“You really are bright.” He looked impressed.
“For a woman?” Merinda scoffed, waving Mrs. Malone away and seeing Benny to the door herself.
“No. Just bright.”
Merinda extended her hand and Benny gripped it. As before, it was several seconds—a moment maybe—before he released it. “I look forward to finding your cousin, Benny Citrone. I just hope you are prepared for the ramifications of his discovery.”
Benny nodded gravely. “I am.”
Merinda returned to the sitting room and Jem.
“I hope Citrone’s sad story put your own whining into perspective,” Merinda reprimanded her.
“I haven’t been sleeping well,” Jem murmured.
Merinda crossed to the blackboard and wiped the slate clean. In a bold hand, she wrote:
Benfield Citrone
Jonathan
PLM
Emma Goldman
Trolley
She set the chalk down and rubbed her hands together. “Here’s where you come in, Jemima.”
“Mmm?” Jem’s mouth was full of shortbread.
“DeLuca has been reporting the trolley strike and the explosions. He’s probably back there right now after yesterday’s accident.” She said the last word pointedly. “We need to find a pattern so we can figure out where Jonathan and his crew might strike next.”
“Ray reports as best he can. He explained… ”
“Cracker jacks, Jemima! Think. Of course he didn’t report everything. There has to be something else. Go make him tell you everything he saw at the explosion,” Merinda commanded. “I am going to try to find some information on whatever happened in Winnipeg and get Nicholas and Del? to send me anything on Detroit. I’ll be ’round later to collect you for the rally, and you can repeat everything DeLuca said on the way.”
“And what if he doesn’t want to tell me?” Jem chewed her lip.
“Then you aren’t trying hard enough. Go put on a nice dress or bat your eyes or put on perfume. Whatever you silly women do.”
Merinda’s eyes fluttered in the direction of the front window, trying to catch one more glimpse of Benny Citrone. Wondering if he might have forgotten something. He hadn’t, of course, and her eyes moved Jem-ward.
“You all right, Merinda?” Jem asked.
“Mm-hmm.” Merinda said, calmly reaching for her coffee cup and toppling it over in her haste.
* * *
*The learned reader will, of course, have heard of Sir Samuel Benfield Steele, famous for enforcing law in the Yukon Gold Rush and undisputed hero and distinguished leader of the Lord Strathcona Horse in the War against the Boers under Her Majesty’s command.
?Merinda and Jem first met Nicholas and Del Haliburton in a case Jem recorded as Of Dubious and Questionable Memory.
CHAPTER FIVE
Anger is the least interesting emotion. In pursuit of a nuanced criminal, remember to look for jealousy, greed, love, revenge. Pure anger is rarely enough to develop a motive.
M.C. Wheaton, Guide to the Criminal and Commonplace
Jem was surprised to find Ray at home. He left for work so early and was rarely home in the middle of the day. But as she took off her gloves and removed her hat, she heard his paper rustling from the front room.
At her approach, he looked up from a copy of the Globe.
“Ray! Why are you home so early?”
“I was worried about you.”
“I was at Merinda’s. We have a client.”
“That usually leads to your chasing perpetrators across the city in trousers.”
“I was safe in Merinda’s parlor.”
“I wish you could find a job taking in sewing or at a tea shop.” The teakettle whistled, and Ray rose to tend to it. A moment later, he handed her a steaming mug, brushing her hair back behind her ear as she took it.
“Thank you.” She smiled up at him. “I was wondering if you might tell me about the trolley explosion.”
Ray cocked an eyebrow. “Safe in Merinda’s parlor, you said?”
“Our client indicated that all the accidents might be related.”
“Jem, you have to promise me you’ll be careful. No, don’t do that. Your eyes! They’re three times their size! You look like a wounded bird. You know I can’t resist you when… Fine. Fine.” He described the scene of the trolley explosion, his hands picking up the pace as he spoke. But the picture he painted was familiar to Jem already.
“You’re not telling me anything your readers didn’t learn in your articles!”
“I was telling the truth.”
“You’re telling part of the truth.” Jem leaned forward and rested her chin in her hand. Her eyes widened. “I want to learn about the parts you didn’t write about. Anyone there who shouldn’t have been there? Did you think it was an accident at the time? I think you suspected that it was more than an accident. You’re not the kind to take something like that at face value.”