THE DEVILS DIME (18 page)

Once past the edges of the buildings, he backed her behind a massive hedge of lilac and trapped her against the wall, a hand planted on the cool bricks above each of her shoulders.

Addie was so taken by surprise she merely looked questioningly up at him, but had not hesitated for a moment to let him steer her off the sidewalk.

“I believe, Miss Adelaide Magee, that I am going to kiss you.”

“Is that so?”

Both her hands clutched the bakery box and she held it chest high between them. He could see the fabric of her bodice trembling, but her voice was cool, playing along.

“Yes, that is so.”

Jess had moved his face closer to hers with each word, and now, if he hadn’t been so very preoccupied, he could have felt her breath on his chin.

“May I remind you that a proper young lady would be obliged to...well, at the very least...scream?” Her words came out slow, hushed.

“Well, then, Mistress Magee. May I suggest that you commence...” Jess lowered his face until their lips nearly brushed. “...screaming.”

Her eyelids fluttered and her eyes bobbed from his eyes to his mouth and back again. Jess enjoyed his devilish taunt. She moistened her lips and took a breath as if she were about to speak and Jess closed gently. All the restraint he could muster kept his kiss from seeking the exhilarating planes to which his mind had already sailed.

He was just commanding himself to pull away when a door slammed nearby and steps echoed in the brick alley then stopped abruptly. Jess stepped away from Addie, and she, slow to shake off her euphoria, turned at last to see what or who had caught them.

In the half light of the shady alley, Hamilton Jensen glared at them with a venom that seemed capable of blistering from a distance.

“Oh, Hamilton, I...”

“Addie.” Jess took her elbow and drew her close to his side. “You don’t owe him an explanation.”

She looked up at Jess, uncertain what to do. Jess felt if he merely stomped his foot on the pavement, Jensen would shriek and run. But he would not humiliate the fellow further.

With a gentlemanly tip of his hat, Jess propelled Addie out of the alley and onto the sidewalk. He hurried her to the next corner, and as they stood waiting for a break in the traffic, he risked a look at her.

At the same moment, Addie tipped her head a quarter turn and peeked at him beneath the brim of her hat. Her eyes were huge saucers, and she crinkled her forehead as her eyes rolled up in huge relief.

An officer on horseback whistled for the pedestrians to cross, and as the two stepped into the street, they simultaneously burst into laughter. On the far curb, Jess plucked the bakery box from her hands and smoothly changed course toward his building.

“May I suggest, Mr. Pepper, that we assiduously avoid such opportunities for embarrassment in the future?”

“You may, Miss Magee,” he replied with a wink. Her tone bore little rebuke, for which Jess was grateful.

“Good. Then I presume there will be no further incidents?”

“Well, I didn’t say that.”

“You most certainly did!”

“Actually, I didn’t.”

“But I heard you very clearly—“

“No. You said ‘may I suggest’ that we not kiss in alleys in the future.”

“And you agreed!”

“Well, technically I only agreed that you could suggest it. I never agreed not to kiss you in alleys.”

Addie stopped and snatched her box of baked goods from Jess.

“Jess Pepper, you are impossible.”

Jess watched her struggle with the impropriety of their impulsive tryst and her giddy memory of it. He knew now she was more unsettled by his impulsive move than she had at first let on.

They stood a long moment in the middle of the sidewalk. Pedestrians parted to pass on either side of them, and merged again on the other side like water around rocks in the stream.

“Addie. I apologize. I got carried away. Forgive me?”

A mischievous twinkle overtook her serious expression, and she slipped a hand into the crook of his elbow.

“I may, Mr. Pepper.” They began to move again. “In time.”

Jess darted a look toward her, and was relieved to see more humor than chastisement. He’d had it coming. It was, after all, a stolen kiss. Like any proper girl, she would have felt compelled to scold. But she did not. Just one more thing to like about her.

They stopped only twice as they made their way toward his building. Once for Addie to purchase a basket and a bottle of cider to make her gift complete. And once for Jess to pick up his bundle of clean shirts from the laundry.

Addie saw so many bizarre and interesting characters at the bank that she had plenty of stories to share as they walked the last few blocks. Jess half listened and half marveled at how comfortable it was, walking alongside her. Usually he was too impatient to stroll and chat.

But with Addie it was different. They could walk a block without saying a word and it was comfortable. And then hold each other up through the next block as they laughed over something she’d said or he’d done.

And so it happened that they were both laughing as they rounded the last corner and nearly ran into the crowd that blocked the sidewalk. A paddy wagon waited in the street, and a cordon of uniformed police kept traffic back from both sides.

Jess was just turning to ask the closest officer what was going on when the doors to his building were thrust open. A single officer rushed down the steps and ran to unlock the back doors of the waiting wagon.

An instant later, two higher ranking officers came through the doors, half dragging an older man. His head was bent, concentrating on the steps that were coming too fast for him to manage with his hands cuffed behind his back.

On the last step he looked up to see where they were taking him and Addie gasped. “Papa!”

