The Fall Of White City (Gilded Age Mysteries Book 1) (18 page)

“Mr. Schuler, you are very free in sacrificing a life that is not your own to give!”

Schuler drew himself up to his full height, such as it was. “Forgive me. I was under the impression you wanted to help Franz. I was clearly mistaken.” He abruptly put on his hat to leave. With a curt “Good day to you, miss,” he called for the guard to let him out. Once on the other side of the bars, he turned to his friend. “Don’t worry, Franz. I won’t forget you. We’ll talk again.”

Evangeline stood very still, too shocked by the turn the conversation had taken to move. She stared through the bars to the spot where Schuler had been standing only a moment before. To herself, she said, “Whether Franz is guilty or not, if I don’t find a way out of this soon, that man is going to get him killed!”

***

After a fruitless attempt to convince Franz that his chances weren’t as bleak as Schuler suggested, Evangeline finally gave up. She also gave up all hope of gathering any other useful information from him that day. Rather than proceeding directly to her townhouse for the evening, she made a quick change of plan. She decided to go to Mast House to discuss Schuler’s influence over Franz with Jane Eaves or Ellen
Archwick
. They might be able to undo the damage by visiting the prisoner to tell him about the money they had raised for his legal defense fund. Evangeline decided not to share with them her own doubts about Franz’s innocence. His willingness to consider suicide might be owing less to political fanaticism than to the belated prompting of a guilty conscience. If so, he ought to be made to stand trial before he had the chance to act as his own executioner.

Only after she had hailed a cab and was
en
route to the Mast mansion did Evangeline recollect that her chances of speaking to either of the settlement’s founders, on this day of all days, was virtually nil. An event of great significance to them was to transpire that evening. They were to receive a visit from an august personage—none other than Samuel
Godwyn
, whose
Trilbey
Hall in
England
had been the precursor of Mast House. He had come to
Chicago
as a guest of the settlement and would give a lecture on social reform at eight o’clock in the auditorium. A reception in his honor was scheduled to be held at the residents’ dining hall prior to his speech, so that those who wanted to speak directly to the great man might do so. Evangeline’s only recourse was to attend the reception and hope that she could get a few minutes’ conversation with one of the founders.

The weather didn’t provide an auspicious start for such a significant occasion. The moon was obscured by fast-moving clouds that carried a hint of rain. After alighting from her cab, Evangeline made straight for the dining hall to get out of the night chill. When she walked in the door, she could feel her face begin to thaw thanks to a blast of warm air coming from inside.

She was not entirely surprised to see how popular an event this had proven to be. At least two hundred people were wedged into the residents’ dining hall—a room that usually held no more than fifty. Those who couldn’t find chairs were content to line the walls and carry on animated conversations at what Evangeline gauged to be the very top of their collective vocal ranges.

She was hesitating in the vestibule, not quite sure where to find either Miss Eaves or Miss
Archwick
, when a new arrival caught her attention. Shivering and rubbing his hands together for warmth was Mr. Sidley. He looked at the woman standing next to him in the doorway and blinked when he realized who it was.

“Miss LeClair, w... we meet again. Wh... wh... what a delight!”

“Oh hello, Mr. Sidley, very nice to see you, too.” Evangeline smiled. “Have you come to meet our foreign dignitary as well?”

“Of
c..course
, of course. Even my reclusive habits were no match for the p... persistence of Miss
Archwick
. She declared that this event would improve my mind.”

Evangeline laughed. “That’s Miss
Archwick
for you, an opinion on every topic. Just for the record, I don’t share her view that your mental faculties require any improvement.”

“Oh, Miss LeClair,” Sidley murmured and shuffled his feet. “You n... needn’t defend me so.”

“And why not sir? I fear I’ve done you a great injustice.” Evangeline took his arm as the two advanced into the dining hall.

“In what w... way, miss? You’ve taken a greater interest in me than anyone else h... here.”

“Oh, let’s just say I misjudged your character.” She was unwilling to confide the full extent of her suspicions that he was involved in Elsa’s death.

