Sirens (32 page)

Chester. I clutched Charlie’s hand. “What can I do?”

What could I do?

CHAPTER 41

Lou

It was in ’23, when Danny figured out about Melody, that things got ugly. Sure, Teddy and that John Rushton tried to hush it up, but Danny, he has his ways. He didn’t find out until too late, of course, but that didn’t matter. Danny blamed everything on the Cates and Winter families. And that made them all his enemies.

Danny, he went about revenge in his own sweet way.

I met Melody not too long after I met Danny, when her pop and Danny started doing banking business together. I told Danny privately that I had some tingly feelings about that Cates family—they were pretty upper crust, and there was something else I couldn’t put my pinkie on—but Danny brushed me off, and besides, I liked Mel.

So I started to spend time with her. I told Danny he’d have to let me have girlfriends, ’cause a girl needs other girls, you know? Sometimes
guys can be just too dense. And besides, who else can a girl talk to about
la mode
and such? And how else could I keep an eye on things?

Mel is the perfect flapper. It’s as if Scott Fitzgerald writes his stories about her. She has the body and the face for it, which does make me a little jealous, since I’m a curvier type. Danny, he liked me that way, but it isn’t the fashion. So I’m always on one diet or another, trying to make myself skinny like Mel or Jo. And Mel, she’s got the attitude, that nothing-is-really-important attitude. Although sometimes I do worry about her.

Sometimes I think she’s more like Eugenia Kelly, that rebellious party girl of, gosh, ten years ago, and I worry that Mel will end up in the same bad way. Melody had some deep secrets, but she didn’t let on, not even to me. I’ve had to figure it all out strictly on my own.

It wasn’t until a couple years after we met that I figured it out. And really, that might’ve been when Danny had his first inklings. When they brought Patrick back, all broken, Mel was visiting at the house. I could see right off she’d known him from somewhere. From before. I could see it, and my tingly feelings about exploded when I watched her watch him.

I could tell she would’ve used those sharp red-painted nails and killed Patrick herself, if he hadn’t already been dead.

CHAPTER 42

JUNE 8–9, 1925

The past and the present are within the field of my inquiry, but what a man may do in the future is a hard question to answer.

—Sir Arthur Conan Doyle,
The Hound of the Baskervilles
, 1901

Jo

All my pleasure at being with Charlie vanished. I asked, choking, “How ‘roughed up’?”

“Someone got the jump on him. They wanted to know where you were. When he said he didn’t have a clue, they took it out on him.”

“But he’s okay?”

“They broke a couple of ribs, did a number on his face. Threatened him. I guess he’s pretty banged up.”

I covered my mouth with my hand. I might not like Chester, but he didn’t deserve that business. I hoped I wouldn’t be sick right there on the sidewalk.

“He’ll be okay.”

“This is my fault,” I said. “I’ve got to take care of it. Now.”

Charlie looked at his hands. He looked up at me. “It’s Connor, isn’t it?”

I nodded.

“Do you know what he wants?”

I swallowed. “Teddy. And if he can’t have Teddy, then he wants Teddy’s journal. And now I know why.” I paused. I had to trust him. “There’s actual evidence in the journal that Danny’s brother was the Wall Street bomber.”

“His brother, Patrick?” Charlie had an odd look on his face.

I nodded again.

“Well, that’s not a problem then.”

“It isn’t? Why not?”

“Because Patrick’s dead.”

Dead! I felt a sweep of relief. “So nothing will come of it if I give Connor the journal, right? It’s useless to the police if Patrick is dead.”

Charlie rubbed his chin. “I guess that’s one way to look at it.”

I spoke fast now, sure that I was right. “Danny Connor wants it so his brother’s name won’t be sullied. He must want to destroy it so no one ever discovers his brother was involved. There’s nothing there for anyone else to worry about, if the bomber is already dead.” I paused. “Danny’s just protecting his family’s reputation. Right?”

“Right, I guess.” Charlie pursed his lips.

I reached for Charlie. “There’s only one way to put a stop to this. I need to see Danny Connor. Can you arrange it?”

Charlie shook his head slowly. “Jo, that’s too dangerous. No. I won’t put you in that kind of danger.”

I spoke fast, again without thinking. “It’s my choice.”

His eyes grew sharp. “I can’t even protect you? What kind of guy do you want me to be? Some good-for-nothing, lazy bum?”

I wrapped my hand around his arm, which tensed as I touched him. “Charlie, I wish you’d understand.”

“Well, I don’t. It’s not how I was raised. I was raised to take care of a girl, to keep a girl safe. I was too young to take care of Lou, and now you won’t let me….” He chewed his lip hard. “This isn’t right. You putting yourself in danger and not letting me protect you. You won’t let me do anything for you.”

I tightened my fingers. “Yes, I will. Please help me set this up. We’ll meet in a public place. If you help me, you could be there. I’ll be fine in a public place. Danny Connor wants the journal, and I’m going to give it to him.”

“I don’t know….” Charlie’s eyes were dark, and he still wouldn’t look at me.

“I’ll give it to him. and that’ll be that. You’ll be there.”

Charlie looked down the busy street.

“Charlie, no one else knows I’m with you, right?” And my insides twisted as I wondered whether Charlie was hiding something from me. “Louie doesn’t know where I’m staying, does she?”

“You think Lou would tell Danny?”

“I don’t know. It’s best if she doesn’t know anything. She loves him.” Who knows what someone might do for love?

I only wished I had time to read the rest of Teddy’s journal. But that couldn’t be helped now. I was sure that what I had read was all I needed to read.

Charlie placed the phone call. When he came back outside, his face was hard and ashen.

“Okay. I don’t like it, but I won’t fight with you. For better or for worse, Connor’s meeting you tonight.”

