Evangeline smiled to herself at his observation, recalling the trunk she usually ordered packed whenever she was planning even a brief stay in town.
“And there’s nothing else you remember about her arrival?”
“Nothing, miss, except that I thought she was deuced pretty, that’s all.”
“Yes, that was the general opinion about her.” Evangeline cut the topic short. “Let’s move on to later events. Since she was attacked and killed that night, we can conclude that someone probably came to see her in the evening. She checked in alone, so the visitor must have arrived sometime later. Do you remember anyone inquiring for her, say around nine or ten o’clock? Anyone other than the man who’s been arrested, that is.”
Humphrey hesitated, then shook his head energetically. “No, miss, I’m sorry, but I can’t say that I do.”
“Oh,” Evangeline replied is a small voice, disappointed to be at another dead end. “I was hoping that you might have seen someone.”
Humphrey looked down at his shoes in embarrassment, apparently afraid that he appeared to be uncooperative. “As I said, miss, I’m sorry.”
Evangeline persisted. “Is there anyone else you can think of who might have seen something that night or the next morning?”
“Well, that night around ten o’clock, Miss Bauer pressed the call button in her room. All our rooms have electric call buttons, you know. They’re silent in the guest rooms but they ring through to the floor attendant’s station. Anyway, she pressed the call button. The floor attendant knocked at her door, thinking she probably wanted her bed turned down, but there was no answer. The door was locked from the inside so the maid assumed she must have changed her mind. She didn’t try her pass key because she didn’t want to disturb the lady, and so she left.”
“For all we know, that might have been an attempt to call for help,” Evangeline observed bleakly.
“Yes, that’s what the police thought when the night attendant told them.”
“So none of the staff actually went into the room around the time the crime might have occurred?”
“No, the body was found the next morning.” Humphrey cleared his throat nervously. “It was found by Sally, one of the chambermaids. The police already talked to her, but you’d better ask her yourself. She’s a bit flighty, though. I don’t know how much help she’ll be.”
“That’s all right. One never knows what will emerge, Humphrey. Thank you for your candor.” Evangeline extended her hand to the clerk. He bowed over it, clicked his heels thunderously one last time, and left to fetch Sally.
A few minutes later, a plump girl with frizzled blond hair was propelled into the room, probably with the assistance of a nudge from behind. She stood near the door after it was closed and eyed Evangeline curiously.
Evangeline began simply, trying to put the girl at ease. “Hello, Sally, my name is Miss LeClair, and I have some questions to ask about the night Miss Bauer died here.”
As Evangeline soon discovered, shyness was not in Sally’s nature. The maid’s eyes immediately began traveling around the office, taking note of the pictures, books, and rich draperies. “I never been in this room before. It’s nicer‘n some of the guest rooms.”
Evangeline laughed. “Perhaps the hotel ought to rent it out to increase profit.”
“That’s what I’d do if I was them.” Sally showed an amazing amount of assurance for one of such humble station.
The girl walked boldly up to Evangeline’s chair and put her hand forward. “Pleased to meet ya, miss.”
“And I, you.” Evangeline was taken slightly aback by the girl’s brazenness as they shook hands. Quite a contrast to Humphrey, who surely outranked her. “Why don’t you sit down here.” Evangeline indicated the chair next to her own.
Sally, needing no urging, quickly flopped down into it. “Lordy, my feet are so tired from going up ‘n’ down, up ‘n’ down.”
“Then, why not put them up on that footstool.” Evangeline gestured to the item in the corner.
It took Sally little additional time to make herself completely at ease. Breathing a long sigh of relaxation as she sank deeper into the chair, she closed her eyes dreamily for a moment.
“This is sure enough the life. A big, comfy chair where I could give orders an’ have somebody else fetch ‘n’ carry for me the livelong day ‘stead of the other way around. Right now I feel like a regular queen.”
Stifling a smile, Evangeline forged ahead. “I’m glad you’re so relaxed, Sally, but I have some serious questions to ask you about the young lady you found dead in her room.”
