“INGENIOUS SYSTEM OF SHIPMENTS. How Detectives Have Succeeded in Ferreting Out a Series of Rascalities”––San Francisco Chronicle February 1, 1880
Wednesday Morning, December 15, 1880
“Good morning, Mrs. Dawson.” Robert Livingston welcomed Annie into his office with a wide smile. “I assume you’ve heard the good news. The police have broken up the gang of shoplifters.”
“Yes, I heard! I gather you were not the only store being targeted. I do hope the other retailers are properly appreciative of the favor you’ve done them.”
Livingston laughed. “Felix Verdier from the City of Paris sent me a note and said he owed me a bottle from his private stock of champagne.”
“That’s something. And I wonder how many other jewelers in this city, besides the ones the police heard about, have lost stock as well,” Annie said.
“It does seem like it was a well-organized operation. Chief Jackson stopped by last evening, told me they’d arrested nine individuals. Three men who did the stealing and the six young women they’d gotten to be their accomplices.”
“Did the Chief know how long they’d been operating in San Francisco?”
“About four months, which fits the pattern of losses you found. The brains behind the scheme seems to be a man with the extraordinary name of Bertie Throckmorton, who evidently moved here from Chicago this fall. Jackson’s sent out feelers to see if the police in that city have any information about him.”
“I wouldn’t be surprised if he travels from city to city, recruiting shop girls and other young men looking for a quick dollar. Then he moves on before the girls discover his promises of marriage aren’t real.”
Livingston sighed and said, “One of the difficulties of running a business the size of the Silver Strike is that I can’t really know everyone who works for me as well as I would like. Not like the old days when Miss Birdsoll, Jenkins, and my wife and I were the only ones running the store.”
Annie nodded sympathetically.
“Thanks to the information Miss Bridget O’Malley passed on, I also had to let one of my floorwalkers go. Rutgers has worked for me in two of my stores over the past four years, and from what the police say, he probably hadn’t done anything criminal. Just let a pretty face turn his head. But I couldn’t really trust him after this. Terrible to have to do it right before Christmas. I gave him a decent reference.”
She thought this was charitable of Livingston, but she wondered who would be foolish enough to hire someone the Silver Strike had cast off in the middle of a shoplifting scandal.
Livingston straightened his shoulders and said, “But the bottom line is, the gang was discovered, and the Silver Strike will no longer be bled dry. And I gather the main person I have to thank is your maid, a Miss Kathleen Hennessey?”
“Yes, she was delighted to help. Her beau is Officer McGee, the young man you hired to supplement your security. In consequence, she knew what to look for, and he was glad to help follow-up on her discovery.”
“Well, from what Chief Jackson reported, both of them were very quick thinking.” Livingston reached into his suit jacket and extracted a large leather wallet. Taking out two twenty dollar bills, he handed them to Annie, saying, “Here, please give this to Miss Hennessey with my sincerest thanks. Tell her to buy her young man and herself something special for Christmas. And you can tell Miss Bridget O’Malley that if she wants to stay a clerk after the holidays, she can; Jenkins says she’s done a good job.”
Annie thanked him profusely for his generosity, knowing that forty dollars was slightly more than a month’s wages for her maid. Kathleen would be so delighted, although she would probably spend the bulk of it on others…particularly her youngest brother Ian. And Biddy would be ecstatic.
As she put the two bills away in her purse, she said, “Speaking of Officer McGee. Sergeant Thompson has agreed to let him follow a delivery wagon from the Hawkes Delivery Company, see if they might not be the source of your other shortages.”
“Yes, Miss Birdsoll mentioned that to me.”
Annie noted the lack of enthusiasm in Livingston’s voice, which confirmed her impression he was worried that further investigations might reveal the other shortages were not going to be the work of strangers. But she also knew that until she determined who’d killed Emmaline’s mother, she couldn’t let any of the other shortages or possible fraud go. So she said, “With Miss Birdsoll’s help, I was able to determine Hawkes was the company that delivered the home furnishings goods that Mr. Gower said had gone missing. In addition, this is also the company that delivers for both Larkson’s Woolen Mills and the commission merchants, Ralston and Lancaster, two of the sources of the inferior quality material that has recently shown up.”
“What exactly do you expect McGee to find if he follows their delivery wagon?”
“I’m not sure. But the police have already heard complaints about this firm, so what Officer McGee wants to see is if the wagon makes any unscheduled shops where goods that are supposed to come to the Silver Strike get off-loaded. And then figure out what happens to those goods.”
Livingston frowned. “But how could a delivery company stay in business if they simply failed to deliver goods?”
