The Fall Of White City (Gilded Age Mysteries Book 1) (17 page)

Chapter 16—The Edge Of The Bluff

Two hours later, Evangeline was still haunted by her unsettling encounter with
Blackthorne
. Since her usual method of calming herself had been the occasion of her most recent upset, she resorted to another source of distraction. Changing into a sturdier pair of shoes, she started for the lake. She felt that a walk along the beach would help restore her nerve or, at the very least, exhaust her enough to allow her to sleep that night.

Evangeline’s house stood only three blocks from the edge of the precipice for which the town of
Shore Cliff
was named. From there it was a hundred-foot drop to the shores of
Lake Michigan
. The Baptists who had originally claimed the village’s picturesque setting for their summer revival meetings had carved a series of trails down the bluff to the water. Even though the sun was making its final descent and the shadows were lengthening every minute, Evangeline managed to pick out a sandy trail as she clambered down the steep slope.

When she was about half-way down she stopped. She imagined she heard a rustling in the bushes below her. “Probably a squirrel,” she muttered. She squinted off toward the horizon. The wind had shifted to the northeast, and the waves were frothy with whitecaps. She continued to pick her way down the narrow, sandy path.

She came to a dead stop when she heard the rustling again. This time it was off to the right of where she stood. She tried to still her breathing so she could hear any movement, no matter how small. “Is anybody there?” she called out. But only the waves and wind answered her.

She was about to continue down the slope when she heard a crashing through the undergrowth. Closer this time and directly behind her. She spun around to locate the source and saw, or rather felt, the presence of a figure blotting out the sunset. His face was in shadow, but the sight of an unexpected human shape was enough to startle her into losing her balance. She slid down the trail, tree branches snapping as she vainly tried to grasp at anything to slow her fall. She tumbled head over heels the rest of the way down to the base of the bluff. When she landed, her forehead struck an outcropping of granite. That was all she remembered before the world went black.

***

“
Engie
! Can you hear me? Are you all right?”

She felt someone shaking her.

“
Engie
, answer me!” The voice was urgent and full of fear. She thought it belonged to Freddie, but she couldn’t be sure. When she was able to blink her eyes open, she confirmed that it was, indeed, Freddie, but there seemed to be two of him. She became aware of a throbbing mass of pain at the front of her head. The pulse points at each temple pounded insistently until they collided in the middle of her skull, triggering a wave of nausea and dizziness.

“Oh...” She sat up, trying to touch the bump on her forehead. When she drew back her hand, she noticed it was coated with a sticky, red substance.

“Thank God, you’re alive!” Freddie cried in relief. His arms were around her. “Can you stand up?”

He tried to draw her upward but her legs refused to follow the command her brain was sending. She crumpled back to the ground.

“Wait... ,” she managed to whisper through the roaring pain in her head. “Wait a bit. I think I’ll be all right in a minute.”

Freddie sat down beside her and drew out a handkerchief to stanch the blood on her forehead. “Well, thank God it only appears to be a shallow cut. What happened to your hat?”

Evangeline touched the top of her head and realized she was bare-headed. “It must have been knocked off when I tumbled down.” She winced as she moved her arm to feel the back of her head. The muscles in her neck and shoulders ached.

“Here, put your hands down and let’s have a look.” Freddie tried to part the masses of hair at the back of her head that had come undone in an effort to find any other injuries to her scalp.

“
Owww
! Stop that!”

“Well, it doesn’t appear that the skin is broken anywhere else. There’s just that nasty bump on your forehead. How in the world did you manage to tumble down the trail? I always thought you could hike it with your eyes closed.”

While the pain refused to subside, her vision was beginning to return to normal. “I had a little help.”

“What! Do you mean someone pushed you?”

“Not exactly. I heard a rustling in the bushes. There was someone standing right behind me. He startled me, and I lost my balance.”

“Could you see who it was?”

She shook her head, wincing again at the flood of pain the movement had cost her. “No, the sun was at his back and he was half-covered by the trees.”

“It’s lucky for you there’s so much undergrowth on the way down. That must have slowed your tumble a bit.”

“Maybe, but it wasn’t so lucky that my head found the only rock sticking out of the sand to bump itself on.”

