Page 11 of Corpse in the Canal

“Do you know where he was going?”

“White’s, I think.”

“But you were concerned enough on Thursday morning to write to Mr. Harvey to see if Percy had gone home to Channing?”

“Well…he hadn’t seemed himself on Wednesday. He worried me.”

“In what way?”

“He didn’t swear at me, which he usually does when he’s got a thick head. He seemed sort of distracted, dazed even.”

“Ill?” Solomon asked, frowning.

Darren shook his head. “No, I don’t think so. Worried, maybe. Or planning something. I don’t know.”

“He never confided in you?”

Darren’s smile was twisted. “I’m his servant, not his friend. I might gossip with the other menials.”

Solomon let that go. “Has anyone else come here looking for him?”

Darren hesitated but then seemed to shrug off the last remains of his instinctive discretion. “Some unsavory character came on Thursday morning. Vulgar, flash, wanted to come in and wait for Mr. Percy.”

“Did you let him?”

“No, I shut the door in his face and locked it. I thought for a moment he was going to break it open, but he just thumped it once, swore, and trundled off.”

“And that was when you wrote to Mr. Harvey?”

Darren nodded.

“Someone he owed money to, do you think?”

“Possibly. He didn’t leave a message.”

Ignoring the sarcasm, Solomon said, “Did anyone else visit during this week? Either with Percy or looking for him?”

“No, sir.”

“No women?” Solomon said bluntly.

“No, sir. He’s not stupid enough to bring such creatures here.”

“Not even more respectable women?”

“They wouldn’t be respectable, would they? Not if they were seen coming in or out of a gentleman’s rooms.”

“Fair point. What about a Mrs. Adelaide Jenkins?”

“She’s a neighbor in Channing.”

“Do you not go to Channing with your master when he visits?”

“Sometimes. Didn’t last time, because he didn’t plan to stay there for long. He was only away a few days.”

“I see. I had the impression he had followed Mrs. Jenkins to London.”

“He might have, for all I know.”