Chapter Ten
Three Days After the Murder
THEODORE’S CARRIAGE STOPPED outside of the artist’s studio at ten past ten the next morning.
It was gray and drizzly, and Grace pulled down her hat.
She had dressed conservatively for the visit: a crisp white blouse, unadorned with lace or embroidery.
A wool skirt to keep out the chill, a gray hat with a spray of white flowers.
If Lillie had been in a better mood, she might have called them drab.
But Grace knew that the last thing she needed to do that day was draw attention to herself.
The door to the carriage opened and Theodore helped her inside to join Lillie and Earnest.
Lillie’s face was shadowed, but she brightened perceptibly as she moved to make room.
Earnest handed Grace a small bouquet of flowers that matched the one that Lillie was clutching in her hands.
“A little something from our garden, in the hopes it might cheer you.” He lowered his voice.
“I hope it does, as I faced the wrath of our formidable gardener for picking them.”
“How delightful. I am effectively cheered.” Grace smelled the fresh tulips and Virginia bluebells. She squeezed Lillie’s arm and asked, “How did you escape this morning?”
“I told my parents I was going to the fair with Mr. Parker and the Allreds,” Lillie said. “I thought Frannie might come today, but she’s been so scarce. She must be taking Harriet’s death hard.”
Grace wanted to tell Lillie that Frannie was no friend at all. But she couldn’t very well say that in front of Earnest, no matter how much he might agree with her. She took one look at Lillie’s anxious face and decided that she wouldn’t add that burden to her now.
“Perhaps we’ll see her today,” Grace said. “I think we should go to the fair after our visit with Oliver.”
“The fewer lies we tell the better?” Lillie ventured ruefully.
“And because of the people there we need to talk to.”
Earnest helped them out of the carriage.
The Four Courts jail was an imposing building three stories tall and the length of a city block.
It was made of buff limestone and its mansard roofs were topped with a decorative cupola.
It would have been lovely save for the large, foreboding morgue on the northeast corner, and the gallows in the courtyard where the public executions took place.
When they stepped inside the first floor of the jail building, the doors slammed behind them and the air was laced with chill. Theo spoke to the head jailer and his clerk, exchanging words in low voices. The clerk glanced over at Lillie and Grace and Earnest.
Then the head jailer gave a dismissive nod, and the clerk walked them through the long corridor, their steps echoing.
Earnest took Lillie and Grace on each arm, and Grace was grateful for his solid presence.
Lillie seemed grateful for it, too, especially as the clerk unlocked a door and brought them into a private room.
Oliver was sitting at a wooden table. He was handcuffed and had an armed guard with him.
“Oliver,” Lillie said. She ran forward to hug him, and the guard stared straight ahead.
Oliver wiped the tears falling from Lillie’s face. “I’m sorry I have caused you all this pain,” he said.
“We’re going to get you out of here, Ollie,” Lillie said. “Grace and me. Even if everyone else fails.” Her voice became steel. “I swear to you.”
“They won’t let you post bail?” Earnest asked, joining him at the table. “Surely your parents would post it for you.”
“They won’t,” he said.
“But why not?” Lillie asked.
“I’m up against bigger forces than even the Carter name can handle.”
“What do you mean?” Grace asked.
“They need this to be a lovers’ quarrel. Nothing more. Which means no one is eager to find another culprit.”
“So they aren’t even looking?” Lillie’s face went white.
There was a beat of silence.
“It will be much better for you if it’s an overdose,” Earnest said quietly.
Oliver shook his head vehemently. “She wasn’t on anything that night. Or any other. That just… wasn’t who she was.”
But how well had any of them known her? Grace wondered. Harriet had been hiding something, and it had gotten her killed.
“What were you arguing about just before she died?” Grace asked.
“I was inquiring about why on earth she went to the Tunnels. She told me she was meeting someone, but she couldn’t talk about it there. I asked if it was romantic in nature.”
“Did she deny it?” Grace asked.
“She was indignant. She said of course not. She insisted that it was something professional. But the argument began because she was insulted, and she also asked if I was spying on her.”
Something professional, Grace noted. But why couldn’t she discuss it that night? Because it was dangerous? Because the person she had met in the Tunnels was also there at the party? Could it have been the singer Ethel Adams? The talent manager? That man who had approached her at the restaurant?
Surely someone in the Tunnels must have seen who Harriet was meeting that day.
“Perhaps this was nothing but a tragic accident,” Grace said to Oliver. “Perhaps the autopsy results will clear you.”
