Grace's Pictures (40 page)

The lad nodded and was about to dash away when Owen stopped him and handed him a quarter. “Go buy yourself some shoes, all right?”

He grinned. “Right after I deliver your message, Officer.”

When Owen left his apartment the following morning to pick up milk for his coffee, Henry was waiting for him outside his building. “What are you doing here, son?”

“Got a message for you.”

“Where is it?”

The lad pointed to his head.

“Before you tell me, Henry, how did you find me?”

“I got smarts, is all.”

“Keep it to yourself and I’ll fill you with as many bakery rolls as you like.”

“Truly?”

Owen would have to move.
Such is the life of an undercover detective.
“I said so.”

“Say, Officer. Any fella that gives newsboys blankets like he promised gets my loyalty. From us all.”

“Fine, lad. Appreciate it. Now what’s the message?”

“Penguin pool. Very important you meet Dasher there and thirty minutes earlier than you said.”

“You sure?”

“Yep.” He held out his hand.

Owen gave him fifty cents. He had to be sure he could trust this kid.

On Friday morning when Grace greeted Auntie Edith in the kitchen, she found her to be unusually cheerful. “We’re going on an outing, love. Telephone your mother over at her boardinghouse.”

“Mr. Parker agreed?”

“He did. School is canceled for the day. So many families preparing for St. Patrick’s Day in the neighborhood, I suppose. The weather looks lovely, and the children are already chattering about it.” She smacked her hands together.

“Did he say where we could go? It’s the eve of the parade uptown, being that the saint’s day is on Sunday this year, and I’m told we should not go to Central Park. Oh, I’m so amazed, Auntie. Are you sure you heard him right?”

Auntie Edith’s smile spread across her chubby face. “I did indeed, Grace. I spoke to him about an hour ago before he left for the office.”

“But did he say where we could go?”

“Oh yes. I tried to get him to go with us, but he said he always tries to stay out of that part of town. Sunday mornings are the sum of his visits to the old neighborhood.” She jittered her head. “Wish I knew why it’s so painful for him to be down there.”

Well, with the parade and all, they did have to stay south toward the immigrant wards. Grace thought she knew why Mr. Parker scoffed at coming. Because he didn’t want to face the fact that he was a slum tenement owner.

Edith put a plate she had been drying on the pantry shelf. “My brother says he will allow you and me to take the children to the aquarium this afternoon.”

“The aquarium? Well, I suppose if we go soon.” Rabble-rousers slept late, Grace figured. If they got there early in the day, they’d be less likely to encounter anyone like Smokey Davis. And Owen had said she was safe enough. Besides, she would not be alone, so perhaps it would be all right. “I hear there is a new octopus there. I would love to see it. I could bring my camera, take pictures of us all. The prints are small, but I’ve
done fairly well with them thus far. Even took a photograph of the children and their mother before . . .”

“Bringing the camera is a wonderful idea, Grace,” Edith said. “Can you take photographs indoors?”

“Only if the sun is bright through the skylights. But we can always get some shots before we go in. Wouldn’t Mr. Parker adore photographs of his children at the aquarium?” Perhaps it would help for him to see the delight on their faces and know they’d been safe while on an outing. He’d probably looked at the ones she’d taken earlier, but more couldn’t hurt.

“Surely. Now telephone your mother. We’ll stop over and get her on our way.” Auntie Edith raised the baby to her shoulder. “After this one’s nap, of course.”

The woman was upstairs with Douglas before Grace could say boo. She’d rather go now, this very minute before Mr. Parker could change his mind and before any thugs might enter the park. She hurried to the playroom to collect what they would need: hats, a bag to carry formula for the baby, and some crackers in case Holly and Linden got cranky.

Linden was waiting for her. “Miss Gracie, Miss Gracie, we’re going to see the fish!” He hopped from one foot to the other.

“We are. Where are your sisters?”

“Getting dressed. Look, I got ready all by myself.”

Grace stopped what she was doing to look at the lad. She stifled a laugh. His shoes were on the wrong feet and the buttons of his shirt were fastened but misaligned. “You did a fair job, Linden. Just let me help you a wee bit.”

He grimaced as she removed his shoes and put them on his feet correctly. When she was done lacing, he wiggled like a worm while she unbuttoned and rebuttoned his clothes.

She checked off a list of what she needed to bring along. She
had the things she’d come upstairs to gather, and her camera was in a bag she’d left downstairs.

When everyone was ready and Douglas was awake enough, they met up at the front door to take an inventory and to urge the children to visit the bathroom before they left. “Oh, diapers.” Grace started to go upstairs, but Edith stopped her.

“Right here, child.” She held up the bag Grace had put the canned formula in. “I stuck the nappies in here and even thought to bring extra pins. The formula was a good idea just in case. The things for the older children I put in your bag with your camera. You don’t mind?”

The woman was so organized. “I do not mind. Thank you.”

“I think we are all set. Come along, children. Promise Auntie you will be perfect angels on the trolley.”

“Maybe we shouldn’t take the baby,” Grace wondered aloud. “The baby is too young to enjoy it, and one of us will have to look after him and keep him out of drafts. And won’t he get heavy?”

The woman cuddled him under her chin. “My dear, no. We aren’t taking Douglas to the aquarium, just across the street to Mrs. Wallace.”

“Oh. Mr. Parker agreed?”