She turned a horrified face toward Jess.

“What are they doing? Where are they taking him?”

“Addie, stay calm. Hold these and I’ll find out.”

Jess thrust the basket and bundle of laundry at Addie and broke through the onlookers. He stopped right in front of Ford Magee who had just lurched off the bottom step.

“Here now. Out of the way,” the older officer bellowed.

Jess drew his credentials from a pocket and waved them in front of the two.

“Jess Pepper.
New York Times
. Where are you taking Mr. Magee?”

“Downtown Precinct. Now get out of the way.”

“Ford.” Jess looked at his upstairs neighbor and put a hand on his shoulder. “What’s going on?” he asked quietly.

Ford Magee shook his head, a look of resignation already planted on his face. “It’s a mistake, Pepper. It’s all a mistake.”

The officers jerked him past Jess and he nearly stumbled as he stepped off the curb. They stopped a moment for him to regain his balance just as Addie managed to squeeze through the crowd.

“Papa?”

He turned as much toward her as he could with a man still gripping each of his arms and gave her a reassuring grin.

“Fear not, Addie girl. I’ll be fine.”

The two husky guards practically lifted him onto the box step they’d placed in back of the paddy wagon, and in one move they shoved him inside the wagon and closed the doors.

“Jess! What’s happening! What are they doing?”

Addie had grabbed his coat and hung on fiercely as she watched her father disappear into the police wagon. The basket swung crazily on one arm, his bundle of laundry stashed in it now, as well.

“Officer? This is his daughter. She has a right to know what’s going on.”

The fellow who was just finishing a note on his small pad looked up at Jess and then eyeballed Addie from head to toe.

“She’s his daughter?”

“Yes,” Jess repeated, gritting his teeth to suppress the rising anger at the man’s diffidence. “Why are they taking Ford Magee to the Downtown Precinct?”

“He’s under arrest.”

“Under arrest?” Addie’s face drained of color and Jess felt her sag a bit against his side. “Whatever for?”

“He got away with it for twenty years, but we got him now.” The cocky policeman raised his voice and turned toward the crowd. He raised his right arm high, waving a newspaper crushed in his fist.

“You folks recollect those girls that almost got killed around here about twenty years ago?”

The crowd was quick to answer that they did.

“Well, that’s him.” He jabbed the newspaper toward the departing police wagon. “That’s the one. He’s the guy that almost killed all them girls.”

The crowd erupted in angry chatter and rude comments. They pushed and jostled, and a hand reached out and grabbed Addie’s arm. Another fumbled for her basket and spat into it. At the same instant, Jess saw the light go out in Addie’s eyes, and he whisked her up the steps and away from the howling mob.

Chapter Thirteen

Jess helped Addie into the carriage beside Cherise and paid the driver. “Thank you for staying with her, Cherise. I tried to explain as much as I know, but...”

“Don’t worry yerself ’bout this one. I’ll take good care.”

Jess put his hand over Addie’s hands that were clenched and cold in her lap. “I’m going to city hall now and I’ll have your father back here before breakfast. I promise.”

Addie slowly raised her eyes to Jess. “He’s not a criminal, Jess. They have to see that.”

“They will, Addie. Don’t worry.”

He was about to signal the driver when she caught his hand and spoke again, urgency and fear pouring from her dark eyes.

“Bring him back to me, Jess.”

Her hand slipped from his as the carriage rolled forward and Jess stood rooted on the sidewalk while the carriage pulled away. He’d hurried her into the building to escape the crowd, and it hadn’t been easy convincing her she shouldn’t go to the precinct herself.

As soon as she was safely in his apartment, Jess had commandeered a headset from a switchboard operator at the corner exchange and called Ballenger’s with an urgent message for Cherise to bring a carriage to the back of the building. By the time she arrived, he’d convinced Addie that with his contacts he’d stand a better chance of getting information than she would.

Now that he turned his attention toward the precinct, he wasn’t so sure. Why had they arrested Ford Magee today of all days? The very day his article came out in the newspaper. His reference to a man upstairs was too obscure. Who would have thought he was referring to someone in his own building? It simply wasn’t enough on which to arrest a man. There had to be something else. Or perhaps his conscience just needed to know there was some other reason for Ford’s arrest.

Jess hailed a cab and rode to the precinct lost in his own debate. But by the time he reached the police station, he’d lost the battle with his conscience. His article may have had a great deal to do with Ford’s arrest after all. It was too much of a coincidence to ignore.

Guilt stood poised behind every thought as he waited at the desk for permission to see Ford Magee. He should have told Addie about the article. But in her agitated state it might have made it easy for her to blame him for her father’s arrest.

And perhaps she would have been right.

. . .

The downtown jail was as dismal as any he’d ever seen. Several women and a dozen men flung insults at one another and at Jess as he passed their holding cell. Each long hall he and the bailiff passed through had cells—filled equally with degenerates and bewildered souls—on each side and ended with a couple of steps leading downward.