Steampunk Carnival (Steam World Book 1) (8 page)

Katya rehearsed the story over and over in her head as she crossed the grounds. A woman had approached her near the front gates, a radiant young woman, not unlike herself. Katya knew this was the only way Mr. Warden would keep listening. This young woman, who did not supply her name, desperately wanted to meet Mr. Warden, not in a quiet back office at the carnival but out on the town for a date. Pressing her for more, Katya learned the young woman was smitten with the theater, and Katya would proceed to talk Mr. Warden into a romantic rendezvous at the English Opera House. She could suggest a dinner at Bates House, too, a one-block walk from the theater and a mere two blocks from the church where the plan had been hatched. Katya appreciated the irony of it, especially since Mr. Warden might not be able to appear in public again for some time if the trap succeeded.

Katya imagined Brady revealing his true identity in front of the Opera House, removing his hat to make sure the lamp light

s caught his face. Mr. Warden would freeze immediately, knowing his lies had been exposed. The crowd would form a circle around the two men, chattering and whispering. Mr. Warden’s reputation would be ruined, and once the police arrived, all his freedoms would be cut off. There would be no rendezvous with a beautiful woman, and Mr. Warden would drop his sullen gaze as the truth of the ruse dawned on him. The police would secure his wrists in handcuffs and lead the silent, disgraced carnival owner to their wagon.

Katya slipped past the food stall where Magdalene’s red gloves were busy reaching out in front of her for money and then to the side for food. Katya brushed a few curls back from her neck and opened the door to Mr. Warden’s outer office. She was completely unprepared to find the small building packed with chaos, several policemen active inside.

Through the open doorway to Mr. Warden’s office, Katya spied Mr. Lieber lying motionless on the carpet. She stared at the blood. It seemed to cover everything, adding a bright red to his throat, jaw, and shirt while it darkened the carpet around him. Katya took another step, mesmerized by the horror of it. She could not tell where the blood was seeping from.

A policeman caught Katya by the elbow. “You shouldn’t be in here, miss. We need to collect evidence and move this man’s body.”

“Mr. Warden,” Katya heard herself call in a detached, yearning voice.

Mr. Warden poked his head into the doorway, not seated in his chair but standing. One bare hand rested on the back of his neck. Concern pulled Mr. Warden’s features into a deep, thoughtful frown. Katya could still envision Mr. Lieber standing on the left, peeking through at her with disapproval. In his place, another policeman occupied the office with Mr. Warden, a pencil and notebook in his hands.

“You shouldn’t be here,” Mr. Warden said, so agitated he sounded disappointed to see Katya.

“Please tell me what happened.” Katya struggled to make sense of it. She worried if they forced her to leave with only those raw, grisly images filling her mind, she would break down in tears.

Mr. Warden stepped past Mr. Lieber’s body, prone with his head almost in the doorway. His face was thankfully turned away toward the corner he had often brooded in. His pale blond hair rested much the way it always had, straight and precisely parted. Only a few short locks curled out of place toward the carpet.

Mr. Warden reached Katya and held onto her arms. “Are you all right? You look frightfully pale.”

“Mr. Lieber’s dead,” Katya said, as if saying it meant believing it.

“Yes,” Mr. Warden answered wryly.

“How?”

Mr. Warden hesitated, glancing around him at the policemen. There were three of them crammed into the waiting area. The fourth remained behind Mr. Warden in the office. “Someone took a letter opener I had lying on my desk and gouged a hole in the side of Mr. Lieber’s neck with it.”

Katya pictured the scene better than she anticipated, and her knees wobbled, threatening to buckle. She locked them in place, holding onto Mr. Warden’s arms as he held hers. “But he can’t be dead. I just saw him.”

One of the policemen stepped closer and raised his bushy black eyebrows. “When did you see him, miss?”

“A few nights ago.”

“Where?” The policeman turned a page in his notebook.

“Near the front of the carnival. At the band stage.” Katya’s memory obliged her, pulling her away from the bloody image of the lifeless Mr. Lieber. She saw him stalking towards her while she sat at the corner of the stage.

“What was he doing?”

No, further back
,
Katya’s mind directed her. Mr. Lieber had come towards her from the other direction with Mr. Davies arguing at his side.