“Still, it could have been far worse,” Freddie’s tone was ominous. He looked up at the bluff appraisingly. Only a few of the maples had completely shed their leaves even though it was late in the season. Plenty of places for someone to hide in the dense undergrowth. “You must have tumbled along the trail for about fifty feet. You’d think if it was just someone out walking, and he’d startled you by accident, he would have run to your assistance to see if you were hurt.”

Evangeline, now able to focus her eyes clearly, looked back up at the bluff with a slight shiver. “Maybe he wasn’t just someone out walking. Maybe he’d been following me. Perhaps he wanted to push me down the cliff, but I saved him the trouble.”

“But who?”

“I don’t know. I just don’t know. Maybe it’s just my imagination. Maybe it was nothing more than a silly accident. Everything is so confused now!”

Freddie was up on his feet in a flash. “We have to get you out of here.”

“No, not yet. Let me see if I can walk on a level surface first before we start climbing any more hills.”

The young man held out his hand to steady her as she tried to rise.

“So far, so good. Give me your arm to lean on.”

He complied and began to lead her slowly along the beach.

After a few tottering steps, Evangeline seemed to regain her balance. “It hurts damnably, but I don’t believe there’s any serious injury.” She took a deep breath to clear her head further. “Yes, I do believe I’ll live.” Recollecting the odd circumstances of her rescue, she asked, “What are you doing here, anyway?”

“After I got back from escorting my mother on her interminable round of calls, I went to your house. Since we didn’t spend any time planning a strategy after I brought you home last night, I thought perhaps you’d be ready to talk now. I had to pry the information out of Delphine, but she said I could find you down here. That you’d only left about ten minutes before I arrived.” He looked up at the ever-darkening sky, the waves crashing on the sand. “Trust you to come out here only when the weather is unfit for man or beast!”

Evangeline stared at her companion. Lost in her own dazed thoughts, she only half heard his words. “It won’t do. It just won’t do at all, Freddie!”

“What won’t do, old girl?”

“Nothing fits anymore. What we’ve discovered the past two days changes everything.”

“
Engie
, it’s getting dark, maybe we’d better go back,” Freddie eyed the shadows anxiously. “You need to get to a doctor.”

“I don’t need a doctor! I’m not hurt that badly. This event only compounds what’s already happened today. I can’t sit still and try to sort this out. I need to walk.” Evangeline reversed direction and headed south down the beach.

“How much could have happened? I saw you only last night.”

“For one thing, Jonathan paid me a visit this afternoon.”

“Oh... I forgot.” Freddie sounded guilty.

“So it would seem. He was quite put out that you didn’t convey his message. Was that deliberate?”

“Of course not! I just forgot, though I can’t say I’m sorry if I managed to inconvenience your gentleman caller.”

“Well, whatever the case may be, he very nearly proposed.”

What!” Freddie came to a dead stop and grabbed Evangeline by the shoulders. “He what!”

“Yes, you heard me correctly. He hinted, at the very least. But there’s more.” The rushing of the waves made her voice almost imperceptible. “He kissed me before he left, and the fearful part about it is that I kissed him back.”

Freddie stopped dead in his tracks for the second time. “
Engie
, if you’re trying to kill me, why don’t you just get it over with in one blow! What do you mean, you kissed him back?”

Evangeline shook her head vehemently to clear the image from her head, but this only made her wince. A dull thud in her temple reminded her that abrupt physical action was still inadvisable. “
Oww
!” she moaned. “What was I supposed to do, Freddie? What was I supposed to do?” A note of desperation crept into her voice. “I’ve been wrestling with that dilemma ever since this afternoon. If I discourage him too strongly, he’ll become suspicious, and I need to keep him under close observation, especially now.”

Freddie covered Evangeline’s hand with his own to lead her forward. “Let’s keep moving. It’s the only way we can stay warm.”

The couple paced onward in silence for several moments before Evangeline spoke. “I feel as if I’m walking a tightrope. I hate deception! You of all people should know how much I do! Now I have to pretend an interest in a man who may very well be a murderer. In order to buy time, I have to allow him to make advances toward me, and as he gets closer, I have to maintain such command of my responses that I never let him know I suspect him of anything! If I fail to convince him, my own life may be at risk.” Her voice had become ragged with strain. “If I withdraw from him too quickly, he’ll sense he’s in danger, and there’s no telling what he might do.” She looked worriedly up at the cliff. “What he already may have tried to do in an effort to silence me forever.”

