What happened.
I'll tell you in a minute. They're almost done.
The orchestra, which had been waiting silently, burst into a crescendo, and the dance was over. The children were instantly surrounded by the director, the stage manager, costumers, and their mother.
Aren't they wonderful? I found them on the Orpheum Circuit in San Francisco. The top vaudeville circuit. I've persuaded their mother to let them appear in my new movie.
What happened to your movie about the bank robbers?
The detective's girlfriend caught them.
I suspected she would. What's wrong? You don't sound yourself. What happened?
I'm not sure. I may be silly, but it seemed sensible to call you. Did you ever meet Katherine Dee?
She's a friend of Dorothy Langner. I've seen her at a distance. I've not met her.
Lowell introduced her to me at the Michigan launching. She hinted that she would like to come out to the movie studio. It was on the tip of my tongue to invite her. She looks like she might be one of those creatures the camera is so fond of-you know, as I've told you, the large head, fine features, slight torso. Like that boy you just saw dancing.
Bell glanced at the stage. He looks like a praying mantis.
Yes, the narrow head, the big, luminous eyes. Wait 'til you see him smile.
I gather you did not invite Katherine Dee. What changed your mind?
She's very strange.
How?
Call it what you will. Intuition. Instinct. Something about her does not ring true.
Never deny a gut feeling, said Bell. You can always change your mind later.
Thank you, darling. I do feel a little silly, and yet . . . when I was away in San Francisco, she came out to see me in Fort Lee. Uninvited. She just showed up. And now she just showed up again this morning.
What did she say?
I didn't give her a chance. I was rushing to the ferry to see these children and their mother, who is also their manager and very ambitious. I just waved and kept going. She called out something about offering to give me a lift. I think she had a car waiting. I just kept moving and hopped the ferry. Isaac, I'm sure I'm being silly. I mean, Lowell Falconer knows her. He didn't seem to think she was strange. On the other hand, I doubt anyone in a skirt would be strange to Lowell.
Who told you she had shown up when you were in San Francisco?
Mademoiselle Duvall.
What did she think of Katherine?
I think she sensed what I sensed, though not as strongly. Strange people often show up at the studio. The movies tug at them. They imagine all sorts of fantastical futures for themselves. But Katherine Dee is different. She's obviously well-off and well-bred.
She's an orphan.
Oh, my Lord! I didn't realize. Maybe she does need the work.
Her father left her a fortune.
How do you know?
We've investigated everyone in the Hull 44 set.
So I'm probably imagining things.
Better safe than sorry. I'll have Research dig deeper.
Come meet the children . . . Fred, say hello to my fiancE, Mr. Bell.
Hello, Mr. Bell, Fred mumbled, staring at his shoes. He was a shy little guy, seven or eight.
Hello, Fred. When I came in, I heard you dancing so fast I thought it was a machine gun.
Did you? He looked up and studied Bell with a warm smile.
How's Miss Morgan treating you?
Oh, she's very nice.
I agree.
And this is Adele, said Marion. The girl was buoyant, several years older, and did not need any coaxing. Are you really Miss Morgan's fiancE?
I'm the lucky man.
I'll say you are!
I'll say you're very wise. What's the movie about?
Adele looked surprised when little Fred answered for her. Child dancers are captured by Indians.
What's it called?
The Lesson. The kids teach the Indians a new dance and they let them go.
Sounds uplifting. I look forward to seeing it. Pleased to meet you, Fred. He shook his little hand again. Pleased to meet you, Adele. He shook hers.
Marion said, I'll see you in the morning, children, and called to their mother, Eight o'clock call, Mrs. Astaire.
They stood alone at the back of the house.
Bell said, When you get back to Fort Lee tomorrow morning, you will see someone you know dressed like an Indian. Give him a part that will keep him near you at all times.
Archie Abbott?
He's the only man I would trust with your life, other than Joe Van Dorn. But no one would ever believe that Mr. Van Dorn dressed up like an Indian was looking for an acting job in your movie. Whereas Archie would have been an actor if his mother had not forbidden it. Until we can be sure that Katherine Dee means no harm, Archie will watch over you at work during the day. At night, I want you to stay at the Knickerbocker.
An unmarried lady alone in a respectable hotel? What will the house detective say?
If he knows what's good for him, he'll say, Good night, Mr. Bell. Sleep tight.'
ISAAC BELL WENT BACK into the streets. He felt he was getting close, so close that he carried sandwiches in his coat pockets assuming that a man living as on the edge as Billy Collins would be glad of a meal. There had been two more sightings. Both were on Ninth Avenue near where it ended abruptly at 33rd Street by the huge hole in the ground they were excavating for the Pennsylvania Terminal rail yard.
He went to the construction site, shabbily dressed, and watched for the tall, thin silhouette he had seen in the coal pocket. An entire district of the city-six acres of houses, apartments, shops, and churches-had vanished. Ninth Avenue crossed the gigantic hole on stiltlike temporary shoring girders that held up two streetcar lines, the roadbed, and a trestle for pedestrians. Propped high above it, Ninth Avenue Elevated locals and expresses still ran, rumbling across the gaping
