Nell removed her air mask as she settled into Tom’s steam car for their trip to Birmingham to visit the address Nancy had given them. Their research had turned up no more than that it was an old pottery, now owned by the man whose card the girl had seen. Nell carried a Babbage-engine copy of the composite drawing Caro had done based on Nancy’s description. There was something naggingly familiar about the face, but she couldn’t put a finger on it. She also wore her electronic stun gun in a holster on her belt under the cover of a light cape. This was no pleasure jaunt. “I know.” Tom wasn’t in the mood for conversation. The trip was uncomfortably silent until they reached the Reading, where they stopped for fuel and tea. Over the rough wooden table of the roadside inn, he finally spoke. “I’m sorry about Braithwaite. The man is an idiot. I’d be happy to beat the tar out of him for you.” “There’s no need to be sorry.”