“He listened to me, Grace. He’s going to have to accept more help now, and the neighbors are hospitable.”

“Are you sure?”

“Absolutely. George said it would be fine, so long as we are not gone too long. And I spoke to the neighbor this morning. She is delighted to look after him.” Edith slung the baby’s bag of things onto her free arm. “You needn’t worry, Grace. The wet nurse knows to visit and the midwife is at home should Mrs. Wallace need anything. I checked.”

“All right.” Grace grabbed her bag and suspended it from her elbow. She took Linden’s hand and then Holly’s. Hazel followed behind. “Off we go.”

When they got to the boardinghouse, Grace’s mother was ready. “Such a pleasure to meet you,” she said to Edith, extending her hand.

“And you, my dear. I think you will enjoy the outing.”

“Any outing with my daughter is sheer delight.” She gave Grace a hug.

“Are you sure you don’t want to bring Paddy, Ma?”

“No, no. Miss Hall will look after him. I’ve left a bottle. I’ve had to leave him overnight at the hospital before. I know he’ll be fine.”

The trip on the trolley was delightful. The children, not used to outings, were quiet and well-behaved.

“Let’s get off early,” Grace suggested to Edith. “The weather is so pleasant and the children and my mother would enjoy seeing some of the sights.”

“Fine idea.” The woman pulled the cord, and when the trolley halted, they got off and trotted up the sidewalk.

They paused in front of St. Paul’s Chapel, where Edith told them President George Washington had worshiped. “He even took his oath of office here, right out front,” she told them.

Only Hazel was impressed, having studied about America’s first president in school.

They continued up Broadway, dodging pretzel vendors and lads as young as Linden hawking trinkets. When the Bowling Green was finally in view, Grace scrambled them all to a trot. So many people had bundled up and ventured out to Battery Park, where the trees were beginning to bud and the grass was greening up nicely. Businessmen spilled out of their towering
office buildings to inhale the open air like swans seeking blue water. Several groups of families also populated the park. As they entered, she led the children to the bench where she had once sat and admired the statue she had since learned was inventor and engineer John Ericsson. “Sit right here. I’m going to take your picture.”

Only Hazel’s legs were long enough to reach the ground. The others dangled their feet.

Grace held her camera at her chest. The sun was so bright she wasn’t sure she had them centered in the finder, but as soon as she got their attention away from someone selling flags and whirly toys, she shouted orders. “Chin up. Now, when I count to three, I’m going to hold my breath to keep the camera steady and you all look right at the box. Ready?”

“Ready, Miss Gracie,” Linden replied.

“Now, don’t say anything or the image of your face will come out fuzzy. One, two, three.” She clicked the shutter and then released them from their pose.

So easy, as they said, that a child could do it.

40

WHEN OWEN MET JAKE
at the park entrance, he realized that on a fine early spring day like this, hordes of people came out to enjoy the weather. He pulled Jake to the side of a passing crowd of giggling girls. “I don’t think it was a good idea to meet Dasher here.”

“You said the kid told you he’d be here. Said to meet him at the penguin pool.”

“I know, but do you know how many people are going to be crowded into that place?”

“I’ll say. But what choice do we have now?”

“Let’s just try to get him outside, all right?”

They smiled and greeted mothers with babies and ladies in silk gowns and Gibson girl hairstyles waving paper fans in front of their faces. The last thing Owen wanted to do was create panic. No one must know they were meeting a former Duster gang member in a place so popular with children.

Jake took a stand near the penguin pool while Owen stood on the opposite side of the spacious hall. A fish with oversize eyes swam by, wiggling his head from one large-eyed side to the other.

“Is there trouble, Officer?”

Owen jerked his attention from the fish tank. A fellow in a light-gray set of clothes wearing a cloth cap, the uniform of
aquarium workers, stood next to him with a broom. He did not make eye contact.

“Not at all. Carry on.”

The man didn’t move.

“You should get back to your duties,” Owen told him.

The fellow grinned with tobacco-stained teeth and nudged his cap upward. “I will when you do. What kind of detective are you, anyway?”

“Taggart?” Owen glanced in Jake’s direction, but he was no longer there. “Excuse me one moment. I need to get my partner.” Owen started toward the middle of the hall when Jake caught up to him.

“In disguise? That rascal.” Jake tugged Owen back in the direction of the janitor. “So you’re Dasher?”

“Hush.” The man turned his back on them and headed for a rear hall.

Jake and Owen followed. When they were away from public ears, Jake let him have it. “We are not here to play tricks. Now just tell us what we need to know.”

Dasher pushed the bill of his too-big cap with the handle of his broom. “I’d like nothing more than to see Knox get locked up, but I value my life. You think his toughs don’t hang out here once they wake up from their stupors?”

“I know they do.” Owen did his best to glare at the man. He’d seen that low-life Smokey at the aquarium before. “But they’re usually too wasted to cause much trouble.” He stared into the man’s eyes. “Is that your problem, fella? Come on, Jake. He’s got nothing.”

The bluff worked. Dasher apologized and begged them not to go. “The only reason I led you here is because he’s coming. You can catch him today.”

“In here?” Owen motioned toward the center of the aquarium, filled with people.

“You don’t think he’d make his deals where he could be easily snagged, do you? He figures no city cop would risk the lives of well-to-do children to catch him.”