Relief flooded through me as I recognized the familiar uniforms under their rain capes. “Then you’re making a terrible mistake, officers. I am no criminal. I’m a respectable citizen.”
This caused them more mirth. “A respectable citizen—and my father’s the pope in Rome! You did a bunk through the back window when my partner and I raided Tom Sharkey’s saloon a few minutes ago. So where did your fancy boy get to? Left you to face the music alone, did he?”
It was just beginning to dawn on me that they thought I was a woman of a very different occupation. “Jesus, Mary, and Joseph. I’m thinking the pair of you are in need of glasses,” I said angrily. “Look at me. Do I look like a woman of the streets?”
“She is kind of dowdy looking and she’s not even wearing any rouge on her cheeks,” Brendan commented. “Maybe we have made a mistake.”
I decided to ignore this unflattering assessment of my charms. “Of course you’ve made a mistake. But I’ll accept your apology, given that the light is so poor,” I said.
“So maybe she wasn’t the young girl who escaped from the bawdy house,” the larger officer conceded, “but she’s still up to no good. What would a respectable woman be doing out alone at this time of night?”
“If you really must know, I’m a private investigator, out on a case,” I said. “I’m observing a house opposite.”
If they had been mirthful before, then this time their jollity positively overflowed. They nudged each other in the side and staggered around guffawing while I gave my impression of Queen Victoria not being amused.
“If you don’t believe me, I have my card in my purse,” I said. “I am a partner at J. P. Riley and Associates. You must have met Paddy Riley.”
“Paddy Riley?” The large constable gave me an incredulous glance. “Paddy Riley? You’re not expecting me to believe that he’d ever work with a woman, are you? He hated women. Couldn’t stand the sight of them. And anyway, Paddy Riley’s dead and buried, in case you didn’t know.”
“Of course I know. I’m carrying on the business without him, or I would be if you two great clodhoppers would just leave me in peace.”
He still had hold of my arm and I tried to wrench myself free.
“Oh no, you’re coming with us, my dear. Whatever you were doing, I’ll wager you were up to no good.”
“Observing the house opposite, she says,” the skinny one called Brendan commented, looking smug. “Do you think she could be working with the Dusters, scouting out places to rob?”
“Holy Mother of God! Of course I’m not scouting out places to rob. If you’ll just let go of me, I can produce any number of respected citizens who will vouch for me. In fact if you take me to your police station, I’m afraid you’re going to look very foolish because I happen to be a good friend of—” I bit my tongue and left the rest of the sentence hanging. I was dying to see their faces when I told them that their own Captain Daniel Sullivan could vouch for me, but I wasn’t going to use his name every time I was in a jam. He’d be only too delighted to remind me yet again that I was playing with fire and no good would come from trying to be part of a man’s world.
“A good friend of whom, my dear?” the large officer asked. “The mayor, was it? Or the governor? Or maybe our new president Teddy himself?” He grinned at the other policeman again and dug him in the ribs.
“You’ll see,” I said, determined not to lose my dignity. Then I added, as they began to manhandle me away, “And please put me down. I am not a sack of potatoes. I have two good feet and can walk on my own.”
“Just as long as you don’t try to do a bunk on us,” the large officer said.
“Do the Dusters ever use women?” Brendan asked we started to walk away. “I know the old Gophers had some terrible fierce women working with them, but I don’t know that much about the Dusters.”
“They’re getting very tricky these days. No knowing what they’ll try next,” the other officer said.
The rain had eased off and the street lamps were reflected in puddles.
“Who are these Dusters?” I asked.
“The Hudson Dusters? You’ve never heard of them?” Brendan sounded surprised. “This is their territory, west of Broadway all the way to the Hudson.”
“Are they some kind of gang then?”
“One of the biggest—along with the Eastmans and the Five Pointers, of course.”
“That’s enough, Brendan. She knows very well who the Dusters are. I’ll wager one of their squealers will identify her for us in the morning.”
I heard the sound of a front door slamming behind us down the street and looked around to see a tall figure in a long greatcoat and top hat hurrying in the direction of Fifth Avenue. It looked like Mr. Tomlinson but I had now missed seeing him come out of the house. Since one of my captors liked to gab, I couldn’t resist asking, “So that house I was watching, the one with the two bay trees in pots beside the front door—you don’t happen to know who owns it?”