Chapter Seven

 

With the following day being a Saturday, there was no need for Maisie to wake early. It was a good thing too, she didn't know how her head would take the constant hum of work. Her headache was waning but still present. She propped herself up on her pillow and thought about the week. For someone to follow her, Maisie must know something but what could it be.

She had more excitement in the last week than in all her two years in the city. George would call by later, and they could go through what they knew. Maisie knew her mind needed to work, not do the same thing over and over again.

It was time to get up. As she opened her door, she could hear crying coming from Katie's room. There has been no time to catch up with Katie since Maisie had seen her return so upset from her date. She tapped at the door.

"Katie, may I come in? It's Maisie."

The sobbing stopped.

"I'm coming in Katie. I need to talk to you."

"No, Maisie. I don't want you to…."

It was too late. Maisie had already opened in the door, but the sight before her shocked her. Katie was sitting in her chemise. The top of her arms covered in bruises and scratches which Katie was tending to.

"Katie, what happened to you?"

"Oh Maisie, I have been such a fool. I pretend to be modern, but I'm not really."

Katie began to cry, and her tears dropped into her face powder. Maisie knelt beside Katie and began to apply the cotton wool to her scratches.

"I saw you slap him the other night. I wasn't spying. Did he do this?"

Katie nodded.

"What must you think of me, Maisie? Mrs. Hopkins will kick me out if she thinks I'm fast."

Maisie wiped away Katie's tears and told her, "Then she must never know."

She would tell George about that man and ask if there was anything they could to exact revenge. Maisie went to retrieve Katie's dressing gown and saw the silver flapper dress on the floor. She bent down to pick it up and the shoulder strap was torn on one side. Maisie tutted. How dare her friend be treated in such a manner?

Katie asked Maisie about the commotion the previous evening. She wanted to stay in her room but knew something was up.

"I got knocked out yesterday. It's that case I'm helping George with. You should come out with us," Maisie stopped talking as she saw a look of fear on Katie's face. Then she decided to change the subject, "we're going to the picture house this evening. Not through the Park though, I don't want to find any more dead bodies."

Maisie was happy to see that make Katie smile.

"I've missed us hanging out, Maisie."

"Me, too. Forget about men for a while Katie. Have some fun with us."

With Katie's arm being sore and Maisie's head, they helped each other get dressed. As they went to join the others downstairs, Katie gripped her arm.

"Please don't tell Lizzie or Lily. They will think I'm foolish. I see the way Lizzie looks at me."

"That's just Lizzie's face! But your secret is safe with me."

It was much later in the day than Maisie or Katie had realized. They had missed breakfast, and now Mrs. Hopkins was serving lunch.

"I understand why Maisie stayed in bed but you, Katie. If I thought you were up to no good, out my door, you'd go."

"Mrs. Hopkins, she was taking care of me. I had woken earlier and wasn't feeling good, so Katie sat with me."

"I didn't hear anything," Mrs. Hopkins eyed Katie suspiciously, "well, your lunch is ready now. Sit down."

Lily was excited to go to the movie theater. She had been bored with only Mrs. Hopkins for company. Maisie knew what it was like. Mrs. Hopkins, while well meaning, was too stuck in the past for a young girl eager to explore the city some more.

"Let's get some air. And swing by Lizzie's."

Soon the four young woman were together and talked and walked.

"Maisie, George called by earlier. He wanted to check you were okay," Lily said absentmindedly.

"Is he on duty?"

"Well, yes and no. He said he had to go on a stake-out. I don't know what that is."

Maisie stopped. On a stake-out, without her.

"Think, Lily. Did he say where he was going?" Lily shook her head.

"Why didn't you tell me this earlier? I have to find him." But who was going to tell Maisie where he was.

"I might know," Lizzie said while her face turned a peculiar shade.

"Spill," Maisie said. Lizzie had been unavailable most evenings, but Maisie hadn't time to consider why.

"Lizzie, have you been seeing Officer Murphy?" Maisie asked.

Lizzie began to giggle.

"He's the sweetest man I've ever met." Lizzie gushed.

"That's wonderful but did he tell you where George was going?"

Lizzie nodded.

"George said he was going to watch Peter Pedrov. He's the victim's brother in law. Apparently, George found out where the man lives…"

"Lizzie, did he say where this was?"

Lizzie shook her head. She didn't know anymore, but Officer Murphy was on duty today. Maisie was gone before Lizzie finished talking.

Arriving at the station, out of breath, Maisie asked for Office Murphy. She managed to get the address from him. "Don't worry, I'll tell him I coerced you," Maisie smiled and headed to find George. She had never been this way before.

George jumped as Maisie sidled up to him. "Shush, you'll give the game away," she giggled. It hadn't been hard to find George. He sat on a stoop pretending to read a newspaper.

"How did you find me?"

"With my keen detective skills, George. Now tell me, what's happening."

Nothing had happened at all. George was bored and annoyed having wasted his free day.

"Look, George, that woman. Is that Mrs. Jenkins?" The woman didn't look familiar to her. The woman and a man had exited a house and were having words.

"That's them, alright. It seems that Mrs. Jenkins and her brother are from Russia. I wondered if that was the accent you heard."

But Maisie disappeared from his side. She had to get closer to hear his voice. But if he was the man from the alleyway, he knew what she looked like. Maisie had to be careful but they'd learn nothing by sitting and watching. This wasn't a very smart plan, I should have thought it through a bit more, Maisie said to herself. Suddenly aware of Mrs. Jenkins and her brother coming towards her. Maisie dropped to the ground as though fixing the buckle of her Mary Jane.

It seemed she was unnoticed. As the sister and brother continued talking in their mother tongue. Maisie looked across at George who had gone so pale. Once they were out of sight, George ran towards her.

"You will be the death of me, Maisie Mills," he said. "So, was that the accent you heard?"

Maisie nodded. It was indeed the language, but Peter Pedrov wasn't the man in the alley.

"Are you sure? You did get a nasty bang to the head?"

"I am certain of it, George. The men in the alley both had very deep voices. It wasn't this man, but at least we know it was Russian. Does that help?"

George shook his head. They had so many pieces of this puzzle, but they didn't seem to fit together at all.

"I hope Detective Blake has better luck."

"Don't sound so disappointed George. We'll figure this out, I promise. If we connect the pieces somehow or find one more piece, then everything would fit together. I remember one time, Aunt Alice bought me a jigsaw puzzle. I couldn't get the pieces to go together. It turns out when I turned the box over to spill out the pieces, one piece had disappeared under the couch. It was the last piece of the puzzle and I was so frustrated until I found."

In her daydream, Maisie found that missing piece to discover the murderer. George didn't figure in it. Maisie, in a fabulous flapper dress, was holding a press conference to reveal the killer. The camera lights flashed in her eyes. She was being celebrated as the greatest female detective in the world.

"Maisie, do you want to go home?"

She was brought back to full awareness.

"What were you thinking about?" George queried as her eyes were still glossed over.

"I was just thinking how wonderful it would be for you to reveal the killer."

She noticed how George's cheeks flushed.

"I would like to be a detective someday, but I'm not nearly as good as Detective Blake."

"But George, if you were a detective, you'd have a George doing all the heavy lifting. I don't see Detective Blake here." Maisie paused with her arms outstretched and looked around for effect.

"What now, Maisie? It seems you have cleared the wife and her brother of the murder. What about the landlady? Why did the victim have the letter? Was it from Mrs. Leech?"

"Let's go back to Mrs. Hopkins. We need to write down what we know and actually lay the pieces out like a puzzle."

George and Maisie were preoccupied on their return to Mrs. Hopkins.

"Mrs. Hopkins, George and I need your table to work something out. Please don't disturb us," Maisie called out as she gathered a pencil and tore up sheets of paper.

There were indeed so many good leads. The wife, her brother, the landlady. There were the Russian men. The hair on the coat. The note. The poison. Why no identification? Maisie was exasperated. The more she looked at the clues, the more confused she became.

"George, I'm going to call on Mrs. Leech again. I think she knows more. With Mrs. Jenkins coming on the scene, I let it slip my mind. Her reaction to the news of his death was a little more than one would expect from a landlady. I know Mrs. Hopkins would be upset if anything happened to one of us but we're like family. That was not the case at Mrs. Leech's. Could the love letter have been to Mrs. Leech? George do we know anything more about it. Plus she called him "John" and then corrected herself."

"Well, now that you mention that. Detective Blake thinks it's a real love poem that was published in some book or other. He has a friend who teaches literature, and he'll ask him about it."

Maisie had a headache from thinking. She needed a break.

"I'll make us some tea, and we can come back to it."

"Maisie, you and the detective would work very well together. This is what he does, but he uses a blackboard."

"How clever of him," Maisie chuckled as she opened the door to leave the room and Katie fell the door.

"Katie, what are you doing? I thought you were out with Lizzie and Lily."

Katie got all defensive.

"I was with them for a while but… I'm not doing anything wrong, I was passing and thought I heard a sound. You're so suspicious Maisie."

"Okay, I only asked. Relax. I'm not accusing you of anything. I got a shock."

Maisie was confused by Katie's reaction. Why didn't she come in? Why eavesdrop? Katie was still upset about what happened with her gentleman friend. Perhaps she was afraid Maisie was revealing her secret to George. Poor Katie.

Even drinking tea and looking at the pieces of paper, Maisie didn't come to any new assessment of the case.

"George, we're missing something. Are you sure you're not holding out on me? We know he was poisoned. Poison is a woman's instrument of death. Why do women kill? For love, for insurance, out of jealousy," Maisie paused and rubbed her chin.

"Mrs. Leech said she was a widow. She has very fine looking belongings. George, look into how her husband died. Do you think it's an insurance job. If she did it once, she may have done it again. I need to talk with her again. Our John Smith/Henry Jenkins may even have had other names…"

A thud came from outside the door. Maisie ran to open it, but there was no one although she was sure she saw Katie's door close. A knock on the front door, caused Maisie to break her train of thought.

It was a delivery man.

"I have a delivery for Miss…."

"Katie, it's for you," Maisie shouted up the stairs before the man had finished speaking. Katie was in receipt of many deliveries of flowers and gifts from her gentlemen friends.

Katie came out of her room.

"What is it?"

"It's for you."

Katie wasn't her usual self. Usually, she came running to the town to show off her gifts. But today she just walked down the stairs. She had taken off her makeup and Maisie remarked how young she looked without it.

"So what is it. I can see the flowers but what's in the boxes. Who are they from?"

Katie opened the smaller box first. A diamond necklace and earrings made the girls gasp. The diamonds glistened, and the effect on the girls brought George into the hallway.

"Are they real?" George asked.

"Yes. I can spot a fake a mile away," Katie sighed as she spoke.

She opened the box, and she lifted out a beautiful golden beaded silk dress.

"What are you going to do, Katie?" Maisie watched her face as Katie read the card.

"We'll know in an hour. He is calling to take me to dinner."

George found their behavior strange.

"I thought young ladies loved being showered with gifts and the real McCoy. Now that's something to get giddy about."

"George, why don't you put the flowers in a vase. Mrs. Hopkins will help you. Katie, I'll help you carry these to your room."

"Katie, you can't possibly be thinking of taking him back."

Katie lay the dress and jewels on her bed.

"He said he was sorry and wants to make it up to me. Maisie I'm not going to struggle in life. I can't. We had nothing growing up. The man I marry has to have money. And if he gets a bit rough, well at least I get wonderful gifts. I could marry a poor man and still get roughed up."

Maisie didn't understand Katie's rationale. The girl had been in floods of tears this morning, and now she was going to go out on a date with the man who had attacked her. It wasn't a behavior Maisie would ever tolerate.

"Don't judge me, Maisie. I want to be taken care of. I'm not like you, independent. You think I'm silly for opening my heart. But he is a good man."

"A good man wouldn't force himself on you, Katie. I don't care what else you say. But I can see you've made up your mind."

A book on Katie's dresser caught Maisie's eye.

"What's this?"

"He's a romantic man. He had given me this book of love letters. When I came home, I started reading it again. A bad man wouldn't give me such a book. Maisie, I've misjudged him. It was just a silly disagreement. Really it was."

Maisie thumbed through the book.

"I don't agree with what you are doing, Katie. But I am here for you when he mistreats you again. I'll leave you to get ready."

Maisie felt deflated as she left Katie's room. Was being in a relationship so important that Katie would tolerate such behavior?

"I don't know where to put the flowers," George smiled at Maisie.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

"I can't tell you."

Maisie didn't want to break Katie's confidence but he might know what to do. As a policeman, George knew about human behavior. At least Maisie reckoned he had seen a lot of harsh realities.

"George, if a man treats a woman badly, do you think it could be a mistake? That it would not happen again."

"Is this to do with Katie?"

Maisie's eyes opened. George was detective material alright.

"You forget I saw them too. No man should ever hit a woman, but I saw him strike her. I didn't want to say anything to you. I was about to intervene when Katie hit him back and when I saw her get out of the car, I didn't get involved. We see these types of domestic disputes all the time. At first, the woman wants us to arrest the man but invariably changes her mind. I think we'll have to stand by and be there when she comes to her senses. She won't thank you if you try to stop her."

Maisie knew George was right. Katie was proud. It wasn't the time to push her away.

"I'll get the lads at the station to keep an eye on the man if that would ease your mind."

"George, would you do that? It would make feel better. I only wished she worked at the exchange, then we would watch her all the time."

Before she knew what was happening, Maisie threw her arms around George. He was so good and kind. He pushed away from her. Unsure of what had happened.

"I'd better get back to the station and give a report to Detective Blake. Let Lily know I'll come by tomorrow for a visit."

Maisie couldn't suppress a giggle. If only Katie would see how a good man like George would be worth more than all the jewels in the world. George could certainly show Katie how a woman should be treated. Poor George, Maisie was sure she had confounded him.

Lily and Lizzie were coming towards the house. George had paused to talk to them. Maisie smiled. She was lucky to have such good friends. It was a pity that Katie wasn't more like them.