He swallowed hard. Even though Betsy was of the fairer sex, she could certainly handle herself in a scrape and had done so on many an occasion. “Well…”
“Well nothing. You’ve got your satchel, and I know what that means. I’ve kept your secret identity all these years. Let me in on what’s happening. Are the British up to no good? I need a good article for tomorrow.”
“This isn’t about an article. This is about someone sinking a ship in the harbor.”
A slender brow rose. “What? I hadn’t heard about that.”
“The explosion was quite early this morning. I was out, heard the explosion, and went to the docks. I need to know what that ship carried so I can understand why it was sunk. I don’t think this was an accident.”
“Why don’t you think it was an accident?”
“I saw a second smaller ship sinking with the bigger ship. I interviewed the sailors on the Isere, a French ship coming in at the same time, and they confirmed my suspicions.”
“So someone sunk a ship in this harbor? Oh. Father must be furious about that one.”
“I don’t know about your father, but Officer O’Malley certainly did shoo me off in a quick fashion.”
“Really?” She arched an eyebrow higher and stared at him intently. Her smile said more than she did.
Jack flushed. “It doesn’t matter, I wasn’t allowed to stay and ask any questions. I need to know what was on that ship.”
“Very well. I can access my father’s records from here.” Betsy shut down the printing press and tugged a cable from its main frame then plugged the cable into what looked like a large typewriter. “What was the name of the ship?”
“It was the…hmmm… What was it called again? Oh, yes, it was the Manuel Llaguno.”
“Oh you’re kidding? It couldn’t have been something easy to spell like the Grand or the Royal Mate. How do you spell that?”
It took them several minutes to spell the name of the ship correctly, and once they did the typewriter spat out a manifest for the ship.
Betsy whistled.
“What is it?” Jack leaned over Betsy to get a better look.
She pointed to the ship’s log. “The ship was returning from Africa. They’d been gone for nearly four months. This captain must be really upset. I hope they can recover his ship and his shipment.”
“What was he hauling?” Jack asked.
“It says here he had a huge shipment of ivory.”
Frustrated with Betsy giving only small bits of information, he waved his hand for her to continue. “Who ordered it?”
She leaned her chin into her hand and continued reading. “It was headed to Sohmer and Company.”
“I don’t know who they are. Why do they need a big shipment of ivory?”
“Jack, you need to get out more.” She shook her head as she looked up at him. “They’re the biggest manufacturer of pianos in New York. They do some wonderful craftsmanship. My father owns one of their baby grands. I learned how to play the piano on that one.”
It didn’t make sense that someone would destroy a shipment of something so seemingly inconsequential. “So why would someone sink a ship full of ivory intended for a piano manufacturer?”
“Maybe they sank the wrong ship?”
Jack barked a laugh. “Who would go through so much trouble to sink the wrong ship?”
“Perhaps they’re trying to drive up the price. I mean, ivory is really expensive.” She ran her finger down the log.
“There must be more to this. I need to go back to the docks and ask some more questions.”
“Not without me you don’t, Mr. Kane. And you’re going to help me fill up this skid and sell some pamphlets along the way. The morning is the best time for me to get out there and inform the masses about the British conspiracy that’s going on right under our noses. I wouldn’t put it past the British Royalty to be behind something like this ship sinking business.”
She handed Jack an apron. He could hear the jingle of change in the pockets. His groans of protest went unnoticed as they loaded two skids. At one point Betsy had children from the neighborhood sell the pamphlets, but she discovered men were more than happy to part with their pennies to her versus the children. The skid, one of Jack’s designs, was really a walker that would spyder its way along the street. This made it easier to start and stop, and it didn’t roll down hills.
“But Betsy, I don’t want to waste any—”
She held up one hand, used it to open her parasol, and sauntered down the street. “Come along, Mr. Kane. We have much work to do if I’m to help you solve this mystery.”
He sulked along behind her.