Mr. Davies
. Katya felt weaker. She could hear their words tearing at each other. Katya had once suggested Mr. Davies was responsible for the death threats against Mr. Warden. Now he might have had good reason to take down Mr. Lieber.

“Miss?” the policeman prompted.

“Where were you, Mr. Warden?” Katya asked. “When this happened?”

Mr. Warden’s shadowed eyes swam, preoccupied. “I was out. I was speaking with customers.”

The policeman edged closer. “Miss, I need a statement, please. And your name.”

“Katya Romanova. I spoke briefly to Mr. Lieber. I didn’t know him well, and we had no reason to talk. It was the end of the night, and we were both worn out.”

“Do you remember anything he might’ve said to you?”

The exact words eluded her, but Katya felt the echo of her ensuing anger.
She should pump out brats to work in factories.
If Mr. Warden had not been standing in front of her, blocking her view of Mr. Lieber, Katya might have spat at his soulless corpse. She shook her head in answer to the policeman. “No. It was nothing unusual.”

“You work here at the carnival?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Do you know of anyone who would’ve wanted to harm Mr. Lieber?”

Katya held Mr. Warden’s gaze. She could not tell what he was thinking, if he wanted her to keep quiet or if he would agree that most everyone wanted to hurt the abrasive head of security. “I can’t think of anyone.”

The policeman in the inner room stepped through the doorway. “Mr. Warden, you mentioned receiving death threats.”

Mr. Warden barely turned towards him, his arms still interlocked with Katya’s. “Yes.”

“One theory, obviously, would be that someone came in here looking to attack you.”

“Yes.”

“I don’t think that’s the case. Why would a murderer come unprepared? And the damage to the deceased.” The policeman tipped his hat to Katya. “My apologies for being blunt, miss. This was a crime of passion aimed directly at Mr. Lieber. I don’t believe he was killed by someone trying to carry out those threats.”

Mr. Warden nodded.

“I still need to get a complete statement from you, Mr. Warden.”

“Yes, I’m coming.” Mr. Warden squeezed Katya’s arms. “Will you be all right, Miss Romanova? Do you need an escort somewhere?”

Katya shook her head. “No, I’m fine.”

The nearest policeman finished making notes in his book. “Miss Romanova, we’re requesting that you keep quiet about what you’ve seen here. Mr. Warden has made it clear that the details of the murder are to be kept out of the papers.”

“Yes, I’ll be quiet.”

Mr. Warden patted Katya’s arm as he pulled his hands away. “Good girl.”

Katya stepped back toward the door to the outside, the portal to fresh and innocent air. “Do you need anything else from me?”

“No. Thank you.”

Katya could guess Mr. Warden’s next move, but she did not feel as reassured about it as she had been before. “You’ll hire more security, won’t you?” Katya hoped he could not hear the anxiety belying her flat tone.

“Of course. I can’t have someone running amok at the carnival, taking out my best workers.” Mr. Warden regarded Katya with personable, protective eyes. “I only hire the best, and I consider you all most worthy of personal safety. We need our patronage to stay where it is and not fall flat on its face.”

“Thank you, Mr. Warden. Thank you, officers.” Katya let herself out the door, never more relieved to close a door than she was to shut herself out of the same room as Mr. Lieber’s dead body.

For a moment, Katya hung close to the office, simply breathing the summer air and letting the noises of the carnival inundate her ears. She breathed in the careful spicing of sausages and the cinnamon-sugar powder sprinkled over the fried dough desserts.

Katya sped off at a run, turning sharply at the rear of the nearest food stall and arriving at Magdalene’s side. Katya grabbed at her friend’s wrist clumsily.

“Hey,” Magdalene blurted out. Her wide, alarmed eyes searched Katya’s face. “Are you all right?”

“I have to talk to you.” Katya’s words jumbled together. “I saw...”

“I can’t talk now.” Magdalene took a plate of dessert from Irina’s large, square hand and gave it to the first customer in line.

“It’s incredibly important.” Katya cut herself off before she could cry. Mr. Davies had been so angry. He would be too smart to kill Mr. Lieber with his whip. The letter opener would have presented itself as the perfect, most convenient choice of weapon. “Please. Just one minute.”

