The Mermaid in the Basement (41 page)

As soon as they were outside, Serafina said, “I’m going to send a note to Superintendent Winters.”

“What about?”

“He promised to use his office to help find the woman.”

“Did he now?”

“Yes. I know it’s strange, but he seemed willing to help, and Inspector Grant also. They have many men in the Yard. If they were all looking for a woman named Sadie who lives with a man with a steel hook, they could cover more ground than we do.”

“Send them a note. I’m going to put on some old clothes and go at once.”

“I’m going with you.”

“Go with me where?”

“I want to help you look.”

“You can’t go dressed like that.”

“I’m going, Dylan, so let me hear no more about it!”

“Well, there’s an old mule you are. Stubborn as I ever saw.Well, we’ll have to get you some old clothes, and you’re much too pretty. I’ll have to unprettify you a bit.” He smiled and said, “That might be fun.”

Serafina stared at him, a hot reply on her lips. But this was his world, and she said, “All right.Whatever you say. I’ll write the note and have it sent to Mr. Grant.”

Serafina had written the note, then gone to Dylan’s rooms. Dylan had stopped on the way and bought her some old clothes from a shop specializing in such. She examined herself in a mirror on the wall. She had donned a shapeless grey dress that hid her figure well enough. The shoes had been patent leather once, but now were little more than scraps that she had to tie onto her feet. A ratty-looking shawl was draped around her neck, and Dylan had put a floppy mob cap on her, such as cleaning women wore. She stared at her reflection and then turned to face Dylan. “Will this do?”

“Almost, but you’re far too clean.”He kept some of his materials for disguises in his room, and he proceeded to dust her hands with something that gave them a grimy appearance.“Hold still now. Your face is far too clean.”

Serafina stood still and felt his hands on her face. “Don’t paw me!” she said angrily.

“Be quiet, woman, afore I bat you one!” Serafina stared at him, and he laughed. “That’s the way you’ve got to talk. None of your fine English when we’re out there.”

Serafina saw that her face was grimy, and with the floppy bonnet on, she felt no one would recognise her.

“Rub some of that under your nails so they’ll look like you haven’t bathed. You really smell too good for a poor woman, but there’s nothing we can do about that, is there?”

“Let’s go, Dylan. Time is against us.”

“Right, you. Come along.”

The two left Dylan’s apartment and went to the area of Saint Giles. It was another one of the slum areas of London, filled with filthy lanes and decaying tenements. “I was pretty close to some of these folks when I was a thief,” he said. Serafina glanced at him and saw he was quite matter-of-fact about that time.

She followed him to a tenement house that seemed to be leaning precariously toward the street. “Still here,” he said.

They went inside and were stopped at once by a hulking man with a brutal-looking face. “Wot’s it yer want?”

“Come on, Baines. You remember me.”

The big man called Baines squinted in a nearsighted fashion. “Why, it’s you, ain’t it? Where you been? In jail I reckon.”

“Don’t have time to talk now, Baines.Wot I wants to know is do you know a woman named Sadie who’s kept by a man with a steel hook?”

“Wot yer wanna know for?”

“Wot do you care long as I pays?”

Baines stared at him and said, “You allus was a clever one.No, I don’t know no such woman, nor no man wiv a steel hook.”

“Here’s a sovereign for you. There’ll be another one just like it if yer find out anything. I’ll check with you later on today. Be quick now.”

“I keep this sovereign no matter,” Baines said threateningly.

“Just find the woman. You’ll get another.Maybe two.”

Serafina followed after Dylan; she was completely out of her world. Most of the streets were narrow and required careful navigation. All of them were filled with costers, barrows, old clothes carts, peddlers, vegetable wagons, and clusters of people buying, selling, and begging. They all began to look alike to her, and the smell was terrible. Sometimes the pavements were only wide enough to allow for the passage of one person, and the open gutters that meandered through them were filled with the night’s waste. The houses seemed to lean out over the streets, so close at the top as to blot out the sky.

