It was, at least, worth the asking, although he doubted a woman as shabbily clad as the one the men in Davey’s pub had described would’ve been able to afford the cost of a hansom cab fare.
Miss Shannon patted her dog’s wet side and glanced around. “Pr’aps, sir. I’m that sorry, I am, ‘bout the rain. ‘E’s a good tracker, Alfie is, but no dog born wot’ll trace a man through a downpour like this.”
“I fear not. Very well,” Malcolm said briskly, “we shall simply have to proceed along different lines. Mr. Shannon, I believe the terms of our agreement include pressing inquiries amongst potential witnesses at whatever point your fine Alsatian lost the trail? If you and your granddaughter would be so good as to assist us, I feel we might yet make good progress this evening. Try the cabbies, there, if you please. Stoddard, if you’ll broach the denizens of the Rising Sun Pub, I’ll endeavor to strike up a conversation with some of the gentlemen out for the evening’s merriment and dinner parties. Ladies, if you would be so good as to secure a hansom cab? I hope we may need one shortly.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Of course, Mr. Moore.”
“Right, sir. Let’s give ‘er a go, then, Maeve.”
Over the course of the next half-hour, Malcolm spoke with dozens of gentlemen and their stout, respectable wives, the latter dressed in satins and bonnets with drooping feathers under widespread umbrellas, inquiring politely about an ill-dressed woman assisting a wounded gentleman of their class. The answers he received were civil, concerned, and entirely negative, which left Malcolm increasingly frustrated as well as thoroughly soaked. Lightning flared overhead, sizzled down to strike chimney pots and church steeples with crashes of thunder that sent the well-dressed citizenry scrambling for doorways and covered carriages.