Free Devoured by D. E. Meredith Page A

friend?’
    Roumande smiled. ‘Perhaps pass me a finer quill, Professor? If he’s a collector, he’ll know the flora. It’s certainly worth a try.’
    Roumande penned a perfect copy of the tattoo. A briar, a roselike flower, a star.
    Hatton rolled the piece of paper up, taking his coat down from the meat hook, and made his way to the house, which was easily found, having the biggest plot and positioned directly opposite Chelsea Physics Gardens. He checked the brass plate to make sure he wasn’t wrong, but etched in metal, Sir William’s name and title. Hatton rang the bell.
    A servant said that he would see if the master was available. Hatton waited in the drawing room, admiring a miniature clock topped by a tiny Indian prince resplendent with a turban and an umbrella carved from solid gold. The face was set to the right time – eleven-thirty in the morning. The servant came back and announced, ‘Mr Broderig will see you now, sir.’
     
    Benjamin Broderig was at his desk and dressed in black. He looked up from a map opened before him, a large green ledger to his left, and said, ‘Good morning, Professor. Can I offer you some coffee or a sherry, perhaps? We have a fine Manzanilla.’
    Hatton smiled and said Manzanilla sounded exactly right for this weather. ‘I have been up all night again, so please forgive my not making an appointment with you, Mr Broderig, but I have come on spec. I think you might be able to help me.’
    ‘Not at all, Professor. Please, sit by the fire. I’ve been up all night myself, because my mind is so restless here in London. There’s a great deal of administration, when death comes. But forgive me, as you can see, I’m not busy with the details of Lady Bessingham’s estate just at the moment.’ He patted the map. ‘An obsession of mine …’ Hatton looked at what appeared to be an island.
    ‘Is that Borneo, Mr Broderig?’
    ‘No, it isn’t, but you’re very close. It’s where I intend to travel next if I can raise enough capital. I met a man from Usk who by now will be collecting birds of paradise in the Aru Islands. This is the largest of the Arus, Tanahbesar. It’s my intention to join him. Perhaps you have heard of him? His name is Alfred Russel Wallace.’
    Hatton shook his head.
    ‘Well, he’s not so celebrated as Mr Darwin but he shares a patron with me. Dr Joseph Hooker of the Linnean Society.’ Broderig paused. ‘I can see already by your face, Professor, that you’ve heard of him.’
    ‘Dr Hooker. But, of course. He’s a very eminent man.’
    ‘Yes,’ answered Broderig, taking a little key and placing his ledger into a drawer, before turning the lock and saying, ‘And by what the Inspector said to me, you’ll soon be joining Dr Hooker in the Hall of Fame. He’s very impressed with you.’
    Hatton was delighted to hear such praise. ‘I’ve done very little so far, but yes, forensics I believe is the way forward, although it’s very early days. And Inspector Adams seems to want to understand my work and be prepared to listen, to take advice, or that is my impression.’
    Broderig nodded, enthused by this company. ‘I think he does, Professor. And to have one’s ideas listened to. Isn’t that what we Men of Science all desire? But come, how exactly can I help you?’
    Hatton took Roumande’s sketch from his doctor’s bag and placed it over the map of the Arus. Broderig nodded. ‘It’s the tattoo, isn’t it? It’s a very good likeness.’ The young man sighed. ‘Lady Bessingham was a very strong-willed woman. It’s Paphiopedilum katheriniadum . I discovered the flower and named it after her, and so I suppose she took it as a little symbol of her own and added the star, which is also Dayak.’
    Hatton looked puzzled. ‘Ah, sorry, Professor. Dayak. I think I mentioned the term yesterday. It’s the name of the forest people in Borneo.’
    Hatton listened, mystified, and at the same time excited, but a servant appeared at the door and set the cups