I gaped at Detective Briscola, stunned. Monsieur - a giant bear of a man who terrorized most of the kitchen staff - was Madame's husband? She'd described him as "stodgy" and I'd pictured a small, meek, timid sort, not this. "I'm astonished. I had no idea."
"Well, I go next to speak with him. Hopefully he can shed some light on matters."
After he left, I sat pondering all this. Did Madame Biltcliffe know that her husband was in Bridges? Did that influence her decision to leave Spadros quadrant? Had she feared him?
Monsieur was big, loud, and petulant. But I couldn't see him killing anyone.
* * *
Once the police detective left, Mr. Eight Howell came to call. When I told him of the six girls in my back room and how they got there, he shook his head. "The men running that street should have had patrols out to come to their aid."
Mr. Howell wanted to speak with Tenni, and she came out with some hesitation. After giving the address - on 26th Street - she said, "They broke the door, sir, and frightened my sisters badly. I'm not taking them back there."
"But where will you go?"
Tenni turned to me. "We'd like to stay here, if we might."
I blinked, confused. "But you'll have a higher Family fee, and rent, and your room is so small."
Tenni laughed. "It's bigger than what we had, mum, and we don't have to go down the hall to the bath. Plus there's board. We always had to eat at the street vendors. And it's closer to work for all of us." Her face turned determined. "We all talked about it last night. We have the chance to move up seven streets! It's more than we could have ever hoped for." A hint of desperation entered her voice. "Please, mum. We'll be neat, and quiet. You won't know we're here. We're willing to pay whatever you ask."
I glanced at Mr. Howell, but his face showed nothing. I said to Tenni, "Very well, then. Will you need help fetching your things?"
She nodded.
"I'll let you know when we're ready to go over there."
After she returned to her sisters, Mr. Howell asked, "Why were these men after them?"
"That's the thing," I said quietly. "I don't believe they're safe here, nor even at their jobs."
I told him in very general terms of the Red Dog Gang and how they seemed to be killing off anyone who might identify them. "I hadn't considered it until now, but they might think Tenni can identify one of them. A friend was just murdered last night for the same thing."
Mr. Howell stood quietly for a moment. "We're aware of this Red Dog Gang. Stay here. I'm going to make some arrangements."
I nodded. If I understood how this worked, he'd speak to the man in charge of the street. who'd probably bring it to the Button Man for the area. Who'd likely kick it up to Sawbuck. "Thank you."
After he left, I thought about Tenni walking from her secret exit on 25th all the way to 42nd every day, just grateful for the chance to make a better life.
* * *
Sawbuck arrived later that day. With him were a horse-truck and three men, who brought in several boxes full of the girls' things. I followed them into the girls' room.
"Make sure nothing's missing," I told Tenni. "We don't know what they were looking for, but if something is gone, that may help us understand why they did this."
That set the six girls heartily to work, and after the men returned to the truck I pulled Sawbuck into the kitchen. "We need to talk."
"Indeed we do. The Clubbs haven't figured out that you were there, but they suspect something."
"Black Maria shot Madame, Madame said so. And they've got Maria Athena so upset that she shot at me." I'd thought about it for a while, and that was the only conclusion I might reach. "I believe she thinks I mean her harm!"
That set Sawbuck into some thought. "If she's working for them, this plan of yours becomes even more dangerous. You must wait."
I shook my head. "I can't wait, Ten. Her mother is depending on me to find her, get her free of these people."
"How will you do that when she's shooting at you?"
"If I can just talk to her ..."
Ten threw his hands up in the air and stalked away. "All I want is for Mr. Anthony to be safe! You're going to be the death of us all, if you don't throw the entire city into turmoil."
I snorted. He obviously thought more highly of my importance than warranted. "Whatever happened to your looking over the guest list from the Grand Ball? It's been well over a year now."
Sawbuck looked surprised. "I gave that to Mr. Anthony the very next week. Did he not tell you?"
I shook my head. "What did you determine?"
Sawbuck glanced away. "A man with brown hair and a dark suit? The room was filled with them."
"A very good-looking man."
