Henry's flat is much nicer than the one that Evie shares with Jacob.

To start with, someone has actually replaced the carpets since the building first went up, and it even has a lovely garden for residents. There's a lift in addition to the stairs. It turns out that Henry has an eye for clean lines and basic colours, leaving the place feeling tidy and welcoming.

He's still sound asleep when Evie wakes up, blinking against the morning light. Propping herself up with a yawn, she lets herself enjoy the view for a moment, savouring the curve of Henry's shoulders and the dip of his back as it disappears under the sheets.

When she called him last night, it had mostly been to complain about the piece. Or, at least, that was what she told herself as she waited for him to pick up.

Just to talk, she had said, as he invited her over to hash it out. Purely professional, she reminded herself, shimmying into a skirt and digging around for pretty knickers and her one pair of nice stockings. The whole time that she was on the Tube, she had rocked to the motion of the train, internally chanting colleagues, colleagues, colleagues.

In the event, they didn't find the time to talk about much at all.

Oh well, she thinks, pulling on one of his big loose shirts and padding into the kitchen. She felt better, anyway, and that had sort of been the purpose of calling him in the first place. So mission accomplished on one level.

She wonders briefly if she can help herself to things in the kitchen. If it were just Henry, she probably would, but she has no way of knowing what belongs to him. His roommate is friendly enough, but she doesn't think she knows him well enough to start drinking his milk. Alex is high strung in a mad-scientist sort of way, and she doesn't really want to upset him.

When she goes back to the bedroom, debating waking Henry because she really is rather hungry, she realizes that her mobile is blinking rapidly. The call is from an unknown number.

"Hello?" she says, settling onto the bed. Henry makes a muffled noise and curls towards her, trying to wrap an arm around her waist.

"Evie Frye?" A voice on the other end asks.

"Yes, speaking, who is this?"

"My name is Ned Wynert. I work with your brother; I don't know if you remember me-"

Evie feels her throat constrict in panic. "Has something happened? Is Jacob-"

"He's fine, he's fine. Well, I mean, he's as fine as he normally is."

Fair enough, Evie thinks.

Ned continues on the other end of the line. "But I have something that I really think you're going to want to see. Can we meet? Soon?"

Before she can meet Ned- and Clara, who she's invited along in the hope that she might have some insight- Evie stops by her flat for a change of clothes.

Fumbling with her keys, she's just about inside when Bertha's head pops out from the next door down. "Evie," she calls out with a big smile, "I thought it might be you."

"Good morning, Bertha," Evie returns, hoping that this isn't going to be a long chat. She's called in to Starrick Financial to say that she's going to be late so that she can meet Ned, but even so, she really needs to get moving. "Thank you so much for that cake, it was absolutely delicious. So delicious that I only got one piece because Jacob ate the rest when I wasn't looking, actually. You really mustn't keep spoiling us like that."

She smiles. "Nonsense, I just want to know that you two are eating properly."

"We do, thanks to you."

"And now Agnes and I want to know when we'll get to meet your new fellow, will you bring him over for dinner soon? Henry, right?"

Evie gapes at her. How in the world did she know-

And then she remembers. Oh, God, the walls in this building are thin, and the other night when he came over and- she'd had a bit to drink at the party and- she vaguely remembers being quite vocal and oh no, no no no, this isn't happening. "Bertha, I- I'm so sorry, I can't even begin to- this is terribly humiliating. I'm so sorry." She can feel herself turning beet red and she wants to hide her face at the thought of her lovely old neighbours forced to listen to- oh good God, to that.

Bertha just laughs and laughs. "Don't worry- we remember what it was like!"

"But I-"

"Honestly, dear, it's fine. We made a quite few neighbours upset in our day. Just bring him over so we can get a proper look at him, will you? Agnes and I think this is all rather exciting."

The coffee shop of Ned's choice is a quiet place, with lots of walled-in booths that provide a relative measure of privacy.

Introductions between Clara and Ned finished, Ned pulls out his laptop and spins it around so that they can see the screen. "So, Roth's been arrested. This is from Roth's computer," he starts, "and what I have here is-"

Clara interrupts him almost immediately. "Wait, he's been arrested? Why do you have things from Roth's computer?"

Ned shoots Evie a slightly guilty glance and she has to suppress a groan. Jacob's rapid departure last night suddenly makes that much more sense. As he opens his mouth, Evie holds up a hand. "To be honest, if it isn't you or Jacob in trouble with the police, I'd rather not know."

