Parlor Games: A Novel Part 43

He c.o.c.ked his head. "And Scotland Yard would certainly be interested in that little detail."

I glared into his beady eyes. The scoundrel had been toying with me, like a cat batting a mouse about, waiting until the last possible moment to pounce. As never before, I grasped the urge to murder. If I'd had a gun in my hand, I would have leveled it at him.

He opened the taxi door. "But I'm sure we can reach an agreeable arrangement. Which hotel do you wish to register at?"

In a flash it became clear to me-I would need to either bargain with or outwit him. Forcing calm into my voice, I stated, "The Congress."

He motioned for me to enter the taxi and slid in after me. After loading our luggage, the driver sped off.

Relaxing into his seat as if he were in his own private parlor, Dougherty said, "I believe you'll find my proposal quite generous. If you produce fifty-seven thousand dollars and the necklace, I'll turn the piece over to Lloyd's. I won't even mention you or your accomplices."

"Where did you ever get the idea I own such a necklace?"

His crossed one leg over the other. "Apparently, you couldn't resist showing it off to Miss Shaver."

A GAME OF CAT AND MOUSE.

THE END OF THE LINE-FEBRUARY 1917

Dougherty accompanied me to the hotel, where I secured a suite large enough to accommodate myself and Daisy. He agreed to allow me four days to produce the fifty-seven thousand dollars, during which time he would keep me under surveillance. If I failed to deliver the funds and my yellow-diamond necklace at 5 p.m. on Tuesday, February 6, he would seize all my belongings and alert Scotland Yard to my "crime of insurance fraud." And he warned me against trying to slip away: "After all, I've never failed to track you down."

I immediately wired Daisy: LEAVE ON MORNING TRAIN FOR CHICAGO STOP COME TO CONGRESS HOTEL STOP. That would put Daisy into Chicago the next evening, Sat.u.r.day.

I spent Sat.u.r.day window-shopping all around Chicago, to give myself time to think, and to keep Mr. Dougherty's colleague occupied. The pudgy fellow I roused from his lobby roost tagged after me all afternoon, likely walking off a few pounds that day, which he promptly replaced over dinner across the Congress dining room from me. Watching him chew his cud while he kept his eyes fastened on me was enough to resolve me to take all future meals in the suite.

Once Daisy arrived, I explained the dire circ.u.mstances.

She sat beside me on the sofa in our room, her still-packed suitcases piled beside the wall and her coat cast over them. "Good heavens, that devil really has boxed you in this time."

"Yes, I fear that myself."

"Can you come up with the money?"

I drummed my fingers on the sofa arm. "Even if I sold all my jewels, I couldn't get enough value on such short notice."

I hadn't told Daisy about Dougherty's mention of the yellow-diamond necklace and threat of insurance fraud. It would only have prompted her to panicked flight, and I needed her a.s.sistance. Still, perhaps because she feared detection as an accomplice, she introduced the topic.

"Shouldn't you at least get rid of the yellow-diamond necklace? So it won't be found on you?"

"I can't bear to part with it. And we shouldn't risk its falling into police hands."

"What about your brothers? And the house?"

"Everyone, including my brothers, must stand on their own two feet at some point. After all, that's what I've done all these years."

I refused to allow Dougherty to defeat me, even as I despaired of finding a way to escape his clutches. I could think of only one strategy, a fairly risky one at that. If it failed, I would find myself held hostage to a fifty-seven-thousand-dollar judgment-and charged with insurance fraud in London. With so much at stake, I at least had to try.

Since Dougherty was probably having my phone calls listened in on, Daisy left the hotel-we had ascertained that they had no interest in tracking her-to walk Tokyo and telephone my dear Chicago friends Helen and David O'Neill. Would they be so kind as to come visit me at the Congress with their newborn baby? Yes, they'd be happy to. Daisy arranged for them to visit on Monday afternoon.

They arrived at one; shortly afterward, Daisy left to run errands and determine which member of the Pinkerton team was encamped in the lobby.

"Helen, dear, show me little Elizabeth," I said, after taking their coats.

"I must thank you for that lovely rattle," Helen said as she unwrapped the baby's swaddling blanket and handed her to me.

