“Benny!” The light illuminated him.
“I returned the horse. Got Jemima safe to your house and Mrs. Malone. Took a moment to bandage her head. It will be as right as rain. I didn’t know where her house was, but I have a rather remarkable memory when it comes to remembering where I have been before and… ”
“Cracker jacks, Benny! How did you find me?”
“Oh. I tracked you.”
“You what?”
He motioned at her stick. “There. You didn’t notice, but I studied your boot print when we left the alley just over there.”
In response, Merinda lifted up her boot and inspected it under the torchlight.
“See?” Benny said.
There was a tack stuck in the sole that she had never noticed before.
“If that marker wasn’t enough” he said brightly, “then you do have an incessant habit of tapping that stick about.”
“Cracker jacks,” she repeated. Even though there was but a sliver of light, the entire dank space seemed illuminated with some kind of spark.
“What is this place?”
“Remember the advertisement that led you to Jem and me? This is the Hogtown Herald office.”
“I don’t know much about newspaper offices,” Benny said, approaching Merinda and sharing the torchlight, “but I never thought they would look like this.”
“It isn’t one of Toronto’s finest papers,” Merinda admitted.
“You thought you might find something here?”
“The Hog always reports on things that the other papers refuse to. Most likely because each managing editor is bought by Toronto’s elite… I’m rambling.” Merinda spun on her heel.
“You thought they might have something on Jonathan?”
“If these trolley accidents are not accidents, then I am pretty sure one of my friends would have the same suspicions you do. Jasper, of course. He’s the officer you met earlier. Though he wasn’t himself tonight, I assure you. Usually the most amiable fellow in the world and… ” Merinda bit her lip, changing thought midstream. “And Ray DeLuca. Jem’s Ray DeLuca. I thought he might have left something.” She thought of the note in her pocket.
“And did he?”
“I can’t be sure.”
Silence stretched between them. Benny stood straight at attention, and she wished that he would twirl his cap on his finger or bury his hands in his pockets. Anything, really. But his body language was rigid, and his face in the half shadow was tired and sad.
A half moment later, during which she tried to make out his features more clearly in the darkness, the overhead light buzzed and sparked.
Benny instinctively pushed Merinda behind him, but when she looked around his broad shoulder, she made out the tawny hair and lanky frame of Skip McCoy.
“Miss Herringford!” he squawked. “I just forgot something.” He looked back at the door he had found slightly ajar. “You broke in?”
“DeLuca forgot something. Told me to get it.”
It was good enough explanation for Skip, somehow, as he dashed over to his desk and began looking about. “Well, at least you didn’t trip over anything,” he said jovially.
“My friend and I will leave you. Sorry about the door.”
“The lock was probably broken anyway,” Skip said with a shrug.
Merinda and Benny walked out over the cobblestones. “Thanks for seeing Jem home,” she said after a moment.
“My absolute pleasure. Your housekeeper was more than happy to see her safely inside.”
“We’re neither of us frail women who just topple over in crowds,” Merinda said hastily. “Just in case you were of the opinion that… ”
“Merinda, the place was overcrowded and there was so much shoving and pushing. Your friend was injured regardless of gender. How could that possibly have any bearing on my respect for your proficiency as a detective?”
Merinda was glad the clouds chose that very moment to shroud the brightening moon as she turned and smiled.
She made out Jasper from afar, deep in conversation with Tipton. He was raising his voice, or what little of a voice he had left after shouting orders and spending a long hour in smoky conditions.
Benny walked Merinda as far as the trolley station and waited until the streetcar chugged to a stop. They parted, Benny returning to his hotel and Merinda to King Street. Once seated, she pressed her forehead to the glass and watched him walk away. He had a confident stride, especially for one who confessed the city was so unfamiliar to him.