Freddie followed her gaze nervously but remained silent, not sure what consolation to offer. After a few minutes, he smiled weakly. “Don’t worry, old girl. Now that I’m on my guard, I’ll watch him like a hawk for you. Besides, you’re a terrific actress.”

“No one’s that good an actress, Freddie!” Evangeline rubbed her head distractedly, ignoring the pain. “No one!”

Freddie stood gazing out over the darkening water. He took Evangeline’s hands, chafing them between his own to warm them. “You’ll just have to try to be,
Engie
. You’ll have to pretend to be. You’re the bravest person I know—even if you are a woman.” He ignored the scowl on her face and continued. “It’s too late for us to retreat now. Whether it was
Blackthorne
or one of the others who killed Elsa, the only way out is for us to bring the murderer to justice. If you run away in fear, we’re lost.”

Evangeline watched the gulls skimming the horizon for a few moments before she answered. “Wouldn’t you be afraid, Freddie, if you thought you’d just unmasked the devil?”

To this her friend made no reply. He merely put his arm around her shoulder and steered her gently in the opposite direction. “We’d better be getting back. It’s almost dark and if we wait any longer, we’ll lose the trail.”

Chapter 17—Men Of Vision

Evangeline awoke with a nasty headache on Monday morning. Ignoring the pain, she attempted to conceal the bruised cut on her forehead by applying a thick layer of face powder and rearranging her hair. At all costs she wanted to avoid the scolding and clucking that would ensue if Delphine discovered what had happened. Evangeline hoped to avert a scene by absenting the house as early as possible. She intended to pay a visit to Franz Bauer in jail. Perhaps he might recall his exact whereabouts the night of Elsa’s death. He might also unknowingly reveal some information about his sister’s secret admirers—O’Malley and
Blackthorne
.

As she was getting ready to leave for the mid-morning train, Delphine poked her head into the dressing room. “
Ma chérie
, there is a Monsieur Humphrey to see you.”

“I don’t know anyone by that name, Delphine.”

“He says he works at the Templar House.”

“Oh, that one.” Evangeline remembered the desk clerk with the propensity for clicking his heels at the least provocation. “Show him into the reception room. I’ll be downstairs shortly.” She set aside her immediate plan to leave for the city and, with one final worried glance in the mirror, hurried down to meet her guest instead.

When she opened the door to the reception room, she noted that Humphrey had already taken a chair, though he had chosen to balance precariously on the edge of his seat. His hat was balanced even more precariously on his knees. When he saw Evangeline enter, he sprang to his feet, upsetting his hat, which fell unceremoniously to the floor and rolled across the carpet before he could scramble to retrieve it. Flustered, but still on his best behavior, Humphrey recovered himself and snapped to attention as his hostess gave him her hand.

“Mr. Humphrey, please be seated.” Evangeline gestured for him to return to his chair.

“Just Humphrey, miss, that’s what I’m usually called.”

“Very well then, Humphrey. I must say I’m quite surprised to see you here.” Evangeline took the chair opposite him.

Humphrey sat down and stared at the floor. At the hotel, he had struck Evangeline as the high-strung sort; now, he was exhibiting a degree of nervousness that was beyond high-strung. He rolled his hat brim around and around in his hands, apparently searching for a way to begin.

Evangeline decided to help the process along. She smiled, trying to put him at ease. “Since it’s a long train ride from
Chicago
to Shore Cliff, I’m assuming you have something important you wish to discuss with me. Would I be correct in making that assumption, Humphrey?”

The desk clerk sighed. “It’s my conscience, miss. It’s been kicking up a fearful row with me ever since we last talked.”

“Indeed?” Evangeline raised her eyebrows in surprise.

“There was something I should have told you... but I didn’t. I... I... was afraid I’d lose my position.”

“Humphrey, I assure you, whatever you tell me will remain in strictest confidence.”

He sighed again, looking only moderately relieved. “It doesn’t sit well with me to tell a lie, and of all nights for something like that to happen.”

“What happened?” Evangeline tried to maintain a soothing tone of voice even though she wanted to jump out of her chair and shake the information out of the desk clerk. She knew she was on the brink of something significant.