Irina answered for Magdalene, her voice exploding in Katya’s ear. “We don’t have a minute to spare.”

Magdalene glanced over her shoulder at Katya. “Can’t it wait? Please?”

Katya nodded, not knowing what else to do. She wandered out of the food stall, wondering how she was going to work the rest of the night with Mr. Lieber’s flushed white face waiting behind her eyelids every time she blinked.

Katya wound her way into the crowd, slowly returning to her duties of greeting and guiding. The man who had said her job was unneeded lay dead. She was not surprised she did not feel sorry for Mr. Lieber. She did not miss him, but she noted his passing left a strange, vacant hole. She did not imagine that another three or four or five security men were going to be more trouble than a single Ernst Lieber.

But Katya still worried. What kind of man could take down Mr. Lieber with a simple, just-found letter opener? And would it be the same man waiting to drive them home in just a few hours?

An hour before the carnival closed, Mr. Warden’s plain-clothes security spread out over the grounds. They visited every worker, delivering the message that Mr. Warden would share an announcement after the guests emptied out.

Katya led the last patrons past the ticket booth, noting the security stationed on both sides of the gate. The band members sat silently in their seats, instruments resting beside them or in their laps. The rides came to their final stops for the day, turning no more revolutions and sending no more cars along their tracks.

Mr. Warden waved all of the employees toward him as he strolled past the Beast and the bandstand. Katya lingered on her side of the anxious crowd of workers, spotting Magdalene in red on the other side, standing with the impatiently frowning Irina. The rest of the fifty or so employees filled in the loose and jagged circle forming around their boss.

Mr. Warden offered no poetic versions of the truth. “Ernst Lieber is dead.”

Katya did not catch Mr. Davies’ face when Mr. Warden issued the news. The thought of looking at him, a possible murderer, spooked her into a shudder. As it was, Katya saw the open mouths and dumbfounded stares of the others as they gasped and swore under their breaths.

“There’ll be an investigation into his murder,” Mr. Warden continued, having regained his businesslike certainty since the last time Katya saw him.

The employees’ confusion graduated to shrieks and urgent questions.

Mr. Warden patted his hand against the air to quiet them. “The details don’t need to be known. I’ll be hiring new security in the next few days.”

The fear and speculation continued to buzz, and Mr. Warden waited until it fell away. Katya glanced aside, finding a glimpse of Maddox off to her left. He fixed his eyes on Mr. Warden and did not seem to notice her.

“Police are confident,” Mr. Warden added, “this was a crime carried out specifically against Mr. Lieber. None of us should be in danger. It’s my biggest concern that the carnival remain a happy, contented place for those who work here and those who visit.”

Irina folded her bulky arms, and Katya found humor in knowing what Irina must be thinking.
When was the carnival ever a happy place for its employees?

“You can close up and go home,” Mr. Warden concluded. He sounded tired, having used all his energy to keep his crew from committing landlocked mutiny.

Mr. Warden slipped away through a gap in the circle. The employees slunk back to their duties, and Katya thought only of how soon she could tell Magdalene about her terror of Mr. Davies. She busied her hands helping the band fold up their music stands, trying to decipher if she could feel Mr. Davies’ eyes on her back or not.

This time, Katya waited until Magdalene and Irina reached the band stage to approach the front gates. The Englishman parted ways with the three women, and they climbed up into the carriage. The charwoman already sat drooped in the back corner, her dreary eyes gazing out the window into the black night. Katya settled into the seat across from her with Magdalene at her side.

The carriage jerked into motion, and Katya bit her lip. She longed with every muscle in her body to turn to Magdalene, press her face as close to her friend’s ear as she could get, and whisper, “I think Mr. Davies did it.”

The carriage ride lasted twice as long as usual, or at least, Katya imagined it did. No one spoke. Irina caught the hem of her dress in the bottom corner of the door as she climbed down to the sidewalk and spent several unending minutes working it free. The charwoman nodded off by the time Mr. Davies stopped the carriage in front of her house. Magdalene needed a minute or two to shake the woman awake. She drowsily collected herself and ambled out of the carriage.

Finally alone, Katya snatched Magdalene’s wrist. The carriage picked up its pace for the final leg of the journey.

Magdalene eyed Katya with tilted eyebrows. “What’s wrong? Is that what you’re so upset about? Someone murdered Mr. Lieber?”

