A Golden Cage

by Shelley Freydont

  “Maybe it’s broken,” Elspeth said.

  “It worked the other day.” The door opened a crack. Mrs. Deeks’s wrinkled face peered out at Deanna.

  “What do you want?” She squinted her eyes in an effort to see better.

  “I came to visit with you. I was here a few days ago with Gwendolyn Manon.”

  “Aha, the people looking for the little harlot.”

  Deanna bit her tongue. “Yes.”

  “Well, I haven’t seen her.”

  “Well, I just came to visit. I thought you might like some company.”

  “Can’t give you tea, the girl isn’t here. Can’t depend on servants these days, always taking off when you need ’em.”

  Deanna thought if Mrs. Deeks were a little nicer her servants might stay longer, but she didn’t say so.

  “You can come in and get my tin of cookies out. I can’t manage the latch. Then you can take yourself off.”

  “I’d be happy to.” Deanna glanced at Elspeth, who nodded, and Deanna stepped inside.

  “Be sure to shut the door.”

  “I will. You just have a seat and I’ll get your cookies.” She slowly started to close the door while the old lady made her way into the parlor.

  Deanna stuck her hand out and motioned to Elspeth, who slipped through the door. Deanna put a finger to her lips.

  Elspeth gave her a look and melted into the shadows.

  Deanna joined Mrs. Deeks in the parlor, took the cookies out of the cupboard, and lifted the lid.

  She grabbed two greedily. “Do you know how to make tea?”

  “Why no,” Deanna said. She’d never been called on to make tea before.

  “You girls, what do I hire you for?”

  “I’m not your servant, Mrs. Deeks. I came for a visit.”

  “Well, I don’t want any visitors. Take yourself off.”

  Thank you. Deanna could hardly hide her impatience to leave, though she doubted Mrs. Deeks could see that.

  “But I’ll keep the cookies.” The old woman wrapped her arm around the tin.

  “Well, do enjoy them. I’ll see myself out. Good day.” Deanna was sure she looked like a jack-in-the-box, popping up and down in a curtsey as she hurried to the door before Mrs. Deeks changed her mind.

  A minute later she was at the back door. Elspeth let her in. “Hurry,” Deanna said. “She’s eating cookies, but she might decide to make a cup of tea. She asked me if I knew how.”

  “Ha,” Elspeth said, remembering to whisper.

  “You can show me later—let’s go.” Deanna led the way, peeking around the door to make sure no Mrs. Deeks awaited them in the hall. They silently sped to the back of the house and up the servants’ staircase. Deanna was out of breath by the time they reached the attic door. She knocked. “Amabelle, it’s Deanna.”

  Amabelle didn’t come to the door.

  “Belle, let me in.”

  Still no answer. Deanna turned the knob. Elspeth’s smaller hand closed over the top of hers. “I’d better go in first, miss.”

  “Nonsense, she isn’t dangerous.” Deanna started to enter, but stopped. “But thank you, Elspeth.” She stepped inside with Elspeth on her heels.

  The attic was empty. Of people, anyway. The boxes and trunks stood mutely around the room, the pallet Belle had made for herself was gone, the table where Deanna had found the earrings was pushed back under the eave. The window was closed. There was no sign of anyone having been there.

  “She’s gone,” Deanna said.

  “Are you sure? Maybe she’s exploring the house—she must be that bored—or using the facilities.”

  Deanna shook her head. “She had it fixed up like a sitting room, and she’s put everything back.”

  “Do you think the coppers got her?”

  “Maybe. But wouldn’t Mrs. Deeks have said something if they descended on her house and dragged her grand-niece out to the police wagon?”

  “I don’t know. She thought you were the maid.” Elspeth was obviously trying to hide a grin.

  “Go on and laugh, but you’re teaching me to make tea when this is all over. I never thought about it before, but I can’t cook a thing. All those lessons in deportment and French and Italian and music and painting; the closest they come to telling you how to live is how to plan menus and give orders to the cook.”