Apparently Sidley’s mind had made the connection to their previous conversation as well. “No h... harm done. Let’s speak no m... more about it.”

“That’s very Christian of you, sir.”

“And now, if I may be so b... bold,” Sidley began with a hesitancy that belied his choice of words, “I s... see you have no companion for the evening. M... might I accompany you to the lecture?”

Evangeline smiled graciously. “Mr. Sidley, I would be honored, but you must give me ten minutes first to find Miss Eaves or Miss
Archwick
. I have a pressing matter I need to discuss with one of them.” Evangeline squinted in the dim light the room afforded. “I usually don’t have this much trouble finding someone I’m looking for. For the life of me I can’t seem to locate either of them.”

Sidley, having a small advantage of height over his companion, cast his eyes around the room as well. “Why that’s Miss A... A...
Archwick
, over there.” He pointed off into the distance.

Evangeline followed the direction he indicated with no luck. “I’m sorry, Mr. Sidley, but I don’t see her. Where specifically?”

“Why there, in the far corner. See, in the shadow by the f... fireplace. She’s sitting down.”

Evangeline looked again and finally spotted the co-founder of the settlement. Because Ellen
Archwick
was as diminutive as Evangeline herself, she would have been hard to see even if she were standing up. This difficulty was compounded by the fact that she wore an inconspicuous blue gown and was seated among a group of six or seven others in an obscure corner across a room occupied by a small army of visitors. Evangeline began to feel a vague uneasiness steal over her as she moved forward to Miss
Archwick’s
table. Sidley followed her there.

“Good evening, all,” Evangeline began as she forced her way through a final knot of onlookers.

Ellen
Archwick
stared up at the newcomers over the lenses of her ever-present pince-nez. “Evangeline, good evening to you. I see you’ve got Mr. Sidley in tow. Good. I’m glad to see he’s decided to abandon his cloister for once.”

Evangeline smiled consolingly at the awkward man who stood beside her. He was obviously not comfortable in Miss
Archwick’s
presence. His discomfort was augmented by the founder’s determination to hold forth on the topic of his character. She turned to a gray-haired gentleman seated at her right.

“This is our accountant. He’s a very unusual fellow. Shy, I suppose. Keeps to himself most of the time. For the life of me, I can’t understand such anti-social behavior from the inhabitant of a social reform settlement. Mr. Sidley, since you’re an accountant, how can
you
account for your behavior?”

The others at the table chuckled at Miss
Archwick’s
attempt at wit.

Sidley cleared his throat self-consciously. “Ahem... ah... I’m s... sorry to offend, Miss
Archwick
, but your q... question puts me at a l... loss.”

“You see.” The founder gestured emphatically. “Loss! All he can think about are debits and credits!”

The group laughed appreciatively until Evangeline intervened.

“Ellen, if you’re through baiting Mr. Sidley, I have something urgent to discuss with you.”

The founder surveyed Evangeline for a moment without replying, clearly displeased at having her vivisection of the accountant interrupted. “Yes, all right. We may as well go to my office for a few moments. The noise in this place is ridiculous.” She rose. As an afterthought, perhaps as a belated gesture of apology, she said, “Sidley, you may have my chair!”

Taking her suggestion as a command, the gentleman obediently sat.

***

At five minutes before the hour, having convinced Miss
Archwick
to visit Franz and counteract the damage caused by Otto Schuler, Evangeline came back to collect Sidley for the lecture. The dining hall, by this time, was nearly empty as most of those invited had already adjourned to the auditorium. However Sidley, now alone at the table, kept his vigil faithfully.

“I’m sorry that took so long, Mr. Sidley.”

“Oh I... I... ahem... would have waited a great deal longer s... still for you, Miss LeClair.”

“Sir, you are far too quick to compliment me.”

“No, miss, really. You don’t know what it means to have a friend, especially... a lady friend.” Sidley stood up and offered Evangeline his arm as the two walked to the auditorium together. “I’ve never been very comfortable—with the l... ladies, that is.”

“On the contrary. From the first time we met, you seem to have done just fine with me.”

