The Whitechapel Conspiracy - Anne Perry [55]
The peddler shook his head, sympathy in his face. “Times I’m glad I don’t work fer no one. Get good days an’ bad days, but nob’dy’s on me back, like.” He pointed down the road. “Were that one down there, on that side. Number six. Tobacconist and confectioner. Lots o’ folk comin’ an’ going there. That’s w’ere all the trouble were, four or five year back.”
“What trouble?” Tellman said casually, as if it were of no real interest.
“Carriages comin’ and goin’ at all hours, and that bit o’ a fight wot there were,” the peddler replied. “Not that much, I s’pose. Bin a lot worse since then, in Spitalfields and ’round there. But it seemed kind o’ nasty at the time. Lot o’ yellin’ an’ cursin’ an’ so on.” He screwed up his face. “Odd thing, though, they was all strangers! Not a one o’ them local, like.” He looked at Tellman narrowly. “Now w’y would a lot o’ strangers wanner come ’ere just ter fight each other? Then quick as yer like, they was all gorn again.”
Tellman could feel his heart beating in his chest.
“At the tobacconist’s?” His voice caught. It was ridiculous. It probably meant nothing.
“Reckon so.” The peddler nodded, still watching him. “That’s w’ere yer guv’ner went, any’ow. Asked me the same thing, ’e did, an’ then went orff like a dog wi’ two tails w’en I told ’im.”
“I see. Thank you very much. Here.” Tellman fished in his pocket and brought out a sixpence. His fingers were shaking. It was a bit extravagant, but he felt suddenly optimistic and grateful. “Have a pint on me. You’ve probably saved me a packet.”
“Ta.” The peddler took the sixpence and it disappeared instantly. “ ’Ere’s ter yer ’ealth.”
Tellman nodded and then walked quickly down to where the peddler had indicated. It looked much like any other shop on the outside, a small area for selling sweets and tobacco, with living quarters above. What on earth could be here that John Adinett had found exciting? He would have to come back when the shop was open. He would find a way of doing that tomorrow, when Wetron would not find out.
He walked back towards the Mile End Road with a spring in his step.
But when he managed to return to Cleveland Street in the middle of the next afternoon, after some considerable difficulty, and having stretched the truth to his inspector so far it bore little resemblance to the facts, the shop seemed exactly like a thousand others.
He bought threepence worth of mint humbugs and tried to start a conversation with the owner, but there was little to talk about except the weather. He was becoming desperate when he made a remark about heat and fevers, and poor Prince Albert’s having died of typhoid.
“I suppose no one’s safe,” he said, feeling foolish.
“Why should they be?” the tobacconist said ruefully, chewing his lip. “Royals ain’t no better off than you nor me when it comes to some things. Eat better, I s’pose, an’ certainly wear better.” He fingered the thin cloth of his own jacket. “But get sick like we do, an’ die, poor sods.” There was a sharp note of pity in his voice which struck Tellman as extraordinary from a man in such an area, who obviously owned little and worked hard. This was the last place he would have expected compassion for those who seemed to have everything.
“You reckon they’ve got troubles like ours?” Tellman said, trying to keep all expression out of his voice.
“Yer free to come an’ go as yer please, aren’t yer?” the tobacconist asked, gazing at Tellman with surprisingly clear gray eyes. “Believe what yer want, Catholic, Protestant, Jew, or nothin’? God wi’ six arms, if that’s what takes yer fancy? An’ marry a woman wot believes anything, if she’s willing?”
Gracie’s sharp little face came instantly to Tellman’s mind with its bright eyes and determined chin. Then he was furious with himself for his weakness. It was ridiculous. They disagreed about everything. She would have felt with this tobacconist and his sympathies. She saw nothing wrong in being in service, whereas Tellman was outraged that anyone, man or woman, should be fetching and carrying and calling other people “sir” and “ma