“She . . .” Annie frowned. “Margot mocked them much of the time. Taking their money but resenting them all the same. Saying they paid her a pittance, but she’d be getting what she was worth in the end.”
“Did she explain her meaning?”
Annie shook her head. The girl crumpled the newspapers, carried the plates to the washbowl, and returned to the table.
Julia moved her medical bag from the floor to the table. “Shall we have those sutures out?”
Annie sat, pushed up her sleeve, and extended her arm. Julia used tiny forceps to lift each knot. Then she cut away the threads with a lancet. “There. All done.” She held on to the girl’s wrist until she looked her in the eyes. “Annie, I don’t want to frighten you, but you must understand the danger.”
The girl stiffened and withdrew her arm.
“It’s not only Margot Miller and Franny Riley. Several other girls who worked in Cheapside have disappeared. Are you aware of that?”
Annie nodded solemnly.
“Did you know any of them?”
Annie dropped her gaze. “No, but I was hearing the Bow Lane shopgirls talking about it.”
Julia spoke gently. “Doctors know the difference between a fall and an attack.”
Annie rolled down her sleeve, continuing to avoid Julia’s eye.
“Annie, men are generally stronger than women. If they wish to do us bodily harm, there is little we can do to stop them. But there is something youcando. . . .”
Annie looked up from the tabletop and into Julia’s eyes.
“Speak. Take back the power this man has to silence you. Speak to Inspector Tennant.”
Annie sighed and got up. She walked to her worktable, picked up the scissors, and ran her finger along the blunt edge of the outside blade. “My Aunt Maggie gave me these. Made of the strongest Sheffield steel, she said. If she were here today, she’d tell me the same as you.”
“May I ask Inspector Tennant to call on you?”
“Yes, and there are a few things that I’ll be telling him.”
As Julia climbed Annie’s steps, a young constable opened the gate for her and touched his hand to his helmet. Julia smiled her thanks, relieved to find him by Annie’s door. She turned left on the High Street and stopped to let a woman step in front of her. The lady had exited the dressmaker’s shop with a hatbox in her hand. She wore a pleased look and one of Annie’s decorated derby hats.
Julia thought,Annie’s going to be fine.
* **
At three o’clock, Tennant and O’Malley met back at the Yard.
“The artists were less than useless,” the inspector said. “No one knows a thing. How did you fare at the docks?”
“There’s no record of a Herbert Rawlings at the Cunard or Inman lines. And nothing from the smaller passenger lines or tramp steamers.”
“I’m starting to wonder if he plans to leave England at all,” Tennant said.
At a knock, O’Malley twisted around to face the young constable at Tennant’s door. “What is it, lad?”
“A messenger delivered this note for the inspector.”
“Thank you, Constable.” Tennant read and looked up. “It’s from Doctor Lewis. Annie O’Neill is ready to talk.
* * *
Tennant and Annie sat across from each other at her kitchen table with cups of tea.
