A Charm of Powerful Trouble (A Harry Reese Mystery Book 4) Read online

  “Bugs?”

  “Something about insects.”

  “Not insectivores?”

  “Yeah, that’s it.”

  “Of course! Rhodes on the Soricidae. I should have recognized the name.”

  “What?”

  “Shrews are of the family Soricidae.”

  “Sounds Italian.”

  “Frank Rhodes is the leading authority on shrews this side of Heidelberg. Twinem must have consulted Rhodes about the differing features of European shrews.”

  “You know, Elizabeth said the shrew thing was obviously just a clever metaphor and only a yap would take it literally.”

  I didn’t answer Elizabeth’s intended insult straight out. I just tossed my book to Tibbitts.

  “You need this more than I do,” I told him.

  “Think it will work?”

  “Can’t hurt to try.”

  He apparently agreed, and spent the rest of the trip reading.

  We arrived in New Haven just before four. Tibbitts hired a cab to take us to Rhodes’ house, then left me to pay for it when we got there.

  A housekeeper answered our knock.

  “We’ve come to consult the eminent Professor Rhodes,” I told her.

  “You should have sent word first. He’s with the circus.”

  “The circus? Is it in town?”

  “His circus. Out back in the carriage house. But he’s not to be disturbed.”

  “It’s a police matter,” Tibbitts told her.

  “Be that as it may, he won’t see you until rehearsal’s over at six.”

  “I’m investigating a murder,” Tibbitts insisted.

  “Well, unless it was a shrew that was murdered, I doubt he’d be much interested.”

  “In truth, madam, it was not a shrew that was murdered,” I confessed. “But shrews feature largely in the case. We wish to consult the professor vis à vis the distinguishing characteristics of the Etruscan shrew and its utility as a literary device.”

  “The tight-rope walkers?”

  “Pardon?”

  “The little tiny shrews….”

  “Yes, the tight-rope walkers.”

  “You speak Latin?” she asked.

  “Ah, amo Crociduram etruscam.”

  “All right, you can go around back. Your friend can wait here for you.”

  “Though my acolyte’s manner is coarse, and his knowledge of the Insectivora limited, he strives to better himself. Show her the book, Sergeant.”

  He handed the play to her and she inspected it.

  “A shrew tamer?”

  “He aspires to be.”

  “All right then. Take the path ’round the house.”

  As we made our way, Tibbitts turned to me.

  “You know, nine months of the year my cases are simple little murders. If it isn’t a husband who killed his wife, or a wife who killed her husband, a fellow’s either caught with a gun in his hand, or bragged about the killing, or starts spending the bundle he killed for. Then about the ninth month something comes up involving you and I find myself in New Haven trying to interview a nut who runs a shrew circus.”

  “There does seem to be a predictable regularity to it. I suppose it gives you something to look forward to during the otherwise dull routine of your work.”

  “Yeah. I suppose.”

  I knocked on the door of the carriage house. There was no answer. Then Tibbitts gave it the patented police knock, which rarely fails to elicit a response.

  This, however, was one of those rare cases. I opened the door gingerly and we stepped in.

  “Close the door, you ass!”

  When I did so, we were submerged in darkness. All the windows had been blocked, and the only light was afforded by three lanterns, each fitted with a deep red filter. My eyes had just begun to adjust when I was addressed.

  “What d’yer want?”

  This fellow was no college professor. He looked more like a circus roustabout. Another like fellow joined us.

  “Youse spoilt the frail’s cooch show!”

  “Gentlemen, we apologize for the intrusion. But we’ve come to consult Professor Rhodes on a pressing shrew matter. The New York police are stymied, and have come to the conclusion that only an authority on Soricidae taxonomy can offer a way out of the impenetrable darkness.”

  “The kinkers like it dark!”

  “Oh, we’re all well aware of the nocturnal preferences of the kinkers. I was referring to the dark night of ignorance.”

  Another fellow stepped forward. He was dressed like the other two, but older, and clearly the man in charge.

  “Dr. Rhodes, I presume?”