“Yes, but you’re different,” Sidley insisted. “You p... put a fellow at ease.”

“Not always. My friend Freddie could disabuse you of that notion quickly enough.”

“Well, at least you’ve put me at ease, and that’s saying a great deal, for I’m never at ease. M... Mi... Miss
Archwick
positively terrifies me.”

“As she intends to. I believe it to be her main object in life to terrify the world in general. It’s her method of command. You needn’t be self-conscious about that.”

“Just the same...
th.
.. thank you, Miss LeClair.”

Evangeline studied her companion’s face thoughtfully. “You’re very welcome, Mr. Sidley.”

By now the couple had entered the auditorium, the largest room in the settlement complex. The two hundred who had attended the reception only represented a fraction of the audience who arrived to hear Samuel
Godwyn
speak. Luckily, there were still a few chairs left at the back of the hall, and the pair claimed these.

Evangeline was silent for several minutes, wrestling with a contradiction that had begun to nag at her. She decided to put the matter to a test and resolve it once and for all. She turned Sidley’s attention to the speaker’s podium, which, given the immensity of the room, seemed a quarter-mile away. “Oh look, there’s a banner in Mr.
Godwyn’s
honor, but the lettering is so small when you’re seated at the back. I can barely make out what it says... ‘Welcome Samuel
Godwyn
.
Har
...
har
...’” She strained to make out the rest of the sign.

“‘Harbinger of social reform,’” Sidley answered readily. “And look! They’ve decorated the rafters with t... tiny emblems of the Union Jack. I suppose that’s a compliment to his heritage, since he’s English.”

“Yes, I would imagine so,” Evangeline said vacantly. In her mind’s eye, she watched as the contradiction grew.

Chapter 18—Second Sight

Freddie didn’t arrive in Shore Cliff on Tuesday evening until long after sunset. Still worried about Evangeline’s frame of mind, he decided to call at her house first before going home. As he came up the gravel walk, he saw Delphine standing on the porch, holding a kerosene lantern in one hand and clutching her shawl around her neck with the other. “
Qui est là
?” She peered into the darkness. “
Ma chérie
, is it you?”

“It’s Monsieur Freddie, Delphine.”

“Where is
ma petite
?”

Freddie was totally mystified. “I haven’t got her. Can’t you keep track of her any better than that?”

Delphine muttered to herself as she descended the stairs, apparently ready to go in search of her mistress. Freddie was about to follow her when a dark shape rounded the corner of the house.

“
Engie
?” Freddie squinted in the lantern shadow.

“Yes, Freddie, it’s me,” a voice replied wearily. “I’ve been out walking.”

Upon hearing her lady’s voice, Delphine rushed to her, draping her own shawl around the young woman’s shoulders and launching into a bilingual harangue on the dangers of hiking on the cliff after dark.

“
Pourquoi
, ma
chérie, tu fais comme ça
?
What do you think you are doing? And this one,” she jerked her head in Freddie’s direction, “he is no help.
À quoi pensais-tu
? Mon
Dieu
!
You come inside now,” she said to Evangeline. “You go home!” she commanded Freddie.

Evangeline tried to control her chattering teeth. “No, Delphine. I need to talk to Monsieur Freddie awhile. Put on some tea, please. I’m so cold, I could drink it boiling.”

Freddie silently followed the two indoors. Delphine continued to cluck and scold and remonstrate and cast evil looks in the young man’s direction, but Evangeline made straight for the library to warm herself in front of the fire. Freddie sat and waited until she had thawed sufficiently to speak.

“
Engie
, do you really think it was wise to go down there so soon after...”

“I had to go. I had to sort things out. Just when I thought matters couldn’t get any more complicated.” She launched into a summary of her encounter with Humphrey and her distressing visit with Franz.

Freddie didn’t interrupt until she was finished. “There’s something else, isn’t there?”

“Yes, Freddie. Something quite ugly if I’m not mistaken.” Evangeline’s composure began to return as the blue tinge left her lips.

“About Franz?”

“No, about Sidley.”

“But I thought you dismissed him as a suspect.”