  “Miss Deanna, could you please stop philo-philosophizing and take care of the problem at hand?”

  “Sorry. Let’s see. She must have left of her own will. If the police took her, they wouldn’t have bothered to clean the room. She didn’t want anyone to know that she’d been here.” Deanna looked around the room as if the answer lay in the dusty castoffs.

  It didn’t.

  “Let’s get out of here. I’ll think better when I’m not petrified of getting caught.”

  “Good idea,” Elspeth said. “And this time I will lead the way. I’m much better at sneaking around than you. And not because I sneak around on you. It’s from playing with my brothers and sisters.”

  Elspeth marched across the floor and out the door, down the stairs. Deanna stopped only long enough to close the door, then followed closely behind her. Elspeth stopped at the second floor, listened. Motioned for Deanna to follow.

  They were just reaching the first floor and were moving quickly but quietly toward the kitchen, when there was a banging at the front door. Both girls froze, then Elspeth yanked Deanna into the butler’s pantry. She put her fingers to her lips, pointed to the floor. She wanted Deanna to stay put. Deanna nodded.

  Elspeth peered around the kitchen door, looked both ways, then hurried across the room to stand on tiptoe and look out the window. She made a frantic motion for Deanna to come. By the time Deanna reached her, she had the back door open and was looking back and forth. Then she pulled Deanna out the door, pausing only long enough to close it, and they sprinted across the lawn to the safety of the shrubbery.

  They watched from the bushes, eyes and ears alert. It was the police. They had found out about Mrs. Deeks. And they were too late.

  “Do you see Will Hennessey?” Deanna asked, craning her neck around the bushes.

  “No. What are we going to do? They might arrest us.”

  Deanna thought they might, too. She was in such hot water. “We have to get farther away,” Deanna said. She looked around. “Maybe we can cut through to the next street.”

  “Somebody will see us and have us arrested for trespassing,” Elspeth said.

  “Do you have a better idea?”

  “No.”

  They moved along the shrubbery until they got to the next property line. One of the houses was fenced in by a wrought-iron railing, the other was open.

  “Act like we belong here,” Deanna said.

  She walked ahead, Elspeth a couple of paces behind her, at a slow stroll. It was the hardest thing Deanna could remember doing.

  They managed to reach the far street without mishap.

  “If anyone stops us now, it will be their word against ours.” Deanna grabbed Elspeth’s elbow and they hurried to the corner, hoping that the carriage would be nearby.

  “There it is. Bless Jasper, he deserves a medal.”

  “He’d probably rather have a big tip,” Elspeth huffed, following after her.

  “Which he shall get,” Deanna said. She stopped below the coachman. “Jasper, I have a few errands to run. Do you know if they were planning to use the carriage this afternoon?”

  “I don’t know, miss. But I’m sure they wouldn’t mind you doing your errands. There are other carriages.”

  “Thank you. Next stop is the Ocean Hotel.”

  Jasper’s eyes widened slightly at that, but he merely said, “Yes, miss.”

  They arrived at the hotel a few minutes later only to be told that Noreen Adams was out, i
n fact all the actors were out. And they would be checking out the next day.

  “They’re leaving?” Deanna asked the concierge.

  “Yes, miss.”

  “Thank you.”

  “You might check at the Casino, miss. That’s where they’ve been rehearsing.”

  “I will.” She hurried down the hotel steps, Elspeth right behind. “The Casino, please, Jasper. We’ve not a minute to spare.”

  “Why are we in such a rush, miss?” Elspeth asked, holding on to the edge of the carriage as it sped away.

  “If they’re really leaving tomorrow, it can only mean one of two things: That they’ve cleared Rollie’s name and have another suspect in custody. Or they’re leaving Rollie as the scapegoat.”

  “Do you think the police found Miss Belle?”

  “No, I don’t, but it’s time she stops hiding and tells them what she knows.”

  It took eons before Jasper pulled up in front of the Casino.

  “We may be a while.”

  “Yes, miss.”

