did I,'' she said quietly.

Before Kipps could respond, a slightly hunched, harried figure pushed his way past a disgruntled pair of women and appeared in front of them.

"What are you two doing hiding over here? You better not be planning another mess I'm going to have to clean up.''

Inspector Barnes may have traded his usual work attire for a tuxedo, but he still wore the same look of grumpy suspicion they had grown to know so well. In fact, if anything, his frown lines had deepened over the previous weeks as he headed the complicated response to the Marissa Fittes revelations.

"I thought we were celebrating that mess tonight, Inspector,'' Kipps replied politely, raising an eyebrow.

"Humph,'' Barnes scowled. "It's ridiculous, throwing a ball while we're still in the middle of everything. As if we don't need all hands on deck at the moment.''

"Cheer up, Inspector, it's a party. Look, champagne,'' Kipps grabbed a pair of flutes from a passing waiter and handed one to Barnes. The other he handed to Lucy, who had downed the rest of hers to avoid having to engage in the conversation.

Rolling his eyes, Barnes nodded at them and disappeared back into the crowd.

"Good to see he's as cheery as usual,'' Kipps remarked. "It's nice to have some consistency, don't you think?''

Lucy nodded half-heartedly, but her eyes were scanning the crowd for a tall, thin figure with a mop of brown hair. She had been trying to brush off the knot of dread in her stomach by rationalising Lockwood's behaviour.

After all, they had been through so much. He was entitled to have an off day or two, wasn't he? And just because he wasn't fawning over her because she'd put on a dress and brushed her hair, that didn't mean he wasn't interested in her any more.

She started as Kipps grabbed her arm and looped it through his.

"Right, enough,'' he said, pulling her through the crowd. "If you keep moping in the corner for much longer, I'm going to have to go and hang out with Cubbins, and that is a fate I'm not willing to give into just yet. Let's find Lockwood so you two can sort out whatever the hell is going on.''

Lucy attempted to protest, but her voice was drowned out they got closer to the string quartet.

As Kipps led her around the perimeter of the dance floor, she spotted Holly and Edith.

She was surprised to see Holly looked strained, almost angry, while she swayed on the spot, and Edith appeared to be trying to comfort her.

Before she could go and see what was wrong, she lost sight of them again amongst the dancing couples.

After weaving through the crowd, Kipps eventually drew to a stop in the entranceway. It led out to a large marble foyer, which had several rooms branching off it.

Lucy could see the lights were on in about half of them, and voices wafted out. She guessed partygoers wanting a bit of breathing space, or searching for some privacy, had migrated out of the main ballroom.

"Kipps, you've spent more time here than me, what are those rooms?'' She asked.

He shrugged. "Nothing exciting. A few interview rooms, a staff room, offices. One of the smaller libraries, I think.''

They poked their heads discreetly into a couple of the rooms, finding nothing more interesting than a couple of young agents drawing a moustache on the face of a passed-out supervisor, and a posse of giggling women sharing a bottle of champagne they had snuck out.

They came to the last room on the left hand side. The door was shut, but Lucy could see the glow of a light filtering through a pane of frosted glass.

"Bet you ten quid we bust Barnes snogging that blonde Sergeant in here,'' Kipps grinned at her.

Shuddering at the thought, Lucy quietly turned the door handle and slowly pushed it open.

It turned out to be the library Kipps had mentioned, although it was really nothing more than a small room with a few musty bookshelves and a couple of desks.

But it was not the lack of grandeur in the room that made Lucy stop cold, or Kipps utter a furious curse word behind her.

Because he had been partly right. A couple had chosen the library to sneak off for a rendezvous.

It wasn't Barnes, though. Perched on one of the desks was a slim, red-headed girl. One of the thin straps of her sparkly black gown had slid down her shoulder.

And with the thin arms Lucy knew so well wrapped around the girl's waist, was Lockwood.