“And so I did, Freddie. So I did. But something happened yesterday evening to make me change my mind. When I got to Mast House, I remembered there was a guest lecturer from
England
. All the residents showed up to meet him. One of them was Sidley. He became my escort for the evening.”

“And...?” Freddie saw no heinous offense in that.

“And... an accident occurred—one of those small events to which one pays no attention but which, in retrospect, changes everything.”

“You found him pocketing money from the admission receipts.” Freddie adopted a teasing tone in an effort to lighten his friend’s mood.

Evangeline smiled weakly. “No, nothing quite that obvious.” She sat forward in her chair. “Freddie, do you remember what I told you about his eyesight?”

“Well, it’s rather hard to forget when you describe someone as being blind as a bat even with spectacles.”

“That’s just it. I discovered he isn’t. The residents’ dining hall was crowded with people, and I was trying to locate Jane Eaves or Ellen
Archwick
but to no avail. He managed to pick Miss
Archwick
out seated at the opposite side of the room. Seated in shadow, Freddie, and wearing a dark gown. He was able to find her in a matter of seconds.”

“Interesting. But it’s possible that he was just looking off in the right direction at the time.”

“That’s what I thought, so I put the matter to a further test. We were seated at the back of the auditorium. You’ve been there. You know the size of that hall.”

Freddie nodded his assent.

“I directed his attention to a small banner directly over the speaker’s podium. I had to strain to see the lettering and could just barely make it out, but I wanted to know if he could see as well, so I pretended not to be able to read the entire inscription.”

“And...?”

“And he rambled off the whole motto with ease. As a matter of fact, he pointed out some decorative detail that I could barely see.”

“Hmmm,” was Freddie’s considered response.

At that moment, Delphine entered carrying a tray. She set it down on the small table beside Evangeline’s chair. “I have not brought you tea,
ma petite. Voilà, du
chocolat chaud
. It will warm you better.”

Evangeline looked down at the tray and then back up at Delphine with a pained expression. “Delphine, there is only one cup on this tray.”

“
Hmmph
! I did not think this one,” meaning Freddie, “would be bothering you so long.” Then, as if the hint were not broad enough, she turned to stare directly at the young man. “I did not think he would be so
outrageux
as to sit here half the night when you are cold and tired and need your rest!”

Freddie smiled placidly. “Oh, I’m quite that
outrageux
, Delphine. Probably far worse even.”

Before Delphine could pick up the lone tea cup and hurl its contents at Freddie, Evangeline intervened. “
Bien!
C’est
assez
, Delphine! What I have to say to Monsieur Freddie is very important. Please bring another cup. Now!”

Delphine backed away at the sharpness in Evangeline’s tone. “
Oui
,
madame
,” she said and left the room. The two sat and waited in silence until she returned with the second cup and finally closed the door to leave them in privacy.

The interlude had given Freddie time to formulate a few more questions. He settled back into his easy chair and sipped his hot chocolate with great satisfaction. “Well, I don’t see why this is troubling you so much,
Engie
. The man in the hotel lobby was most likely
Blackthorne
.”

“Humphrey said the man was sandy-haired, not dark.”

Freddie shrugged. “He might have been mistaken.”

“I don’t think so.” Evangeline’s voice was ominous. “The desk clerk says medium coloring, medium height. The porter says dark-haired and tall. What if they’re both right?”

“I can tell from your tone that you’ve drawn a whole string of conclusions about this—conclusions that I apparently don’t grasp. Would you care to share them with me?”

The lady stood up and walked closer to the fireplace, spreading her fingers to warm them in the glow. “It’s not the business in the hotel lobby so much that I’m concerned about. It’s what happened at the Fair.”

“How do you mean?”

“When I first interrogated Sidley, he confirmed what Patsy O’Malley, the landlady’s daughter, had told me—that he’d requested Elsa to wear a red silk rose in her hat.”

“Yes...”

“Furthermore, he requested that she tell him what sort of apparel she would be wearing that day.”

“And the reason he gave you, as I recall, was that he feared his eyesight wasn’t good enough to pick her out in all that crowd.” The young man whistled through his teeth. “Well, what do you know!”