Five
Pier 26 looked like any other pier on the harbor, except it was absolutely teeming with people. Lenny had to get Squiggy to walk in front of the carriage, or ‘Plan B’ as it was called, to actually make any headway. The fact they weren’t supposed to draw any attention to themselves made it even more difficult for the habitually taciturn Squiggy.
Instead of the normal throwing of haymakers and uppercuts Squiggy excelled in, he was trying to politely maneuver people out of the way, referring to Lenny in the vehicle and explaining that a very important person rode in the back who needed to arrive at the pier on time for the ceremony.
Oddly, that worked, especially when Squiggy was mysterious about who the important person was. They left a trail of whispering people who formed groups to speculate on the identity of the passenger.
A person on foot could have walked the final block in under five minutes. As it was with the milling crowd, the car took more than twenty minutes before it arrived. Lenny parked the vehicle right beside the French ship and slipped out from behind the wheel. He nonchalantly stepped away from the vehicle, whistling and smiling at anyone and everyone who would make eye contact with him.
Lenny met Squiggy and the two spent some time wandering through the crowd. It was an eclectic group of people. Reporters from every newspaper and daily were there by the score, their photography people taking pictures of everything. The smell of sulfur was strong. There were also the dignitaries and the actual dockworkers. Rich and poor rubbed elbows and chatted like old friends. A feeling of a festival was in the air.
They stopped to buy a pretzel and found a spot to lean.
“What do you think, Squiggy?”
Squiggy scratched his head. “I think that French ship doesn’t look like much.”
Lenny had to agree. The ship was an aging frigate obviously refitted for this voyage. It had originally been a three master, but one mast had been removed to allow for a smokestack. It now had paddle wheels on either side, and the hull was a patchwork of timber and metal, both brass and steel.
“Yup. It’s pretty much the ugliest ship I’ve ever seen. Maybe that’s why they used it. No one would ever think to attack something like that,” Squiggy said.
“What’s this about an attack?” a passing police officer said, stepping up to the two. By his accent, he was one of the many Irish immigrants who’d come to America. “Are you boys planning something?”
Lenny straightened as Squiggy’s shoulders hunched. “No sir, officer. We was just talking is all. Came to see the ship what brung the statue. My pal here was surprised they’d send it in that there tub. I tole him it was probably to decrease suspicion by bad types.”
The officer adjusted the truncheon on his belt. “Ah, I see. Well, that’s very clever of you boys. Mind you be staying out of trouble.”
“We will, officer. Thank you,” Lenny said, doffing his cap in respect. He waited until the officer was out of hearing. “Whew, that was a close one! We’d better get moving before that copper decides we’re suspicious after all.”
“Why? We ain’t doing nothin’.”
“Not right now we’re not, but that doesn’t matter. The boys in blue don’t need an excuse to take us downtown. If that happens, who knows what the boss will do to us.”
“You ain’t wrong about that. So wha
t should we do now?”
“Not much more we can do now. Let’s do a bit more wandering, then we’ll hop a cab back to the yard.”
~ * ~
While Betsy adeptly used her womanly charms to sell pamphlet after pamphlet, Jack was the one who pulled the walking carts along as they made their way toward the docks. He had always marveled at her beauty and knew she used it to her advantage, but to see her in action was a wonder to behold.
“Why sir, thank you very so much. I hope I’ll see you when I come this way tomorrow.”
“And thank you, sir.”
“Two? Of course. Are you sure you don’t want three? Perhaps you have another friend who’d like to read one.”
“A dime? I can make change. Oh, keep the change you say, why thank you ever so much.”
He had gotten so caught up in her banter he’d nearly forgotten why they were headed to the docks. Once the piers were in sight, they’d sold quite a good quantity of the pamphlets, and Jack had folded up one cart and placed it on the other, surprised at how quickly the pamphlets sold.
