She did, as though she hadn’t noticed his lapse. “Then how do you know where he is now?”
“Because I know Drayman,” David said at once. “It was a trick he played in Sicily—ran from his enemies to his mistress’shouse, then bolted as soon as they approached, and when they’d torn the place apart looking for him and given up for pastures new, he simply went back there.”
“And she let him stay?” Constance asked.
“I doubt he gave her any choice. He’s not a pleasant man.”
“People rarely look in the same place twice,” Solomon said thoughtfully, perching on the arm of Constance’s chair. “So where did the police find him in London?”
David fished a scrap of paper from his pocket and handed it to Solomon. “I wrote down everything he told me, because I don’t know the place at all. Apparently, it’s a brothel and a rookery full of thieves and cutthroats and fugitives.”
“Then it’s also full of traps for the unwary and the police,” Constance said grimly. “I hope they got out safely.” She peered over Solomon’s arm to read what David had noted down.
“Do you know it?” Solomon asked.
“I knowofit,” Constance said. “Dangerous for strangers, but the girls have some protection there at least. It doesn’t stop their clients being scum of the earth.” She looked up at Solomon. “You can’t go in there. Not without an army of policeman who know how to get out again alive. I mean it, Solomon.”
He was still gazing at the paper without blinking. “We don’t need to go in. We need him to come out.” He looked at David. “He saw you at the Crown and Anchor. He must know you gave his name to the police and that’s why they’re looking for him. You are the one who could hang him.”
“So he’ll kill me first,” David said, equally casual. “I can bring him to me, but I’ll need more of a reason than reminiscing over the good old days. We never liked each other.”
“We need him to bring more than himself, though,” Solomon said. “He needs to bring proof that he murdered Chase.”
“Oh, he’ll bring that along to murder me,” David said cheerfully.
“It’s not enough,” Solomon objected. “It could be a different knife, or it could be a common blade similar to hundreds of others that might match the victim’s wound. Did Chase have nothing on him that Drayman would have stolen?”
“His watch,” Constance said. “You said he wore a big watch.”
“Why would he wear something so valuable to the Crown and Anchor?” Solomon demanded. “Especially when he was incognito as an ordinary sailor.”
“He had two,” David said. “Both engraved with his name. His gold one that he kept safe, and a slightly battered brass one that he thought would fool people.”
“Then that’s what he needs to bring,” Solomon said decisively. “Ask for gold. He’ll try to palm you off with the brass one, but that doesn’t matter. Someone will recognize it.”
Constance stared at him. “A stranger might think you experienced in the art of criminal negotiations.”
“Just negotiations,” Solomon said.
“Well, we can think how to deliver this message tomorrow,” she said, rising to her feet.
“What’s wrong with tonight?” Solomon asked, his eyes hard and glittering with determination. “We have a house to see tomorrow.”
*
Drayman was lyingdown, staring at the ceiling while he tried to think how to find Johnny without going to the Crown and Anchor. Not that even Johnny would be foolish enough to go back there, but someone would probably know where he was living.
“’Ere,” Rosie said, invading the back room with her skimpy robe hanging off one shoulder. “Kid brought a message for you and ran off, poor little—”
Drayman sat bolt upright in one quick motion. “What message?”
“You’ve to go meet him at the Crown and Anchor.”
“I ain’t going near the Crown and Anchor.”
Rosie threw up her arms. “Don’t, then. It’s all the same to me.”
He scowled at her. “When?”