  “Yes.” He eyed me warily. “You’d better not be another pretender.”

  “Pretender? You do me wrong, sir. I only wish I’d thought to bring my copy of Rhodes on the Soricidae so as to have you inscribe it. I’ve unfortunately left it behind on my night stand.”

  “You have my book?”

  “What other? The 1885 edition, with the small error on page 23. Printer’s mistake, no doubt.”

  “Yes, the fools. I’m rather busy at the moment. We open tomorrow.”

  “An ingenious idea. Are they easy to train?”

  “For God’s sake, man. One doesn’t train a shrew. One can only persuade it.”

  “Much like a cat?” I asked innocently.

  “Cat!” he exclaimed. Both the big men began looking about the floor. “It’s all right, gentlemen,” he told them. Then turned back to me. “Can you imagine what havoc a damn feline would cause?”

  “Yes, I see your point. I despise the creatures myself. As does Sergeant Tibbitts. The fact is, Professor, we’ve come to consult you about a fellow named Twinem.”

  “Twinem?”

  “I believe he wanted to ascertain which species of shrew Shakespeare had been referring to.”

  “Him! The man’s insane.”

  “Was, maybe,” Tibbitts interjected. “He’s dead now. Haven’t you heard?”

  “No, I haven’t time to worry about him. I’ve the show.”

  “But he did consult you?”

  “Yes, or tried to. Didn’t know a damned thing about Soricidae. A pretender.”

  “You in the G.A.R.?” Tibbitts asked.

  “Yes, I’m a veteran. I was there at Appomattox Courthouse.”

  “Thank goodness you made it through the worst of it,” I said.

  “What’s that? I’d just gotten out of training camp. Never actually saw any fighting.”

  “Not something you could have anticipated when you enlisted.”

  “Enlisted? Do I look like a fool? I was drafted.”

  Frank Rhodes was the first veteran I’d met who was honest about his service. The truth was that thousands of fellows had had to be dragged kicking and screaming into battle—not that I blamed them any. But I’d never met a veteran who’d owned up to it.

  Tibbitts took out the gun we found on the farm and asked Rhodes if it was his.

  “Yes—how’d you get it?”

  “It was used to kill a man in New York,” Tibbitts told him. “Where’d you last see it?”

  “Upstairs, in my room.”

  “When was that?”

  “When? It’s been there since I was presented it.”

  “So you didn’t give it to anyone?”

  “Give away the gun my comrades presented me in gratitude? Of course not. I earned that gun. Do you imagine it’s easy arranging a reunion dinner for six hundred, Sergeant? When you’re given just four days’ notice?”

  “Could Twinem have taken the gun when he came to see you?”

  “I don’t see how. He was only in the house for ten or fifteen minutes. And never went upstairs. Can I have it back?”

  “Not now, it’s evidence.”

  The professor insisted on restarting the rehearsal and demanded that the door not be opened again until it was completed. We had missed the frail’s cooch show, but the high-wire act the little Etruscans put on more t
han made up for it. A miniature red spotlight followed them scampering about, quarreling and chirping incessantly. The answer to Twinem’s question seemed obvious. Kate was Etruscan.

  Meanwhile, the Ferris wheel spun continuously on shrew power alone, and the aquatic members of the family took turns diving into a tank and devouring minnows.

  When we were released, we had dinner in town and then caught an evening train back to New York. Tibbitts had been carrying a small valise during the trip, but hadn’t made use of anything in it.

  “Were you thinking of spending the night in New Haven?” I asked.

  “No. I thought I mentioned it. I was going to ask you if I could stay at your place.”

  “Things that bad?”

  “Yeah. Don’t you have a couple spare rooms?”

  “All full up, I’m afraid. But you can have the couch.”

  “That will do me.”

  We arrived at the apartment about half past ten, and a little while later, Nell, Ainslie, and Thibaut came in.

  “Did you see the show this evening?” I asked Nell.

  “See it? She was the star!” Ainslie boasted.

  Nell blushed.

  “You joined the act?” I asked.

  “She jumped in like a trouper.” Ainslie was talking like a proud father.