Once Serafina stopped and looked at a child sitting in the gutter. The child was difficult to see in the half-light and was dressed in such rags it was impossible to tell whether it was a boy or a girl. A wave of compassion touched her, but Dylan pulled her away, saying, “Come on, woman.”

They moved from point to point, each time Dylan finding someone he knew and promising them money if they found a woman named Sadie accompanied by a man with a steel hook. They passed by many prostitutes looking tired and drab. There was little beauty among them. Their hair was lusterless and full of knots, their teeth stained and chipped. They stayed at the job steadily, and finally Dylan turned and said, “You must be exhausted, Viscountess.”

“I can go on,” Serafina said, although her legs were trembling with fatigue, or perhaps it was emotion. She had never seen such misery or poverty at close hand.

“I have another call to make.”He led her through the streets until he found the house where Callie and her brother, Paco, stayed with their mother. When he knocked, it was Paco who answered the door. “Hello, Paco, how are you this morning?”

Paco recognised him but looked past him at Serafina. “Who’s she?”

“A friend of mine. Can we come in?”

Paco was suddenly joined by Callie. She had washed her face and donned a dress that was too small for her. “It’s you,” she said. “Wot is it yer wants?”

“I’ve come to visit with your mother.”

Callie studied him carefully, then her eyes went to Serafina. “Is this ’ere your woman?” she demanded.

Serafina gave a gasp and was about to reply when Dylan dug his elbow into her side. “She’s a friend of mine. Her name is Molly.”

Serafina saw the girl staring at her in a clinical fashion, and she said weakly, “Hello, Callie.”

“Are you ’is woman?”

Serafina was trapped. “Yes,” she lied valiantly.

“Your face is dirty.Why don’t yer take a bath?”

Suddenly Dylan laughed. “She hates bathing, Callie. Sometimes I just have to hold her down and wash her myself.”

“We got some ’ot water if yer wants to wash ’er now.”

Dylan was enjoying this, Serafina saw.He turned to her with his blue eyes bright. “You may have something there.What do you think, Molly? Could I wash your face?”

“Leave my face alone,” Serafina said through clenched teeth.

“You see? She hates bathing.”He looked over and saw Mrs.Montevado. “How are you today,Maria?”

“Much better.”Maria Montevado was standing behind a table fixing some food. “The money you brought from the viscountess has been a godsend.We haven’t ever eaten so well.”

“Oh, she’s a generous lady. Not like Molly here.Molly’s stingy.”

“Wot do you want ’er for if she’s dirty and stingy?” Callie demanded.

“Well, I try to get rid of her, but she follows me around. Every time I try to hide from her, she finds me. She’s so in love with me, you see, Callie, I just can’t get rid of her.”

Callie came to stand before Serafina. Only twelve years old, but she had the assurance of a much older person. Life in the streets had taught her that. “Why don’t yer be clean and make yourself decent?” she said. “You like dirt?”

Serafina could feel Dylan holding back the laughter that showed in his features. She met his eyes, which were dancing with fun. “He’s so pretty, ’e is, I can’t bear to do without him, you see.”

Callie considered this and said, “You ought to wash. It won’t ’urt yer none.”

“Will you let me fix you a bite to eat?”Maria asked.

“Oh no, we’re in a hurry,” Dylan said. He turned to Callie. “Callie, you remember I asked you to look for a man with a steel hook?”

“Yus, I remember that. I couldn’t find him, though.”

“Well, he lives with a woman called Sadie. She’s a bad woman just like he’s a bad man.” He took a sovereign out of his pocket and held it toward her. “This is for you. If you find him, I’ll give you five more just like it.”

“Five sovereigns!” Callie exclaimed. She grasped the coin, stared at it, and then looked up at Dylan. “You must be rich.”

“No, this is all from the viscountess. She’s rich, and beautiful too.Not like ugly Molly here. She bathes a lot too.”

“Well, why don’t yer get rid of Molly and marry the viscountess?”

“Now there’s an idea,” Dylan said. “What do you think,Molly?”