Humphrey was quiet for a moment. “Well, you see, when I told you no one else came that night inquiring after Miss Bauer, I wasn’t exactly telling the truth. There was someone. I didn’t mention it to the police. It happened a little while before the other fellow came by—the crazy one. A man walked in around nine-thirty and stood looking around the lobby. I asked if I could help him. He said he had come to see Miss Bauer and asked what room she was in.”

“Did you get a good look at him?” Evangeline had difficulty containing her excitement.

“Nothing about him was unusual. His clothing was a bit rumpled, but not shabby. He talked like a gentleman; sandy brown hair, thinning on the top; medium height, maybe five-foot-seven or so; but plain somehow.”

“No facial characteristics that you remember?” Evangeline hoped for more detail. “Did he wear glasses? Did he have a beard?”

Humphrey thought a moment. “No, no glasses. I don’t remember about the beard, but I think he was clean-shaven. Nothing I recall about his face that was out of the ordinary—blue eyes, maybe, but I’m not sure.”

“Did you give him Miss Bauer’s room number?”

Humphrey looked down at his brightly polished shoes again. “That’s where the problem came in, you see. We’re not supposed to tell the room numbers of our unescorted lady guests. That’s why they don’t sign the front register to begin with, to protect their privacy.”

Evangeline studied him for a moment. “Despite what is customary, I’m assuming you did give him her room number?”

Humphrey continued to hang his head in embarrassment. “Well, yes. But he looked like he meant no harm. He said he was her cousin and that he only wanted to surprise her by calling the following morning, and he gave me a generous tip besides. I watched closely, you can be sure. He never went up to the room that night.”

“Are you sure of that? You may have been away from the desk for a few moments and—”

“I assure you, miss, I never left my post for the rest of that evening. My shift didn’t end until two in the morning, and I never saw him go up. The doctor who examined the body said the girl had died before two, so it’s pretty unlikely he would have tried to sneak upstairs after that time anyway.”

“I see.”

“Of all nights for me to do a thing like that! Who would ever imagine a girl would be murdered and it would be the same one whose room number I gave out. But it’s just that he appeared so…so…harmless.”

Evangeline sat up with a start. Something in the description triggered an association in her mind with the Mast House accountant, Jacob Sidley. “Harmless, you say?”

Humphrey looked surprised at the intensity in her voice. “Yes, miss. An awkward sort of fellow. Not somebody I’d worry about.”

“Think again, Humphrey. Are you sure the man you saw wasn’t wearing glasses? Did he stammer when he spoke?”

The clerk shook his head vigorously. “No, miss. He was a well-spoken sort of fellow—no glasses either, of that I’m sure.”

Evangeline relented. “Well, never mind. I seem intent on proving a case against an innocent man.” She became lost in thought, pondering the new evidence presented to her—weighing Jonathan’s involvement in the murder against that of the sandy-haired gentleman.

“Miss?” Humphrey tried tentatively to draw her attention back.

“Oh, I am sorry.” Evangeline belatedly recalled her visitor.

“Unless it becomes absolutely necessary, you’ll say nothing about this? It could mean my job.”

“Oh, of course I won’t.” Evangeline smiled reassuringly. “And if it ever comes time to speak of this, I’ll make sure no action is taken against you. After all, you may have given me a vital clue to clearing up this matter. It would be a poor show of gratitude on my part if you were to lose your position because of it.”

“Thank you, miss. Thank you indeed!”

“May I offer you some refreshment?” Evangeline reached for the bell to summon Delphine.

“No, no thank you, miss. I really need to get back to the city. I shouldn’t have come at all but I couldn’t stand it any longer.” Humphrey stood to go, shaking Evangeline’s hand energetically. The tension had finally left his face altogether. “But I think my conscience is finally satisfied.”

Evangeline waited for the inevitable click of his heels as she showed him to the door. She was not to be disappointed.

***

Although she had missed the morning train to the city, Evangeline could still see Franz if she left by mid-afternoon. She told Delphine she would be staying in town overnight and departed. On her ride into the city, Evangeline contemplated the best way to question Elsa’s brother without arousing his suspicions. Given his unstable temperament, this would be no easy matter. She resolved to begin by telling him about the legal defense fund that Mast House was raising on his behalf. She hoped this news would be sufficient to divert his attention away from her real motive for the visit.