“A good question. It would only work if there is someone in receiving at the Silver Strike who writes up a false receipt that the goods were delivered when they weren’t. Then it could be days if not weeks before Gower or one of the other managers would ask that the goods be brought out of storage. Given the passage of time, it would be hard to prove that the goods hadn’t been mislabeled or misplaced, or that the goods hadn’t been stolen after delivery––which then wouldn’t be the delivery company’s fault. If they are doing this with your company, they could be doing it with other stores they deliver to as well, just enough to make money, not enough to alert anyone.”
“I can’t believe that Flanagan would participate in any such scheme,” Livingston said sharply.
“I doubt he would be involved. But he has four men working under him, not to mention another seven stock boys and the porters who go and retrieve the goods. It very well could be one of them who has been bribed to alter the receipts. I am afraid the alternative explanation is that someone in the Silver Strike is stealing the goods after delivery.”
“Yes, yes, I can see that would be worse.” He sighed. “I suppose it would help explain why Marie Fournier was killed if she stumbled across someone when they were involved in stealing goods in the dead of night. Makes more sense to me than the idea that she was killed because she discovered some delivery company malfeasance.”
“There is another possibility, I am afraid. That she was directly involved in something criminal, at least in the scheme to sell inferior cloth to the store at full price. Did the police tell you about the money that Mrs. Fournier received the day before her death?”
Livingston walked over to look out the window, and Annie recognized the behavior of someone who was uncomfortable with where a conversation was going. The specter of his son had entered the room. Surely he was aware that Robbie was the most likely person involved in any swindle regarding substituting inferior material or diverting a high end product like furs.
He didn’t say anything for a moment, then he turned around, looking quite agitated. “Yes, they told me about the money she used to pay off a loan. I just can’t believe that Mrs. Fournier would have been involved in anything criminal and that the money was a bribe, which is what the police seem to think it was.”
“I know the idea is distressing,” Annie said, feeling sorry for the old gentleman. If he worried over the fate of the foolish floorwalker, how much more devastating it would be for him to consider that Mrs. Fournier, or even worse, his son, could be involved in something criminal. She said, “And it is just as possible, Mr. Livingston, that the money was simply a gift.”
His shoulders relaxed, and he said more calmly, “Jackson did admit that was a possibility. Something about your husband being unable to find any record of a Captain Fournier.”
“Yes,” said Annie. “Marie Fournier may have been one of those women who found themselves dependent on a man for financial support. A man who would not or could not marry them.”
Livingston smiled sadly before saying, “That was delicately put, Mrs. Dawson. I always wondered why a beautiful woman like Mrs. Fournier never remarried. Where does that leave her little girl, Emmaline?”
“My husband assures me that with the birth certificate I found, there won’t be any question about her inheriting from her mother. Which does make it very fortuitous that Mrs. Fournier successfully removed any encumbrances to the property by paying off the loan.”
“But there is a chance that there is a father somewhere out there who could come forward?”
“Yes, although from what I learned from Miss Spencer, the woman who now rents Mrs. Fournier’s dress shop, I think the chance is slim. Everything points to the father, whoever he was, being deceased. However, that isn’t to say that he doesn’t have some relatives who might come forward. Unfortunately, when there is a minor and an inheritance involved, people who have never shown any interest in a child can suddenly discover a strong sense of family.”
“My good woman, what a cynical view of the world. But I fear a realistic one. Yes, that is why I felt I had to mention to Adolphe that there was this possibility. Given their plans to adopt.”
“Was Monsieur Villeneuve surprised to learn there might not have been a Captain Fournier?”
“Yes, absolutely. And he was more upset than I expected since the French, you know, are usually much less prudish than we Americans. But he seemed specifically concerned about his wife’s reaction.”
Annie said, “I wish we knew something more concrete, and you can assure him that I will let him know if I learn anything else in the course of my investigations.”
“That is kind. Oh, I meant to thank you so much for giving Miss Birdsoll the names of those young teachers. She believes she’s found the perfect one to act as Emmaline’s governess. She won’t be able to start until the first of the year, but Miss Birdsoll said she doesn’t mind staying with her at nights until then. Adolphe seemed relieved when I told him that if he changed his mind about the adoption, I would have your husband petition the court to have me made guardian. At least until things are more settled. I know I’m an old man, but Miss Birdsoll and the governess could move in with me if that would be better for the child…and Madam Villeneuve.”
Annie told Mr. Livingston how generous he was, but she suddenly thought about Laura’s speculation that Emmaline’s father might not be dead. In 1869, when Emmaline was conceived, Robbie Livingston was too young to be seriously considered as Marie’s lover. But what about the man standing before her, offering to take in Emmaline? A dynamic and attractive man even now, who ten years ago was still married…to a chronically ill wife.