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‘No time for that!’ she barked, fishing in the envelope for the card. ‘We have a long, laborious day ahead of us! The march drew members from all across the country; wherever Lavinia Welford lived, that’s where we’re heading. There is no time to lose: after all, we must try to get there before the police do. I shall need you to pack my bags, and summon a cab and arrange some train tickets for us …’

The glow of happiness that the tea had briefly provided was snuffed out, like an elephant stamping on a lit match. I could have happily lain down on the carpet and died.

Miss Decima retrieved the pledge card and held it before her. She blinked three times.

‘Oh,’ she said. ‘Well, that’s certainly convenient.’

22

Monday, 19 June, 9.13 a.m.

Ten minutes later, we were standing outside a tall red-brick building on the other side of the Royal Albert Hall.

‘Miss Lavinia Anne Welford,’ Miss Decima read aloud from the pledge card. ‘Correspondence Address … Queen Alexandra’s House, Kensington Gore.’

We were barely two hundred yards from our own front door. I was grateful for the short journey, but not thrilled about being outside. I felt like someone was going at my eyes with a hot drill.

‘Well! Time to make up for your shameful display last night, Stephen,’ said Miss Decima, putting away the card. ‘What do you notice?’

I groaned. There was no getting away from her training. The End of Days could come raining down from on high, and the Four Horsemen could ride the length of Kensington High Street, and she’d still be asking what colour their stirrups were. ‘It’s a house, Miss Decima.’

‘It’s not a fucking house,’ she snapped, pointing at the plaque beside us. ‘It’s student lodgings, for young ladies attending the Royal College of Art, the Royal College of Music and Imperial College. Which means that Lavinia Welford is likely aged between eighteen and twenty-one years old.’

I remembered back to the women I’d seen from the smoking gallery. ‘Two of them seemed young, Miss Decima. And the statue I saw them fiddling with is certainly close by.’ I glanced at it over my shoulder. ‘She might even have a view of it from her room.’

‘Hmm. A good point,’ said Miss Decima, gazing up at the height of the building. ‘We shall have to find out, once we’ve broken into her dormitory.’

I baulked. ‘Pardon?’

‘Why else do you think we’re here? We have to search her lodgings for clues! For all we know, the police are on their way to do the exact same thing, if they haven’t done so already. Chop, chop.’

My head was spinning, even more than before. The last thing I needed was for the police to walk in on us breaking into a young lady’s room. I had to dissuade her. ‘Her dorm could be on the top floor, Miss Decima. I won’t be able to get your bath chair up there.’

Her face fell. ‘Hmph. You’re right. You’ll have to do it alone.’

Sometimes I wondered why I bothered talking.

‘And question some of her friends while you’re at it, too,’ she added. ‘Find out what they know about Lavinia – try to be charming, if that’s possible in your current condition. Who knows, maybe the bruises and mud stains will help – these are well-to-do young ladies, after all. You’ll be their bit of rough!’ She looked at me and grimaced. ‘On second thoughts, forget that. Rough is all well and good, but you look frankly inhospitable.’

‘May I help you?’

I’d never heard those words sound less like an offer of help. I turned around and saw a woman standing outside the entrance, blocking the doorway. She was in her fifties and neatly put together, with a coiffure you could have bent bars with. Her expression suggested that she wasn’t going to stand for any nonsense, which wasn’t helped by the fact that I looked like I’d spent the night clawing my way out of a badger sett.

‘Good morning!’ said Miss Decima. ‘I take it that you are the Superintendent of this building?’

There was a flash of fear across the woman’s face. ‘Are you press? If so, you can leave at once.’

I understood right away. The police had already searched Lavinia Welford’s room, perhaps even that very morning; the Superintendent was afraid that the news was already out. Places like this ran on their reputations.

Miss Decima smiled broadly. ‘On the contrary! I was wondering whom I should consult regarding lodgings for my granddaughters. They’re due to start at Imperial soon, and we’re keen to find them some suitable nearby accommodation.’

The woman’s face softened. ‘How many granddaughters do you have?’

‘Five,’ said Miss Decima.

Her eyes widened. ‘Five?’

‘Did I say five? I meant six,’ said Miss Decima. ‘And I should like to make an advance payment, please, in the interest of guaranteeing them places as soon as possible. I’m sure you understand.’