Serafina glared at him, then looked over the poor surroundings, the two children, and the woman. The woman had traces of a beauty that had been worn down by life. Her heart smote her as she realised how little she knew about the poor. “I think you could afford more than five if she finds him.”

“Ten it is! You see,Molly here is ugly and dirty, but she’s got a generous spirit after all. Ten sovereigns if you find our man.”

“We’ll find ’im,” she said, her eyes narrowing. “We’ll find him. Don’t you worry.”

“Remember. You’ll find me at the Old Vic Theatre at night. Come early, if you can, before the play starts.”

“Wot if I find ’im some morning?”

“Here’s my address. You come there and leave me a note. I’ll check it every day, and if I get a note, I’ll find you at once right here.”

Callie nodded, then she turned and gave the sovereign to her mother. The woman said, “God must have sent you, Mr. Dylan.”

“Like I say. It’s the viscountess’s money.”

“Then God bless her,”Maria Montevado said.

Dylan said, “I hope you find Sadie and the man. Come along,Molly.”

They moved toward the door, and Callie came forward. She grabbed Serafina’s dress and forced her to turn around. “You’re dirty as a pig,” she said, “but yer might look all right if you’d wash. You come back ’ere, and I’ll ’elp yer look better. Mr. Dylan’s too ’andsome to ’ave to have an ugly, dirty woman like you with ’im.”

“There’s a good offer for you, Molly.” Dylan was laughing now, and he pulled her outside. As soon as they were clear, he turned to her and said, “Well, there’s a fine young girl, that Callie.”

“She’s rude!”

“Just honest. Being in the streets makes you that way, I think. But you can see your money has done a good thing for that family.”

Serafina stared at him and finally mustered a smile. “You enjoyed that, didn’t you?”

“Me? I felt so sorry for you I could hardly keep from crying—and you making enough noise grinding your old teeth!”

“Liar!”

“I suppose I am. Let’s move on.We’ll get something to eat, and then we’ll find some more people to ask.”

Serafina trudged along, so weary she had to hold to his arm. Hope burned faintly within her, and she knew that without Dylan they would have no hope at all.

TWENTY-THREE

O
n Thursday afternoon the prosecution finally concluded its case.Allen Greer said in a voice edged with bad temper, “That is the case for the prosecution, my lord—and we might have ended much sooner if my worthy opponent had not kept interrupting with meaningless remarks.”

Judge Franklin Locke gave Greer a look that could have cut to the heart. “If there is any rebuke to be made, Mr. Greer, I will be the one to make it.”

“Yes, Your Honour,” Greer muttered. He turned to the jury and grinned slightly, then took his seat.

“You may speak for the defendant, Sir Leo.”

Leo rose slowly to his feet, his face filled with confidence, but then it always was no matter how poor a chance he had of getting his man off.

He began by saying, “My lord, I will call as my first witness Mr. James Barden.”

Barden, the butler, came in and took his place in the witness box.

“You have been the butler for some time at the Newton household, Mr.

Barden. Is that correct?”

“Yes, sir.” Barden’s face was pale, and he answered nervously.

“During this time you have had opportunities to observe the defendant, Mr. Clive Newton, very closely.”

“Oh yes, sir. Since he was a small boy.”

“Do you think Mr. Clive could be described as an evil man?”

“Objection!” Greer rose at once and said, “My worthy opponent is putting words in the witness’s mouth.”

“Sustained. Rephrase your question, Sir Leo.”

Leo artfully changed the question so that it meant exactly the same thing. He kept the butler on the stand as long as possible until the jury began shifting nervously, then he said, “Do you have any questions, Mr. Greer?”

“No. There’s no need.As we all know, any good servant will say nothing evil about his employer.”

A murmur went through the room, but Sir Leo ignored it. He waited until Barden was gone and then started calling witnesses from the Newton household.

The trial proceeded at a snail’s pace, and finally, after the judge dismissed the court with the notice that the trial would begin the next morning at ten o’clock, Greer moved over and said, “Well, Sir Leo, I don’t believe I’ve ever seen a worse defense in my life.”