They stared at him, hardly holding back their contempt, and Garvey became intensely aware that this was a union bar through and through, and he was wearing a suit and a demeanor that screamed police as loud as it could.
Garvey smiled, tipped his hat, and quickly walked out.
CHAPTER TWELVE
Hayes and Samantha rode up the elevator to find the forty-seventh floor of the Nail had erupted. Runners bolted back and forth from office to office carrying messages. Every other room was filled with shouting. Evans had been called away to an emergency meeting, and Hayes and Samantha waited before his office for three hours. Hayes slept and snored and would not quiet no matter how many times Samantha woke him. After the fourth time she gave up and sat as far away from him as she could.
When Evans tottered in he looked decades older than when they’d last seen him. He looked at them bleary- eyed and said, “I see you got my message.”
“No,” said Samantha. “I don’t think we did.”
“Oh. Then you just predicted it. Come in. Some people very much want to talk to you about this.”
She began following and on the way in kicked Hayes, who awoke with a snort. They both sat down before him, Hayes still yawning. Evans was silent for a very long time before saying, “You know what this is about.”
“Yes,” said Hayes. “The Bridgedale Station.”
“Yes. It’s very bad for everyone.”
“McNaughton’s not connected, though,” Samantha said. “Not really. Right, sir?”
“No. Only vaguely associated. But the public wants to see it. After all, we helped engineer the trolley lines, and it’s already rumored that the passengers were union members. They want to see us exploiting the workers and sending them to slaughter. You know how it is. Have you talked to anyone?”
“Talked?” said Hayes. “Besides Garvey? No.”
Evans looked at Samantha. “You?”
“I don’t know anyone to talk to,” she said.
“Hm. That’s good.”
“Anything else?” asked Hayes.
Evans checked his watch. “Give me two minutes.”
“Why?”
“Because Brightly’s on his way here now.”
“Oh, goodness,” said Hayes drily. “He’ll be in a right state, won’t he.”
Evans nodded. Then they all sat in silence, thinking.
The doors opened and Brightly himself rushed in, moving at top speed. Samantha was surprised to find he was a giant of a man, sporting a strained smile. The smile vanished as Evans stood up. Brightly said, “Oh, no no. No, that’s fine. Sit right there, Jim. I’m fine. Hayes,” he said, nodding to him. “And you must be Miss Fairbanks, how nice to finally meet you. Jim here has nothing but good things to say about you.”
“Why, thank you. It’s nice to meet you, too.”
“Yes, yes. Pity we have to meet under such circumstances. The work you’re doing is fantastic, simply fantastic. You’re invaluable, my girl.” He came and delicately sat on the edge of Evans’s desk, close to her, casual but domineering. He reached into his pocket, pulled out his watch, and checked it before replacing it. Then he put his hands in his lap, bowed his head as though in prayer, and said, “Well. We all know why I’m here. You were at the scene today, correct?”
“Right,” said Hayes.
“How was it? In there, in the tunnels?”
Hayes thought for a while. Then he said, “Do you remember that October at the vulcanization plant?”
Brightly looked surprised. “What? Yes, of course I do. How could I forget?”
“It was worse than that. Far worse.”
His eyes grew wide. “Dear God… Worse than that, even?”
“Yes. We’re lucky the police sent everyone packing,” Hayes said. “I was in that damn trolley car. If the press had gotten a snap of it we’d have panic in the streets, I’m sure of it.”
“Christ almighty,” said Brightly. He exhaled hugely, then gathered himself. “All right. And people saw you there?”
“Well. Yes.”
“Good. All right. Now, your previous investigation was highly classified, which is good. But Shroff, well, Shroff got word that you identified all the bodies at the scene. Is that correct?”
“Somewhat. I only identified a few.”
“Hm. And they were all from your recent investigation?”
“Pretty much.”
“I want names,” said Brightly. “All of them. And what you’ve got about them. Every little thing.”
Hayes gestured to Samantha. She said, “I’ll have them to you by the end of the day, sir.”
“Yes. Good. Give them to Evans here. Yes?”
“Certainly,” said Evans.
“All right,” said Brightly. He took another deep breath. “Now. As your inquiry was so classified, Hayes, I don’t think too many people know that, well, we had a list of all the people who died, not to mention good and documented reason to dislike them. So thankfully that pretty concrete association is still not public. But listen: to counteract the bad press, we’re going to have to do something. I’m launching a full public inquiry into anything we might have on what happened in that trolley. Anything that McNaughton might have had to do with it. Extremists, malcontents, anyone with any connection. I’m going to announce it later today with the board. Make sure it gets into the right papers. We hope to have something solid for them by Christmas. And, naturally, you’ll spearhead, Hayes.”
“And the union investigation?” asked Hayes. “What about that? Are we still worried they’ll throw off your… production time on your big projects?”
“Forget the other nonsense,” Brightly snapped. “Forget rooting out unioners. People are starting to think we’ve killed a dozen people, and they will think it by the time word gets out. Most of the city still doesn’t know. We need to act fast.”
“Right. And this time if we do find something, we’ll do something about it, right? Or will we wait to see if we can find out more?”
Brightly eyed him coldly. “That was a strategic tactic. You know that.”
“Yes. Very strategic and very effective. If we’d done otherwise, why, all those boys would be safely locked away in cells, and we’d still be in the clear. Thank goodness we didn’t.”
“If you think I don’t regret that decision, you’re wrong,” said Brightly. “Dead wrong. It’s for that very reason we need to be even more vigilant in this new investigation.”
“Please, Cyril, just keep doing what we tell you to,” Evans said. “Especially now, in this emergency.”
“Oh, I will. I will,” Hayes said. He took out a cigarette and began walking it along his knuckles, the cigarette disappearing below his pinky at the end and reappearing on his thumb to start again.
Brightly got off his perch and squatted before Hayes. He was still taller than Hayes by an inch. Brightly reached forward and plucked the cigarette from his hands and crushed it into dust. Hayes watched the tobacco rain onto the carpet around his feet.
“Look at me, Cyril,” Brightly said softly. “Listen to me, please. I know I made mistakes. I admit that. But we need you to be on your best behavior now. We need you to do everything you can. Everything else, everything else that’s happened before, that’s in the past. We need your help. Will you give it to us?”
Hayes frowned. “All right. I’ll do what I can.”
Brightly nodded and stood up and took a breath. “Good,” he said. “Good then.” Then he reached into his pocket again, checked his watch, and walked to the far corner of the room, where he looked out the window with his hands behind his back.
Evans jumped in, taking up some unseen cue. “A list of tasks is being compiled at the moment. You’ll get
