'And if yer wants to come in an' see one o' my girls, then yer pays me. Wot's the matter wiv yer-'aven't yer never bin 'ere before?'
' 'I want to talk to Abigail, nothing more, and I have no intention of paying you for that,' he replied sternly. 'I'll talk to her in the street, if necessary.'
'Oh, will yer then, Mr. Fancy?' she said with a hard edge to her voice. 'We'll see abaht that!' And she started to slam the door.
205
Pitt was very much larger than she was, and stronger. He put his foot next to the frame and leaned on the door.
' ' Ere!' she said angrily. '' You try ter force yer way in 'ere, an' I've got boys as'll do yer over till yer own muvver won't knew yer! Yer no beauty now-but yer'11 be a rare sight when they've finished, and that's a promise!'
'Threatening me, are you?' Pitt inquired calmly.
'Now you've got it!' she agreed. 'An' I'll do it yer better believe!'
'That's a pretty serious offense-threatening a police officer.' He met her sharp old eyes squarely. 'I could have you up for that and put in Coldbath Fields for a spell. How would you like that? Fancy picking oakum for a while?'
She paled under the grime on her face.
'Liar!' she spat. 'Yer no fuzz!'
'Oh, yes, I am. Investigating a case of arson.' That was true, if not the completely so. 'Now where's Abigail Winters?-before I get unpleasant, and come back with force!'
'Bastard!' she said. But the venom had gone out of her voice, and there was a certain satisfaction underlying it. Her mouth widened into a stump-toothed smile. 'Well, you can't see 'er, Mr. Fuzz-'cause she ain't 'ere! Left here after that there trial. Gorn to see 'er cousin or suffink, up in the country. An' it's no use yer askin' where to, 'cause I dunno, and nor do I care! Could be any place. IPn yer wants 'er that bad, yer'd better go an' look.' She gave a dry little laugh. 'Course yer can come and search the place-if yer wants?' She pulled the door wider, invitingly. An odor of cabbage and drains hit his nose, but he had smelled it too often before for it to make him sick.
He believed her. And if his persistent, almost silenced suspicions were right after all, it was not unlikely Abigail had gone. All the same, it would be negligent not to make sure.
'Yes,' he said. 'Yes, I'll come and look.' Please God her bullyboys were not inside waiting to beat him in the privacy of this warren of rooms. She might have them do it-just in revenge for the insult. Then, on the other hand, if she believed he was a police officer, such an act would be stupid, even ruinous to her business-a luxury she could most definitely not afford.
206
The very name of Coldbath Fields was enough to sober anyone from the intoxication of revenge.
Pitt followed her inside and along the corridor. The place had a dead look about it, almost unused, like a music hall in daylight when all the tinsel and laughter has gone, and the kindness of concealing shadows.
She opened the rooms for him, one after another. He peered in at the rumpled beds, shabby in the dim light, and girl after girl turned over and stared at him out of blurred eyes, faces still smudged with paint, and swore at him for disturbing them.
'Rozzer come ter take a look atcher,' the old woman said maliciously. ' 'E's lookin' fer Abbie. I tell'd 'im she ain't 'ere, but 'e wants 'er that bad 'e's come ter look fer 'isself. *E don't believe me!'
He did not bother to argue. He had believed her, but he could not afford to take the one chance in a hundred that she was lying. For his own sake, he had to be sure.
' 'There now!'' she said triumphantly at the end. 'Believe me now, do yer? Owes me an apologizement, Mr. Rozzer! She ain't 'ere!'
'Then you'll have to do instead, won't you!'' he said acidly, and was pleased to see the start of surprise
