“I know that,” shouted Buchanan. “But in London, according to that bastard reporter, that was the main thing that killed Mansfield’s box office. People asked, did the play provoke Jack the Ripper?”
“Absurd.”
“I know it’s absurd. You know it’s absurd.”
“That reporter knows it’s absurd.”
“But what if ticket buyers don’t know it’s absurd? What if they blame us?” Buchanan sank in a chair and put his head in his hands. “We are sunk . . . Jackson, how in blazes can we get around this?”
Barrett grinned the way he did whenever he came up with a big idea. “Tell you what. We have an airplane, right?”
“What airplane?”
“Flying over the stage. The one you said cost too much. Fortunately, I prevailed. Audiences love it.”
“So what?”
“So we paint an airplane red. We paint ‘Jekyll’ and ‘Hyde’ on the wings. We fly it over the city where we’re playing. A billboard in the sky.”
“It’s not a real airplane. It’s a stage prop.”
“We rent a real one that looks like ours. With an aviator to fly it.”
“That would cost a fortune.”
“We’ll save a fortune in billboard passes. Why give free tickets to shopkeepers who put our ads in their windows when we have a billboard in the sky?”
Buchanan took a deep breath. A billboard in the sky was a bold idea. If the publicist could make hay with it, it might actually save them.
“I know a pilot.”
“Wire him!” said Barrett.
“Her.”
“Oh, one of your ladies?”
“No, it’s not like that. She’s happily married, she has children, and I know her father.”
“Ugly, too, I presume?”
“Driver! Stop. Head for Chelsea.”
Isaac Bell was on his way to Waterloo Station to take the boat train to Southampton Docks. Acting on sudden instinct, he ordered the cabby to make a detour.
“Ain’t you got to get to your ship, guv?”
“I’ll be quick, and triple your fare when you get me to the station on time.”
Wayne Barlowe was working in his loft, putting finishing touches on the whale.
“What happened to your face?”
“Slipped in the bath.”
“Did you find Emily?”
“She loved your sketch,” said Bell, and told him about Jack Spelvin. “Did you ever see Spelvin perform at Wilton’s?”