"Nothing is too good for my favorite couple and their new baby." I scooped the baby into my arms. Tokyo circled at my feet-jealous of the baby, I imagined.

Helen leaned over her baby. "Isn't she the most beautiful bundle of pinkness you've ever seen?"

David, a handsome young man of modest height, edged closer, forming us into a triangle with the infant at its center. Baby Elizabeth jerked her freed arms at her sides.

David held out his little finger for her to grasp. "I call her bouncy Betsy."

I gazed into one-month-old Elizabeth's face, at her placid blue eyes, cherub lips, plump cheeks, and smooth forehead. She seemed to be looking right at me. Admiring the blond fuzz swirling atop her head, I said, "She's all wonderment and innocence, the little darling."

We pa.s.sed an agreeable visit in the suite, the three of us, plus baby Elizabeth, catching up on the news, and then I requested their a.s.sistance with a delicate matter. Of course they had read about the lawsuit in the Chicago papers, so I gave them the inside story about its most unfair outcome and how I needed to travel out of town, unnoticed. The lovelies were only too willing to help, so, after Helen nursed the baby, she and I retired to the bedroom to enact step one of the plan.

Helen, a shapely woman two inches taller than I, removed her dress while I slipped out of mine. I tried hers on. Though a little roomy around my middle parts-Helen had let it out to accommodate her post-baby waistline-it otherwise fit well.

Helen regarded me, one hand on her hip, "Yes, I think that will do."

Helen put my dress on and smoothed her hands over it. "It's a bit snug, but I can stand it for an hour or two."

We quit the bedroom and rejoined David, the baby, and Daisy, who had just returned from her errands.

"Which one's in the lobby, Daisy?" I asked.

"It's Dougherty."

"Oh, yes, he's a sly one," I said, careful not to sound too alarmed, for I did not wish to alert Helen and David to the danger of our mission. But my heart fluttered with anxiety over the prospects for my plan; eagle-eyed Dougherty would be watching everyone who pa.s.sed through the lobby.

I donned the new shoes Daisy had purchased for me, a pair of high enough elevation so I could approximate Helen's height, and examined myself in the mirror. "Well, I'm not fooling myself-or any of you, I suspect."

"But your outfit's not complete," offered Daisy.

"No, my coat and hat are the finishing touches," said Helen.

I turned to Helen. "Show me how you hold little Elizabeth. How you walk."

Helen picked the napping baby up off the couch, nestled her against her shoulder, and wrapped both arms lovingly around her. Baby Elizabeth did not wake. As Helen strolled from one end of the room to the other, I studied the evenness of her short steps.

She stopped before me and gently pa.s.sed Elizabeth to me. "Now you try."

I carefully snuggled Elizabeth against me and adjusted my two-armed hold so that the baby and I fit comfortably into each other. Imitating Helen's gait, I walked from one end of the room to the other.

Helen watched me cross in front of her. "Relax. Hold your shoulders level."

I realized I had slanted my frame, as if to compensate for the baby's weight. Correcting the balance of my shoulders, I took up my walk again.

"Much better," Helen said.

"Slip your hips back a bit," said David. "Helen's caboose is more p.r.o.nounced than yours."

Everyone chuckled at that, and I tried the walk again, this time pushing my hips back a bit, but it felt awkward and off balance.

"No, that's not enough," said David.

"I've got it. Hold on a minute," Daisy said. She fetched one of my cotton dresses and tied the arms around my middle, tucking its folds across my b.u.t.tocks to give them more heft. "Now put on Helen's coat."

I eased the sleeping baby down onto the couch, and Helen helped me into her coat. I b.u.t.toned it up and walked, turning around in front of David.

He watched me closely. "Yes, that's more like Helen."

I stepped across the room and back a few times, pretending I held the baby in my arms as I practiced my posture and gait.

I glanced at each of them. "Am I ready, do you think?"

Helen nodded.

"I believe you've got it now," David said.

"Yes," said Daisy, "that walk doesn't resemble yours too much."

"Then let's be off," I said to David, knowing I needed to act quickly and with confidence to ward off the anxiety rising in me.

He stood and took up his coat.

I embraced Daisy. "I don't know when I can be in touch again."

"I understand." She gripped me in a smothering hug. "Take care of yourself."