"Probably wise," he concedes.

Clara looks back and forth at each of them and grins. "Fair enough- this is the best news I've had in weeks. As long as we're sticking it to the bastard I don't much care."

Ned takes a long look at Clara as if he's seeing her properly for the first time. "I agree."

Clara shoots him a shy smile and Evie clears her throat loudly, suddenly feeling like a third wheel. "What did you find?"

"A lot of financial information that I'll need to pass along to someone else before I can make heads or tales of it. What was interesting, though, was a series of blueprints that have a lot of edits on them. It looks to be some sort of impending construction project in a warehouse, and it was linked in his files for Starrick along with merger contracts." He pulls them up. "It looks important, but I can't figure out where it is."

They all squint at it until Clara's brow clears in recognition. "Hang on, that… I know where that is. I've walked by it. That's next to Whitechapel Children headquarters."

With a few clicks, Ned pulls up Google Earth. "Whitechapel Children?"

Clara nods. "Yes- my baby, or it used to be." Her tone takes a bitter turn. "Until Starrick and Roth stepped in."

Pulling up street view, the outside does seem to match the blueprints exactly. This time, it's Ned's turn to frown. "That address…" Spinning his computer back around, he types rapidly. "Yeah, I thought so. We do security for there. Although the owners rent out the building itself."

Evie drums her fingers against the table. "So if Starrick Financial is merging with Attaway transport while Attaway is expanding internationally, and he's personally taken over Whitechapel Children with Roth at the helm of his bullying, and with Roth vying to be in charge of security of a building next to Whitechapel children- one which, unless I'm very much mistaken, is being rented by someone associated with Starrick… What does all of that add up to?"

Clara's voice becomes very quiet, barely audible above the music in the café. "I think it adds up to some kind of trafficking."

"Trafficking?"

"Using children coming in and out of the country to carry- well, anything, but probably drugs- but with a place next to the charity itself for basing their operations so it won't look suspicious."

They sit around the table for a moment, stunned into silence at her suggestion. Clara is shaking slightly, and Ned shoots Evie a quick glance before he takes one of Clara's hands, gripping it tightly.

"The problem," he starts, "is that it's a wild suggestion, and if it's right, we'll need some sort of proof."

Evie chews on her lip. "I highly doubt that I can get access to Starrick's office again, everything will be locked up tight. And I have no idea how we'd get close to Attaway."

Clara takes a deep breath and thoughtfully traces circles on the edge of her mug. "You know, there is one other person, someone who's close to all of this and has access to everything we need."

They turn to her, brows furrowed.

Clara thins her lips. "You're not going to like it."

Things are tense when Evie gets to work. Roth's arrest must have reached the ears of the higher-ups, because anxiety levels are running high in the office. Even employees who likely have no idea about the relationship between Starrick Financial and Alhambra Security are keeping their eyes down as they move around, trying to stay out of the line of fire.

Steeling herself with a sigh, Evie goes to find Thorne.

Thorne looks like she hasn't slept properly. Dark circles ring her eyes and there's even a tinge of red in them like she's been crying; if Thorne wasn't generally such a horrible human being, Evie might even have felt sorry for her.

"Miss Thorne?" she approaches cautiously, clearing her throat. "I mean, er- Lucy?"

Thorne looks up, usual irritation replaced with desperation. Starrick must be in a foul mood. "Yes?" she says, sounding tired. "If you've caused a problem, I really can't deal with it at the moment-"

"No, no," Evie reassures her. "I just- some friends and I are going out for a drink tonight, and I wondered if you wanted to come with us. We can go from work."

The silence at these words is so complete that Evie starts to think that she'll have to revert to the original plan of just stealing Thorne's laptop from her bag somehow. Evie has seen how Thorne carries the computer to and from work every day, tucked inside her leather carrying case. But then there's a burst of noise from the inner office as Starrick yells for Thorne to get in here, now, and Evie sees something grudgingly shift in Thorne's eyes. "I could use a drink," she mutters quietly, reaching for a pen and notepad from under a pile of documents as she stands.

"Great," Evie says, giving it her best fake smile. "I'll come meet you when I'm done."

Back at her desk, Evie scrolls through her mobile to STUPID BROTHER. Whether she likes it or not, if she's going to do this properly, she's going to need some help.