Chapter Fourteen
Number 4 Portugal Street was an upmarket lodging house catering to gentlemen who were well-heeled but not affluent. The inhabitants of the topmost floor were a Mr. Brockmole and a Mr. Guthrie. Brockmole was a little Jack Sprat of a man who’d been valet to a baron, according to the kitchen maid Perry spoke to. He descended the stairs every day to stroll in Hyde Park wearing an elaborate wig and carrying a gold-topped cane that the baron had gifted him upon his retirement.
Guthrie was younger and worked at one of the banks. Very quiet he was, the kitchen maid said, and never caused a mite of trouble.
Perry spent the rest of the day trying to find some connection between Guthrie and clocks. He failed, but he did find a connection between Guthrie and Giles Abbishaw: tea. Bo
