“Don’t know anyone by that name.”
I wasn’t surprised. If word had spread about Dory’s murder, and it most likely had, then those who knew her would be reluctant to share any information.
“I know she worked here.”
He continued to watch me with suspicion.
“Do ye now?”
In for a penny, in for a pound. I had encountered people like the man behind the bar. I was not naive that my appearance caused suspicion.
“As I said, I will pay for information that might help find the person who killed her,” I bluntly replied.
The tavernkeeper’s eyes widened slightly. “Yer a bold one, I’ll give ye that. Taking the risk to come here. Wot might be yer interest in wot happened?”
“She was my friend,” I informed him and laid a half crown on the bar.
His eyes gleamed at the sight of the coin. “Yer friend? Ye expect me to believe that?”
I didn’t reply but returned his stare measure for measure.
I was not surprised when he reached a paw of a hand with the obvious intention of retrieving the coin from the bar.
I refused to be dismissed or taken for a fool. I pulled the folding knife from my pocket, flipped it open and drove the tip of the blade into the top of the bar within inches of that meaty paw.
“The information first, then you may have the coin.”
There was surprise, then a slow grudging acknowledgement.
“Aye. I knew Dory. She worked here from time to time. I heard wot happened, saw the police here the other night. No surprise that.”
“What do you mean by that? Did you see her with someone that night?”
“She was usually with someone, if ye get my meanin’. It’s a way for a woman to earn extra coin.”
“A short man perhaps, left-handed,” I told him what Munro had suggested about the killer. “Who might have followed her back to her room?”
He shook his head. “She left here early, said she had to meet someone. Trudy handled the rest of the night for her. Then we heard about the stramash at the tenement.”
“Did she say if that was a man?”
He shook his head. “She said she’d been trying to meet with the woman and she might have some information for her.”
A woman, not a man.
“Did you notice anyone here that night that looked like the man I’ve described? Or afterward, someone who might have followed her?”
He shook his head. “Trudy might have had a word on that. They spoke. She wasna pleased about being the only other one here on a busy night. But that will cost ye extra.”
“If I can speak with her, I will pay her as well.”
“Yer a mighty fine one we don’t see around the Close. But ye’ve got a sharp way about ye.”
I did wonder if he was aware of the irony of his choice of words.
“Ye can speak with her when she makes her way back to the bar to fill her tray.”
I retrieved the knife. He swept the coin into his pocket.
