“Where were the chap last spotted?” the elder Shannon wanted to know as the dog thrust an eager nose into the gloves held out to him.
Malcolm nodded toward the opera house across the road. “There, between the Opera and the Floral Hall. The doorman caught a glimpse of him engaged in what he described as a desperate fight with another man and ran to fetch the constables he’d just seen pass by. This other man was evidently shot dead and abandoned by Mr. Catlin in his terror to escape. Probably one of those desperate, criminal youths in one of those wretched, notorious Nichol gangs. Their depredations have all London in an uproar. God help us, what are we coming to when young boys no older than fourteen or fifteen roam the streets as armed thugs and break into homes, stealing property and dishonoring women—“ he lifted his hat apologetically to the ladies “—and attacking a man in front of the Floral Hall, for God’s sake? The last time anyone saw Mr. Catlin, he was down Bow Street that way, just past the Floral Hall, fighting for his life.”
“Let’s cross, then,” Maeve Shannon said briskly, “an’ we’ll give Alfie the scent off them gloves again when we’ve got right up to where ‘e were at the time.”
They dodged carriages and ghostly, looming shapes of horses across the road, carriage lamps and horses’ eyes gleaming in the raw night. Clouds of white vapour streamed from the horses’ distended nostrils, then they were across and the copper-haired girl held the gloves to her dog’s nose again while her grandfather tapped one impatient foot. The shepherd sniffed intently, then at a command from his trainer began casting along the pavement. A sharp whine reached them, then Alfie strained out into the road, following the scent. The dog paused at a dark stain on the cobbles, which, when the elder Shannon crouched down and tested it, proved to be blood.