Categories > Original > Fantasy > Broad Street Nightengale
As it turned out Ray was awake and sitting up with the aid of half a dozen pillows and a crotchety old nurse who scowled and stalked out of the room at the arrival of the two private investigators.
“Hi fellas,” he smiled cheerfully. Even with one leg suspended in traction, an arm in a sling, and a bandage wound around his forehead, the drubbing hadn’t seemed to have damaged his spirits. “This is a switch, isn’t it?”
“You mean us bailing you out? Sure is,” Charles grinned. As a rising associate in his father’s law office, it was frequently Ray who did the legal tap dancing when it came to pressing charges- and more often- extricating his friends from a sticky situation. “How you feelin’?”
“Alright, considering.”
“Get the number of that truck?” Charles quipped.
“I did, actually.”
“No kiddin’?” Alex remarked, eyebrows climbing.
“Yes. Ford sedan, I couldn’t tell the year in the dark, but I got a nice close look at the grill. The tag read ‘LZH-8122’.”
“Hold it, hold it, wait. You’re saying someone ran you down?”
Ray nodded, pushing his round-rimmed spectacles higher up on his nose. “So it would seem. That’s the difficulty with me— I can never see it coming for myself. As it was, I barely had time to turn around before I got Eskimo kissed by an automobile.”
“Maybe you better start at the beginning,” Charles suggested.
“Alright. I assume you’re aware of my association with the young lady from the Blue Moon?”
“We’ve met her,” Charles confirmed.
“She was sitting with you when we heard. Asked her a few questions, but she really didn’t say all that much,” Alex added.
Ray nodded, lining up phrases in his head. “I see. Well, I can’t imagine our stories differ much on that account. I’d missed the trolley a few weeks ago and so was obliged to walk. The route takes me right past the outer edge of Pinstripe territory, but it being a Monday night, I didn’t think much of it. Things are generally quieter prior to Thursday. Anyway, it was quite late and I saw the young lady standing in the center of a backstage street lamp, rather as if she’d been posed there. I have no doubt the placement was deliberate, though as to what purpose, at the time I wasn’t sure. Either way, she seemed unhappy, and so I tipped my hat and offered my assistance, which she gladly accepted.
I dare say her discomfort was real enough, even if her gratitude seemed feigned. I walked her the few blocks to her boarding house and saw her safely in the door before I went on my own way.”
“Obviously, you came back. See somethin’?”
“I did actually, yes.” Ray took another moment to consider his words before launching into another oration- a habit cultivated among the civil courts. “It was somewhat vague in details, but I got the emphatic impression that the young lady was in danger- physical danger. Given that her place of employment was on the edge of Penecelli’s holdings, I felt it only prudent to keep an eye on her. I met her a second time and again escorted her home.”
“This went on for how long?” asked Charles.
“About two weeks, I should say.”
“She try to talk you into anything?”
Ray quirked a confused eyebrow at this and Charles related the escapade at the club the night before. Alex colored slightly at his partner’s account. It was embarrassing to have one’s shortcomings in the face of an adversary related in the presence of a friend- especially when said adversary was a skinny dame with toothpicks for legs.
“Interesting…” Ray mused once Charles had finished. “I can’t say I observed such a phenomenon, though I’m not sure I could determine so even if it had occurred. What I can say is that she asked nothing more of me than to see her home. She did not suggest I visit the club, or meet her for coffee or any other such notion a modern woman might conceive. Everything, as far as I could observe was proper and unexciting. I’d no idea she was blood relation to Penecelli.”
His friends nodded, considering. “Well,” Charles spoke up, “I’m not sure she needed to talk you into anything. All she had to do was lean on your chivalry a little and you were sunk.”
“Beg pardon?” Ray looked perplexed.
“You think her job was to get Ray into the spotlight?”
“Why not? The three of us have been Papa’s biggest headache since he started muscling in on this part of the city. He knows who we are, and who Ray is, and how much puttin’ away of his thugs we’ve done.”
“You think they were gunning for me?”
“Driving, anyway,” Charles quipped with a snicker. Ray rolled his eyes.
“Seriously,” he went on, “if they had wanted to kill you it would have been plenty easy enough. I think Papa was looking for a way to put you out of commission without doing you in- the death of one of the citizen’s favorite attorneys wouldn’t go over too well, siren or no. Roughing little ol’ you up also sends us a message to the two of us loud and clear, and let’s face it, we can’t all be in the same room all the time.”
Ray nodded thoughtfully, sifting through his friend’s exposition. “There’s certainly motive, but it wants evidence. Suppose the two of you keep your eyes peeled for a Ford with a busted grill?”
“I’ll definitely check into the plates, see who the thing belongs to; whether it’s been stolen or if it belongs to one of the Pinstripe thugs.”
“What about the Penecelli’s nightingale?” Alex asked.
“What about her?”
