A strange change came over Ned. His shoulders slumped, his face crumpled, and he slunk back to his chair. Will watched his brother-in-law, head cocked, and took his own seat again.
This time, though, Ned didn’t lose his composure. He told his tale in a chillingly calm voice.
Chapter Fourteen
“I went to Meriwether’s house after work that day. I planned to beg him for more time to pay back what I owed him.” Ned laughed hollowly. “I don’t know what I was thinking. He was never known for his compassion. The only thing I can think is that I was desperate.
“He let me in, but was clearly ill. It only made him crueler. He looked in his ledger and told me I owed him a thousand dollars. I hadn’t realized it was so much and I lost control. I begged him and made ridiculous promises. Meriwether told me that if I didn’t pay up within a week, he would send his goons to hurt my family. The thought of someone coming after Jane or the boys frightened me terribly. I was standing near the mantle and grabbed a statue and swung it at Meriwether before I even had time to think.
“It made the most horrific sound. I’ve had nightmares about it again and again. It always happens so slowly, too, as though this time I might have time to stop it. I see myself grab the statue, turn and swing, and then that terrible cracking sound.” Ned’s calm visage cracked momentarily and I saw how horrified he truly was for the briefest span of time.
Then the eerie calm returned and Ned continued. “I suddenly came back to myself and realized that I was standing over him holding what might be a murder weapon in my hand. I knelt down and tried to find a pulse. I swear to you, I thought I found one. Meriwether was hardly bleeding. At that time, I truly believed that I hadn’t done more than give him a good knot on the head. It wasn’t until later that night when I realized that I’d killed him.”
I spared a glance at Will. My partner was sitting, ashen faced, and wide eyed. No doubt, he was thinking of how this would affect his sister.
“Why did you take the watch?” I interjected.
Ned pulled it from his pocket and ran a thumb over it lovingly. “It’s my watch. My father gave it to me before he passed away. I used it to pay Meriwether off and hated myself for it afterward. Father would be so ashamed of me. After I took it, I realized that it would link me back to the crime if anyone knew I’d been without it or if Meriwether had shown it to someone.”
“You do understand that I will have to tell the police what I know,” I said as gently as possible.
He nodded as though he was carrying a heavy weight on his shoulders and he was near exhaustion. “I do.” Ned laughed hollowly, “It’ll be a relief to finally have the story come out. You can’t imagine what carrying this secret has done to me. Please let me tell Jane first. I’ll turn myself in if you’ll only allow me the time to tell my wife the whole truth.”
I judged him to be earnest and promised to wait until that evening before I said anything. Will was silent as we left the building and walked home. When we arrived at the Maple House, I gave his hand a squeeze which he returned, his face full of sorrow. I promised to see him the next day and he went inside without saying a word.
My heart ached for the Edwards family. How awful for them to have such a painful road to walk. As glad as I was that a killer was being brought to justice, I hated that it was a family man who had been swept up in the evil side of gambling.
I spent the afternoon trying to distract myself from thoughts of what must be happening in Jane’s home across town. As I dressed for dinner, I was quieter than usual, though June said nothing about it. I descended the stairs with a sense of dread. The crime was not mine, but I felt guilty for being the one to shed light on Ned’s actions. It was tempting to keep quiet and let him confess. However, I knew that he might lose courage and not come forward. I had to speak up or risk betraying my father.
Cal was at supper and I was glad to see him. It would be easier to say everything once to both Father and Cal rather than have to work up my nerve to tell the story twice. Once our plates were full, I saw my chance and asked how the Meriwether case was progressing.
“The coroner’s report came in,” Cal said before taking a sip from his glass.
“Were there any surprises?” Father asked around a mouthful of roast beef.
The young detective nodded and replaced his glass. “We wondered why there was so little blood from the head wound.”
“Of course,” I said eagerly. This point had stumped me ever since I heard it.
“The head wound wasn’t the cause of Meriwether’s death.”
“It wasn’t?!” I cried.
My mind reeled at the implications of this fact. If the head wound didn’t kill Meriwether, Ned wasn’t the killer!
“No, he was poisoned,” Cal clarified.
I sat back in my chair, stunned.
“Rose, whatever is the matter?” Father’s gruff voice broke through my whirling thoughts.
“I’m terribly relieved to hear this news,” I began. I went on to tell them Ned’s story. The two men were quite surprised to hear this news. I left out the part about seeing Ned at the casino as I was reluctant to reveal that I’d been involved in such an illegal activity. I assured myself that it was unnecessary to share the information at this time.
“Will you have to arrest Ned?” I asked, looking from Cal to Father hopefully.
Cal pondered this for a long minute. He cocked a blond eyebrow at Father and said, “I’d like to bring him in for questioning, but we don’t have grounds to arrest him. He didn’t kill Meriwether.”
“Besides, he isn’t alive to press charges for the attack,” Father patted at his lips with his napkin.
I was so relieved that I picked up my knife and took a hearty bite of my supper. We all ate in silence for a while, each lost in his thoughts. Poison changed everything. It would have been administered earlier in the day and if Ned had been at work, he would be cleared of any suspicion.
