Is that answer something private? It shouldn’t be, but . . .
“Would you?” I say finally to Gray. “I’ll tell you later. I just . . . This feels . . .”
He squeezes my elbow. “I understand. I will be right here, in case she refuses to speak to you.”
“Okay, but don’t offer her money. Please. Once you start, she’ll see an automatic bank teller she can access at any time.”
“Automatic bank teller . . .”
“Incredibly convenient. Or they used to be, when people still paid for things in cash instead of just tapping their bank card.”
He shakes his hand. “I do not even want to know how that works. But I understand your meaning. I will not offer money. You speak to her, then, and I will be over here, enjoying a pint of ale.”
“Warm ale. In my world, it’s ice-cold at this time of year. That I would drink.”
Another headshake, and I leave him to order his warm beer.
When I tell Davina about the resolution of the case, I tweak it a little. Oh, I totally throw Roy under the bus. Davina may be preying on tourists entranced by a famous little dog, but at least she didn’t steal the dog to do it. And intending to beat Dorrit for what she did? Unconscionable. He had an opportunity to steal Bobby back and instead chose to kidnap and “punish” the little girl who took him.
It’s the Dorrit part that I finesse. Dorrit rescued Bobby and put him in a courtyard for safekeeping until she could speak to us, because she certainly wasn’t going to return him for Roy to dognap him again.
“Too easy,” Davina mutters. “The children told you who took the dog, and that was the person who took the dog.”
I could point out that Roy no longer had Bobby, and that we’d needed to track down Roy ourselves, but I only say, “You don’t pay a detective based on the difficulty of the case. If it turns out to be complicated, they may ask for more money to cover their time, but you cannot deduct from their pay if they solve it with ease.” I wave at the barmaid. “That would be like docking her pay because she is skilled and efficient.”
“Still doesn’t seem right,” Davina grumbles.
“But it is. So you owe me Catriona’s story.”
A canny glint sparks in her eyes. “Who says she told me her story?”
“You did, and you offered it, and if you refuse to pay up, Dr. Gray will tell the watchmen what you are up to. After all, John Gray was his relative, and if you are picking the pockets of people at his grave, that is his concern. Also, as an undertaker, he has contacts in kirkyards that go far higher than the watchmen.”
“I wasn’t picking any pockets. I was offering tours.”
“Tell me what I need to know, and we can both stop this posturing. Be aware, too, that I will check out whatever story you give, seeing as how I work with a police detective. If you lie, the same threat applies.”
“Me? What if Catriona lied?”
“She didn’t, because you would have investigated yourself to see if there was any leverage to be gained there. Now, who is Catriona Mitchell?”
She pulls back, chewing over her response, and I brace for her to say I’m Catriona Mitchell and keep delaying that way. Instead, she says, “I can only tell you what she told me. I checked a few things, yes, but it is her story.”
“That’s all I want. Her story.”
She takes a sip of tea before starting. “Her mother was a silly twit of a girl who let some dandy put a babe in her belly, back when she was a parlormaid.”
I try not to blanch. Parlormaids like Alice are the youngest of the female household staff. “How old?”
Davina shrugs. “Thirteen? Fourteen?”
“Bloody hell.”
A snort. “Don’t waste your tears on girls like that. That is the price they pay for lifting their skirts to the first man who asks.”
I clamp my jaw tight against comment, but it must show in my eyes, making her snicker at my naiveté. I suppose given the way she talked about alcoholics, I should expect she wouldn’t sympathize with pregnancy out of wedlock either. A woman like Davina needs things to pride herself on, and these are hers—that she doesn’t drink or trade in sex. In order to feel that pride, though, she must look down on all those who “failed” at abstinence, in both respects. They are weak, and she is not.