  Deanna went straight to the entrance of the theater. When she tried the door she was surprised to find it unlocked. She and Elspeth slipped inside, careful not to make a sound. Crossed the foyer and slipped into the auditorium. The houselights were lit, but no one seemed to notice when they sat in the back row.

  “It’s beautiful, miss.”

  “You’ve never been?”

  Elspeth shook her head.

  Deanna looked around, trying to see it through Elspeth’s eyes, and it was impressive, all gilt-edged ivory with a sky blue ceiling dotted with gold stars.

  But today she had no use for the theater’s magic. She had to find Amabelle Deeks and turn her in to Will.

  The actors were onstage, but wearing their normal clothes. A piano had been pulled off to the side, and a man was accompanying a trio of singers in what Deanna recognized as “Three Little Maids from School.”

  They must be presenting Gilbert and Sullivan when they returned to New York. Tomorrow, she thought. Had Belle returned to the fold? Were they hiding her now?

  Edwin Stevens stood at the front of the stage, moving the members of the trio around like pawns on a chessboard. One of the singers was Talia, but Deanna didn’t see Noreen anywhere.

  She looked around the audience. Several of the actors were sitting in the first rows, watching the rehearsal. Deanna perused the backs of their heads and decided Noreen wasn’t among them.

  She might be backstage, but Deanna wasn’t even sure how one found the backstage. The door opened behind them, and she turned to see Jacob Mersey come in and stand at the head of the aisle.

  Elspeth tugged at Deanna’s sleeve. “Who is that?”

  “The man who owns the yacht where the party was held. The one Belle escaped from.”

  Elspeth nodded wisely. “He looks like a villain,” she whispered.

  In the uneven light, he did look a bit sinister, tall with dark, lank hair and a drooping mustache. A perfect villain from a melodrama. Deanna knew he was a reprobate from Gran Gwen. And that he used women ignominiously from Laurette.

  He was looking toward the stage but suddenly turned toward Deanna and Elspeth. Deanna and Elspeth slipped down in their seats. They barely breathed as he walked past them down the aisle toward the stage.

  He paused briefly and looked over the row of actors, then turned and went through a door on the left side of the stage.

  Deanna and Elspeth exchanged looks. Elspeth started to get up. Deanna stopped her. “Stay here in case I miss Noreen while I’m backstage. If she starts to leave, tell her to wait for me.”

  Elspeth shook her head.

  “I’ll be fine,” Deanna whispered.

  Elspeth gave her the evil eye.

  “Promise.” She tiptoed down the side aisle of the theater, found the door Mersey had used, and pushed her way in. She was in a hallway that ran down the side of the stage. Several doors led off from it, and Deanna surmised these were dressing rooms.

  She walked slowly by each one until she heard voices. One was Mersey’s, and he sounded very angry.

  Deanna crept forward to hear better, staying close to one of the long velvet curtains that edged the stage. She could see Mersey’s back as he stood at the door of one of the dressing rooms.

  “Where is she? One of you must know.”

  No sound. Deanna wondered whom he was speaking to; possibly Noreen, since she hadn’t seen her in the auditorium or onstage.

  “We don’t know.”

  That sounded like Timothy.

  “And furthermore, we don’t appreciate you bursting in here and making threats.” Gil’s voice.

  “That little minx is causing me a huge amount of trouble. And if you don’t tell me where she is, I’m going to pass that trouble along to you.”

  “We don’t know where she is.”

  Deanna allowed herself to breathe. That was Noreen’s voice. “In fact, we think she’s dead. Killed by whomever killed Charlie.”

  “By your friend in jail?”

  “Perhaps.”

  Deanna expected to hear Gil’s and Timothy’s hot denials, but no one said a word.

  “I don’t envy him if that’s true,” Mersey said. Mersey almost sounded frightened himself.

  It was a gruesome thought. Rollie, a murderer; he would face execution if found guilty. But Belle wasn’t dead. At least she hadn’t been yesterday.

  “If you see her, tell her I have a message for her. He reached into his breast pocket, leaned over out of Deanna’s sight. Was he giving them a card?