“Poison is typically a woman’s weapon,” I mused.
Father’s bushy eyebrow rose and he asked in amused voice, “How do you know that?”
I sighed. When would he stop being surprised at my knowledge of the criminal world? “I’m well read, Father. It’s time that you remember that fact.”
He ignored my cheeky tone and chuckled. I had to admit that it was very freeing that Father found my interest in crime endearing. I’d had to sneak newspapers and detective stories while I was living in Grandmother’s home.
“Are there any women who are prime suspects?” I asked Cal.
“To be frank, there are no prime suspects. The list of people who wanted Meriwether dead is still too long. We believed we were narrowing it down since we thought we knew the time of day that he was struck over the head. Now, we’ll have to start back at square one. We must find how the poison was administered, when it might have been introduced, and where it might have been purchased.” Cal shook his head. “We can hope that Ned saw something useful, but I doubt we’ll get much from him.”
The poisoning was certainly good news as far as I was concerned, but I understood that it wasn’t so happy for Cal and the police. We continued to discuss the case through the rest of the meal and then retired to the sitting room where Cal asked how the Finney’s case was progressing.
“I’ve learned that Lillian and Melvin are both involved in gambling. I believe that is why they’ve been needing money.” I sighed. “Why does everything keep circling back to gambling?”
“It’s becoming an epidemic in Brinkman. The casino only makes matters worse. If only we could shut it down, we might take away a ready source of gambling for those who are addicted.” Cal rubbed at his forehead tiredly. Then he offered me an apologetic smile. “But that’s not your concern. What will you do next?”
I cocked my head and considered, careful not to think about what I knew about the casino. I wanted to steer the conversation clear of that topic. “I don’t know if there’s anything more to be done. Mrs. Finney isn’t
sure if she wants to press charges or not. She is old and in poor health. Knowing that her son is stealing from her isn’t what she wants for her last days.”
“It’s certainly difficult,” Cal agreed. “I suppose if you decide to move forward, you could always go to the pawn shops to look for the missing items.”
“Would pawn shops carry fine works of art and valuable silver sets?”
“The better ones often have a reserved area where people with more discerning taste can find better pieces. I can give you a list of shops that are likely to buy and sell those items.”
I smiled at him more affectionately than the moment deserved. “Thank you, that would be helpful.”
***
When I told Will the next morning that Hugh Meriwether had been poisoned and that Ned would not be arrested, he nearly collapsed with relief. He sank into the nearest chair and covered his face with both hands, suddenly shaky.
“Thank God,” he said, voice muffled.
I reached over and placed a hand on his arm. “I’m so glad that Jane will be spared that trial.”
Suddenly, Will sat up, filled with new purpose. “I have to do something to stop the gambling ring. Meriwether is gone, but there will be other lowlifes swarming in to take his place. If we could find a way to stop the casino, we could make a real difference.”
“I agree. But, how?”
He jumped up and began pacing in front of the library windows. “Maybe we need to go to Detective Lloyd and tell him what we observed at the casino. That might be enough to help them find the next location.”
I bit my lip. This plan would be my last choice and only if we were truly desperate. Cal hated it when I did anything remotely dangerous. We’d only just recently smoothed things over from the last time that I had put myself at risk. Our truce was still too tentative to be trusted with such news.
“That young man mentioned a register of some sort. If we could find that, we might be able to somehow get our names added to the list and be notified of the next opening.” It wasn’t a very strong idea, but it was the only one I had.
“I didn’t see any register,” Will commented.
“I find that strange. Surely they would want to have a list so that the word could easily be spread. They only make money when they have people in the casino placing bets.” I tugged at the lace at the cuff of my blouse absently.
“Depending on word of mouth wouldn’t be wise. It would be difficult to let everyone know without the wrong ears hearing.”
“And the police have no idea what’s going on, so the secret is being well kept.” I sighed and slumped as much as my corset allowed. “It would make sense if the location is published publicly somewhere. If people could simply go to a local notice board or walk past a particular building where it would be published on a sign or in an advertisement, it would be much simpler. But, what register would that be?”
Will stopped pacing and groaned. “Rose, we’ve been so stupid!”
I sat up and watched him in anticipation. “What do you mean?”
“The Register! The Brinkman Register!”
It was my turn to groan. “Of course. The newspaper would be the perfect place. Why didn’t we think of that sooner?” I thought back. “The young man asked if I’d been ‘registered’ which was surely a joke or a code of some sort.”
“We have the last week’s editions on the back porch. I’ll go get them,” Will ran off and I sat shaking my head in disgust. It was such an obvious answer!
My partner was back sooner than I’d thought possible. He flung half the stack in my direction before sinking into his favorite armchair and delving into the top paper in his stack. For the next while, we poured over the papers. We decided that the most likely place for the notification would be the personal ads. Anyone could take one out and they would be inexpensive.
Finally, one caught my eye in last Saturday’s edition. “Listen to this, ‘Jack, I have work for you Tuesday at the warehouse west of Brinkman. Start at 8. Usual terms. Chattanooga’” I looked up at Will who was considering this carefully. “It’s the right place and time.”