"Yes, well, that all depends on your tastes, I suppose, and I don't know what sort of fellow Crab fancied. Well, perhaps I do: Bull and Duck come to mind."
I recalled the large, foul-mouthed, drunken man at the Grand Ball and the painfully thin, frightened one kneeling bound in Tony's study. Two men who couldn't have looked more different. "Did you ask if anyone had seen such a man speaking with Crab and Duck? That might narrow the list."
"Several hundred men and women were there, Mrs. Spadros. Most from other Families who wouldn't take kindly to their people being questioned. But before I gave the list to Mr. Anthony, I spoke with those I could. Six men were mentioned by name."
"And."
He got a stubborn, defiant look upon his face. "The one most frequently mentioned was Joseph Kerr."
"That's ridiculous. I'm sure -"
Sawbuck took hold of the chair beside him with one huge hand, gripping it so hard that I heard the back of it crack. "What will it take for you to see reason? The man is a Kerr -"
"Which is no fault of his -"
"And a vicious scoundrel to boot -"
"You don't know that -"
He growled, taking a step forward, and the rage in his eyes made me take a step back. "I do know that. He's destroyed the only person I've ever loved. And when I find Joseph Kerr, I'll kill him." His voice lowered to a whisper. "It's only because of Mr. Anthony that you're alive right now. But one day you'll be the death of him. I just know it." He reached up, moved my hair over to rest his hand on the side of my neck, but gently, trembling, like a lover's caress. Or like a man restraining himself from doing what he most wished to. "And on that day," he stroked the back of my head, "I'll have this pretty neck in my hand, and not you or anyone else will stop me."
I jerked away, appalled. "Are you the one killing those boys?"
Sawbuck gave me a puzzled look, the anger draining from him. Then he let out a short, disgusted laugh, shaking his head as he let his hand drop to his side. "Good night, Mrs. Spadros. You obviously need your rest."
I stared after him, heart pounding in fear.
Blitz came into the kitchen just as Sawbuck closed the front door and rushed over to me. "How could you speak to him like that? We need him on our side."
Normally, I would have said I wasn't afraid of Master Ten Hogan. But that was no longer true.
I went into the front hall. Tenni's littlest sister stood there, face pale, eyes wide.
"Hello," I said.
She curtsied. "Hello."
I went to her. "What's your name, sweetie?"
"Emma."
"Is all well, Emma?"
She hesitated, then nodded.
The girl had gloves on. "Tenni told me you braid twine for the Bridges Daily."
"Yes, mum, I do." She glanced away. "I best get back to work." She rushed into her room and shut the door.
That was odd, I thought.
Speaking of the danger I was in, the danger everyone around me was in, made me realize: I had to see Gardena at once. This had gone on long enough.
* * *
After some messages back and forth, Gardena Diamond agreed to meet me at first light at a small park in the Business District of Spadros quadrant. Which surprised me, given the history between Gardena and the Spadros Family.
Her arrival in what appeared to be a taxi-carriage - without outriders - surprised me even more. The driver was the same dark-skinned, white-haired old man who'd helped us twice prior. When he saw me, he smiled, pushing his goggles up and tipping his hat.
Jonathan Diamond got out first, revolver in hand, and surveyed the area before gesturing to Gardena to exit. They had no footman with them, so he helped his sister from the carriage.
"Come," I said. We hurried to a small grove of trees, which hid us from the street on three sides. Blitz stood watch near the fourth, tipping his cap when Jon and Gardena appeared.
Once we drew into the grove, I turned to them. "Jon, what's going on?"
Jon holstered his weapon, watching everything but me. "Let's say matters are unsettled. And neither my father nor brothers have approved this meeting." He glanced at Gardena, then at me. "So what is this urgent message?"
I sighed. I said to Gardena, "I'd hoped to spend the day together."
Her face fell. "I hoped so too."
There was no way to tell this without causing pain. "I had a disturbing discussion with Master Rainbow. He believes you and Roland are walking into a trap."
Gardena gaped at me. "How does he know about Roland?"
