“There’s a lot going on in Chicago,” Ross said, scratching his chin. “It’s dangerous work even for a man. Nonetheless, my men and I mean to seize this opportunity and make the convention our platform. Roosevelt will never forget that moment as long as he lives.”
Merinda wondered if Jonathan would be there. According to Benny and the papers, he seemed to follow this ideology. Perhaps Ross intended to blow up a few trolleys in Chicago. If they went, she could stop them before it happened. The wheels in her head sped as the drumbeat of her heart thrummed.
“Will Jonathan Arnasson be among your group in Chicago?” Merinda blurted. Ross didn’t immediately answer, but Merinda saw a slight flicker in his eyes.
“We’re no strangers to dangerous business,” Jem interjected. “We’re lady detectives, and we have had international clients.”?
“We have no fund collected for sending lady detectives to Progressive Party conventions.” He passed Merinda an article announcing the grand convention wherein Roosevelt would attempt to rustle up the support that he had failed to receive at a previous convention in June. “No matter how interested they are in the cause.” Here, he stabbed Merinda with a glare.
“Oh, money will not be a problem. We’ll pay our own way,”§ Merinda said, appraising the picture of Roosevelt and reading the caption about the days-long convention. “So you’ll forward your contact’s address in Chicago?”
“Against my better judgment,” Ross growled. He sized up Merinda from brogan to bowler. “Although I have little doubt you would find it even if I refused.”
Jem and Merinda spilled out onto Parliament Street clutching each other’s arms.
“Another American case!” Merinda said excitedly. “If he means to use Jonathan to blow up trolleys, we can be there to stop him once and for all!”
“And I can finally find out what Ray has been up to,” Jem said.
“And Benny will be there too,” Merinda said with a sly smile. “We can find Jonathan.”
Common wisdom would say that Benny and Merinda had not spent nearly enough time in each other’s company for them to experience a spark. But Merinda felt the world flicker nonetheless. How much time did it actually take?
* * *
*These had been procured from another newsie who kept every unsold paper and had built them up into a kind of lean-to.
?Much to Jem’s embarrassment.
?Jem was thinking of the time they solved a quiet case in Concord, Massachusetts. Ross didn’t need to know the extent to which international stretched in this context.
§Merinda’s father often turned a blind eye toward how she used her allowance money.
CHAPTER NINE
Always ensure that you possess more than one skill set. Naturally your proficiency will be greatest in a single area, but the life of a Royal Northwest Mounted Policeman calls for the ability to rise to unique situations.
Benfield Citrone and Jonathan Arnasson, Guide to the Canadian Wilderness
Benny took out a small leather notebook, yellowed with age. Grandfather’s Regulation Guide had initially inspired their boyhood project, snippets of advice and diagrams for the wilderness survival required of the Northwest Mounted Police. At first it had an inflated title: Benfield Citrone and Jonathan Arnasson’s Guide to the Canadian Wilderness with Specific Instruction Provided for the Officers of the Royal Northwest Mounted Police. As they got older, through training in Regina and even as Benny was stationed in the Yukon, the compilation continued, though with a slightly less magnanimous title. At least Benny continued, while Jonathan said it sounded more and more like the most recent printing of the Rules and Regulations Guide. To Benny, it became a collage of life lessons, a hybrid of Grandfather’s wisdom with the strict code of the RNWMP. He never stopped amending with addenda or inserts pasted between the stringy, worn binding. He read:
The lynx is the scheming king of the northern winter. The grizzlies are hibernating. The deer and elk recline in the falling temperatures, and the lynx prowls, his gray fur blending with the trees and snow-covered logs. His alert eyes jeer out at you, burning brightly. He is too elusive for your trap. You rush over in hopes of success and the fur for a cap only to find a dead hare in his place. He’s too sneaky. To lure and ensnare him, you must think like him. Bright colors against a white canvas will make you stand out. His peaked ears indicate his exceptional hearing. Your skill as a tracker will be proven by your ability to outsmart a lynx.
Jonathan was a bit of a lynx. Far too smart. Smart enough to make everything look like the simplest accident.