  “Where’s Carlotta?” I asked.

  “I’m afraid she was arrested, Harry,” Nell confessed.

  “Arrested? For what?”

  “Remember that policeman we met at the opium den, Sergeant….”

  “Sergeant Eckel?”

  “Yes, him. He came with two of his men. They took her just as they’d begun the zoo scene. Thibaut tried to stop them, but an angry baboon was no match for three policemen.”

  “It was a scream,” Ainslie interjected. “We’re thinking of incorporating it into the act.”

  “Don’t worry, Harry. She should be back here soon. Cliff sent a man with the money to bail her out. You see, as she was being dragged away, Carlotta managed to instruct Thibaut to keep the act going so as not to lose their place in the show.”

  “So I nominated Nellie.”

  “Since I’d seen them rehearse so often. I thought I should help, if I could.”

  “She was an instant hit.”

  “I thought you were broke?” I said to Ainslie. “Who was it you sent?”

  “Well, the truth is I wasn’t able to follow through on that.”

  “But you swore to me you would!” Nell said angrily.

  “I had to tell you that, or you wouldn’t have gone on. Look, everything will be fine. Harry can go bail her out. She is his cousin, after all.”

  Thibaut had gone into the kitchen and came out eating a drumstick. He looked about and then queried Ainslie in French. Ainslie told him something that seemed to ease his mind and he sat down to his supper.

  “You speak French?”

  “I spent four years in Europe, back in the nineties, when things were dead here.”

  Tibbitts gave me an amused look.

  “I thought this was your case now?”

  He shrugged. “You know how it is.”

  I assumed he was referring to the byzantine hierarchy of the police force. It was a feudal system, with constantly shifting allegiances and endless power struggles over control of the booty. I filled him in on some of the details he wasn’t aware of, such as Carlotta’s pretend marriage to Ernie Joy. He just smiled, then asked where the telephone was.

  He dialed a number, mentioned Carlotta’s name, and then carried on a long, monosyllabic exchange. When it was over, he rejoined us.

  “Eckel took her in on a second-degree murder charge, and indecency.”

  “He’s decided to actually investigate the shooting? Why now?” I asked.

  “Jimmy Yuan hasn’t come through with his fine to the captain over there. They’re putting the screws on. Eckel has your cousin down as the weak link.”

  “Get her to testify against Yuan?”

  He shrugged again.

  “Where is she now?”

  “The Tombs. Any lawyer can get the murder charge dropped. You can probably get her out for a twenty-dollar fine.”

  “When?”

  “There’ll be a session of police court there tomorrow morning.”

  The only lawyer I knew who practiced criminal law was a fellow named Burleigh. I telephoned him and he agreed to meet me in the morning. Then I took up a collection. Ainslie contributed five dollars and I got ten from Tibbitts. Thibaut just turned out his empty pockets.

  “I’ll go with you in the morning, Harry,” Nell told me. Then she went to their room and slammed the door.

  Thibaut opened another bottle.

  “You sure you don’t have any more cash stashed away?” I asked Ainslie.

  “I’m sure I can have all you need by next week.”

  “Next week?”

  “Yes, no doubt about it. Why don’t we just let Carlotta rest up for a few days?”

  “Rest up? In the Tombs?”

  “You see, Harry….” He put his arm around my shoulder. For the first time since we’d met he was acting friendly. “If Carlotta shows up tomorrow it’s going to be awkward. Letting someone go is never pleasant.”

  “Especially when she’s being let go from her own act.”

  “Yes, exactly. Now, if she were to spend another day or two… incapacitated, Nell will have the part down pat. And even Carlotta will appreciate it’s a change for the better.”

  “I think that’s rather unlikely.”

  “Well, then in a couple days we’ll have devised another part for her.”

  “I’d suggest the usurped woman seeking bloody revenge.”

  “That’s a thought.” He stared up at the ceiling, considering it.

  Xiang-Mei had hidden herself in the kitchen since our arrival, and I thought I should inform her of Tibbitts’s presence.

  She was baking little pies.