However, much to his dismay, it’d taken them nearly an hour to reach the main office where Betsy’s father worked. This was New York. Things moved fast, and if they didn’t get on top of the situation with the sunken ship, they might lose the people responsible or worse, miss what their next step in the plan should be.
“Betsy, could we hurry along? Please?”
“Why Mr. Kane, you should know better than to hurry a lady. Don’t you understand how important it is for me to get word out about the British conspiracy right here in our country? In our very city?”
She prattled on for several minutes, but at least they made it to the entrance of the office. He hoped she’d paused long enough to catch her breath.
“Hold on a minute.” Betsy’s hand hovered over the doorknob. “What’s going on over there?”
Behind them a massive walking crane moved slowly from out of one of the larger dry docks. Its large feet functioned like massive snowshoes intended for moving along the bottom of the bay. The legs telescoped to allow it to go deeper into the water than a normal dry dock. Jack sighed as a huge plume of black smoke poured from the top of the massive steel structure.
“I designed those legs, but never got a chance to build them. Your father had the drawings. He must’ve put them to use. From what I can tell they’re getting ready to pull the ships up from the bottom of the bay.”
“Well, that’s all well and good, Mr. Kane, but try looking right there.”
Following Betsy’s parasol he saw a grandstand had been erected in front of the Isere, that funny French ship. Banners of red, white, and blue had been strung along and a podium set up. It appeared most peculiar.
“Why would they have so much set up for a French ship?” Jack asked. “I mean, I know we’re trying to stay on good terms with the French, but why so much pomp and circumstance?”
“The ship must have something important upon it. I say, before we check into this Manuel whatchamacallit ship, we see what’s going on over there. Perhaps this is a bigger deal than we thought.”
“But not here to look at that ship. Our investigation involves the one that sunk.”
“Remember what I said? Perhaps they sank the wrong ship?”
Before Jack could protest further, Betsy grabbed a handful of her skirts and quickened her pace in the direction of the Isere and the platform. He shook his head. Finally she decided to start moving faster. He looked at the two carts and the pamphlets upon them. Being in front of her father’s work Jack decided they were as safe here as anywhere. They’d sold nearly all of the pamphlets. He removed the cells from the carts and ran to catch up with her.
Around the grandstand, crew hurried about setting everything up and making sure all was tidy and ready to go. The police had set up a barrier and were keeping people back. Big Officer O’Malley directed officers and workers. He caught a glimpse of Betsy and took off his hat to expose his balding head. He swept forward in a mighty bow, but his smile left as soon as he saw Jack.
“Ms. Wilkes. It’s a pleasure to see you, but you should know better than to keep company with the likes of Jack Kane.”
“A fine good morning to you as well, Officer O’Malley. I see my father is keeping you busy.”
“Oh, aye, with trying to keep people off the wharf until Mayor William Grace is here. It’s like trying to keep cats off the fishing boats when they come in. I knew there’d be quite a turn out here this morning, and if it hadn’t been for that other ship sinking, I’d have been better prepared.”
Jack’s ears perked up. “Have you found the people responsible for sinking that ship?”
Officer O’Malley’s eyes narrowed. “The police don’t need any help in getting that mystery figured out, thank you. You can read it in the papers once we’ve solved the case.”
“Officer O’Malley, I need your help in understanding what is going on here,” Betsy interrupted. “What is on this ship?”
“Oh, this? This is a trifle.” O’Malley laughed. “It’s the Statue of Liberty we’ve got here. Just came in this morning, and the mayor wanted to say a few words. I think there were even a few French diplomats on board. We’re mighty lucky this here ship didn’t sink along with the other.”
“So you’d say this is a pretty important ship then?”
“Oh, aye. You can be certain of that. The mayor would have my job if anything were to happen to it, and I don’t intend to let anything happen to it. Everyone is going to get here around ten this morning. Photographers, news folk, everyone. In fact, that eyesore is blocking the view of the ship.”
Officer O’Malley gestured to a vehicle that was suspiciously like the one Jack had seen that morning in the yard. He gave it a sideways glance.
