Page 147 of If Looks Could Kill
Pearl feels herself shrink. “He did? CaptainPaddy?”
Tabitha nods.
“Did he see me with my…”
“Yes, he saw them,” Tabitha tells her. “Didn’t bat an eye.”
“That’s not possible,” Pearl protests. “How could he not?”
Tabitha shrugs. “Ask him yourself. He’s down in the lobby, waiting for news of you.”
“But how did he come to be there at all?” she says. “And how were you even there, last night? How did Mother Rosie find you?”
Tabitha closes her eyes.
“Never mind,” Pearl says. “Another time.”
Tabitha swallows and begins to speak. “Mike and I were walking home to his uncle’s pub,” she says. “After looking for you.”
Pearl nods.
“A pair of policemen arrested Mike on a charge of possessing a gun stolen from Mother Rosie,” Tabitha continues. “A copper took him away. Mike told me to notify his uncle, and I promised I would. But not ten seconds after he left with the cop, the other cop handed me over to Rose and her men.”
Pearl gasps.
“It was fixed from the start.” Tabitha wraps her arms tightly around her chest. “The minute they said the charge was for stealing Rose’s gun, I should’ve run.”
“Much good that would’ve done you,” Pearl tells her. “They would’ve caught you.”
Tabitha hangs her head. “I suppose so.” She takes a deep breath. “Someone who knew Mike saw him being dragged away by the cop and went and told his uncle. His uncle bailed him out. When Mike learned thatI’d never made it to the pub, he knew something was wrong. He went first to the base to see if perhaps I’d gone there.”
“Ah,” said Pearl. “That’s how Captain Paddy enters the picture.”
Tabitha nods. “He was there late, playing checkers with a bunch of men with nowhere else to go. Paddy was letting them sleep at the base to stay out of the cold.”
Pearl shook her head. “Captain Jessop would have fits if she knew.”
Tabitha shrugs. “I think he’s been doing it ever since the weather turned cold.”
“But how did Mike and Paddy know where to find you?” inquires Pearl.
“They went to the Lion’s Den,” Tabitha tells her, “and asked Johnny Leone.”
Pearl gapes at this. “And hetold them?”
Tabitha nods, wide-eyed. “I know.”
Pearl decides to use the washroom again. Slowly, she rises to her feet. Tabitha steers her. Walking hurts, but she completes the journey and tends to her business there.
“Did you meet Nicolette?” Pearl asks on her way back to bed.
“I did,” Tabitha tells her. “She’s a bit of a puzzle. She has some connection to your Whitechapel killer. Something about meeting him on a boat.”
Pearl drops the blanket she’s been tucking around her shoulders.
“She what?”
“Something about meeting that man on a boat over from France,” Tabitha says more slowly, “made Nicolette a—a…”
