Cogling (6 page)

Edna rubbed her prayer beads.
May the seven Saints protect him.

She couldn’t solve the mystery alone; she needed help. Who else would be home during the day? “Mrs. McGraw!”

Edna stuffed the watch into her coat pocket and ran for the hallway. She bolted past the peeling, whitewashed walls and banged on the neighbor’s door.

“Mrs. McGraw, I need your help! It’s me, Edna Mather.”

The door squealed open and Edna fell into the warm, round arms of her neighbor.

The elderly woman frowned. “Dearie, what’s the matter?”

“Harrison blew up!” Edna’s lips trembled. How hollow the words sounded against her ears.

Mrs. McGraw grabbed Edna by the shoulders. “What’d ye say now?”

“My brother’s gone; he just exploded.”

Mrs. McGraw sniffed Edna’s mouth. “Ye been sipping gin? Why ain’t ye at work?”

Edna twisted free. “How can you even think of that with my brother missing? I had to leave. Harrison didn’t feel well, and when we got home, he started screamin’, and then he….” Her voice trailed off when she realized how unrealistic her story sounded.

Mrs. McGraw narrowed her pale eyes, clucking her tongue.

“Yer mother’s got enough to worry about at that music hall and yer father off buildin’ the railroad. They don’t need no gin whore.”

Tears burned Edna’s eyes and she stomped. “I swear it on the king’s head.”

“I don’t got time for yer ramblings.” Mrs. McGraw glared at Edna. “Get yerself back to work and hope that brother of yers don’t turn out like ye.” She slammed the door.

“I’d love to go back to work!” Trembling, Edna tipped her head back, a tear slipping down her cheek. Mrs. McGraw had always been so nice, checking on Harrison when he didn’t feel well. Now she was going to tell Mum…

Mum!

Edna took the stairs two at a time, jumping off at the landings. Darting through the door of the tenement building, she met a street crowded with onlookers. Edna pushed through the group, running up the sidewalk. She kept one hand in her pocket, clutching the watch lest it fall out.

A boy around Harrison’s age stood outside a drug store. Seeing him with ruddy cheeks and a cap slanted over his forehead made her nostrils burn. Fresh tears welled in her eyes. She
would
find Harrison. He depended on her.

“Gin sold here,” he bellowed. “Cheapest place in the city. Hey, miss, you want some?”

Edna shook her head, and his voice trailed behind her. “It solves many a problem…”

“It can’t solve mine.” Curling her hands into fists, she ran harder.

The streets appeared less crowded than earlier, most people at work—those who had work. She stepped over a drunkard slumped in the street, green saliva dripping off his puffy lower lip.

Steam locomobiles, radiating heat, roared by, the brass contraptions shining as brightly as the steel spokes inside the black tires. Edna darted down a side street. Moss and mold crept across the red bricks of the buildings on either side. Broken bottles littered the dirt. A door loomed in the back of the alley near a crate. Her mother had told her if she absolutely needed to, Edna could reach her by knocking on the dressing room entrance.

She kicked and pounded on it, the wood cold through her lace gloves. “I need Victoria Mather!” The sound of traffic and violin music mingled with her racing heartbeat, blood pounding in her temple.
Mum, I need you, something’s happened to Harrison—

The door opened a crack and a man’s bearded face peered out. “Whatcha want, kid?”

“I need my m-mother.Victoria Mather. She works here.”

“Sorry.” Cheap perfume wafted into the alley, and from somewhere within the dark interior, a female giggled. “I can’t go git none o’ the dancers.”

“She’s a singer.” She held up her hands to display the gloves. He should recognize them from the Music Hall wardrobe. The man should be fired for not cooperating.

He leaned his forehead against the door. “I can’t git one o’ them, either. When they’re workin’, they’re workin’, an’ that’s all there’s to it.”

“I’ll go fetch her,” Edna began.

“Can’t let nobody in without a ticket. You gonna buy a ticket, kid?”

“You don’t understand, I need her. My brother’s
missing
.” Her voice squeaked on the final word. “If you knew how Harrison had—”

“Wait till she gets home.” The door creaked shut and the lock clicked as it settled into place.

Edna rattled the brass knob. “Mum! It’s me, Edna!” She staggered back, chest heaving. She didn’t have enough money to buy a ticket for the show.

Once, when Lord Waxman had driven his motorcar to the ice cream parlor, a beggar had scratched the paint. An officer had found the culprit and had him sent to prison.

The police would help her.

Edna rushed to the next city block before she encountered a police officer patrolling the corner. A baby dragon with scales the color of emeralds perched on the man’s shoulder. The officer wore a high-collared jacket of ocean blue, with matching pants and a brimmed hat. Copper tassels hung off his sleeves.

Edna stopped herself before grabbing his arm. If she seemed too aggressive, he might disregard her. “Excuse me, sir.”

“I don’t have pennies to give out.”

She tried to smile. Respect would gain respect. “My brother’s gone—”

“Scat, kid, I’m working.” The officer waved his gloved hand and the dragon hissed.

“I need your help.” Curses on manners. Edna grabbed his sleeve, but he pushed her hand away. The dragon flapped its wings and bared its fangs.

