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calmed and brightened. They made small talk of the weather until finally Gabby broke down in tears, telling him how sorry she was over the news that he’d lost a friend as she had—“possibly to the same maniac roaming the city. And all while I pushed pastries on you the other night.” He asked her not to cry, telling her all would be put right.

Then he added, “I actually called to speak to your aunt.”

“My aunt?”

“Have it in mind to perhaps take her to the fair, if . . . if that is, you do not forbid her seeing me, Gabrielle.”

“The fair? Really? You and . . . Jane?” Gulping, she added, “I guess that’d be up to my aunt, although my father might have something to say.”

Suddenly, Tewes came on the line. “Jane is a grown woman. She can make her own decisions in such matters.”

“Good of you to say so, James.”

“I see no dependency issue that was the foundation of your and Merielle’s relationship, Inspector. I suppose, if Jane Francis is of a mind, then by all means—”

“Then how early may I visit?”

Is he baiting me? Had his squirrelly, wooden-legged snitch, called Dot’n’Carry, seen me change from Tewes to Jane through a window sash? Does the detective know about Kohler and me? Play it out, she finally decided, wherever it goes. “Ahhh . . . I should think seven, sevenish . . .

after dinner.”

“Very good.”

“Then I shall warn Jane of your calling.” Jane fought off a feeling of confoundedness. Here was a man in mourning one day, brokering a courtship the next? It must be to unmask Tewes, part of the hunt.

“Then I shall soon come ’round.”

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“G’day, Inspector.” Jane placed phone to wall cradle to find herself held prisoner by Gabrielle’s disbelief. “You preach that I not play with fire! A man like—”

“This doesn’t concern you, young lady. Get to your studies.”

“But only the other day . . . what was it you called him? A thug with a badge! ”

“Keep thy enemies close.”

“You hypocrite.”

“Gabby!”

“Go then! Dance with the devil! Draw attention! Yet you shout at me with poor dead Cliff? What of your precious practice? What if Inspector Ransom sees through it all?”

“He won’t.”

“He came damn close getting you drunk! He’s notorious!”

“He’s . . . that is, his asking me— Jane—out . . . it’s—”

“A surprise?”

“He is unpredictability personified.”

Gabby looked at her mother anew. “Hold on . . . you’re flattered, aren’t you?”

“Why nonsense. I must take care is all. He’s seen me. I must be . . . natural.”

“Ahhh . . .” Gabby paced off and returned. “All right, but if you’re to do this right, we’ve got to do up your hair, and Mother, a little rouge and lipstick, please.”

“I’ll not waste a moment primping for that man.”

“Really? Mother! You must lay a foundation, make some preparations. I’ll help you. I’ve got new cosmetics from Carson’s, so be here at six.”

“An hour before his arrival?”

“Right . . . more time’s needed. Make it five.”

Gabby hugged her mother and whispered in her ear,

“Still, I worry.”

“Stop it.”

“He’s so darkly . . .”

“Mysterious?”

“Notorious.”

“Ten percent true, ninety percent bull-swallop.”

198

ROBERT W. WALKER

“Mother! Bull-swallop? Is that the same as bullshit?”

“Gabby!”

Gabby followed her mother into her bedroom. “Well . . .

Inspector Ransom uses the term pig-swallop for—”

“Gabby! Watch your tongue! Is this what you’re learning at Northwestern Medical? How to swear like a sailor?”

“I’m a liberated woman, a suffragette now. I think I can say bullshit when the need arises, and this is a time for—”

“You’ve been sneaking to meetings with that fanatical friend of yours, Lucy Wistera, haven’t you?”

“Lucy talks sense! It’s time we had a say-so in politics.

Look at how G’damn awful the world is with men running things since Roman times!”

Jane sat at her makeup counter, carefully applying her mustache. “You, young woman, are going to get your mouth washed out with lye soap if you—”

“Oh, please, Mother!”

“I raised you a lady! Not a tramp of the streets!”

“You ought to be in the rally, Mother. You’d be a beacon to all women everywhere as Dr. Jane Francis, but no! You’ve gotta go about dressed as a man!”

“That is enough! Taking such a tone, young lady! What is happening with you?”

“You taught me to stand up for my rights! It’s time you did! As for taking God’s name in vain, if he’s a man like men insist, then Lucy says it’s time He got us the vote!”

Turning from her mirror, Jane stared Gabby in the eye.

“Look here, I’m trying to make a life for us, to—to keep you in school, and you need to put all effort and con —”

“Concentration, I know, into my studies! But damn it what confounded good’re studies when the end result is . . . well, look at you, Mother! Having to masquerade as a man in order to get equal pay and equal treatment? Do you plan to vote in the upcoming elections as Dr. Tewes as well, Mother?” Jane’s voice cracked when she replied, “I raised you a lady, groomed you a professional, not some pseudo

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intellectual, Bible-thumping, horn-blowing brat with a cause and a flag made of bloomers! Do you have a notion what’s to become of Lucy Wistera and her pack once they’ve been stoned and arrested and jailed?” “Stoned and jailed by ignorance. People who haven’t a clue as to what a suffragette is!”

“Well, you’re right there. Most of the city can’t read English! In fact, most can’t read in any language!”

A huge silence came down around them, and as Dr. Tewes stared back at Jane in the mirror, the doorbell rang. “See to the door; if it’s for Dr. Tewes, show them into the clinic.”

“Oh, it’s just Waldo Denton. He’s becoming a nuisance.”

“Where did you say you met him? At the university?”