Was she really the last person here?
Westminster Castle was nothing like Solace Port at night. There was nowhere worth wandering, and after dark the only thing you'd find by roaming around was a night patrol asking you the three great philosophical questions. Even visitors who needed to go out and about returned to their lodgings, where beds and meals were provided, before nightfall.
Because of delays along the way, Yvonne was among the last to return. And when she did, she ran into Mr. Wilbert. He was waiting for Professor Brimmer, someone who had come all this way for no reason other than Kraft's manuscript materials.
After their brief conversation at noon, Yvonne was fairly certain Brimmer had a very clear purpose. If she was bold enough, she could even go so far as to guess that Brimmer had deliberately chosen to come when "the adults weren't around." How he'd learned about their itinerary, and why he'd wanted to avoid them, raised even more questions.
Before arriving, he clearly hadn't considered that a little girl might turn him away, leaving him no choice but to stay here. It was obvious this had taken him completely by surprise; there was no chance he'd arranged his schedule in advance.
So, was it possible that Brimmer wasn't anywhere at all?
Right there in his room.
It was an absurd guess: someone sitting in a dark room, not eating dinner, ignoring calls from outside the door, not saying a word or making the slightest sound.
Or perhaps Wilbert had already noticed, too. He'd loudly berated himself outside the door for assigning Brimmer an unsuitable room. Was he saying that for the servants to hear? Could it have been an indirect way to alert the person in the room?
Through the keyhole, a patch