Both Charles and Alex whipped around in their seats, nearly snapping their own necks in effort to turn around fast enough. Millie Lewis stood in the doorway, looking brown and sparrow-like once more in her dun-colored coat and soft cloche. Scrutinizing her renewed drabness, Alex noted her eyes- brilliantly blue on stage- now appeared as brown as her dress. What the hell?
“Miss Lewis,” Ray smiled, alleviating the awkward silence while his friends stood and gripped their hats perhaps a little too tightly. “How good of you to come to see me. Please.” He gestured with his uninjured arm to a chair and she perched daintily on the edge, Alex and Charles sinking to their own seats once more. Smiling nervously, she sat silent for a moment. The way she kept fingering her perfume vial, Alex was convinced she would wear away the gilding in short order.
“I’m glad you’re doing better,” she murmured in a mouse-like tone that made Charles and Alex exchange confused glances. “I know I ain’t family, but I had ta see you were all right.”
“I appreciate the sentiment,” Ray told her, smiling kindly. “I assume you’ve met my friends?”
“We have,” Charles responded dryly, not bothering to mask a scowl. Millie, plucking up some courage, returned it with an annoyed little frown of her own.
“I ain’t done nothin’,” she huffed, indignant. “I just come to see he’s all right.”
“And I appreciate it,” Ray said, rather more forcefully that was strictly necessary, eyeing his friends. “I wonder, Miss Lewis, if you might permit me to invite you for coffee? The doctors say I’ll be able to leave in a few days. Perhaps next week? Tuesday?”
Completely taken aback, Millie blushed and stammered before recovering her voice. “Oh, well, um, sure. Yes. Thank you. That’d be fine.”
“Until then?”
“Until then.” With that she stood and left, exiting the door with a feminine swagger that stopped just short of flouncing.
“You wanna tell us what the bloody hell that was about?” Charles asked, doing his best to reign in his temper.
“That, gentlemen, was getting her into enemy territory. Perhaps I can question her, see if there’s anything we can do for one another. You must admit; she seemed rather nervous.”
“Alex can make anyone nervous.”
“I think it was you.”
“Me?” Charles gawked.
“Yes, you. She knows you’re both onto her, you particularly.”
“It that obvious?”
“It is. That aside, I think she’s figured out we were all born under the same star.”
“Oh.”
“We’ll have to wait and see if she carries that tale home to Papa. For the moment, find the car, and steer clear of the club.”
“What about you?”
Ray shrugged. “I’m not going anywhere, am I?”
“No,” Charles muttered as he stood to leave, “that’s what we’re afraid of.”
“Hi fellas,” he smiled cheerfully. Even with one leg suspended in traction, an arm in a sling, and a bandage wound around his forehead, the drubbing hadn’t seemed to have damaged his spirits. “This is a switch, isn’t it?”
“You mean us bailing you out? Sure is,” Charles grinned. As a rising associate in his father’s law office, it was frequently Ray who did the legal tap dancing when it came to pressing charges- and more often- extricating his friends from a sticky situation. “How you feelin’?”
“Alright, considering.”
“Get the number of that truck?” Charles quipped.
“I did, actually.”
“No kiddin’?” Alex remarked, eyebrows climbing.
“Yes. Ford sedan, I couldn’t tell the year in the dark, but I got a nice close look at the grill. The tag read ‘LZH-8122’.”
“Hold it, hold it, wait. You’re saying someone ran you down?”
Ray nodded, pushing his round-rimmed spectacles higher up on his nose. “So it would seem. That’s the difficulty with me— I can never see it coming for myself. As it was, I barely had time to turn around before I got Eskimo kissed by an automobile.”
“Maybe you better start at the beginning,” Charles suggested.
“Alright. I assume you’re aware of my association with the young lady from the Blue Moon?”
“We’ve met her,” Charles confirmed.
“She was sitting with you when we heard. Asked her a few questions, but she really didn’t say all that much,” Alex added.
Ray nodded, lining up phrases in his head. “I see. Well, I can’t imagine our stories differ much on that account. I’d missed the trolley a few weeks ago and so was obliged to walk. The route takes me right past the outer edge of Pinstripe territory, but it being a Monday night, I didn’t think much of it. Things are generally quieter prior to Thursday. Anyway, it was quite late and I saw the young lady standing in the center of a backstage street lamp, rather as if she’d been posed there. I have no doubt the placement was deliberate, though as to what purpose, at the time I wasn’t sure. Either way, she seemed unhappy, and so I tipped my hat and offered my assistance, which she gladly accepted.
I dare say her discomfort was real enough, even if her gratitude seemed feigned. I walked her the few blocks to her boarding house and saw her safely in the door before I went on my own way.”
“Obviously, you came back. See somethin’?”
