I hadn’t told Vincent about the Leopard Lady and the warehouse. I wasn’t going to tell Ellen either. How close I’d been to getting the Leopard Lady away from Crillick. I’d thought exhibiting her bad enough, but now that Lucien had confirmed she had a child and I’d seen those spots of blood on the warehouse floor I knew it was so much worse. I cursed Vincent’s plans for this day trip. I’d already lost a day. I should be trying to find out where Crillick had stashed the Leopard Lady now. And her child. I’d got lucky following Crillick on Tuesday, but would he lead me to her again? If he didn’t, I couldn’t imagine where I’d start. I closed my eyes, concentrating on what I’d seen. The mattress, the straw. And there was a piece of paper. The paper! I almost jumped up, desperate to dig it out of my pocket, but I wanted to look at it when I was alone. Please God Grace hadn’t thrown it away. It might be my clue to where the Leopard Lady was being kept now.

‘Barky’s not too angry with me, is he?’ I said, hoping Ellen wouldn’t notice that I’d ignored her question.

Ellen shook her head and mimicked his snorting sound to make me laugh.

‘There now, it’s good to see you smile. And it’s just a few nights you’ll have missed. I’d best be on my way. I was only after seeing how you were. You wouldn’t know the best place for me to find Marcus before I go, would you?’

‘You could try his study. It’s on this floor. Take the corridor on the right when you reach the landing.’

‘Been there.’ She pouted. ‘I’ll just have to catch him another time.’

‘You did me good, Ellen.’

She’d wrapped her shawl around her shoulders and moved over to the looking glass to check her appearance before leaving. She dipped a finger into one of the creams on the table.

‘I didn’t know how well set up you were here.’

‘You know Vincent likes to buy me things.’

There were five or six pots laid out. Ellen picked them up one by one, unscrewed their lids and gave them a sniff. Then she opened the drawers and riffled through them.

‘You enjoying yourself there?’

‘You don’t begrudge me a little look, do you?’

After purloining her opium, I couldn’t say much if she decided to swipe a cream or two.

‘You’re welcome to it, Ellen.’

‘Do you think you’ll be coming back to the theatre next week?’

Ellen’s voice was casual but I knew she’d been working up to this, wondering if her headline slot could be made permanent.

‘I’ll be in on Monday. I was only given this week off.’