Katya explained herself with breathless adrenaline. “He was. I saw him. I went into Mr. Warden’s office to talk to him, and Mr. Lieber was lying on the floor.” Katya’s hand flew over her mouth. “I’m not supposed to talk about it.”

“I won’t repeat anything you say to me. Was Mr. Warden telling the truth? Somebody planned to attack Mr. Lieber?”

“I don’t think it was planned. They used a letter opener that Mr. Warden had out on his desk.” Blood rose in Katya’s vision, and she swallowed hard to wash it away.

“You don’t think it was Mr. Kelly, do you?” Magdalene asked. “He wouldn’t have acted so irrationally.”

“No. I didn’t think of Mr. Kelly.” A whole list of suspects ran through Katya’s head. Maddox O’Sullivan. The charwoman. Mr. Warden. He had said he was out of the office meeting with customers, but whom? He had never done that before.

The carriage rocked to a stop in front of the Weekly Boarder.

Katya reset her grip on Magdalene’s wrist. “No, I think it might be–”

The carriage door flew open, and Mr. Davies stood on the other side of Magdalene below them on the sidewalk. He showed his teeth in a genteel, easy smile. “Ladies, if you wouldn’t mind, I’d like a few private words with Miss Romanova.”

Magdalene turned to Katya, her eyebrows rising in interest and suggestion. Katya hoped she did not think Mr. Davies wanted a romantic conversation, as that was surely the last thing lurking in his mind.

Katya’s eyes bulged at the thought of being alone with him until she feared they would drop out of her head. “No, I’m sorry, Mr. Davies. I’m exhausted. So much has happened tonight.”

Magdalene patted Katya’s hands as she scooted along the bench toward the open door. “Now, Kat, it’ll only take a minute. Won’t it, Mr. Davies?”

Magdalene swept down past Mr. Davies. His dark blue eyes sparkled in the dim lamppost light. “It shouldn’t take very long at all.”

Mr. Davies swung the door shut, and Magdalene waved to Katya from the sidewalk. Katya inched toward the door, but the carriage started up much sooner than she anticipated. The horses pulled it swiftly through the neighborhood, past houses Mrs. Weeks could recite the extended histories of. Katya had declined sipping tea with several neighborhood ladies, and she wished more than anything she was safe in any of their houses now.

The carriage’s sharp right turn lurched Katya to one side. By the time she propped herself up, a skidding left turn swayed her body the other way. The carriage bolted down Washington Street while her heart pounded out of rhythm. Katya stared out the window at the road, watching the hard granite blocks speed past. She thought about jumping out, but she would ruin her dress at the very least if she was lucky not to break her neck.

The carriage sped over the river bridge, plummeting Katya’s stomach into her belly. Mr. Davies would not need a letter opener if they stayed near the water. Arms strong enough to subdue Mr. Lieber could easily hold her under its surface. The carriage turned again, slowing a few blocks later at the military park.

The park featured mostly open ground, laid out with narrow paths in the same design as the city streets around it. Four paths converged from the four corners into a circular drive in the center. Mr. Davies followed the nearest path, stopping the carriage in the middle of the lane where a scattering of trees blocked Katya’s view of the surrounding streets.

Despite the hammering in her ears, Katya tried to hope for the best. Maybe Mr. Davies had not stabbed Mr. Lieber in the neck with a borrowed letter opener. Maybe all of Katya’s terror and dread stemmed from a simple misunderstanding. Then Katya realized something else. Not only had she seen Mr. Davies arguing with Mr. Lieber, Mr. Davies had likely heard her exchange with Mr. Lieber. He might have his suspicions about her. Maybe that explained this nightmarish ride.

The carriage door gaped open, and Mr. Davies stepped up to sit next to Katya. She shrank away from him, grasping for the handle on the door to her right.

Mr. Davies’ sleeve brushed hers, he sat so close to her. “You think I killed Mr. Lieber.”

Katya had not expected the solemn, almost apologetic tone in Mr. Davies’ voice.

“I didn’t kill him, Miss Romanova,” he insisted.

Katya hung back in the corner. “I didn’t, either.”

“I know.”