Sally opened her eyes slowly, showing no trace of alarm at the question. “Oh, that was somethin’, wasn’t it. Gave me quite a turn when I walked in an’ found her that way.”
“Tell me about it.”
Sally sat up a bit in the chair. “Well, I started my rounds makin’ up the rooms around nine that morning. I knocked before I tried the pass key to get in, like usual. Well, there’s no answer, so I figure whoever’s stayin’ in the room must’ve already checked out. Anyhow, I let myself in an’ I seen her lyin’ there on the floor. At first, I figured maybe she was just passed out, so I go over to see if I can maybe wake her up. I take her by the wrist to shake her but her arm is stiff an’ cold as marble. I dropped it pretty fast after that, I can tell you. When I hopped up on my feet, all of a sudden I seen the blood on the back of her gown. That’s when I figured she wasn’t just dead, she’s been murdered. I threw down the towels I was carryin’ an’ ran down the hall yellin’ for help at the top of my lungs. I didn’t want no part of stayin’ there by myself longer than I had to.” Sally was out of breath from the drama of her narrative.
“And then the police arrived?”
“Yeah, and they dragged me back in the room again to describe what I seen when I came in, and I told ‘em just what I’m tellin’ you now.”
“Is there anything else that you remembered afterward? After the police left?”
Sally knit her brows together in concentration. “No, not a blessed thing. But I been havin’ quite a time of it since then, I can tell you.”
“Oh, why’s that?” Evangeline wished to draw out every scrap of information that she could.
“Because everybody I know who works in the hotel wanted to see the murder room, which is what they’re all callin’ it now. So I’d just use my pass key and show ‘em around and tell ‘em the story. It got to be so much trouble that I started chargin’.”
“Really!” Evangeline laughed. “I must compliment you on your entrepreneurial spirit.”
“On my what?” Sally wasn’t sure whether to be offended or not.
“On your ability to turn a bad situation to your advantage.”
“Oh that,” the chambermaid relaxed. “Well, business has died down some now, but while it was goin’ strong it was enough for me to buy myself a pair of red silk stockings.” She raised the hem of her skirt above her boot tops to reveal some lurid scarlet leggings. “See?”
“Quite impressive.” Evangeline’s face registered a variety of emotions which she hoped the girl would interpret as admiration. “Sally, how much do you charge for a tour?”
“Ten cents. But Humphrey told me to do whatever you want anyway.” She appeared glum. “So I guess if you want a tour it’s gonna be for free.”
Evangeline reached for her purse. “Nonsense, he doesn’t need to know that I’m paying the going rate, and with the tip I intend to give you, maybe you’ll be able to save up enough to buy matching garters.”
“Oh, I’d cut a dash in them for sure.” Sally eyes gleamed as she took the money. “Step right this way, miss, an’ I’ll give you the grand tour.”
Humphrey looked quizzically at the two as they emerged from the office, but when Evangeline explained they were going upstairs to look at the room he merely nodded.
“Sally, what if someone’s occupying the room? Won’t that be a problem?”
The maid waved her arm dismissive
ly. “No need to bother yerself about that, miss. Nobody’s been stayin’ in that room since the night of the murder. What with the coppers traipsin’ through, an’ Mr. an’ Mrs. Templar so jumpy about the ‘reputation of the establishment’ as they’re callin’ it, it’s gonna to be a long time before it gets used again.”
“Oh, I see.” Evangeline was secretly pleased that she would have the opportunity to inspect the scene at her leisure.
The two took the elevator up to the fourth floor and turned down to the end of a long corridor. When they came to the door of Room 402, Sally used her pass key to enter. “These are all the cheap rooms at the back. That’s ‘cause they got no view.”
Evangeline took a deep breath before entering. Until that moment, her pursuit of a murderer had been little more than a fascinating intellectual exercise. Now she was about to confront the reality of the place where her young friend had died.