He nodded slowly. “Jack is a name used in a number of card games. It would be easy to overlook, but those who know to look out for ads written to Jack would know exactly what it means. I think we’ve found it.”
“But what is the reference to Chattanooga? Is that some sort of password?”
We were momentarily stumped and mused whether or not we had enough to take to the police as it was. Was the time and location satisfactory? It seemed worthless without the password. The excitement we’d had when we first found the ad dipped dramatically.
“Rose, look at this,” Will said. He had turned to the train schedule. “Here’s the listing of trains: departure times, arrival times, destinations. Look what it says next to Chattanooga.”
I leaned over. The entries around it said things like “Montrose Lv. N 9 50” or “Wallace Ar. 11 00.” Next to Chattanooga the entry read “Hobart 3 2.” I sat up and mulled that over. “Lv” and “Ar” would mean “leave” and “arrive.” The numbers clearly meant the arrival or departure times.
“What does ‘Hobart 3 2’ mean?” My heart was beginning to pick up speed. We were certainly on to something.
Will grinned triumphantly. “It’s the password I was given by my friend. I was told to knock three times quickly then two times slowly and when asked say ‘Hobart.’”
“Do you think there’s an ad in today’s newspaper?” I wondered. “We could take that to the police. Cal would definitely listen.” We would have to tell him how we knew what it meant and I didn’t like that prospect much. Still, this was vitally important to shutting down the casino and I would simply have to put my personal preference aside.
Will went in search of the day’s paper and returned, already flipping to the personal advertisements. “Listen to this, Rose, ‘Jack, I have a job for you tonight at the train yard. Fairbanks Building. Start at 9. Usual terms. Luna.’”
We flipped quickly to the train schedule and almost leapt from our seats when we saw “Alice 4 1” next to the listing for Luna, Arkansas.
“Let’s take this to Cal,” I said, jumping to my feet and almost running to fetch my jacket and hat.
The pair of us walked with barely-concealed enthusiasm from the Maple House to the police station. I don’t know what would have happened if Cal had been out of his office. We might have flown to pieces right there. Thankfully, we were instructed to go down the hall towards his small cubicle immediately.
Cal took in our flushed faces and bright eyes and hurried us into chairs across the desk from him. Will pulled out the newspaper from the last Saturday and explained what we’d learned, somehow leaving out the fact that we’d been to the casino. He managed to make it sound as though he’d learned about the casino from a friend and then ended his explanation there, much to my relief.
I pulled out today’s paper and showed him the ad. “And look at what it says in the train schedule for Luna.”
The detective leaned over the paper and I caught a whiff of his cologne. He smelled wonderful. Why was it that everything about his appearance was so attractive to me? This was hardly the time to be distracted by such things, yet I completely lost track of the conversation for a moment.
“I’ll put together a task force for tonight. This is the best tip we’ve had in a long time.” Cal looked us both over, his eyes bright now. “Thanks to the two of you, we might just be able to put a stop to this casino. Excellent work.”
My heart felt like it would fly away, it was so light.
Chapter Fifteen
Brinkman’s elite were determined to bring culture to our town. It chafed a few of the ladies that we weren’t as fashionable as other parts of the country. While they knew they would never compete with Chicago, the ladies would never settle to let any of the surrounding towns beat us when it came to offering the best entertainment. A particularly determined group of older women worked tirele
ssly to fund and build a theater and then began a never-ending campaign to bring in acceptable talent to perform. Anyone who was anyone purchased season tickets which succeeded in keeping out anyone of lower means who might actually need said cultural activities.
My father, of course, had season tickets. His family had never been poor, but he certainly hadn’t grown up with a love of opera or classical music. He and my mother had been married a very short time, yet her influence on him was still evident. I suppose when one has a large home and servants, one is perceived as well-to-do and is treated that way. Enough years of such treatment and even the son of a tailor could become accepted in the upper echelons of society.
Miss Adelaide Barrie, a leading soprano, was currently touring the country. The ladies of the town swooped down and sent her an invitation to perform as she passed through Brinkman the instant they learned this news. Father had been looking forward to attending the concert for weeks.
You can imagine his disappointment when he awoke the morning of the event with a terrible head cold. I could tell just by looking at him that he was far too miserable to even attempt to sit through the concert.
“I hate to see my ticket go to waste. I believe I’ll invite Cal to escort you,” he snuffled.
And, while Cal and I were getting on better, I couldn’t help but stew about it all day. The last time we’d been alone together at a social event, he’d had the nerve to inform me that he had no intention in remarrying as though I’d set my cap for him. Even though I admired his work as a policeman and found him unfairly attractive, I felt that I’d hidden any overly warm feelings for him well. It had been terribly embarrassing and I had no wish to repeat it.
Therefore, I scrutinized everything about my appearance. Poor June must have wanted to throttle me by the time she was finished dressing me. I wanted to wear my most flattering gown, but didn’t want to appear to have put in too much effort. I preferred that my hair be dressed in a particular fashion, but tonight it felt as though I was trying to wear a style that was much too old for my age. June had to start over three times before I was satisfied.
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