However, before introductions were made, “Oh my!” my friend exclaimed. “I’m getting something…” Her fingers were pressed against her temple in a way I had seen before.
“You are quite gifted, my dear,” she told Lily. She smiled. “Wills says that you have an incredible memory for things. Oh,and the dead rat you put in a particular gentleman’s coat pocket was most effective.”
I looked at Lily. A dead rat?
“He deserved it,” she explained as she patted Ziggy on the head. As I said, much like a pet dog.
“He tried to put his hands up my skirt at the place Madame set up shop until she could find a more proper place after the Church burned down. I used the knife on him wot Munro gave me before ye left Old Town. He said it could be useful.”
Indeed.
“The man was a rat. And I found one in the kitchen at the place Madame rented. So I thought to send him a message next time he came round to visit one of the ladies.”
“Oh, my,” Templeton exclaimed. “It seems you’re quite the adventuress.” She wrapped an arm around Lily’s shoulders.
“It is so very good to meet you,” she told Lily with an amused glance at me.
She handed the roses to Lily. “Hold this in front of Ziggy. As I said he’s particularly partial to roses. Poor thing. He had lost a great deal of his color whilst at the zoo, and had become quite lonely,” she said, then led the way back to her dressing room.
Lily and Ziggy followed.
Adventuress, I thought? And what was that about an incredible memory?
To say that Lily was fascinated with Ziggy and Templeton was another one of those understatements. He looked much the same as I remembered. As for being lonely, I did wonder how one might know.
Did an iguana sit over in a corner with a sad expression, perhaps refusing to eat?
“And where is Mr. Brodie?” Templeton inquired as Elvira Finch put the finishing touches to her makeup.
At present Ziggy was laying at Lily’s feet, quite content after consuming a full bouquet of roses.
“He’s making inquiries in a new case,” I explained since the inquiries on Sir Avery’s behalf were usually of a most secretive nature.
“And…?” she added with a glance at my reflection in the mirror before her. She looked quite festive.
“I’ve been pursuing a separate matter for a client.”
“And…?” she repeated. “What of your new arrangement with Mr. Brodie?”
It could hardly be said that Brodie and I had a conventional relationship. The truth was, I thought with faint irritation, that I didn’t have a clue what our relationship was supposed to be now.
It wasn’t as if I was home cooking and cleaning and waiting supper for him to return for the evening. I didn’t even know where our home was, between the room adjacent to the office and my townhouse in Mayfair.
I finally replied, “He’s quite busy, and I have an inquiry case as well.”
I caught the look she gave me. I did hope she wasn’t receiving a message from Wills in the matter. Her ability to communicate with the man was going to be difficult enough to explain to Lily as it was.
There was a knock on her dressing room door and an attendant popped his head inside and announced that it was very near curtain call time.
“Wot about Ziggy?” Lily asked.
Ziggy was at present apparently quite content, eyes closed, sprawled in front of Lily.
“He’ll be all right,” Templeton replied. “I have to keep him in the dressing room. He has a habit of wanting to join the production. It can cause quite a stir among the other actors and patrons.”
An understatement to be certain. Ziggy’s previous foray about the theater during a play had caused an uproar that had managed to empty the place.
Lily thoroughly enjoyed the play with unbridled enthusiasm, often leaning out over the balustrade of my aunt’s box for a better view. Much of course, to Sir James Redstone’s obvious disapproval.
