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Use it to your advantage. Keep them off their guard. "Ms. Redfield, and Mr. Burnside," Alexia said, her chin held high, her tone as dignified as the Ashford name required, "we meet at last. My brother tells me that you've caused quite a lot of trouble."
Claire stepped toward her, the barrel of her gun low-ering slightly as she searched Alexia's face. Alexia stepped back involuntarily, repelled by her dripping clothes and forward ma
– my room
– not sure where she was going as she stumbled through the corridor, ru
For a few seconds, they just stared around the room, Steve thinking about how Alfred had looked when he'd seen himself in the mirror. It had been so pathetic, he'd almost felt bad for the guy.
Thinking all this time that his sister lived here – proba-bly the only person in the world who didn't think he was a total prick – and it turns out he doesn 't even have that…
Claire shook herself like she'd had a sudden chill and got them back on track. "We'd better look for those keys before one of the twins comes back."
She nodded toward the narrow ladder at the head of the bed. It led up to an open square in the ceiling. "I'm
going to look up there, you check around here."
Steve nodded, and as Claire disappeared through the opening in the ceiling, he started to open drawers and rifle through them. "You wouldn't believe what's up here," Claire called down, just as Steve discovered a drawer full of silky lin– gerie, panties and bras and a bunch of other stuff he couldn't begin to guess at. "Ditto," he called back, wondering what lengths Al-fred had gone to in order to play Alexia. He decided he didn't really want to know. He heard Claire thumping around overhead as he went to the dressing table and started to dig. A lot of makeup and perfume and jewelry, but no proofs or em– blems, not even a house key.
"Nothing yet, but… hey, there's another ladder!"
Claire shouted. Good thing, Steve thought, finding a box of stationery with little white flowers on the paper. He was getting more nervous about Alfred coming back, and wanted to get out of his freaky room of sister psychosis as soon as possible. There was a tiny white card on top of the stationery envelopes. Steve picked it up, noting the strong, femi– nine hand.
Dearest Alfred – you are the brave, brilliant soldier, ever fighting to reinstate the Ashford name to its former glory. My thoughts are with you always, beloved. Alexia.
Ick. Steve dropped the card, making a face. Was it just him, or had Alfred created a seriously u
Yeah, but it wasn't real, it wasn't like they could do anything… physical. Double ick. Again, Steve decided he'd rather not know…
"Steve! Steve, I think I found them! I'm coming down!"
Overwhelmed by an instant rash of hope and opti– mism, Steve gri
An alarm suddenly started blaring, echoing through the giant house, loud and insistent. Claire jumped off the bed, holding three proof keys and a slender metal object in her hand. They locked gazes, exchanging a look of confused fear, and Steve realized he could hear the alarm outside, too, with the hollow, metallic sound of an an– nouncement being made over a cheap sound system. It sounded like it was being broadcast over the entire island.
Before either of them could say a word, a calm voice began speaking through the bleating sirens, cool and fe– male, the voice of a recorded loop.
"The self-destruct system has been activated. All per-so