We made a stop at my hotel so that I could pick up the journal;
I tucked all the torn-out pages inside where they belonged. I knew there was still one set missing, but it couldn’t be helped. I needed to keep my family safe.

And to keep them safe I had to give Danny Connor Teddy’s journal.

Because I had only one other thing to give away: me.

The joint was quiet when we got there, since Charlie had to set up with the band. He seated me at a corner table with a reserved sign on it so I wouldn’t be bothered. Connor was to arrive around nine.

But long before that, Charlie gave me a tour of the place, showing me the layout of the club, and in particular how I could get from the ladies’ room to a door leading to the alley. Then he handed me a ten spot, despite my protests.

“In case of a raid,” he said. “Exit and cab fare, plus. That’s all I need to worry about, you being arrested.”

I smiled but felt a pang, because he was not smiling back.

Just before he went onstage to warm up, Charlie sat me at the table. As he started to move away, I grabbed his arm. “Wait.”

He turned back and stared at me with those great dark eyes. I pulled his arm, tugged him toward me, and as he moved toward me and took both my shoulders in his hands, I leaned to meet him. He kissed me, just a soft kiss but on the lips, like he was caressing his cornet, just ever so soft. Our first kiss, my first kiss. I let my eyes close, and when he pulled away again and I opened my eyes, he was smiling.

“Jo, you’re a mystery that I’m trying to understand,” he said, shaking his head.

“Please keep trying,” I whispered.

Charlie took the stage, and I ordered soda water and waited.

The place was dim, and soon smoke wreathed the ceiling as patrons gathered by twos and threes. The music started and filled the air, competing with the thrilling laughter, with the ice clicking in glasses; flappers paraded in and dapper swells glided by in black tie. Someone popped a cork, and the table exploded with surprise; couples began to dance, her beads flying, his hands snapping. A flapper with a feathered headband and a long cigarette holder sat with her back to me, her beau fingering the sequined fringe on her sleeve, while she did her best to pretend to ignore him.

It was a warm place, but I felt a growing chill.

I held the journal in my lap. In the semidark I thought I’d better recheck one last thing. I’d read it earlier, but it was still a puzzle. I opened to the last gap of missing pages. Nothing followed them except a small note:

It’s written not in but underneath the stars.

Underneath the stars? What could Teddy mean by that?

The band was still in its first set when Connor came in, early. Charlie, playing with his eyes closed, had no clue Connor was there. As Connor slid into the chair opposite me, his gray eyes met mine, and once again I felt the seductive power behind those eyes, once again I couldn’t help staring at him.

Charlie, I thought. Charlie was right around the corner. Sweet, kind Charlie. I could leap into his arms in a few long strides.

“Josephine. So happy you’ve changed your mind.” Connor leaned forward and took my free hand, lifted it, and brushed my fingertips with his lips. I cringed.

I cleared my throat. “Where’s Lou?”

He waved his hand. “She’s somewhere else.” His eyes didn’t leave my face. “You have something for me?”

I pulled the journal from my lap and placed it on the table between us. Connor’s eyes slipped from my face to the journal and back. He smiled. “Have you read it?”

I nodded.

His eyebrows lifted. “And?”

“There’s nothing here to worry about, since your brother is dead.”

Something flickered across his face, something I couldn’t read. The smile vanished. “I should like you to come back out to the house, Josephine.”

“I’m sure I shall.”

“Now.”

I froze inside. “No, thanks.”

“Surely you aren’t meeting someone else?” Connor’s eyes traveled away from me for the first time, moved to the stage where the music was in full swing, where Charlie was playing his heart out, lost in his music, unaware of anything around him.

“No, of course not.” I spoke loud, to pull his eyes away from the stage, away from Charlie. The thought of Chester, beaten, in the hospital, filled my mind. “But…I’m enjoying the music.”

He turned back to me. “You may believe you’re right about many things, Josephine. But understand, I’m not giving you a choice.”

Then I saw them, those two thugs, Ryan and Neil. They were over by the door, one on either side. Charlie, his back to me, was oblivious.

I had to do this by myself. I had to keep Charlie out of this,
if I could. My family was bad enough. If I crossed Connor now, I might condemn them all, including Charlie, to something worse than Danny’d given Chester. The question was, What could I do?

Connor took out a cigarette, tapped it against the case, and lit it, the lighter flaring. I held as still as I could against the flame. He exhaled a stream of smoke, then said, “It doesn’t have to be this way between you and me. We don’t have to remain enemies. Not any longer. We could become good friends.” He leaned over and touched my arm.

I felt a chill but didn’t move.

“You see, I may have the journal, but I need to be sure that none of this information will ever find its way out into the world. You, for instance, have read the journal. And Teddy is still out there, isn’t he?” Connor smiled, all teeth. “So you understand that our friendship—that I’m assured I can trust you—that is paramount.”

“I see.”

“I could even make you a star, in return for your friendship. As you have seen, I like to surround myself with beautiful things.” He paused. “What is your greatest wish, Josephine? What do you want more than anything in the world?”

“I want you to leave my family alone,” I whispered.

“And for that you are willing to…what?” He took another drag, exhaled, his eyes never leaving my face.

“What do I have to do?”

A smile crept across his face. “Become such a good friend of mine that I can rest assured that neither you nor Teddy will ever betray me.”

“Good friend,” I echoed.

“Come out to the house, Josephine.”

I had no choice. He gave me no choice. I tried to smile, but it was a brittle attempt. “All right.”

Connor’s steel eyes kindled, and he placed his hand on my arm again. It took all my strength not to pull away.

“But I’d better hit the ladies’ before we take a drive.” I held up my empty glass.