By four o’clock she was once more standing before the bars of a cell in city jail. When the guard admitted her, she was surprised to see that Franz already had another visitor with him. The two men rose at her arrival.

Evangeline was struck by the prisoner’s woebegone condition. His face looked pinched, as if he hadn’t eaten in weeks. His rumpled, threadbare clothing probably hadn’t been changed since the last time they'd met. Given his wasted physical state, his mood was unaccountably elated. A feverish intensity glowed in his eyes.

“
Fräulein
, it is good to see you again!” Franz exclaimed with great feeling. “It is good I have friends who do not forget me now!”

“That’s hardly been the case, Franz. Everyone at Mast House has been quite busy on your behalf.”

Before she could give him any further news, Franz interrupted. “Please, let me introduce to you my very good friend, who comes to see me almost every day.
Fräulein
LeClair, this is
Herr
Otto Schuler.”

The visitor stepped forward to shake her hand. He was a short, barrel-shaped man in his mid-forties. He wore a sack suit of brown tweed that looked as if the cuffs had been turned at least three times. While the hair on his head was sparse, the quantity on his upper lip was flourishing so admirably that it obscured the lower half of his face.

“I am very pleased to meet you, Miss LeClair.” Evangeline noted that he had the bearing of a man overburdened by the weight of his own importance. Unlike Franz, Otto Schuler spoke English without the slightest trace of a German accent.

“How do you do, Mr. Schuler. I’m sorry to intrude, but I had no idea Franz would be entertaining another visitor today.”

“Otto is my friend from the newspaper,” Franz offered. “I stayed with him after my poor Elsa was murdered. He helped me to see things clearer.” Franz regarded his friend solemnly for a moment. “He is always helping me see things clearer.”

Otto Schuler waved away the compliment. “You would do the same for me. After all, we must band together at a time like this, for who else is there to help us?”

Evangeline was surprised by Schuler’s interpretation of events. “I hardly think Franz is so bereft of resources as all that.”

“Miss LeClair, perhaps you are not aware of certain economic realities. A crime has been committed—but not the one of which Franz is accused. It is the crime most typical of our present social system, where wealth and privilege conspire to crush the working man.”

“Mr. Schuler, I really think you’re overstating—”

“You are deluding yourself, miss, if you think Franz will get a fair trial in this city. Nay, in any major city in the country, for that matter. Those in power would never allow it!”

“We can but try, sir! We have a few weeks to prepare. I inquired and found his first court appearance isn’t until November 4th.”

Schuler waved his hand airily. “You can try all you like, miss. By all means, organize a committee, stage a rally. Franz will be convicted as a criminal and hanged just the same.”

“Are these the words of a friend, Mr. Schuler?” Evangeline was aghast. No matter how ambivalent her own feelings toward Franz might be, she found Schuler’s behavior appalling. “Is this the only comfort you can offer to a man in prison?”

Schuler smiled mysteriously. “I have other words of comfort for Franz’s ear alone.” He cleared his throat importantly. “One may die an ignominious death as a felon or one may live forever in the memory of the people as a hero. All men must die, Miss LeClair.” Schuler looked sadly at Franz. “Some of us sooner than others, but each man has a choice of how he will be remembered. If he dies for the sake of a good cause, then he has not died in vain.”

“What are you suggesting?” Evangeline was afraid she understood the implication only too well.

The little man puffed out his chest as if he were about to launch into an oration. “It has become increasingly clear to me, as it has now become clear to Franz, that the time for talk is over.”

“Over?” Evangeline noted that Schuler seemed addicted to cryptic allusions and half-finished thoughts.

“This injustice must be brought to the eyes of the world by a more direct method.” He squared his shoulders as if expecting resistance.

Franz had said nothing during this interchange. He merely nodded his head in assent as Schuler spoke.

“Franz?” Evangeline appealed to the prisoner helplessly. “Are you in agreement with this?”

Franz smiled quietly. He did not appear at all distressed by the turn the conversation had taken. “Otto has spent many hours with me here, and we have talked and talked. He has convinced me that there is only one way for me now.”

Evangeline turned angrily from Franz to Schuler. “Sir, I fear that in your passion for grand gestures, you will create a martyr to your cause.”

“We are not afraid, Miss LeClair. We are prepared for that!” Schuler waved away the objection as if he were brushing at a fly.