“Yes, Freddie. Now you see.” She smiled fully for the first time that evening. “Forgive the wordplay.”

“All right,
Engie
, you’ve established that he’s a liar. But why?”

“I retract my previous observation.” Evangeline smiled again, this time wryly. “I guess you don’t see.”

The young man waited in martyred silence.

Evangeline returned to her chair. “The reason why he lied may be the grimmest part of this whole business. Do you remember your hypothetical scenario in which Elsa met a gentleman at the fair?”

“Not a gentleman,” Freddie corrected her, “we can be fairly certain that the man she met was
Blackthorne
.”

“And on that point I agree, but in your hypothesis, the encounter was purely by chance.”

Freddie felt himself turn pale as the implication of her words struck him. “My God,
Engie
! Do you know what you’re suggesting?”

“Yes, Freddie. Exactly so. I’m suggesting that Elsa had been targeted for the encounter before it ever occurred. The thought gives me chills. She never stood a chance.”

“Of course. Why else would he take such care to know what she was wearing ahead of time, if not to describe her to someone who’d never seen her before.”

“And the rose?”

“To make her as conspicuous as possible in the event the rest of the description failed to bring her to
Blackthorne’s
attention.”

“Exactly.”

“But
Engie
, I don’t understand the motive for this!”

“Neither do I. But that’s only one of any number of things I don’t understand about this business, Freddie. Now do you comprehend my agitation? When confronted with such a dizzying array of unanswered questions, I had no idea where to start.” Evangeline stood up again and returned to the fire. Freddie watched her in silence as she stirred a log.

She continued speaking while brandishing a poker. “I suppose we can only begin with the facts we know. We know that Jonathan is somehow connected to Elsa, and Sidley is most probably responsible for establishing their initial contact. My principal concern at the moment is to understand the connection between these two men.”

“Was
Blackthorne
ever a visitor at the settlement?”

“Not to my knowledge. And even if he were, the chances that he would encounter Sidley during a visit are fairly remote.”

“Well, what do you know about Sidley, then?”

“Not nearly enough. And that’s where I think we must begin. Wait here.” Without another word Evangeline put down the poker and flew out of the room.

Freddie listened as her footsteps retreated down the hall. He poured himself another cup of hot chocolate, by this time lukewarm. He swirled the dark liquid contemplatively for a few moments, pondering the new scenario Evangeline had suggested. His ruminations were cut short as his friend came bursting through the door, out of breath.

“Here.” She handed him a photograph.

“Who are these people?”

“It’s a group photograph of the residents at Mast House. This was taken about six months ago. You’ll oblige me by noting the gentleman in the second row, third from the left.”

“Is that Sidley?”

“Yes.”

“Not particularly distinguished-looking, is he? What do you want me to do with that bit of knowledge?”

“I would like you to call on his former employer and find out as much as you can about his tenure in that job.”

“And where would that employer be found?” Freddie’s interest was sparked, the latent news-reporter instinct beginning to take control.

Evangeline noted the transformation in her friend. “At this moment you remind me of nothing so much as a racehorse put out to pasture who has just heard the starting gun.”

Freddie smiled self-consciously. “Yes, I suppose. But all this sitting around and waiting has gotten very depressing.”

“Then despair no more, young
Frederick
. Your waiting is at an end. Tomorrow morning you must pay a call on Messieurs Hart And Hudson. I’m told they conduct an accounting practice on one of the upper floors of a building on
State Street
. I trust to your resourcefulness to discover the rest.”

Freddie, in a mock chivalric gesture, went down on one knee. “Fear not, dear lady. I shall not fail.”

Evangeline took the picture, rolled it up, and tapped Freddie on each shoulder with it. She returned the item to him with a flourish. “Your weapon. Rise, Sir Freddie, and God go with you!”

“Lady, I take my leave.” Freddie bowed deeply as he stood in the doorway.

Delphine had walked down the hall just in time to hear him utter his parting words.
“Bon!”
the housekeeper muttered, “And it is high time, too!”