I could hardly say I was following Crillick. He was still ahead of me. But if I didn’t say something soon, the captain would think me simple and throw me off.

‘The new docks are the last stop,’ he said, doubtful that I’d be headed there and well he might be, but it made sense.

‘Yes, West India Docks is where I want.’

‘You’re sure? Not with the customs people, are you?’ he said and laughed at the very idea of it.

‘My master works for the West India Company,’ I said, with a flash of inspiration. It was the right answer.

The captain was satisfied with that. ‘Only doing my job to ask, miss. The security is something fierce down there. Seamen, servants like yourself and customs officials are all that’s allowed there unaccompanied, like.’

‘Naturally,’ I said. Everyone in London knew that the new docks had been built solely to cut down on thievery. Before business had been transferred, I’d benefited from a few bits and pieces going astray myself. The bolt of cotton for my dress had come from India. Old and well worn as it was, it was quality and had lasted. No chance I could have paid the shop price.

It was only a little further and soon I found myself deposited dockside. The whole journey from Westminster had taken around half an hour. I wondered how often Crillick shuttled back and forth. He’d seemed to know where he was headed, and I couldn’t help but wonder if this was where he was keeping the Leopard Lady. With so many sailors from all around the world – Blacks and lascars and Chinese – it would be easy for her to blend in as long as no one saw the patches on her face. I could think of no other reason for him being here. He didn’t import, and if he was buying materials there’d be no call to come all the way out to the island. Rum and sugar were stored in quantity at the docks, but all could be sampled in the City.

West India Docks was just like the pictures I’d seen printed in the Illustrated London News. Set a little further back from the water were a couple of two-storey buildings marked Customs and Excise, a row of smaller offices where the exporters had set up shop and huge warehouses for keeping timber and mahogany. It wasn’t a place for anyone delicate – the noise and the numbers of unsavoury people saw to that – but I felt more and more convinced that Crillick was hiding the Leopard Lady here. I’d hoped for a clue to where she was but, with any luck, he would take me straight to her.