  “Moon cakes,” she told me.

  I reached for one and she slapped my hand.

  “Wait for the moon festival!” Then she nodded toward the door. “The policeman staying here?”

  “Yes, I’m afraid so. Is Lou in yet?”

  “Cricket hunt. He won’t come home until very late!”

  “Well, hopefully Tibbitts won’t hear him. Lou should probably hide out here tomorrow. The police may be looking for him.”

  “But police already here!”

  “Yes, but Tibbitts is relatively benign. The other policemen aren’t so friendly.”

  “Ah. Father say, ‘Better the devil you know.’”

  “Yes, that’s the idea. By the way, I saw Jimmy Yuan earlier today.”

  “Who is Jimmy Yuan?”

  “Lou hasn’t mentioned him? He ran the little show where Lou’s accident occurred.”

  “Oh. Lou thinks of nothing now but crickets. He will not want to stay inside tomorrow.”

  “At least keep him in until sunset. There were some other men with Jimmy. From the Hip Sing Tong. Do you know them?”

  She smiled and made a vague gesture.

  “They seem anxious to find the other girls. The ones who crossed over from Canada with you. Apparently they’ve gone missing.”

  She shrugged her shoulders. “Oh, well. I must get back to work. You go now.”

  19

  I woke the next morning to the smell of bacon. I found Nell preparing breakfast, but no one else was stirring.

  “I suppose we should bring Thibaut along,” she said.

  “No, let’s let him sleep. He doesn’t even seem to realize what’s happening. And he can be a little unpredictable—not the sort you want in your corner when you’re trying to ingratiate yourself with a police magistrate.”

  As we left the apartment we passed Tibbitts sleeping on the couch. Ainslie was on the other side of the room, having lined up three chairs into a makeshift bed. Nell kicked out the middle chair, then rushed out the door ahead of me.

  We met Burlei
gh outside the Tombs, not far from the Manhattan side of the bridge. I knew him from college and had stayed acquainted via various alumni events since. As soon as I’d thought of him, a vague feeling came over me, a sense that there was some reason I should hesitate before calling him.

  He wasted no time in reminding me of the cause of my unease.

  “I don’t suppose you have that fifty dollars?” he said in a not very pleasant tone.

  “Fifty dollars?”

  “Remember, I lent you fifty dollars.” He took out a slip of paper and read from it. “I.O.U. fifty dollars, to be paid within sixty days. Signed, Harry Reese. November 12th, 1900.”

  “I forgot all about it. You should have reminded me.”

  “I tried to, the next spring. You must have moved.”

  “What’s fifty dollars between old friends?”

  “Feels about the same as any other fifty dollars.”

  “Just add it to the bill when you send it.”

  “I will.”

  The Sunday morning session of the Tombs Police Court was a busy one. It was only after a small army of working girls, several pickpockets, and a wife-beater were disposed of that Carlotta was called.

  As much as one might fault Burleigh for his over-attentive memory, there was no denying he handled the thing admirably. The judge agreed the murder charge was flimsy and levied a fine of twenty dollars for the act of indecency. It left me still holding a hundred dollars to put toward Emmie’s bail. Until Burleigh became surly and insisted on immediate payment.

  “I never knew you to be so petty, Tom.”

  “If you knew me at all, you’d know my name was Tim.”

  Well, there was no use disputing his point. He took my hundred dollars and went on his way.

  “Where’s THIBAUT?” Carlotta asked. It probably won’t surprise you to learn that her mood wasn’t a cheery one.

  “I didn’t bother to wake him. He was sleeping pretty soundly.” My explanation seemed to strike her as inadequate. “You see, consoling himself required quite a bit of wine last night.”

  “Yeah? Cried himself to sleep, I’m sure.” She sounded skeptical.

  As we made our way toward Park Row, a brisk breeze swept over us. Carlotta was shivering and I gave her my jacket. As I was helping her put it on, I saw one of the Chinese fellows I’d met the previous afternoon. He was spying on us from about a hundred feet away. When he noticed me looking in his direction, he ducked around a corner.