“If you’ve got complaints, take it up at the station.” The officer sneered.

Odds bobs! A light rain dampened her cheeks as she ran the four blocks to the police station. Her heart pounded and her legs ached, but she pushed on, unable to reach it soon enough. Despite the weather, hawkers sold their goods, and homeless children darted between vehicles. She burst through the doors of the station, stumbling to a halt behind a line of people. One officer sat behind the counter, his graying hair knotted in a ponytail beneath his cap.

“Yes,” he said to the next woman in line. The baby dragon on his shoulder purred.

“A man stole my purse,” she whined. “It had all my money in it. I just moved here from the countryside—”

“Look, lady,” the officer interrupted. “You shouldn’t have put all your money in one place. That’s your first mistake. Secondly, no way am I gonna catch a thief in a city this big.”

“He stole every cent I had!” She flapped her shawl, tears trickling down her cheeks.

The officer shrugged. “Nothing I can do about that. Next!”

Edna pushed to the front of the queue. “My name’s Edna Mather and my brother disintegrated.”

Silence fell over the station. The dragon stretched its wings and yawned. As an animal, could it sense the evilness inside her?

She glared at the officer’s smirk. Maybe “disintegrated” sounded too much a mystery novel. “My brother fell apart right before my very eyes. All that was left was some gears and a watch.” She fumbled in her pocket for the item.The crowd burst into laughter. The woman who’d had her wealth stolen
harrumph
ed. “What kind of city do you have? A bunch of nut jobs?”

Edna’s cheeks flushed. There had to be something she could say to make them believe. Harrison counted on her. “I swear it on anything you want. My brother up and vanished. You gotta find him. I swear that mess couldn’t have been him. People don’t fall apart. There were only cogs left.”

“No, doll,” the officer chuckled. “They don’t fall apart.”

“I’m serious!” She slammed her hands against the counter.

“Run along back home, sweetie, before your father falls apart, too,” a man called from the line.

“Maybe a hag stole him. Never can trust them,” another man said.

The young man who’d been next shoved her aside. “It’s my turn, lass.” He turned toward the officer. “I can’t find my daughter anywhere. She’s usually….”

Edna turned away, fresh tears burning her hazel eyes. The police wouldn’t help, especially now that she’d started a row. Laughter scalded her back as she stormed from the station. Rain pummeled her face, cooling her cheeks. Folding her arms over her chest, she bowed her head.
“
He isn’t dead. He can’t be.”

They were both missing work. They would be fired, tossed out on the street until—if—they found other positions.

Thunder rumbled in the distance. She glanced up; she’d walked a block from the station, but she couldn’t go home.

Ducking into the doorway of an abandoned office, she leaned against the rough wall and sunk to her bottom. What did the heroes in mystery novels do? She fished the watch from her pocket. It had to be the clue—that and the cogs were all she had.

“Where’d you come from?” She rubbed the pad of her thumb over the metal. “Are you real silver or just silver plated? Harrison, what
is
this?”

The frigid barrel of a handgun pressed against the side of her neck, exposed by her braid and the damp collar of her coat.

“Listen,” a soft voice said. “You gimme that watch and I don’t shoot you. You got ten seconds to do it, and those seconds started ticking a while ago.”

All that is be here.

ou bluff.” Edna couldn’t outrun a bullet, so she’d need something to throw at the gun bearer. She scanned the stoop and sidewalk for a rock.

The evil should rise and nip at her fingertips, but it stayed at ease, as though her panic weren’t warranted. Curse it all.

“Time’s run out. Not bluffing, m’dear.” The thief seized her elbow. He looked a few years older than her, taller, with gaunt cheeks, and trembling lips. Black hair hung matted down to his shoulders.

“You don’t have the right to threaten me.” The prayer beads weighed against her wrist—the seven Saints would protect her. She threw her fist toward his face, but landed the blow on his shoulder. When he staggered, Edna jumped up.

As she started to flee, he wrapped his arms around her torso. Edna and the thief hit the stoop, sliding in the rain, and his handgun bumped the cement.

“Gimme the stupid watch an’ you won’t get hurt,” he panted against her ear.

People wandered by on the street, but didn’t glance their way within the shelter of the abandoned building. She opened her mouth to scream, but he grabbed her upperarms and forced her onto her back.

His face hovered a few inches above hers and his garlic breath scalded her nostrils. “I bet you stole it from some lady walkin’ on the street.”

“Odds bobs, I’m not a thief! If you want it, you’ll have to shoot me first.”

He rocked back onto his heels. His legs, clamped around hers, kept her pinned. His muscles strained the seams of his slacks. “I don’t wanna hurt you, I just need the watch.”

“I can’t let nothing happen to it till I get Harrison back.” Edna struck his chest with her fists, but he grabbed her arms. The silver chain dangling from her hand tickled her wrist. Why didn’t the evil rise?

“The fellow you stole it from?”

“No! I don’t look like a thief. I don’t have a gun like you. I’m not accosting people.”

The thief raised his eyebrows. “He your lover?”

“He’s my brother,” she snapped.

“You canoodle with your brother?”

“
No
.” The fool didn’t listen.