‘It’s no deception, sir,’ said the messenger. ‘My parents own the Golden Crown. We know Mr Howlett very well. I’ve taken messages for him before. He’s always ready to help people. He said that Mr Ruddock was kind to him.’

‘I was,’ agreed Ruddock. ‘He deserved respect.’

‘So what are you doing to do, Chevy?’ asked Hale.

‘I’m going to walk back to the Golden Crown with this lad and see what Mr Howlett has to say. In sending this message, he’s kept his word. He obviously wants to pass on the information to me in private. So – if you’ll excuse me – I’ll be on my way.’

‘Report back as soon as you can,’ ordered Yeomans.

‘I will, sir.’

‘And don’t you dare buy the old devil a drink.’

‘If he tells me what I want to know,’ said Ruddock, defiantly, ‘I’ll buy him two glasses of whatever he chooses. I’m as anxious as you are to find this man and Mr Howlett knows exactly who Giles Clearwater is.’

Alan Kinnaird was beginning to lose heart. A light shower had driven him into the shelter of a doorway. For over an hour, he’d been keeping vigil on Newgate Prison, the most feared gaol in the entire city. Having adopted a more suitable disguise, Harry Scattergood had deliberately started an argument with two of the turnkeys and got himself locked up for his pains. It was supposed to be a demonstration of how easy it was to escape from the prison but, Kinnaird believed, his friend had for once failed. Instead of walking out of the place, Scattergood would be taken before a magistrate and given a sentence to make him show more respect to those employed to keep villains behind bars.

When the shower turned into rain, it was as if the weather was confirming Scattergood’s failure. The demonstration was over so there was no need to lurk outside the prison. Keeping to the shadows, Kinnaird made his way home, arriving there soaking wet. Having unlocked the door of his lodging, he went gratefully in.

‘What kept you?’ asked Scattergood, reclining in a chair.

Kinnaird gaped. His friend had done exactly what he’d promised. No prison could hold Scattergood for long. The demonstration had been a success, after all.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN