“And after that?”
“Oh, after that, it was as you said, fortune smiled. Nico was gone most evenings but always came home smiling. He finally began talking about some of his performances. We moved to better and better places. It was like a dream. I had no idea one could make so much money from music! Papa would have been astonished and proud, if he had been here to see his son.”
The timing was right, Inez thought. What Carmella and Abbott had told her wasn’t hard proof, but maybe enough. She felt a modicum of guilt for leading Carmella in this direction, inadvertently betraying her brother, as it were. But then, Carmella had clearly been doing some maneuvering of her own, so Inez shushed the small voice of conscience, finished her tea, and stood.
“Thank you, Carmella. I should go. I promised Antonia that I would be home in time to take her to dinner.” Inez added, “I have always thought of you as a friend, Carmella.” The words just popped out, and Inez realized that even given all that had occurred, she still had a soft spot for the young woman. “So, your brother hasn’t been home today?”
She shook her head. “He came in late last night, I think, but was gone when I woke up. I’ve not seen him all day. If he is in the store, please send him home.”
Inez nodded, a tickle of worry worming its way inside.
Carmella walked her to the door and Inez paused. “One last question. I almost forgot. I noticed Nico had a new cloak last night. Very handsome, but not as ‘kingly’ as his previous one. What happened to the lovely one with the unusual collar, do you know? It was such a mark of distinction.”
Carmella leaned on the doorframe, absently wiping her hands on her apron. “I was sad when he lost it. He told me he accidently left it in a hack early this week. He tried to track down the carriage and recover it, but alas, it was long gone. The new one is nice, but no replacement for the old. Clothes make the man, yes?”
In this case, thought Inez grimly, clothes might unmake the man. Particularly, Nico’s various lies to different people about the fate of his trademark cloak. As she made her way home, she thought long and hard about what she’d learned that day. A man of impulse, Nico wasn’t keeping his stories straight. But perhaps he thought it of no consequence. Certainly, by itself, a missing cloak meant nothing. However, the timing was suspicious.
And the fact that Nico had accompanied the union treasurer Eli Greer on his fateful rounds—or, who knows, perhaps Nico just happened upon him and offered to go with him—was not damning in itself. But she could imagine what might have happened. Perhaps once Nico saw the case of money he was…what?…overcome by temptation? Saw a quick way to pull himself and Carmella out of the downward spiral they were in?
There was no way to know unless she asked him directly, which she was not about to do. She wondered if Jamie Monroe had wandered down a similar path, only in his case, perhaps he met Nico, late one night, and, in a bid to win Carmella’s hand, threatened to disclose certain “suspicious coincidences” of timing.
A shrewd and levelheaded man would have pooh-poohed the whole thing. Who would believe such a story, so full of holes and half-guesses? And how could it be proved? But, someone more impulsive, like Nico—who was obsessed with his reputation and appearance—just might in a fit of rage or fear take the most direct route to putting such tales to rest.
Shooting the messenger, Inez thought, always led to disaster.
All the hacks rolling past were occupied, and in any case, her available money had gone to Abbott and the driver Joseph Lynch. Deciding to walk, Inez allowed her feet to pick the route home. She headed up Bush, the cool evening air brushing her over-warm cheeks, one hand resting on the grip of her Smoot, just in case. The street rose gently ahead of her. She paused once at the corner of Jones, gazing up the steeper grade toward Russian Hill and the undertaker’s, where she had identified Robert Gallagher only to have Carmella claim him as Jamie Monroe. If she had known where all this would lead, would she still have made that trip with Carmella or would she have insisted on going alone?
The rest of the way home, Inez pondered how she was going to present her findings to de Bruijn and ultimately to Harry. Harry had threatened to destroy her life and livelihood in San Francisco. Having mulled his threats for a week now, she was doubting he could do all he claimed. But if Nico turned out to be guilty of murdering young Gallagher, wouldn’t the results be the same? If it all went public, Nico jailed and charged, the store would not recover. The musicians who hung on his every word and gave life to the business would disappear. As would the customers.
And what would happen to Carmella?
Arriving back at the building, Inez glanced first into the depths of the store, shuttered and dark.
No one. Not even a flicker of light in the back office.
Good.
She did not want to face Nico without knowing what her path forward would be. At the least, she would continue acting “normally,” so as not to rouse his suspicions.
A hack stood at the corner, the driver wrapped in an overcoat, wide-brimmed hat
