A series of murders that were still unsolved by the police.
“You will tell me what you learn from the man?”
He nodded. “If ye’ll give me yer word that ye’ll stay away from there. The man has enough to worry about out there.”
I knew he was referring to Brodie.
I agreed. “And you’ll tell me if you hear from him?”
He nodded. “Aye.”
He paid for our coffee and then escorted me from the Public House, out onto the street. I caught that thorough look down one end of the street, then the other before we continued to the corner. He waited with me until a cabman appeared, that gaze watchful.
I climbed aboard the cab and the hound followed. Mr. Conner paused as he closed the gate.
“Do not underestimate Abberline,” he cautioned. “He’s waited a long time, and he will use everything at his disposal to get to ourfriend.” He glanced down at the beast.
“And as much as the animal smells and has disgusting habits, keep that creature with ye at all times, and see that ye have protection.”
I assured him that I would.
Five
While I had promisedthat I would not attempt to follow Mr. Conner into Whitechapel for his meeting with the man who might be able to provide information about Brodie, that did not mean that I was going to sit idly by.
I needed to know more if I was going to help Brodie. With Mr. Conner’s warning about Abberline, not to mention the incident the night before, it seemed that I was being watched. And perhaps followed as well. That required extra measures, and Templeton was the one who might be able to assist with that.
Visiting my friend was always an adventure in the unusual, to say the least.
She was a highly acclaimed actress, had traveled widely in numerous productions, was rumored to have had an affair with the Prince of Wales—something she would never come right out and admit but used to her advantage from time to time. And she had a most unusual companion—Ziggy.
Ziggy was a four-and-a-half-foot-long iguana from South America, presented to Templeton as a gift from an‘admirer’with whom she had spent some time on one of her tours.When she left Buenos Aires on her return to London, Ziggy had accompanied her.
He had resided in the London Zoo for a time. He had rejoined her at the theater more recently after she discovered that he wasn’t eating and had lost considerable color.
Not having any knowledge about iguanas, I could only assume the matter had become quite serious.
At the theater, he usually had the run of the place until curtain time. In his wanderings about, usually in search of food—he was an herbivore according to Templeton—he had periodically terrorized stage workers, fellow actors, and members of the orchestra.
With that in mind, I arrived at the Drury and kept a watchful eye out as I stepped into the foyer of the theater. There I was met by another acquaintance of my friend—an imposing, life-like statue of William Shakespeare.
Templeton claimed, and with some evidence to support it, that she communicated regularly with Sir William, who happened to have been dead for very near three hundred years.
Not that I doubted her...the evidence had been information he had supposedly provided on more than one occasion in our inquiry cases.
Brodie was convinced that she was quite insane. I preferredeccentric. If she thought that she communicated with William Shakespeare, who was I to question it? I had experienced far more unusual things in my travels.
Templeton arrived at the entrance in attire far different from her costume for the play, a riding habit, along with a crop. Most unusual for someone who was not inclined to go riding on a horse.
According to her, they were unpredictable, prone to running off unexpectedly, and relieved themselves at the most inopportune moments.
This from a woman who kept a pet iguana that was quite unpredictable, and had the habit of running off and causing havoc throughout the theater.
I had no idea about the rest of it, except that I had gotten in the habit of checking the bottom of my boots after a visit with her.
She was quite excited now as she clasped both my hands.
“He said you would be paying a visit,” she excitedly announced. “How wonderful!”