The room was small by the standards of the Templar House. It had little in the way of opulent amenities to recommend it. A brass bed, a marble-topped dresser, a carved oak chevalier mirror, and a chaise longue were all it contained. Evangeline paced back and forth, lost in thought. Sally stood watching her.
Finally she turned to the girl. “Where was she when you found her?”
“Over there,” Sally pointed toward the window. “She was layin’ with her face pressed against the floor over there.”
“Ah.” Evangeline stepped forward and examined the sash for signs of forced entry but found none. Over her shoulder, she asked, “The window, was it locked or open when you came in?”
“It was shut. I didn’t look to see if it was locked, but the copper said afterward it wasn’t.”
Evangeline continued her inspection. Despite the lack of a pleasant view to frame, the window was large. The bottom pane reached up to Evangeline’s eye level, which made it close to five feet above the floor. She grasped the handles to see if it would raise and it slid noiselessly upward on its track. She leaned out over the sash and saw a fire escape leading down from the window and criss-crossing each subsequent level until it reached the alley below. The building directly across from the room where she stood had no windows at all fronting the alley. “How convenient for the murderer,” Evangeline murmured under her breath. “No witnesses.”
She pulled her head back into the room and shut the window. Turning to Sally, she asked, “Is there anything else you can recall? Something you forgot to tell the police?”
“Like I said before, miss, nothin’ I can think of. But since you been so nice to me, there is somethin’ somebody else saw that maybe you should know about.”
“Really!” Evangeline was all attention.
“I didn’t say it to the coppers because I didn’t know it till afterwards, and the party who did see it wants to be kept out of it. He hates the law ‘cause they ran his brother in on some trumped-up pickpocket charge.”
“And this is someone you work with here?”
“Yeah, he’s a porter. I’ll tell you that much. And the day after all this happened, a bunch of us was chit-chatting about it and this party I was tellin’ you about, he takes me aside and says he seen somethin’, too.”
“But he didn’t want to come forward?”
“Not likely. He says if I tell the coppers, he’ll swear he didn’t see nothin’ at all.”
“Then why do you suppose he told you about it?”
“Because he had to tell somebody or he’d bust, that’s why! Men ‘re bigger gossips than women about some things, I can tell you that.” Sally giggled. “So anyways, this party was carryin’ luggage that night. He tells me he forgot to lock up one of the rooms here so he runs back up the stairs and doesn’t wait for the elevator. Just between you an’ me, I think the real reason he came back up here was that he’s got a bottle of gin stashed in the broom closet on this very floor. He prob’ly came back up for a nip is what I’m thinking. Anyway, as he comes round the corner, what do you think he sees?” Sally was clearly enjoying the suspense she was creating.
“What?” Evangeline felt breathless with anticipation.
“Why, there’s a man standin’ in the hallway outside this very room. But he didn’t just knock and go in. From what my party says, he looked to be worked up about somethin’. He just kept walkin’ up ‘n’ down the carpet in a brown study. The man in the hall didn’t see my party ‘cause he ducked back around the corner.”
“Did your friend get a good look at him? Did he describe him to you?”
“Well, he says the man was tall, maybe six feet or so, and that he was dressed expensive, like a gen’lman.”
“That’s rather vague.” Evangeline was disappointed at the lack of detail. “Anything else?”
Sally frowned in concentration. “Well, my party says the gent had his hat off, so it was easy to see he had dark hair, maybe black, maybe dark brown.”
Evangeline made one last attempt to connect Sidley to the murder. “Was he wearing glasses? A moustache or beard, perhaps?”
Sally shook her head. “No, I remember my party says the gent was shaved clean. He didn’t say nothin’ about glasses but I expect he would’ve if the gent was wearing some ‘cause that’s the kind of a thing anybody’d notice right off.”
Although the description hardly fit Sidley, an unknown man with distinguishing characteristics was beginning to emerge. “Do you think your friend would know this man if he ever saw him again?”
“Prob’ly. My party said he saw the man turn full around and walk the other direction, just pacin’ back ‘n’ forth in front of that room.”