“You recognize that contraption, do you?” O’Malley asked.
“I do—”
Before Jack could say anything else, O’Malley waved his hand at the vehicle. “Someone parked this thing here, and I can’t find anyone to move it. If you can get this thing out of my way, Mr. Kane, I may look the other way while you and Ms. Wilkes spend some time on the docks this morning, if you take my meaning.”
Jack took O’Malley’s meaning all right. While the rest of the town was clamoring for their spot in the grandstand to view Mayor Grace giving some speech about the Statue of Liberty, he and Betsy could spend some time looking over the rest of the wreckage and contents of not only the Manuel Llaguno, but the ship that had caused it to sink.
“It’ll be an honor, Officer O’Malley.”
O’Malley smiled at Jack. “Well thank you, Mr. Kane. I hope you and Ms. Wilkes enjoy yourselves during the festivities. I hear the mayor even planned for some fireworks, though setting those off in the daytime seems like a waste to me.”
“Indeed.” Jack held out his arm to Betsy. “Shall we?”
She took his arm, and they headed toward the vehicle.
Six
Felonious sat at his loom, working and humming along to the music that played in the background of his studio. He always found listening to music soothing.
The tunes came from a miracle of technology. Powered by a single crank-turning baby elephant, the music maker contained a mini orchestra of instrument-playing, colorfully clothed monkeys. The elephant-powered crank operated a series of small whips that encouraged said monkeys to play. Another monkey stood behind the elephant with a small shovel and bucket to clean up.
Felonious threw a peanut at the elephant. The animal stopped working long enough to catch the treat then went back to work.
He stretched out the already woven fabric and smiled in appreciation. A giant foot standing on the crushed remains of what could only be the White House was clearly visible. He put the fabric down and continued to run the reel through the threads.
A knock stopped him from his labors. Bennington opened the door and stepped into the room. “Your, ahem, henchmen are here to see you, my lord.”
Feloniou
s rubbed his hands together and giggled. “Send them in.”
The butler turned and left the room. Moments later Lenny and Squiggy wandered in.
“We did what you ordered, Boss,” Lenny said.
Squiggy simply gaped. Pleasure filled Felonious at what he knew his minion saw. The room, larger than most people’s homes, was the picture of garishness. Every surface was covered in gold or silver foil. The walls had large tapestries hung on every large surface, most depicting Felonious in some fictional role or the other. The largest was one of Felonious holding the world in his hand.
Taking his gaze from his room, he said, “Remind me exactly what that was again, please?”
“Just what you said. The carriage is parked by the Frenchy’s ship, and we walked around a bit talking to everyone. Someone also gave us this.” Lenny reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a pamphlet. The title screamed out in bright bold letters, “British Sovereignty Conspiracy Attempts to Destroy United States.”
Felonious took the pamphlet and leafed through it, pausing to read sections. When he finally looked up, he crumpled the pamphlet. “Blast it! How did that girl learn of my plans? And you say someone handed it to you?”
“Sold it, Boss. I think it was probably the girl herself. She was selling them to everyone there. Some people dropped them on the street but most were reading them.”
“We’ve got to stop her. If she can convince even a few people there is something going on, it might ruin all my plans.”
“But, Boss. I read the thing myself, and you aren’t mentioned anywhere,” Lenny said.
“True, but if people start believing something is going on, questions will be raised. When that happens, scrutiny will increase and my benefactor may not be quite so willing to help me out with my plans. The locals will start to watch closer too, making this whole endeavor even more dangerous.”
Squiggy’s eyes had begun glazing over as Felonious spoke, but Lenny nodded.
“What do you want us to do, Boss?”
“You actually met the girl who wrote this?”
“Yes, Boss. In fact, I chatted her up for a few minutes. She gave me her address and everything. She left about fifteen minutes before we did.”
Jack Kane and the Statue of Liberty Page 6