“It’s in the matter of that old case Mr. Brodie was investigating a long time ago, before he left the MET,” Mr. Dooley explained.
“There was a witness, a young woman who saw the murderer. Mr. Abberline was Assistant Chief Inspector then,” he continued.
“He was determined to have the matter resolved, as he was hoping to be promoted. But he needed the witness to make the case. Mr. Brodie wouldn’t give the woman up.”
“That was almost ten years ago,” I replied as I tried to make sense of all of this with the few details that Brodie had shared with me.
Mr. Dooley nodded. “Mr. Brodie told him at the time that she had left London and he didn’t know where she was. That didn’t sit well with the Chief Inspector, as you can well imagine.”
“Please continue,” I replied.
“The Chief Inspector threatened him with charges then, for withholding evidence. You can well imagine what Mr. Brodie’s response was.”
I knew well enough what had followed. He had resigned rather than divulge who the young woman was and risk endangering her, merely to promote Abberline’s career.
I forced myself to remain calm.
“It seems that the woman returned to London some time ago,” Mr. Dooley continued. “Now, she’s turned up dead, and Abberline is set to bring charges against Mr. Brodie for tampering with evidence all those years before, as well as the murder of the woman.”
“That’s ridiculous!” I protested. “He is not a murderer.”
“I know that and you know it as well, but according to the warrant, the murder charge is for evidence discovered at the scene where her body was found.”
“What evidence?” I demanded.
“It seems the woman who collects the rents heard a commotion in the woman’s flat and then saw Mr. Brodie leave.”
Had Abberline gone mad? A warrant for murder?
“That’s the reason I’m here, miss. We need to find him before Mr. Abberline, or one of his men,” he continued.
The first shock was beginning to wear off as I forced myself to think.
“Abberline is like a crazy man,” Mr. Dooley continued. “He’ll have him hunted down and a good chance that Mr. Brodie will never see the inside of a cell. If you get my meanin’.”
The terrifying part of all this was that I knew exactly what he was saying.
“You should leave, miss. Before Mr. Abberline’s man comes round with the warrant. There is no telling what the man will do.”
Even though I refused to be intimidated, I agreed. There was no way of knowing what Abberline might do.
“He mustn’t find you here, either,” I told him, and thanked him for taking the risk to come to come there.
“Mr. Brodie has done right by me, more than once. I don’t go forgettin’ things like that. And I don’t hold with the charges for a minute.” He put his cap back on.
“You take care as well, miss. I might work in the same district as Mr. Abberline, but there’s many of us have no regard for the man and his ways.”
I laid a hand at his arm. “You’ll bring word if…”
I couldn’t bring myself to say the rest of it—ifBrodie was found and arrested before I could find him.
He promised that he would.
When Mr. Dooley had gone, I forced myself to think.
I needed to find Brodie, but first I made a thorough inspection of the office that included the file cabinet, the desk drawers, and the adjacent room, searching for anything that might reveal clues to Abberline or one of his men if they searched the office.
I then looked at the chalkboard. The notes we’d made about the counterfeit case had nothing to do with that past situation. Still…
