Chapter 18

We took Joe to my rooms and put him to bed with a dose of laudanum. He needed rest before he talked about what caused the attack, and what hot lead he was following. He tossed and turned, and small amounts of blood stained the bedding. I stayed with him, but Blathers was unable to sit around and went out to visit some of the known criminals in the city. He was looking for someone who would be in a position to fence a valuable piece of jewelry. Even though the attack on Joe had put an onus on us to punish the perpetrator, Blathers focused on our primary goal, to recover the pearls.

The whole affair seemed centered on the Irish population of Spitalfields. So Blathers said he intended to visit an Irishman who was suspected of participating in less than legal transactions. The man had started as a smuggler and black marketer during the Napoleonic Wars. Now, years later, he still had sufficient wealth to front sizable deals in hot jewelry. The police suspected he used some of his funds to stir up unrest among Irish nationalists. The rumors of an armed uprising in Ireland had become stronger with each passing year.

Those Irishmen who engaged in illegal businesses usually maintained premises in Spitalfields, where Irish immigrants elected to starve in England, as opposed to starving in their native land. I have heard stories, though, that the more well-to-do Irish businessmen, regardless of the legality of their enterprises, were often the first to provide help to their neighbors when it was needed. They kept as many alive as they could.

Blathers intended to call on Caddy Quale, the most renowned of the Irish “men of business.” Caddy and Blathers had confronted each other many times when Blathers and I were Bow Street Runners. Blathers knew where to find him. To get there he had to go down an alley behind two rows of three-story buildings. At the third house on the right, a door sat exactly in the middle of the wall; at least, it was in the middle when the house was built. Over time, the building tilted slightly to one side, leaning against the house next door, and took the door with it.