“What do you know about people, beyond what you learned at The Church in Edinburgh?” A most unusual name for a brothel, but there it was.
“Wot do ye mean?”
I explained what I had learned about human nature in my travels and the inquiries I made with Brodie. The lies people told, what motivated them, who they might be protecting, where I went to find information—the newspapers, libraries, museums, and galleries. And those moments that became dangerous.
“I know wot yer sayin’. I need to learn more. It’s only that, I want to help find the man who did this.”
I heard the tears in her voice, and knew those same feelings so very well. I rounded the desk and put my arm around her shoulders.
“You will be able to in time, if that is what you choose.”
Although I would not have wished wading through the dregs of humanity and depravity for her. That was a conversation for another day.
“Or perhaps you could join the theater like my friend, Templeton.”
“How long will it take before I can join in yer inquiry cases?”
I answered with a question of my own.
“How long will you take to finish your lessons?”
“Aye, lessons first then.”
“And no picking locks at six o’clock of the morning,” I took the opportunity to make that point. It could be dangerous.”
“I get yer meanin’.”
She had obviously seen the revolver Brodie held when he came from the bedroom, that protective ‘street instinct,’ as he called it.
“Can ye at least tell me what’s to be done next?”
At last I was able to persuade Lily to return to Sussex Square, if somewhat reluctantly. I then joined Brodie at the Public House for breakfast, as I was starving.
“Ye sent her on her way?”
“Eventually,” I replied over potatoes and sausage. “You might have stayed to assist in persuading her.”
“How did she know where to find the key to the office?” he asked by way of avoiding a response to that.
I thought how best to answer that question.
“It’s possible that it was unlocked from the night before.” I tried that excuse and received a glare.
“I checked it myself,” Brodie replied.
Best to get it over with, I thought.
“She picked the lock.”
“Now, I wonder where might she have come by that skill?”
“Perhaps at The Church,” I suggested. “It is something that might be useful…” I was definitely on thin ice here.
It was undoubtedly good that we were in a public place. Brodie made that sound I was quite familiar with and simply shook his head.
Five
After breakfastBrodie put out a call to the office of Sir Mallory. He hoped to speak with Charlotte Mallory’s fiancé in spite of the fact that it was a difficult time. While I set off for the print shop where she was found murdered.
