I rose, a headache threatening just there at the back of my head, and went into the adjoining bathroom across the way, the sky still quite dark beyond the windows. When I returned, a faint light had finally appeared and the headache had subsided during a hot bath.
I found Lily sitting expectantly at the end of my bed, Rupert at her feet. It did seem that she had a way with the hound. I received merely a roll of his eyes as I went to the wardrobe and found a skirt and blouse I might wear for the day. No doubt due to the fact that I had no sponge cake to offer.
“It was late at night when ye returned,” she began. “Mr. Brodie was not with ye.”
It seemed that she was still awake quite late.
I was aware that she was quite fond of Brodie, in that way of shared experiences, her curiosity of all things pertaining to our investigations, and the fact that she had no father figure in her life.
He had somehow stepped into that role. She needed that, even when it came as a reprimand about her manners—most particularly when it came to my great-aunt or myself—or his insistence that she pay attention to her lessons.
“She is a bright one,” he said on more than one occasion.“She reminds me of yerself. God help us all.”
The compliment had brought color to her cheeks at the time, and I was reminded that, in spite of the fact that she was very nearly a young woman, there was a child inside who needed his presence in her life.
And now?
I saw the worry in the frown on her face.
“Wot will happen to Mr. Brodie?”
I smiled at the fact that she still referred to him asMr. Brodie.
“We will simply see that he is proven innocent of the charges and released.”
There was no point in glossing over the most serious facts of the situation. She had already heard enough to know about the encounter with Abberline’s men.
“Will it be dangerous?”
Very likely, I thought. Abberline was most determined to see Brodie imprisoned for Ellie Sutton’s murder, or possibly hanged.
She didn’t wait for an answer. “I want to help.”
“I know,” I replied as I saw the stubborn set of her jaw.
“I’m not a child, and I can read and write now as well as ye can. And I’m not afraid of the police or anyone else! Didna I prove meself in yer last inquiry case?”
She most definitely had. We might have been too late in resolving the case without her deciphering an important code, that had impressed even Alex Sinclair.
However, I would not endanger her in this. Not that my efforts would always be successful.
“I need you to do something far more important,” I told her.
She looked at me suspiciously as I continued.
“My great-aunt—who is now your family as well—might take it upon herself to do something quite dangerous.”
I didn’t go into the fact that, with a little imagination, I could see her actually storming into Scotland Yard, perhaps with a weapon, and demanding Brodie’s release.
A little drastic perhaps—still this was a woman who had a king, highwaymen, and apparently smugglers for ancestors. There was undoubtedly a book in all of this.
To someone else it might seem ridiculous in the extreme, nevertheless...Having been raised by the woman, I would not have put anything past her, no matter how ill-advised, given her age. After all, at the age of eighty-six, she was going to Africa on safari.
“Dangerous,” Lily repeated. “Like her driving the motor carriage?”
“More dangerous. I would not want to see her harmed or taken in by the police. However, I cannot be here if I am to help Brodie.”
“Yer tryin’ to get round me,” she accused, her blue eyes so bright I thought there might be fire spitting from them at any moment.
