Jack Kane and the Statue of Liberty (8 page)

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 what 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.”

Felonious 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.”

“You…got…her…address?” Felonious bobbed his head. “That’s amazing! Well done.”

Lenny modestly lowered his eyes. “Thanks, Boss.”

Felonious paced. “It would behoove us to move quickly to stop the young lady from revealing our plans.” He stopped and tapped his bottom lip. “I want you two to go to her address and…convince her not to continue publishing this. Destroy her printing press and rough her up if you need to. Go incognito so you aren’t recognized.”

Lenny squirmed. “Boss, I don’t like hurtin’ no dames.”

Felonious gazed into the henchman’s eyes. “You cannot make an omelet without breaking a few eggs. I don’t want you to kill the young lady. Just make it difficult for her to do any writing for the next couple months. If that means breaking her arms and hands, that is what you must do.”

He straightened up. “Gentlemen, what we are doing here is a grand mission. We cannot let anything stand in the way of our success!”

Lenny slumped, his chin trembling. “Yes, Boss. Whatever you say.”

“I believe we have already established that, minion.” Felonious indicated a backpack-sized metal box sitting in the corner. “Take that communicator with you. You are wasting too much time coming back here to report. Use that to call me with updates.”

“But…but, Boss. Doesn’t that thing explode, sometimes?” Lenny said, backing away from the device.

“The old version did, yes. But I have completely retooled it. It’s perfectly safe now.”

“You fixed it?” Lenny wiped his brow. “Phew! That’s a relief.”

“Yes. It needed more brass decoration, which I have added. It should be perfectly safe now.”

“You…you added more decoration?” Lenny was sweating again.

“That’s right. Now, get going. Time is wasting!”