Philo raised both hands to the bars. “Despite all the evil that’s passed through these hands, I am a man of my word.”
“Bedrock honest, heh?” Griffin half joked. He then stared into Philo’s eyes. “One bloody hour, and you’re back, do you understand? No one’s to detain you.”
“
Griffin signaled the bored turnkey to let the prisoner out.
The Bridewell cage door swung wide and Philo made a dramatic exit, sucking in the air of freedom on the other side of the bars.
“Find a phone and call me here at the station every fifteen minutes. I want to know your whereabouts at all times, Keane.”
“Bullshit, you want to know how Alastair is faring under the knife.”
CITY FOR RANSOM
323
“Dr. Fenger’s the best in the city.”
“The state.”
“Perhaps the country.”
“Touche!”
“Leave out the basement rear, this way. And call in like I said.”
“You’ve my word, and again, thank you.”
“Just don’t make a mess of it, Philo. Don’t make me come searching for you at Muldoon’s or—”
“I’ve not had a drink in forty-eight hours.”
“Then bloody come back here, and I’ll see to it you have your drink, but you cannot go running about the city.”
“As Oscar Wilde says, ‘I can resist everything save temptation.’ ”
“God, I know I’m going to regret this! Don’t be a sot, man! You could be the best photographer in Chicago, the top of your chosen profession—”
“Art, my friend. It is art.”
“I know nothing about that, but if you applied yourself a sober man set on a goal, what with your talent, and your contracts with Montgomery Ward and all—”
“What contracts? We never had nothing in writing, Trelaine and I.”
“Ohhh . . . mistake.”
“Besides, they’re not likely to hire a former ‘felon’ even if innocent, not since the papers carried on how I murdered all those women, and their own account executive!”
“Well look, for the moment, we’ve . . . we’ve got Ransom near dead, so think of someone other than your bloody self, heh?”
“Aye . . . you’re cut of good cloth after all, Griff. I’ll ne’er forget this kindness.”
Griffin pushed him out the basement door. “Just go and try to be inconspicuous.”
“Yes, yes, of course!” Philo was off, a bounce in his step that Griffin had never seen before, like a man who’d just been satisfied by a woman, but this had to do with freedom.
324
ROBERT W. WALKER
Given a taste of it, would the man be capable of honoring his bargain? Griff doubted it, and in the back of his mind began to plot where he’d have to hide when Kohler learned of this
“early release program” instituted by a second-rank inspector. Then it dawned on him how to handle it no matter what.
Claim it by order of Inspector Alastair Ransom, his last order before passing out, and quite possibly a man’s dying wish. Pass the bloody buck to a man near death.
The wound sustained by Ransom proved a nasty one. The entry point the size of a silver dollar, and the exit wound a gaping fist-sized explosion of flesh and tissue. If Dr. Christian Fenger couldn’t keep Ransom alive, no one could; if Fenger
Either way, it remained the will of their unknowable God.
How was one to know, Jane wondered as she watched, fascinated, at Fenger’s side in the operating theater, dressed as Dr. James Francis Tewes. What was most excruciating was the interminable waiting—filling Jane with grief and pain.
Jane realized how much she’d learned from Alastair, and just how much he meant to her after all.
Surgeon Fenger’s work was that of an artist. Jane became mesmerized, focusing on the surgery. A voice in her head kept repeating the prayer:
Another voice in her head answered: Ransom’s fate lies in the hands of his Maker, not Christian. Still, it seemed a tug-o-war between God and surgeon.
In which case, Jane Francis feared that Ransom’s life ended here.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
A novel like
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
knowledge, most of which were sold to me by Mr. Heise, as most—like all great books—are out of print:
