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Tap, tap, tap.
Benjamin jerked his head toward the doorway as Eva danced through gleefully and swung the door shut. He almost dropped the phone cradled under his chin and the pipe he held in his mouth. “All right, got to go, we’ll talk again soon.” He hung the receiver and puffed out a cloud of smoke. “What’s got you in such a happy mood?”
“So glad you’re still here so I can tell you. I’m not surprised though since you’ve been staying late almost every night.”
If she had such good observation skills for how late he’d been staying, why hadn’t she used them before interrupting his phone call? He spoke around the pipe hanging from his mouth, “What time is it?”
“Five-thirty, don’t you check your watch anymore?”
His thumb slid over the pipe bowl, snuffing out the flame. “I’m not in any hurry these days. Nor in the mood to do much of anything. Except, tonight Louie made me give him my word for playing poker since I missed last week. We’ll see, I could work on a few things here.”
“Let me guess, you haven’t tried to see Lily.” She pulled the chair close to the front of his desk and sat on the edge of the seat. “Why not?”
His insides were crushed without Lily. He would do anything for another chance to make things right, but nothing in his life had changed. So what new did he have to offer her? “She made it clear we’re through.”
“You’re going to let her go that easy?” She clutched several ledger books in her arms. “Maybe you ought to go over and tell her how you feel.”
“It’s not that simple. In case you haven’t noticed, my life is an absolute disaster. And it’s all my fault. Who could blame Lily for wanting to be free of me?” He set the pipe in the ashtray. “I’ve missed her terribly for the past two weeks. And I’m trying hard to come up with something to resolve the situation, keep my job here at Ebbe, and not marry Vivian all so I can have a life with the woman I love.”
“You love her?
“Yes.”
“Then you must go to her.”
“I will, just give me a little time. But I’m sure you didn’t come in here to talk about Lily. You haven’t wiped that satisfied smile from your face since you’ve been in here. What’s going on other than your heavy-handed matchmaking skills?”
Her gleeful grin spread wider. “Operation Hold Your Man is about to be executed.”
His head jolted back. “What?”
“You know...” She glanced over her shoulder briefly. “...the botched blackmail scheme.”
“I’d almost given up.” He leaned forward in the chair. “What did you find?”
“I’ve finally connected the trail.” She cupped her hand around her mouth and lowered her voice. “Well, the envelope written to Walter wasn’t a check.”
His shoulders dropped. “That’s not good news.”
“I didn’t recall sending him out a check anyway. Besides, someone else could have easily put that envelope with my stack.”
“I suppose. But if you didn’t mail it, how do you know it’s not a check?”
“Good point. I can only assume. But after combing through several years of ledgers and bank records I finally found what’s been happening. It’s rather ingenious really. And I’m going to take all the credit. Oh! That’s a good pun.”
“Could you save me the humor, please?”
Eva covered the giggle coming from her mouth. “First, I searched for checks written to Walter or his business, but I didn’t find any. Of course, at that point, I figured your imagination had just gotten the best of you. But then, out of curiosity, I pulled all of the invoices for Walter’s company and you know what I found?”
“He does a lot of business with us.”
“You’re right. The stacks each month were at least this high.” She held her hand a few inches above his desk. “Anyway, that’s one reason this has taken me so long. Besides all the invoices, there were numerous credit slips each month. I decided to do the math on each one and found some didn’t equal the prices of the material returned. Which of course seemed odd. But what was staring me in the face was even worse.”
“This is getting dramatic, but I’ll ask. What was it?”
“Every slip that didn’t equal contained the initial’s CC.”
“Christian Claussen?” He rubbed his cheek. “Father’s always been a whiz at calculations.” His brow furrowed.
“Right. Father repeatedly told us how fast he’d gotten through arithmetic problems on the board at school. He said he’d left everyone in his chalk dust.”
He chuckled. “Maybe they were off because of the discount we give Walter.”
“Nope. I checked that. And then I decided to add up all the credits by month with a separate line for those only done by Father. Glad I did, it helped me in the next discovery.” She stood up, laying several ledgers on his desk. “For each month of credit slips done by Father, I found the exact total paid in earnings.” She opened the books to the dog-eared pages. “See here, last month’s credit to Walter was fifty-two dollars and seventy cents for these three slips. Then over here on this line, Father’s income was the same.”
“Seems coincidental, but that doesn’t provide enough proof to ask Father about it. How many times did you find this? And did Walter use the credit when he paid his invoices?”
“Yes, Walter used each credit every month. I traced Father’s wage going to Walter’s business for at least one or multiple credit slips equal to one of Father’s earnings checks. By the way, those checks of Father’s which matched Walter’s credits still all remain uncashed to this day. So, this was a way to move money Father owed through the business and to Walter almost undetectable except for this trail in the ledgers. And these are only the books from this year.” She pushed up her glasses. “I went back for the last four years until I couldn’t find a connection.”
His eyes widened. “Twenty-nine?”
“Yes, precisely November of twenty-nine was the first time Father’s earnings linked back to Walter’s credits.” She pulled her shoulders back and gave him a proud grin. “Operation Hold Your Man completed!”
“Not so fast. Your work may be done, but how am I going to find out why Father’s been paying off Walter? How much more does Father owe him? Is Ebbe’s future going to remain lucrative? We have a right to know.”
“Well, it won’t be now.” She closed the ledgers. “Father took Mother out for supper.”
He slumped back in the chair. “It will be soon. I’m not going to wait much longer. Why don’t we grab a bite at Hotel Charles? I’ll buy since you worked so hard to help me out.”
“Sure. Let me put these things back and I’ll be ready.”
Ten minutes later, they were standing at the entrance of Hotel Charles. “Good evening, Mister Benjamin.” The proprietor stood with his hands behind his back. “Would you like a table or are you here for a card game?”
He’d forgotten all about poker tonight. “We’d like a table, please.”
“Right this way.”
Benjamin placed his hand on the small of Eva’s back and directed her forward. He’d have to stop by and give an excuse to Louie and Emmett. But right now, all he could concentrate on was what Eva had found out. If Father had given fifty-some dollars every month to Walter since the end of twenty-nine that was a whole helluva lot of money. What kind of trouble had Father tangled himself up in? Had this been the agreement Walter had come in and spoken to Father about weeks ago? If so, did Father and Walter’s conversation have anything to do with Father’s decision about him marrying Vivian?
“Here we are. Will this table do?” The proprietor pulled out a chair for Eva.
“Yes, thank you.” Benjamin waited until Eva sat and positioned himself in the chair next to her. “I usually order the special and Thursday’s are always fried chicken.”
“My mouth was already watering when we came in. Sounds like the tasty choice.” Eva unfolded her napkin and placed it on her lap. “Have you come up with an action plan before you approach Father?”
“I thought about it on the way over. Maybe it would be best to tell him what we found. If he knows we figured out his trickery, he can only confess.”
“Or just tell you to mind your own business.”
“I suppose.” He tilted his head, staring at the ceiling for a moment. “What if we went to him together? What he’s done has to do with Ebbe and he’s always saying it’s our legacy. I’m sure you’re interested if what he’s been doing will affect us in any way.”
“When do you want to do it?”
“As soon as possible. Tonight even. I also have to find out if this money has something to do with our parents’ insistence on me marrying Vivian.” He winced. “Even if I don’t persuade Lily we are meant to be together, Vivian could never be my wife.”
A familiar tall blonde waitress approached their table and set a glass of water in front of each of them. “Are we ready to order?”
Benjamin smiled. “We’ll both have the special.”
“It comes with three pieces.” The waitress winked. “Your choice between a breast, leg, thigh, drumette, wing, or back.”
“I’ll take a breast, drumette, and a wing along with a glass of iced tea.” Eva set her menu on top of Benjamin’s.
“And for you, sir?”
“The same is good for me.”
“Are you both all right with coleslaw and potato salad for the sides?”
“Yes, that will be fine.” Benjamin handed the waitress the menus.
“Wonderful, I’ll be back in two shakes of a lamb’s tail.” She twirled around and sashayed toward the kitchen.
He chuckled. “She must use that saying an awful lot.”
“Why do you say that?”
“She’s the same waitress the night I broke the engagement with Vivian. And her mannerisms made Vivian insanely jealous.”
“Or just insane.” Eva winked. “I’ll bet blondie’s flirty little eye signal could put Vivian in a straitjacket.” She snorted.
“I’m sure you’re right.” He picked up his water glass. “Cheers to Vivian not being your sister-in-law.”
Eva giggled. “I’ll drink to that.” She tipped her goblet, clinking his. “Cheers to a narrow marriage escape from disaster, big brother.”
He laughed. This night could have been even better if their brother was here too. “I don’t think I told you earlier, but Robert called. That’s who I hung up with when you came into my office before.”
“Where is he now?”
“Chicago.”
“He said he’s doing better there selling door to door than the last place. There are a few outer city neighborhoods with some well-off folks.”
“Good to hear. Is he staying out of trouble?”
“As much as can be expected.” He grinned. “Robert mentioned there are some nice clubs playing jazz and blues. Said I should come down sometime and he’d show me around.”
“You know Mother would say he’d only negatively influence your behavior, getting you involved with that type of crowd.”
“I’m sure she would, but Robert had a lead for me. He met a man at one of the clubs and they’re building onto a university up near Cumberland. One of those government deals. I told Robert I’d be interested and to get me the specifics for the proposal. If Ebbe could win a bid like this, that would be great. He’s going to call me back early next week.”
“That’s nice.”
“Here you go. Two specials.” The waitress balanced her tray in one hand and served Eva with the other. “Careful, the food is really hot.” She set the second plate in front of Benjamin and placed the tea next to each water glass. “Can I get either of you anything else?”
“No thank you.” Benjamin winked.
The waitress grinned. “I’ll be back to check again with you shortly.”
“This looks good, doesn’t it?” Eva inhaled. “And it smells even better. I heard they fry their chicken in pork lard. I’ll bet that’s why it’s so crispy.” She took a bite.
Jangle, jingle, clunk.
Benjamin angled his head toward the noise. A man in a white uniform was clearing off a faraway table but had his back turned. He figured by the short stature the man might be Lily’s brother. If he got closer, this could be his opportunity to inquire about her. And if Arthur ended up telling his sister, he wouldn’t mind. Maybe then she’d know how much he still cared. At this point, he needed any help he could get.
He slid a forkful of coleslaw into his mouth and glanced back in Arthur’s direction. So far, Arthur was still in the same spot. The situation he was in had been his fault. His parents had controlled his life for far too long and now he was paying the consequences. He would give up his job at Ebbe for Lily if that’s what it took. But first, he had to prove he could take care of her regardless of the outcome. He just needed her to give him the chance.
“How’s everything tonight?”
Benjamin glanced over his shoulder. “Oh! Hello.” He dabbed the napkin on his lips. “Eva, this is Arthur, Lily’s brother. And Arthur, this is my sister, Eva.”
“Pleasure to meet you.” Eva smiled.
“Likewise. I’ll bet when men meet you, they wish they had more than seven nights a week to see you.” Arthur returned a whimsical grin and laughed.
Eva barely covered her giggle with her fingers.
“As long as you’re here, do you have a few minutes?” Benjamin motioned toward the chair next to him. “You can have a seat across from Eva.”
Arthur glanced around the dining room. “Sure, I’m caught up for now. We could chat for a bit.” He set down the dishpan and sat. “Honestly, I stopped by because I thought your sister was your new girl. Glad she’s not.” Arthur waggled his eyebrows at Eva. “You two looked quite cozy sitting next to each other. But I’m glad to find out I was mistaken.”
“I don’t know what Lily told you, but I feel awful how things ended with us.” Benjamin laid his fork down. “How’s she doing?”
“She’s doing fine under the circumstances.” Arthur’s eyes squinted. “You know I met your other ex at this exact place about a month ago. Seems like you’re not having much luck with the ladies lately.”
“You met Vivian?” He lifted a brow.
“Yes. She came back to retrieve a bracelet she’d lost. Coincidently, I was the one who she fell on the night you two broke your engagement.”
“I see.”
“I don’t want to get in the middle of what you two have going on, but I sense things aren’t over between you and Vivian.”
Benjamin’s nostrils tingled and his chicken smelled more like day-old fish. “What makes you say that?”
Arthur leaned forward, putting a white-clad forearm on the table, and lowered his voice. “She’s still got her engagement ring on. And any woman who’s wearing that sphere after this long hasn’t let go. Besides, she thought she could pull one over on me and dig up information on my sister. I outfoxed the little vixen by the way, but Vivian’s a feisty one. My sister better not get caught in any crosshairs between the two of you.”
What lies had Vivian told Arthur? And why didn’t she take off that ring? “You were with her one time and called her a little vixen. Just think if you’d taken her out for seven nights.” Benjamin raised his chin. “I commend you, by the way, for watching out for your sister.” He glanced at Eva. “I do the same for mine. Nevertheless, Vivian is my past. I’m in love with Lily now and I will find a way for us to be together.”
“Don’t be so sure.” Arthur's head shook. “It’s going to be a lot harder to do when she’s in Milwaukee.”
His pulse rose along with his curiosity. “How long will she be away visiting her sister?”
“She’s not visiting. Lily took a job there with Celia.”
His core froze. “At Childs?”
“Yes.” Arthur stood. “And I think I’ve said more than my sister would have liked me to, but you seem like a sincere man. And who am I to stand in your way?”
He couldn’t believe it! Lily had left without a word. His frozen heart cracked hard against his chest like a sudden temperature change on an ice-covered lake. How would he ever convince her to come back here now? She must have been completely distraught with what happened to her.
Benjamin took several deep breaths as his head cleared. “You’re right. I truly have the best intentions for your sister. Whether you intended to let her whereabouts slip or not, I’m grateful for the chance to help her through this.” He leaned forward and offered his hand.
Arthur shook Benjamin’s.
“I’m going to make the trip this weekend and make certain she is all right.” Benjamin straightened his posture against the back of the chair.
“Glad to hear.” Arthur grabbed the dishpan. “Nice meeting you, Eva.” He grinned and meandered away between the tables.
Eva pulled her glasses down and gazed over the frame at Benjamin. “Do you think there was more to Arthur’s conversation with Vivian than he mentioned? Because I do. Why would Vivian discuss her relationship with you to Arthur? I don’t like hearing this. Vivian always has a motive for doing something and I told you before she wouldn’t let you go without a fight.” She shoved her glasses up. “You’d better keep your guard on high alert.”
He rubbed at the back of his neck. Everything had wound his muscles into knots. “I don’t know how things could get any worse than they already are. Lily’s gone and we’re no longer together. This is exactly where Vivian would want us to be.” Benjamin picked at a piece of chicken.
“But if you win Lily back, what then? The waitress made Vivian insanely jealous. Those were your words. Not mine. You’re wondering whether this scheme with Walter and Father has something to do with Vivian and it just might.”
A throat cleared in back of them.
Eva grabbed Benjamin’s arm.
Benjamin quickly glanced behind him. “Evening, sir.” Father’s face lacked his normal approachable appearance. “Evening, Mother.” Her stern glare caused a lump to rise in his throat.
“Eva. Benjamin.” His father pulled out a chair and his mother sat. “Before either of you say anything, I heard the conversation you were having.” He seated himself next to Mother.
Benjamin’s eyes shifted slightly in Eva’s direction. Was she going to say something, or would he have to?
“What do you think is going on?” Father crossed his arms over his chest.
This was his battle. Benjamin swallowed the lump. “Why was Walter in your office the day you told me I had to marry Vivian?”
“That is a private matter.”
“The matter isn’t private if it involves me.” Benjamin twisted the napkin between his fingers underneath the table. Father’s answer had been rudely curt, but he hadn’t denied the connection between the events. “Seems to me that you’re admitting Walter has something to do with why I need to marry his daughter.”
“We’ve spoken about this, Benjamin Kenneth!” Mother jabbed her index finger several times on the table. “You will not defy me.” Her voice rose.
Father leaned forward and placed his hand on Mother’s. “Constance, please. We are at a restaurant.”
His parents were both hiding something. That was for certain. “We’ll open up with what we know, and we’d like the same in return.” Benjamin waved his hand toward his sister. “Go ahead and explain.”
Eva breathed in slow and even. “We know about the credits every month you’ve been giving Walter.” Her voice faintly quivered. “And we know that your earnings have been going to him to cover those credits since November of nineteen twenty-nine.”
Mother gasped.
Father pursed his lips while giving Mother a stare like she’d given away a secret. “What right did you have to investigate me like a common criminal?”
“I’m sorry if I’ve upset you.” Eva’s voice softly spoke, “I didn’t think I’d find anything, but I did. Telling Benjamin was the right thing to do especially if there are consequences affecting our futures.”
Benjamin unclenched his jaw. “Why have you been paying Walter?”
“I legitimately owe him the money. It was a business deal about which I’m not going into details.” Father’s face reddened. “Walter wants all of his money now unless you marry Vivian.”
A burning flame released a fury in his gut. “Tell him no.” Benjamin’s fist struck the table. “Why can’t you just keep paying him as you have been?”
“The promissory note allows him to call in the debt whenever he wants. If he does...” Father squeezed Mother’s hand. “...we will have to either give up the house or my half of the business.”
“Please, Benjamin. Go to Vivian. Tell her you made a mistake.” Mother’s face was pained under her watery gaze. “It’s for your own good.”
The muscles in his neck tightened. “For my own good?” Benjamin unbuttoned the top button and yanked his tie loose. “Forcing me into an untenable situation is what’s good for me? Making me choose between my entire family’s welfare or my happiness is what’s good for me? When will this controlling behavior of my life end? All of this is not for my own good. I didn’t make the debt. Why on earth should I be responsible to fix this?” He shoved himself away from the table. “Come on Eva, I need to leave before I say something I’ll regret.”