I leaned over and patted Tokyo on the head. "Be good for Daisy." I hated to leave my dear Tokyo behind, but Daisy loved him equally well, and I couldn't exactly melt into the ma.s.ses with him. Still, I kept my voice nonchalant so as not to alarm him. Unfortunately, his whimper suggested he already discerned something was afoot.

"Are you ready, David?" I asked, accepting Helen's broad-brimmed hat from her.

"Yes, my dear," he said, pretending to be my husband.

I placed Helen's hat on my head, dropping the front to obscure my face, and clasped her purse.

Helen bundled Elizabeth's blanket tight around her and handed her to me. "She's waking up. If she starts crying, just bounce her a bit. She's a good baby."

David opened the door for me, and we headed for the elevator. On the way down, I felt Elizabeth squirming in my arms. I looked at David. "She's uncomfortable, I think."

"I imagine she's doing what babies do best."

"Oh," I said.

The elevator dinged and I stepped out, concentrating on my walk. David took my arm, and we marched forward. Elizabeth wriggled. As we reached the middle of the lobby, she unleashed a streak of screaming "waah"s. I bounced her, not daring to raise my head for fear of being identified by Dougherty. Surely he was watching us.

David put his arm around me and leaned in, bringing his face close to Elizabeth's. He cooed, "Sweet baby Betsy, sweet little girl."

Still she wailed. I seethed with worry over the spectacle we were making. It took all my concentration to strike the right gait and keep my eyes trained on Elizabeth.

The doorman stepped up as we approached and opened the door for us. A gust of wind hit us, upending my hat. David grabbed it in midair and clamped it back on my head. I reached out and pulled the blanket forward to shield Elizabeth's head. I dared not look around. I kept all my attention focused on baby Elizabeth.

David stepped forward and hailed a cab.

"Here we are," he said, opening the car door for us.

I eased in, bottom first, and swiveled around, scooting over to accommodate David and keeping my head bent down toward the baby.

David slammed the door shut behind him and ordered the cab driver, "One twenty West Delaware."

I maintained my silence, even pressing a finger to my lips to warn David not to speak, fully aware that Dougherty might decide to interview cabdrivers once he discovered my absence.

Together we fussed over the baby, with me muttering sweet words and David cooing to her, all the way up the steps to their red-brick home.

"Were we followed?" I asked David as we stepped inside. Baby Elizabeth had calmed herself during the taxi ride, but now she started wailing again.

"No, I don't believe so." He closed the door and looked out on the street. "Not a vehicle in sight."

"Thank heavens. Now, what can Elizabeth want?"

"I wonder-would you mind changing her?"

"Not at all." Could it be? Had I eluded Dougherty for the first time in my life?

"Come, I'll show you her room."

Once David had situated me upstairs at Elizabeth's changing table, I asked, "Would you mind keeping watch? And hollering if anybody approaches the house?"

If changing a baby's diaper was the price to pay for occupying my nervous hands, I gladly applied myself to the task, though I couldn't stop wondering what to do should David issue a warning. I'd have to leave Elizabeth kicking in the middle of her ba.s.sinet and run for the back door-without any of my belongings.

The minutes spent cleaning up baby Elizabeth, pinning her in a fresh diaper, and slipping her into a long flannel gown ticked by without alarm. I carried Elizabeth down the stairs and rejoined David in the front parlor. Helen showed up in a taxi less than an hour later, with my belongings packed away in Daisy's suitcases. David carried my luggage out the back door, arranged it in his car, and drove me to the train station in Aurora, west of Chicago and far from the Pinkerton's watchful eyes.

I thanked him profusely for his and Helen's a.s.sistance and boarded the Burlington line for points west. Relaxing in my seat, I watched the Illinois scenery slip by-the quaint homes on the edge of Aurora, the corn-stubbled fields covered with sparkling snow, the silos standing tall. I'd take trains across the whole country, to the end of the line. Once I reached the West Coast, I'd set sail for fresh terrain. Wouldn't Reed Dougherty be surprised when he rapped on my hotel door twenty-four hours hence only to learn from Daisy that I had-here Daisy would, according to rehearsal, throw up her hands and say "poof"-completely vanished?