“What else did your friend see him do?”
“Well, after he’d wore out the hall carpet for a bit, he finally stops an’ knocks. Never says nothin’ but just taps on the door—real light, like he don’t want nobody else on the floor to hear him. When the door opens, my party hears a lady’s voice from inside. ‘Come in,’ she says, ‘I’ve been expecting you.’ My party just hits the stairs after that. He figures what’s goin’ on in that room is none of his business anyhow.”
“Did he remember what time this happened?”
“He said it was around five ‘til ten. He remembers ‘cause he was due for his dinner break at ten and he wanted to finish up before he went.”
Evangeline, highly satisfied with the information she had received, reached in her purse and produced a silver dollar. “Sally, you’ve been a great deal of help to me. Here’s something for your trouble. It should be enough for the garters and a hat, too. Someday I may have to prevail on you to speak to your very observant friend, but don’t say anything to him about this in the meantime.”
“I won’t, miss. You can count on me.”
The two made their way back down to the lobby where Evangeline thanked Humphrey once more for his cooperation, handed him a tip, and departed.
As she began walking up State Street at a leisurely pace, a contented smile began to form. She entertained herself with visions of catching a killer.
Chapter 11—Memento Mori
On Friday morning, Evangeline climbed into her carriage for a trip to the shabby section of town where working people lived. She wanted to collect Elsa’s belongings and see if she could talk Mrs. O’Malley into sending Patsy to school, in return for a slight monetary incentive, of course.
The genteel mansions of Astor Street receded abruptly before the two-flats and tenements of the near west side. The very thought of her destination would have given the vapors to most of her society friends. The neighborhood surrounding Mast House, while not the poorest or most crime-ridden slum in the city, was scarcely a place where the well-to-do chose to be seen. In common parlance, the west side was known as the port of entry. Immigrants fresh off the boat came here and took whatever wretched accommodations they could find and whatever equally wretched work was offered. Once they had learned the language, found better jobs, and scrimped together enough money, they usually moved out. Considering that the O’Malleys had been in the city
for some time, it was odd that they hadn’t tried to flee the area as well.
Evangeline was jolted out of her reverie when the carriage lurched to one side and then righted itself. She poked her head out of the window to see what the problem was. It appeared that the pavement in this part of town was badly in need of repair. There were gaping holes in the street where rain had flooded and washed away the cedar paving blocks. The carriage wheels churned through the stagnant water and unmentionable debris that had collected in the craters that remained. Evangeline quickly put a handkerchief to her nose and pulled her head inside the window. She noticed a woman standing in front of a six-flat building shaking out a dust mop. The woman gaped as the vehicle moved sedately past.
Farther down the block, Jack reined in the horse before a decrepit workingman’s cottage. He opened the door to hand Evangeline out.
“Do you want me to go in with you, Miss Engie?” He eyed the building suspiciously.
Evangeline stood on the curb contemplating the neighborhood. Several boys were playing stickball in the middle of the street. Most of them were about Patsy’s age or younger. While it was a wonder that all the children in the neighborhood hadn’t been put to work in factories, it was less than wonderful that none of them were in school either. At the moment, two of the boys were engaged in a screaming match that was likely to end in a scuffle. A terrier ran around them in a circle, offering his opinion by barking emphatically. The rest of the urchins diverted their attention from the prospect of the impending fistfight to the fine carriage with brass fittings and gleaming harness leather that had just driven into their domain.
Evangeline smiled wryly. “I think you’d better wait here, Jack. I’d like to find the carriage in the same spot, and in the same condition, when I come out.”
Jack chuckled and tipped the corner of his hat. “Right you are, Miss Engie. They’re a dangerous-looking lot, to be sure.”
Eyeing Jack’s height and girth, the diminutive desperados approached the carriage warily. Jack struck up a lazy conversation with the leader while Evangeline made for the O’Malley residence.
The Fall Of White City (Gilded Age Mysteries Book 1) Page 11