He nodded, as though trying to appear hopeful for her sake. But the cousin she knew had faded into a wisp of shadow.
When their visit ended, the clerk escorted them out. Earnest tried to cheer Lillie, but it grated on Grace’s nerves. For once she was grateful for Theo’s dark, silent stoicism. As they waited for the carriage, a boy began to set up his newspaper wagon on the opposite corner.
“Papers!” he yelled. He waved a copy in the air. “Special edition!”
Lillie paled. She clutched Grace’s hand, trying to read the screaming headline at the corner newsstand. “Look at the size of the font. There must be news.”
She started to run forward, but Theo stopped her.
“Let someone else,” he said gently.
“I’ll go,” Grace said. Earnest came with her and they strode over the gravel streets, kicking up dust in their haste.
Grace’s hands trembled as she paid for the paper, taking the thin newsprint between her fingers. Letting the news sink through her.
“Oh, Oliver,” she breathed.
“What does it say?” Earnest asked, his voice soft behind her.
She handed him the paper.
STRYCHNINE POISONING! ACTRESS’S AUTOPSY CONFIRMS MURDER
“So Harriet was, in fact, poisoned,” Earnest said.
Grace took in a deep breath. “And now they are really going to go after Oliver for her murder.”
Earnest looked at Grace with a growing unease.
“But we both know he didn’t do it,” he said slowly.
“Yes,” Grace said, swallowing. “Which means the real murderer is still out there.”
Grace believed, deep down, that Oliver couldn’t have done this.
But she remembered, clear as day, him handing Harriet the glass just before she died. And she knew that meant that dozens of others did, too.
“We have to go to the Tunnels,” she said. “Maybe someone saw who Harriet was speaking to that morning.”
“Absolutely not,” Earnest said. “I know I sound like Frannie, but no self-respecting lady can go into the Tunnels.”
“Well, I’ve already been once before. I followed Harriet. It’s my fault they were fighting before she died. I told him she had gone to the Tunnels and he confronted her. I have to do this for Oliver. And, with all due respect, no one here is going to stop me.”
Earnest shook his head. “But think of Lillie. I’d argue that she can’t be seen there. There are too many people who might recognize her. They’ll jump to conclusions. Think she’s… self-medicating after what’s happened.”
Lillie stuck out her chin. “I don’t care about any of that. Not if it helps Oliver.”
“Listen. I’m meant to meet Copper and Frannie at the Olympic track today so Copper can train. We could go talk to them. Ask them what they saw,” Earnest said.
“I’ll go with Grace,” Theo offered quietly.
A look of anger and sadness flashed in Lillie’s eyes. She pulled Grace to the side. “No more secrets between us,” she said. “Us and everyone else—yes. But none between you and me.”
“I promise,” Grace said. And she meant it.
She felt the faintest twinge within her as Earnest put his arm around Lillie and led her away. She told herself she was being silly.
She turned around and was faced with Theodore Parker. Again.
“I don’t have to tell you that this could be quite dangerous,” he said.
“I know,” she said.
“It’s dangerous in the Tunnels. But it’s also risky to be poking around this. If someone murdered Harriet, they probably wouldn’t hesitate to kill anyone else who got too close to the truth.” His eyes darkened.
“Does this mean you’re concerned about me, Theodore Parker?” she asked.
“I’d hate for you to get murdered just when you’re starting to grow on me.”
“I have that effect on people,” she said. “I’m irresistible.”
“Hmm,” he said. “Some would say tolerable.”
“These are for purchasing and then reading,” the newsstand man said curtly, stepping forward to block Grace’s view of the newspapers. He crossed his arms.
“Leave her alone,” Theodore barked, turning on him. “I’m buying whichever one she wants.”
A ray of warmth winked through Grace and she selected one of the papers. “This is going to help us.”
She showed him a printed image of Harriet’s face.
Theo cocked an eyebrow. “Good thinking,” he said.
He paid for multiple copies, and they began walking down the Pike, toward the Tunnels.
“Aren’t you worried about your reputation?” Grace asked. “What will people say about you going into the Tunnels with a girl so below your station?” She kept her voice light, but they both knew the dark streak of truth that lurked beneath it.
He said with disdain, “I’ve better things to worry about than big mouths paired with small minds.”
She snorted. “Those things do end up together quite frequently, don’t they?”
“Here we are,” he said. “Stay close to me.” He took her by the arm, a little more forcefully than she was expecting. “I’m serious, Covington.”