As the carriage rolled back towards the centre of Highkington, Sheldrake leant back against the cushioning and reflected on their encounter with Old Tom. The man had seemed friendly enough, but Sheldrake felt sure that he was not being completely honest, or at least not completely open, with him.
Sheldrake lurched suddenly as the carriage took an unexpected turn. As it took another, he heard Leon’s boot thump down twice on the roof, a pause then two more thumps. They were being followed.
Sheldrake thumped three times on the roof with the end of his cane. A short time later, the carriage drew to a halt outside a bakery in Tanner’s Field, a poorer quarter of town, once redolent with the smells of the tannery but less noisome now that the tannery had moved further out of town. Nevertheless,
