When Inspector Pierce (and I was glad it was him) opened the door and saw who was on the other side, I winced a smile and let Bridget speak.
“We’ve got something that might be important in the murder of Mallory Clacher,” she said.
“By all means then, come in.” He held the door wide. “Hello again, Delaney.”
Like the first time I’d been there, he was the only officer in the place. The addition of Bridget made it feel much more crowded as we all took a seat around a desk. I wanted to ask him if they’d found Dr. Glenn or if there was anything new in the case, but I wouldn’t with Bridget in the room.
“What do you need to tell me?” he asked, forcing an even tone to his voice.
“These.” Bridget held out her hand and I gathered the plaster piece from my bag. “These might lead to a killer. I showed you mine before, but now we’ve brought two.” We placed them on the desk in front of him.
Though Bridget’s style was off-putting, Inspector Pierce was interested to hear what we had to say. He definitely wasn’t happy we hadn’t been more careful about fingerprints (lesson learned) but he was glad we’d come to see him. While we were there, via his radio, he dispatched officers to the close and the library. He told the one going to the library that finding and talking to Artair Fletcher was a priority. I wished for a way to warn Artair, but there wasn’t one.
“You can’t write about this now. You’re part of the story,” Inspector Pierce said to Bridget. I thought he was just hoping to trip her up.
She didn’t miss a beat. “That’s correct, but once it’s solved, I’m going to have the best story in town.”
She seemed content and Inspector Pierce didn’t have a comeback for her, which was probably the main reason she was content.
It was a quick meeting, and as he showed us the door he said, “Be careful, please. Don’t do anything stupid.”
“Don’t plan to,” I said.
“You either, Lois Lane,” he said to Bridget.
“Did you just make a joke?” I said before I could stop myself.
He didn’t answer, but shut the blue door and turned the dead bolt.
“I think he did try a joke,” Bridget said. “Come on, I’ll buy you a drink.”
“It’s only one in the afternoon,” I said.
“Right. I’ll buy you lunch, but you can’t look at it as a bribe. You do eat, don’t you?”
“All the time,” I said.
“Haggis is on me,” she said as she signaled me to follow her.
“Uh,” I said. If she made me eat haggis, she and I would never get past our issues.
I’d just order something else. Hopefully.
THIRTY-TWO
“Wait here,” Bridget said.
The small take-out shop was crowded and it wasn’t too cold outside, so I didn’t mind waiting. I hoped she didn’t think I’d truly eat haggis, but she didn’t ask what I wanted.
A few minutes later she exited, balancing two large coffees and two paper-wrapped pastries.
“I was kidding about the haggis,” she said as she gave me a coffee and pastry.
It felt like a peace offering.
All the world is made of faith, and trust, and pixie dust, said Peter Pan in my mind.
The bookish voice came out of the blue. Quickly and covertly I scanned the area, but didn’t see a bookshop nearby.
Peter must have thought it pretty important for me to get the message. Or maybe that was Tinker Bell.
“Thank you,” I said. As I sipped the coffee, my eyes got big at the sight of the cherry pastry.
“You like pastries? Doesn’t everyone?”
“I like them very much,” I said. It seemed like it would be rude to pay her back for food and drink, so I just thanked her again.
“This way, I want to show you something,” she said as she led the way while we ate the pastries that didn’t need much chewing because mine melted the second it came in contact with my tongue. I looked behind as we traveled. I needed to memorize the location of the takeaway shop.
We were on the back side of the Edinburgh Castle, at the bottom of the volcanic cliff that the castle had sat comfortably upon for centuries. The buildings became less adorable as we continued, transforming into more modernish architecture.
“See that place?” she said after she’d licked her fingers. “That’s the Argyle House.”
“It’s an apartment building. Flats, I mean,” I said.
The building was huge; even if it hadn’t been in Edinburgh, where buildings weren’t as big as American buildings, it would have been considered huge. From our angle, it seemed to have two wings, but they weren’t at typical angles from each other.
“No, it’s business offices,” Bridget said. “It’s contemporary inside and out. As you can see, it’s in between much of the new and the old in Edinburgh.”
I looked around as I swallowed my last bite of pastry. “And the castle above.”
“Aye.”
“Why are you showing it to me?”
“This is the West Port area. This large building sits in the spot where the boardinghouse that Burke and Hare met at was located. I’m sure you’ve been hearing about them a lot lately if you’ve heard about Dr. Eban.” She looked at me expectantly.
I didn’t answer in the way she’d hoped. “Oh, that is interesting.” I let my imagination try to superimpose the old over the new. “It was a crowded place back then.”
“Without a doubt.”
We were both silent a moment as we pondered. I liked it when even the locals enjoyed the history of their city.
“Your bookshop has prints too, doesn’t it?” she asked.
“Yes.”
“I bet you have a print somewhere of Log’s Lodgings. That was the name of the place. They were both Irish immigrants,
