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Frank watched Da
He tried to give the flask back to Frank, but he didn’t take it. “Have another drink. Maybe your memory will improve,” Frank suggested.
Da
“I don’t know nothing,” the boy insisted, looking up at Frank beseechingly. “I was just a kid when it happened.”
“If you never heard of the good doctor, how do you know something happened to him?” Frank asked mildly.
Da
“No one will ever know you told me,” Frank said.
That challenged his manhood. Da
Frank simultaneously took hold of the flask that Da
As soon as he got his breath, Da
“Ow! Whadda you want from me? I told you, I don’t know nothin’!” the boy protested.
“And I told you I didn’t want to get blood on my suit, so if you make me do it, you’re going to be real sorry. Now just start talking, and I’ll let you know when I’ve heard enough.”
Da
“I was a newsboy then,” he said through gritted teeth, resentment darkening his too-old eyes. “I had a real good corner, right by an El station.” Newsboys fought each other regularly for the best corners. Most of them were homeless, and having a good corner might mean the difference between eating regularly and not. A spot by a station of the Elevated Train would be prime. Having such a spot proved Da
“Go on,” Frank said.
Da
“What did he look like?”
“I don’t know. A swell. You know, fancy suit, silk hat, walking stick with a big silver handle.”
That could describe half the men in the city. “Was he old or young? Tall or short? Fat or thin?” Frank asked impatiently.
“I don’t remember. I wasn’t paying much attention!”
Frank had to give him another nudge of encouragement.
When he stopped howling, he said, “Old, I guess. Older than you.”
“What color was his hair?”
The boy screwed up his face in the effort to remember. “He had on a hat.” Frank drew back his foot again, but Da
“You’re doing better, Da
“A little taller’n you, maybe. Not fat, not thin.”
“How much did he pay you to kill Dr. Brandt?” Frank asked mildly.
“I didn’t kill nobody! I swear!” He was genuinely frightened now. Most cops wouldn’t hesitate to solve a case by arresting the most convenient suspect, and Da
“What did the note say?”
“I don’t know. I can’t read!”
This, Frank knew, was probably true. “What was Dr. Brandt supposed to do when he got the note?”
“I told you, I couldn’t read the note. I don’t got no idea.”
Frank shook his head in disapproval. “You’re trying my patience, Da
“Who told you that?” Da
“Never mind who told me. Where were you supposed to take Dr. Brandt?”
A shadow darkened the doorway, and Frank looked up to see another boy about Da
“Are you pinched?” he demanded of the boy on the floor.
“Yes, he is,” Frank replied, “and you will be, too, if you don’t get the hell out of here.”
“You come here alone, copper?” the boy asked incredulously… He was bigger than Da
With the light behind him, Frank couldn’t make out his features, but he saw the glint of the boy’s teeth as he gri
He threw up his arm to block the blow, and the blade slashed through his coat sleeve. Da
By the time Frank pushed himself to his feet, both boys were disappearing down the alley in the direction of the street. Cursing his carelessness, Frank checked his coat sleeve and was furious to see blood already staining the fabric. It wasn’t bad enough that the coat was ruined, but he’d probably need stitches. He pulled out his handkerchief and awkwardly tied it around his arm as he made his way quickly back to the street. The creatures who occupied the tenements around him could sniff out weakness like a pack of jackals. He needed to get to a safer part of town as quickly as possible.
His mother would howl like a banshee when she saw the damaged coat, and now he was staining the handkerchief, too. The worse part, however, was that he’d let Da
Frank had known the minute he read the account of Brandt’s death in the police files that robbery hadn’t been the motive. Brandt’s black doctor’s bag hadn’t been taken, nor had his wallet or watch. Even if a thief had been frightened off before being able to gather his loot, the poor of the city wouldn’t have hesitated to relieve a dead man of his valuables. He wouldn’t be needing them anymore, would he? Yet no one had touched Brandt’s body until the beat cop found him the next morning.
No one on the force had cared to investigate further, however. Sarah Brandt hadn’t understood then that she needed to offer a “reward” for finding her husband’s killer, and apparently her wealthy family hadn’t either. Without such a motivation, the detective on the case had simply concluded Brandt had been killed by an unknown assailant and closed the case. Many people got away with murder every day in the city. The chances of finding who had killed the good doctor after three years were worse than slim.
But miraculously, Frank had located someone who knew what had happened that night. True, he’d foolishly let the boy get away, but that was just a temporary setback. The boy would surface again. Da