Free Twelve Minutes to Midnight by Christopher Edge Page B

audience in the hall broke into a polite round of applause.
    Leading the plaudits, a portly gentleman in a long frock coat rose from the front row and stepped on to the lecture stage. His jowly face was clean-shaven except for a pair of grey-whiskered sideburns that crept across his cheeks like inquisitive caterpillars. Penelope recognised him straightaway from his portrait hanging in the Central Hall – Sir Edwin Lancaster, the Director of the Museum.
    As he motioned for quiet, Sir Edwin’s voice boomed out across the great hall.
    “I would like to thank Professor Stebbing for the learned insights he has shared with us this evening. Many more samples from the British Empire Africa Expedition are still to be un-boxed and catalogued and once this task has been completed, then perhaps we will have the pleasure of hearing more about the fascinating creatures that creep across that vast continent.”
    Lifting his head, he gestured up towards the pillars of the first-floor gallery that looked down on the great hall. The eyes of the audience followed his gesture and Penny saw with surprise a row of figures seated behind the balustrade.
    “I would also like to extend my thanks to the board of trustees for their support of this expedition,” Sir Edwin continued. “Its success was due in no small part to their contributions, in particular the very generous donation that Lady Cambridge made to the expedition funds.”
    Penelope strained her eyes against the lights that hung beneath the gallery. She could just make out the figure of a lone woman seated amongst the beards and stuffed shirts of the other trustees. This must be Lady Cambridge. The woman was dressed in a stiff-necked black gown, her face half-hidden by shadows, but Penny still caught a glimpse of her youthful beauty. It was the same face she had last glimpsed beneath a veil in the corridors of Bedlam.
    “Now as this evening draws to a close,” declared Sir Edwin, clasping his hands together as he looked out over the audience, “all that there remains for me to say is to wish each of you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Goodnight and God bless.” 
    Another round of applause rippled through the great hall, as the audience slowly rose to their feet. They began to shuffle towards the stone archway at the rear of the hall, eager to be the first in line for the hansom cabs waiting at the exit. Penelope kept her eyes fixed on the figure of Lady Cambridge.
    Whilst the other trustees stayed in their seats, Lady Cambridge had risen to her feet. With a cursory nod, she bade them farewell, then turned and walked along the gallery. As her shadowy figure flitted between the gothic pillars, Penny rose to her feet.
    “Come on, we’ve got to follow her.”
    While the straggling crowd headed for the exit, Penny led Alfie in the opposite direction. They skirted the stage at the front of the hall where Sir Edwin was deep in conversation with Professor Stebbing, neither of the two men noticing them as they slipped past. As they reached the bottom of the grand stone staircase, Penny squinted up into the shadows that lined the long gallery, desperately trying to keep Lady Cambridge in sight.
    She caught a glimpse of a black gown behind a glass case filled with stuffed birds. The long gallery was lined with exhibits – ancient fossils and pickled crocodiles, human skulls and dinosaur bones – Lady Cambridge flitting through the shadows thrown like some silent predator. 
    But as Penelope stepped on to the stone staircase in pursuit, the sound of a man’s voice stopped her dead in her tracks.
    “Miss Tredwell!”
    Penny turned around to see the lean figure of the Pall Mall Gazette’s Arts and Entertainments Correspondent, Mr Robert Barrett. An intrigued half-smile played across the reporter’s lips as he stepped towards them, his fountain pen hovering above the open notebook in his hand.
    “What an unexpected surprise to see you here this evening.”

XI
    “I