“I did actually, yes.” Ray took another moment to consider his words before launching into another oration- a habit cultivated among the civil courts. “It was somewhat vague in details, but I got the emphatic impression that the young lady was in danger- physical danger. Given that her place of employment was on the edge of Penecelli’s holdings, I felt it only prudent to keep an eye on her. I met her a second time and again escorted her home.”
“This went on for how long?” asked Charles.
“About two weeks, I should say.”
“She try to talk you into anything?”
Ray quirked a confused eyebrow at this and Charles related the escapade at the club the night before. Alex colored slightly at his partner’s account. It was embarrassing to have one’s shortcomings in the face of an adversary related in the presence of a friend- especially when said adversary was a skinny dame with toothpicks for legs.
“Interesting…” Ray mused once Charles had finished. “I can’t say I observed such a phenomenon, though I’m not sure I could determine so even if it had occurred. What I can say is that she asked nothing more of me than to see her home. She did not suggest I visit the club, or meet her for coffee or any other such notion a modern woman might conceive. Everything, as far as I could observe was proper and unexciting. I’d no idea she was blood relation to Penecelli.”
His friends nodded, considering. “Well,” Charles spoke up, “I’m not sure she needed to talk you into anything. All she had to do was lean on your chivalry a little and you were sunk.”
“Beg pardon?” Ray looked perplexed.
“You think her job was to get Ray into the spotlight?”
“Why not? The three of us have been Papa’s biggest headache since he started muscling in on this part of the city. He knows who we are, and who Ray is, and how much puttin’ away of his thugs we’ve done.”
“You think they were gunning for me?”
“Driving, anyway,” Charles quipped with a snicker. Ray rolled his eyes.
“Seriously,” he went on, “if they had wanted to kill you it would have been plenty easy enough. I think Papa was looking for a way to put you out of commission without doing you in- the death of one of the citizen’s favorite attorneys wouldn’t go over too well, siren or no. Roughing little ol’ you up also sends us a message to the two of us loud and clear, and let’s face it, we can’t all be in the same room all the time.”
Ray nodded thoughtfully, sifting through his friend’s exposition. “There’s certainly motive, but it wants evidence. Suppose the two of you keep your eyes peeled for a Ford with a busted grill?”
“I’ll definitely check into the plates, see who the thing belongs to; whether it’s been stolen or if it belongs to one of the Pinstripe thugs.”
“What about the Penecelli’s nightingale?” Alex asked.
“What about her?”
Both Charles and Alex whipped around in their seats, nearly snapping their own necks in effort to turn around fast enough. Millie Lewis stood in the doorway, looking brown and sparrow-like once more in her dun-colored coat and soft cloche. Scrutinizing her renewed drabness, Alex noted her eyes- brilliantly blue on stage- now appeared as brown as her dress. What the hell?
“Miss Lewis,” Ray smiled, alleviating the awkward silence while his friends stood and gripped their hats perhaps a little too tightly. “How good of you to come to see me. Please.” He gestured with his uninjured arm to a chair and she perched daintily on the edge, Alex and Charles sinking to their own seats once more. Smiling nervously, she sat silent for a moment. The way she kept fingering her perfume vial, Alex was convinced she would wear away the gilding in short order.
“I’m glad you’re doing better,” she murmured in a mouse-like tone that made Charles and Alex exchange confused glances. “I know I ain’t family, but I had ta see you were all right.”
“I appreciate the sentiment,” Ray told her, smiling kindly. “I assume you’ve met my friends?”
“We have,” Charles responded dryly, not bothering to mask a scowl. Millie, plucking up some courage, returned it with an annoyed little frown of her own.
“I ain’t done nothin’,” she huffed, indignant. “I just come to see he’s all right.”
“And I appreciate it,” Ray said, rather more forcefully that was strictly necessary, eyeing his friends. “I wonder, Miss Lewis, if you might permit me to invite you for coffee? The doctors say I’ll be able to leave in a few days. Perhaps next week? Tuesday?”
Completely taken aback, Millie blushed and stammered before recovering her voice. “Oh, well, um, sure. Yes. Thank you. That’d be fine.”
“Until then?”
“Until then.” With that she stood and left, exiting the door with a feminine swagger that stopped just short of flouncing.
“You wanna tell us what the bloody hell that was about?” Charles asked, doing his best to reign in his temper.
“That, gentlemen, was getting her into enemy territory. Perhaps I can question her, see if there’s anything we can do for one another. You must admit; she seemed rather nervous.”
“Alex can make anyone nervous.”
“I think it was you.”
“Me?” Charles gawked.
“Yes, you. She knows you’re both onto her, you particularly.”
“It that obvious?”
“It is. That aside, I think she’s figured out we were all born under the same star.”
“Oh.”
“We’ll have to wait and see if she carries that tale home to Papa. For the moment, find the car, and steer clear of the club.”
“What about you?”
Ray shrugged. “I’m not going anywhere, am I?”
“No,” Charles muttered as he stood to leave, “that’s what we’re afraid of.”
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