Yet, with the information Mr. Dooley had shared with me, it was safe to assume that Abberline had only one reason for calling on Sir Avery, since he knew that Brodie worked for the Agency from time to time.
“Most interesting,” I thought. Rupert appeared to agree.
Then, as if he was determined to do something about it, he started forward. I immediately called him back.
“Not today,” I said, as much to myself, heeding Mr. Dooley’s earlier warning.
The hound looked up at me as if he might have made a comment to that.
“We’ll come back later,” I replied, as if he understood, while I watched Abberline and the constable enter the Tower from the alcove at the entrance of a building. I made a mental note to speak with Sir Avery as soon as possible.
When they had disappeared inside the Tower gate, I immediately waved down a driver. There was someone else who was usually very well informed about Brodie’s whereabouts.
I climbed aboard the coach. I caught the disapproval of the driver as Rupert jumped in after. The brief discussion that followed, regarding the usual sort of passengers and that he would need to clean the coach afterward, quickly ended with the promise of additional coin.
“And quickly,” I added after informing him of my destination.
It was late afternoon. The sun that had warmed the day earlier had dropped below the rooftops when I arrived at my great-aunt’s residence at Sussex Square. I paid the driver as Rupert loped up the steps to the front entrance.
He was most anxious in anticipation of whatever food might be cooking in the kitchens. However, the same could not be said for my aunt’s staff.
Along with an appetite for whatever might be the fare for supper and a fondness for rummaging through the solar as if there might be a creature to be found there, he was in the habit of making himself quite at home.
As for the solar, one could never tell what might be found there. My aunt had a monkey in residence for a time in preparation for her safari. It had since been returned to the London Zoo after it escaped the solar and went about terrorizing the housemaids.
Mr. Symons, my aunt’s head butler, greeted me at the entrance and Rupert charged past him.
“Good day, Mr. Symons.”
“Good day, miss,” he replied. “Good to see you, as always,” he added as he collected himself from the hound’s enthusiastic greeting.
“How is my aunt today?” I asked. Mr. Symons was always a good source for that information.
“In excellent health, miss. She is presently rearranging her wardrobe for her upcoming safari.”
That was at least the dozenth time that I was aware of. Always an adventure in itself. I could only imagine what she was taking with her—hunting costume, along with the requisite head gear.
“One never knows when one might encounter a dangerous beast,”she had explained when I arrived on a previous occasion to find her trying on various pairs of boots while still in her dressing gown. A most curious sight to be certain.
In the end, she chose to include all six pair of handmade boots—just in case. Of what she had not explained, and I didn’t ask.
“And Miss Lily?” I inquired of the newest addition to our family.
“She has gone to the theater,” Mr. Symons replied. “There was mention of attending the rehearsal for Miss Templeton’s new play. She has decided that she may want to be an actress.”
She had escaped her lessons again. And now with aspirations to be an actress. I could hardly fault her in that. I had entertained that as well when I was very near her age. As I knew only too well, such ambitions had a way of changing.
Lily had arrived from Edinburgh after contributing to one of our inquiry cases. She had worked in a brothel known as the‘Church’as a‘ladies’ maid.’
When it burned to the ground, I persuaded her to come to London as my ward, with the plan of providing her an education. I couldn’t bear the thought that her future might be limited to work in a brothel, as a maid orotherwise.
She was quite spirited and gifted with a photographic memory, as Alex Sinclair, who worked for the Agency as their code breaker and had assisted us previously, had described. That had proven quite extraordinary in resolving our last inquiry case. She was also somewhat headstrong, as Brodie had pointed out. Yet, he approved the arrangement.
“God knows the girl has no future in a whorehouse.”
For now, considering my involvement with inquiry cases, and the fact that neither Brodie nor I had figured out where we were going to live, Lily resided at Sussex Square. It was convenient for her lessons, and my aunt was delighted with the arrangement.
Now, after several conversations regarding the boring lessons with a succession of tutors my aunt had provided, Lily had decided on a career in the theater.
