What was he up to, that he felt it necessary to bury her in an avalanche of blossoms? She couldn’t imagine that he was concerned that she might leave the business. Although, if he thought there might be a romantic possibility between her and Harry, and that Harry might lure her back to Colorado, that could account for the sudden effusiveness.
A knock at the back door brought her out of her musings, and she hurried to open it. Otto Klein stood on the other side, sweating and looking harassed. A cart, horse, and driver lingered in the alleyway behind him. “I am sorry to come calling at such an early hour, Frau Stannert, but I wondered if you could help me. Yet again. It has to do with Jamie Monroe.”
The cart, she noticed, was piled with several trunks and musical cases. She also saw a music stand poking up out of the chaos. Otto continued, “You see, I have not been all truthful with you. Two weeks ago, Jamie and I had a falling out over the rent. I was having to foot the bill. A while ago, I said, ‘No more’. Last night, Isaac Pérez told me there was a room to let in his boardinghouse. It is less expensive, with many of our friends there. I had to decide quickly. I paid the rent and I am moving out today. I have most things, one more trip. But you see, there is Jamie’s trunk.” He glanced at the cart. “He has not come back. I do not think it proper for me to take it with me. Perhaps you could keep it, until he returns? If he does.”
Inez’s mind was already working over the possibilities. If she could get into that trunk, who knows what she might find. “Certainly. You can put it upstairs, in the storage room.”
“That would be wonderful!” He looked quite relieved.
Inez pointed to the seldom-used, outside staircase clinging to the backside of the two-story building. “That way would be best. I’ll unlock the door at the top.”
Otto and the driver struggled to pull a large trunk out of the cart and up the rickety stairs. Inez went up first, sorting through her keys until she found the one that fit the back door at the top of the stairs. She unlocked the door and entered, peering about the dim interior, finally pointing to the wall by the dusty window that overlooked the alley. “Right here would be best, where it is out of the way.”
She frowned. The sash window was pulled up a couple of inches. Had it been that way for a while? She seldom came into the storage room and couldn’t recall if perhaps she’d opened the window to air things out and forgot to close it.
Once the trunk was placed, the window closed, and the back door locked, they all headed down. Back in the alley, Inez asked Otto, “Do you recall anything about the longshoreman who knows Monroe and came to your boardinghouse? His name? Where he works?”
Otto mopped his brow. “Sven Borg. Said he worked the lumber trade on the docks.”
She tucked the name away for future reference.
“He told you he recognized Jamie from his activities in the labor movement?” she asked.
Otto nodded, looking at the cart. The driver was whistling softly. “I believe so.”
“She ventured another question. “Was Jamie working in that area? Do you know?”
“Ach.” Otto looked distressed. “He has been working late nights into early mornings. Not so unusual. But he didn’t like to talk about where. I think it was perhaps somewhere on the Barbary Coast. Or perhaps by the wharves at Mission Creek, where the body was found.”
“It is not a good place down there at night,” he added. “I hope you do not plan to go there looking for this Herr Borg, Mrs. Stannert.”
Inez nodded, thinking back on what Jamie had written in his note to Carmella and what Carmella had said in the carriage. “I heard he had a new job lined up. Do you know anything about that? You say he hasn’t been paying the rent. He doesn’t have a source of regular income?”
“Ach. He is a musician. As with most of us, regular income is a dream. Why do you ask? Has someone identified the body? Is it Jamie?”
“I hope we will know soon.” Inez was not ready to announce to the world that Jamie was the unfortunate victim. Not with things as tangled as they were. She would have to say something eventually, but not yet. Not now.
He looked as if he had more questions, but the driver called out, “Mr. Klein, if this hire takes longer than we agreed upon, it’ll cost you more.”
Inez walked Otto to the cart. “If you come up with anything that might help determine Jamie’s whereabouts and activities, savory or unsavory, please let me know.”
“Very well.” He didn’t sound happy. “But, Mrs. Stannert, there may be things that would not be fit for a lady’s ears.”
She smiled grimly. And those are exactly the things that I need to hear.
Chapter Twenty-one
De Bruijn looked across the table, littered with the remains of breakfast, at his two female dining companions. They could not have been more different in their attentiveness. Mrs. Stannert, who had arrived late, looking harried but determined, had closely attended to his each and every word. He also gathered she was watching him closely for signs of…pretense? Weakness? Her powers of perception had been remarked upon by Mr. Gallagher as well as by others in Leadville who knew her, so he was prepared to be on his guard when dealing with her face to face.
Mrs. Sweet, on the other hand,