I took hold of her hands. "The plans for your betrothal to Lance has caused controversy within the Clubb Family. The husbands of Alexander and Regina Clubb's daughters wish to move up in the Business." I glanced aside. "More to the point: they wish Mr. Alexander dead. They want to rule Clubb quadrant, and Lance is in the way. They know about Roland - I suppose from Lance, or even Mr. Clubb himself - and don't want Roland someday placed above their true-born sons."
Gardena's head drooped. "And if they're speaking of it in front of a hired man, more know even still."
"Master Rainbow is discreet," I said, "but yes, others may not be. I fear you're both in danger."
This time, Jon didn't make a joke of it.
Gardena looked horrified.
"I have no ill will against the Clubbs," I said, "not anymore. But I won't have you or Tony's son put into harm's way."
"And Lance!" Gardena seemed ready to cry. "His own brothers-in-law plot against him, men who watched him grow from a boy? This is monstrous!"
It was. Yet from what I'd seen so far in the Spadros Family, not entirely surprising. "So you wish to marry Lance? Do you have feelings for him?"
She shrugged, glanced away. "I want to be settled. I want my son to have a future. I want another child." She blushed, smiling to herself. "Many, if the gods will it."
Oh, Dena ... "Don't make a rash decision."
She gave me a fond smile. "I have learned something from my life, foolish as I may appear."
"Well," I said, not really knowing how to answer that. "I'll let you decide what to do with this. But I thought you should know."
Jon seemed ready to go. "Thank you, Jacqui."
I put a hand on his arm. "My husband won't let Jack into the quadrant. But visit Roman Jewelers on 42nd Street, Spadros quadrant and tell Mr. Roman I sent you. Hopefully he can confirm that Jack wasn't the one who tried to blackmail him."
Realization dawned in his face. "Because I look like him."
"Exactly."
He put his hand on my arm. "You could have said nothing. This means a great deal to me, Jacqui. Thank you."
I felt suddenly humbled. What a life Jon must have had, sharing his face with a madman, ever suspect for Jack's crimes. But I shrugged as if it were nothing. "I hope you find it helpful."
The sky had begun to lighten; the sound of traffic moved around our grove. "We must go," Gardena said. "Our servants mustn't find us missing."
We hurried to their carriage. Before they got in, I took their hands. "Be safe."
Jonathan grinned. "We'll do our best."
As we watched them go, Blitz said, "So Master Rainbow is still with us."
I nodded slowly. "So far."
We walked back to our carriage, which sat on the other side of the park. A Spadros outrider had joined us; the man stood by his horse speaking with the driver. Honor had been sitting on the steps yawning, but snapped to his feet when he saw us.
Blitz stopped me perhaps ten feet from the carriage. "Your husband should know of this."
"Are you certain?"
"I am."
"So you listened at the door even then." Skip Honor and Tony's manservant Jacob Michaels had secretly pledged to my service the year prior. Or, it seemed, not so secretly.
Blitz grinned. "It's my job to know of your alliances." He waved Honor over. "Say this to Mr. Anthony: the Clubb sons-in-law wish no bastard rule."
Honor stared at us, uncomprehending. When he next spoke, he sounded offended. "I'm to play the messenger, then?"
I said, "You do us great service. This is much too important for a Memory Boy to hear."
* * *
Without explanation, the carriage let us out at the Backdoor Saloon. A couple of Spadros men stood out in front, tipping their caps to me and Blitz as we passed.
The sun hadn't crested the buildings. Yet even for this early in the day, the narrow street seemed less populated than usual.
A man wearing an overcoat a bit too heavy for the day stood a few paces from my door. But he stood almost touching the building, so Blitz and I had plenty of room to pass. When he tipped his cap, his eyes reminded me of Mr. Hart's.
Another man stood the same distance past my steps. I stopped to stare: if he hadn't been the same color as I was, I'd say he was Jonathan's father Julius Diamond. He nodded, tipping his hat.
When Blitz unlocked the door, Mary stood there. "You're back!" When she shut the door behind us, she said, "Mr. Charles Hart and Mrs. Rachel Diamond are here to see you."