  “Sure thing,” Gil said.

  Mersey turned and strode back the way he’d come. Deanna just had time to press into the curtain before he passed. She stuck her head out, then walked into the dressing room. She reached the door just as Noreen was about to shut it.

  “Where did you come from?” Noreen asked.

  Deanna pulled her into the hallway. “From Mrs. Deeks’s house. Belle is gone. And the police were arriving just as I was leaving. I barely got out in time. I was hoping she came here.”

  Noreen shook her head.

  “Are you sure? Because she really needs to come forward and tell us what she knows.”

  “Maybe Belle really did kill him.” Timothy stood in the doorway, looking angry and tragically handsome. The others stood around him, their faces forming a human nimbus. St. Timothy, the Martyr.

  “Either way,” Deanna said. “We need to find her.”

  “Well, you’ll have to find her on your own, then. We’re leaving in the morning,” Timothy said. He stepped outside, moving the others back, and shut the door.

  “What? The police are letting you leave? Have they closed the case?”

  “Evidently they feel Rollie is a good enough suspect and they’re letting us go. The crew is over at the fete theater, packing up costumes and sets to carry down to the ferry to Warwick in the morning. We’ll all go by train to Manhattan.”

  “What about Belle?”

  “Hang Belle,” Noreen said. “She’s the reason we’re in this mess. And she won’t even show up to do her part. An acting company is a family. You are loyal to the others and you have to depend on each other in order to be successful.”

  “And everyone feels Belle has betrayed them?”

  Noreen nodded. “And is letting Rollie take the fall for something he didn’t do.”

  Deanna was beginning to feel the same way. Belle had seemed truly frightened, but could be in a safe haven by now if she’d only stayed put like she’d promised.

  Why had she run? And where was she?

  “So I guess this is good-bye, not the way I would have preferred but . . . but I’ll be glad to get home to my child. Tell your friend Joseph that it was a pleasure to meet him.”

  She smiled slightly, then opened the
dressing room door and went inside. The click of the door closing told Deanna she could expect no more help from Noreen or any of the other actors.

  Deanna turned reluctantly away, and right into Elspeth.

  “Let’s go, miss. Miss Noreen’s right. That Deeks girl has done a scarper. She didn’t care enough about the others to face the music. I say we let her go.”

  Deanna nodded slowly. She didn’t want to give up. Her own behavior had been reprehensible. She should have told Will where Belle was hiding the minute she found out.

  Then Rollie wouldn’t be in jail, deserted by his friends and fellow actors. And it was most likely too late to do anything but accept the responsibility for what had happened.

  “Come on, I guess I’d better find Will and confess.” She opened the door to the auditorium and started up the aisle.

  Elspeth ran after her. “He won’t arrest you, will he?”

  Deanna shrugged. “I hope not.” She kept walking. If she didn’t stop, she wouldn’t be tempted to go to Bonheur and try to forget the whole thing. She didn’t slow down until she reached the foyer, then stepped outside to the street.

  “Maybe we shouldn’t tell him right yet, miss. I mean, how are we even gonna find him?”

  “We’ll just go down to the station and ask to see him.”

  “Do you even know where the police station is? What if he isn’t there?”

  “Well, Jasper will know, and you know, don’t you?”

  “You’re not going down to that station with all the riffraff and thieves. And that’s that.” Elspeth stamped her foot to drive her point home. “You’ll create such a scandal. Your mother will be very displeased.”

  She’d be more than that, thought Deanna. She’d probably send Deanna to some kind of sanitarium in Switzerland—and leave her there forever.

  “Well, we can’t just stand here in the street. That will create a scandal. Ugh.”

  Elspeth nodded. “I wouldn’t mind some lunch, and I’m sure Jasper would agree. We’d best go to Bonheur and let them call over to the station.”

  Deanna hesitated. She just wanted to get it over with. And she didn’t want everyone at Bonheur to know. “No, I need to do this now.”

  “Maybe you could tell Mr. Joe and he could tell the sergeant.”