Chapter Thirty-One
Perry was outside St. James’s Church before dawn. He loitered discreetly as London came awake, sleepy servants throwing open shutters and unlocking doors. A man dressed in ecclesiastical attire performed the same service at the church, unlocking the main entrance with a jangle of keys.
Perry waited to see whether anyone would dart in that open door to retrieve the stolen clock. Half an hour passed. He peeled himself away from the wall he was leaning against and ambled across to the church, slipping inside. He paused in the shadows for a moment, listening, then climbed the staircase to the north gallery.
The gallery had three stepped rows of pews. Perry counted off the windows and the pews until he came to where Lady Violet had seen Saintbridge Abbishaw.
He went down