Katya relaxed in the dim light, wishing she was home in her safe room in her soft bed, but glad her heart was slowing to its normal pace. “Then why did you bring me here?”

Mr. Davies shook his head. “I’m sorry if I misjudged you. I don’t know you very well. I only know what they say about you.”

Katya averted her eyes. “What did you hear?”

“That you have a close connection with Mr. Warden. I thought if he were angry about Mr. Lieber being killed, he might press you for information. You might’ve told him or the police that you saw me arguing with him. Not just the other day, but before.”

“I was afraid you might’ve killed him,” Katya admitted.

“It wasn’t me. I’m sorry if I scared you, but I had to talk to you before you had a chance to think otherwise.”

“I didn’t tell Mr. Warden or the police anything. I didn’t even mention that you were there that last night I saw Mr. Lieber. You won’t tell Mr. Warden I had words with Mr. Lieber, will you?”

“No, and I don’t imagine it would matter if I did. Nobody liked Mr. Lieber.”

“Mr. Warden did. I don’t want to give him any reason to think I might’ve killed him.” Katya took a handkerchief out of her bag and dotted it across the top of her forehead under the brim of her hat. “Next time, Mr. Davies, please tell me what you want to speak to me about. I thought you were going to kill me. I’ve had enough excitement for one day.”

“I apologize again.”

Katya tried to make out Mr. Davies’ features in the shadowed carriage. For all of her recent thoughts and suspicions about him, she knew very little about him. “What were you arguing with Mr. Lieber about? What idea did you have for expanding the carnival?”

Mr. Davies shrugged. “Maybe it was too far from the theme of steam and gears. I wanted a job I could do at the carnival during the evening without having to make my money all over town. I suggested to Mr. Warden that we expand the carnival to include a small corral where children and perhaps adults could ride horses. Not everyone has been on a horse.”

“I haven’t,” Katya ventured. “I think it sounds like a good idea.”

“Mr. Warden didn’t like it, but he was more polite about it than Mr. Lieber was.”

Katya held her tongue to keep from saying what she was thinking:
Mr. Warden might not be making those decisions much longer
. “Do you have children, Mr. Davies?”

“No. I’ve never been married. I see the children around the carnival sometimes, and I thought they might want something else to do here.”

Katya thought of Brady’s original vision for the carnival, one for families and wonder. “I’m sure you’re right. How do you know so much about horses?”

“I used to work with them over in Cornwall. It’s a part of England, surrounded on three sides by water.”

“And now you live here,” Katya teased him. She had heard of the Great Lakes north of the state, but she had seen mostly mere ponds since leaving New York.

“It took some getting used to,” Mr. Davies obliged her. “I drove carts for the tin mines there. I got to know my horses very well. It’s why I took this job for the carnival.”

“Maybe someday you could work with more horses at the carnival.”

“I like your optimism, but I won’t hold my breath for it.” Mr. Davies reached for the door handle beside him. “That’s all I wanted to say. I should see you home.”

Because Katya knew Magdalene would find some way to feel sorry for Mr. Lieber, she voiced one last question. “Mr. Davies, are you sorry Mr. Lieber’s dead? Because I’m not, and I’m not ashamed of it.”

Mr. Davies’ eyes flicked around the dark carriage. He met Katya’s gaze before he answered. “No, Miss Romanova, I’m not.”

Mr. Davies slipped out of the carriage and returned to his high seat. The carriage bounced forward and carried Katya to the park’s center circle before making its way down the next path to Market Street.

Katya closed her eyes, trying to recover as much as possible during the ride home. She usually had enough energy for anything, but her harrowing ride had spent all her reserves, leaving her limp, supported mostly by the dependable sturdiness of her bustle and corset.

When the carriage stopped, Katya looked out the window at the Weekly Boarder. She dragged herself out of the carriage, pausing only to wish Mr. Davies a good night. Katya climbed the three stairs to the porch and let herself into the front hall. As quietly as she could, Katya ascended the front staircase, gliding her hand up the curving railing to steady herself. She reached her room and unlocked that door as well. She had barely hobbled inside when Magdalene crept up behind her.

“What did he say?” Magdalene whispered.

Katya faced her with eyelids drooping for need of sleep. “He’s not the killer, and neither am I. Good night, Mags. I’ll tell you the rest when I get up.”