The Ace Of Clubs

The Witness

The Witness

A glittering dome sat on a barren plain. Underneath this vast structure, four mighty rivers traveled to its center, passing hills, fields, forests, and a grand city.

Far in the northeast quadrant amid an expanse of wheat, an enormous stained glass building stood shattered. An army of workers cleared the wreckage around its frame. Nearby, immense hot-air ships rose to, passed through, and descended before the watchful gaze of the Aperture high in the dome’s side.

Far in the southeast quadrant, mist covered a country road. A dozen black carriages headed towards the city.

I sat locked inside the third carriage. Pale shapes of trees stood beyond the morning fog.

I understood better now why David Bryce refused to speak.

For a month I had stayed at the Spadros Country House — on doctor’s orders. Yet I hadn’t spent the past month simply sitting in the sun and walking the gardens. I had put a great deal of thought into the events of this current year, most notably Marja’s death.

My husband Tony sat to my right on the bench seat, holding up a newspaper, the breeze ruffling his straight black hair.

Master Blaze Rainbow (who I thought of by the name I knew him first as, Morton) sat on the bench seat across from me, his brown Derby hat in his lap. His fingers drummed on the crown of his hat, then he took out his brass pocket watch and wound it.

Tony’s first cousin, Master Ten Hogan (who the men called Sawbuck), sat across from Tony. He appeared stoic and resigned, as if he had some unpleasant and unwanted task ahead.

Between me and Tony: my little white and gray bird, perched inside a white rectangular cage bridging the gap between the bench seats.

I suppose someone thought bringing the bird with us to our Country House would improve my spirits. But I had Tony buy it for me when we married, so I would never forget I lived in a cage.

One of Tony’s men rode past the window outside, his pistol in its holster.

My bird chirped in alarm, flitting about as if anxious to be anywhere else.

I lay my hand on the top of the cage, heart pounding. “Shhh. All is well.”

Tony smiled at it, his dark blue eyes amused, before turning his newspaper to the next page.

Marja helped raise me. She’d always been kind, especially to my childhood friends Joseph and Josephine Kerr.

Marja treated Josie as her own daughter: bringing her food, finding shoes for her, combing her hair. When Polansky Kerr IV brought his grandchildren to Hart quadrant, Marja accompanied them as their housekeeper.

But something went wrong between them: they sent Marja to work for Josie’s uncle in Spadros quadrant. A few weeks later, Marja sent me a note saying “they” planned to kill my mother. Her note never said who or why. The night I went to meet with Marja to learn more, Sawbuck and I found her lying on the sidewalk: shot, dying.

My little bird fluttered around its cage; tiny feathers flew everywhere. I peered at it. “Might we administer a sedative? It seems so agitated.”

Tony shook his head. “The doctor said the bird’s too small for dosing — an attempt might harm it more than its distress.” He glanced out of the window. “We should be home soon.”

My bird perched, its tiny chest heaving.

One day I’ll fly far from here.

My eyes burned at the sudden memory. I put my arm around the end of the cage. “All will be well.”

Yet we traveled from one prison to another.

I had to learn who killed Marja. I had to get me and my Ma out of Bridges before someone killed us too. Frank Pagliacci and Jack Diamond had to pay for what they did to me, David Bryce, his family, my informants, and Tony.

But locked in that carriage, my captors surrounding it, there seemed no way to achieve any of those things.

The headline on the front page of Tony’s paper read:

CORONER’S INQUEST

Zeppelin Explosion Investigation:

Clubbs Refuse Federal Oversight

The headline made perfect sense. I could see no reason to let the Feds into Bridges. This inquest seemed merely a way to placate the city — and the Traveler’s Federation — until the Clubb Family disposed of the culprits.

I peered at the newspaper, but with the breeze moving the page, I couldn’t read the date. “What day is it?”

“The fifteenth of April,” Sawbuck said, in a morose tone.

“Tuesday,” Morton said, at the same time.

Tony seemed not to notice my question.

“Mr. Spadros, what news interests you so?”

Tony turned his head towards me slowly, his eyes fixed on the page, then looked at me. “It lists who must appear as witnesses before the inquest.” He glanced at the newspaper. “It lists half the city!”

Morton said, “A public examination of gentlemen?”

Tony nodded. “The District Attorney demanded it.”

Morton frowned. “It’s unseemly.”

Tony pursed his lips. “I agree.” He peered at the paper. “The affair looks to go on for some time.” He shook the paper, folded it to present one page. “This article mentions Dame Anastasia —”

Dame Anastasia Louis had been one of my closest friends amongst the quadrant-folk of Bridges. Now she was dead. Murdered, I suspected, by Frank Pagliacci and his Red Dog Gang.

“— and her swindle of the city, but also, her accomplices.”

I leaned forward. “Accomplices?” Perhaps I might learn who gave her the bomb which killed her.

“Well, her ‘appraisers’,” Tony said. “She coached these men to claim her jewels were worth much more than their actual value in return for a cut of the profits. Every one of them has vanished. Their families are understandably distraught.”

Vanished? “This is incredible. How many were there?”

Tony examined the paper. “Over twenty.”

I chuckled in spite of myself. “An Oh-one for certain.”

Sawbuck snickered.

Tony and Morton stared at us both.

“I don’t understand,” Tony said.

Of course he wouldn’t! “It’s something we did in the Pot. When I was a child. A saying.” I glanced at Morton, then Tony. “I’m sure it wouldn’t interest you.”

“Not at all,” Morton said. “The Pot’s of special interest.”

Tony’s eyes widened. “Is that so?”

“Indeed,” Morton said to Tony, “I’ve studied it for many years. The Pot was wealthy and beautiful before the Coup.” He shook his head. “A pity.” He said to me, “What is this ‘Oh-one’?”

Sawbuck said, “Mum, that’s not something —”

Tony said, “Hush, Ten, let her talk.”

Sawbuck frowned, but said nothing.

I stuck out my hand, the index and thumb together, the middle extended, the rest curled under. “Oh-one. You see? It means ...” Absolutely f****d is what it meant, but Sawbuck was right: I probably shouldn’t say that in front of fine gentlemen. “... real trouble: everyone for himself. It means run, and no one stop for anyone else, because otherwise we might all die.”

Tony blinked. “And have you seen this signal used?”

I chuckled. “Once or twice. Usually there’s a meet-up place set beforehand, so you know where to go.”

Tony said, “So assuming they’re not dead, we might find them, if we find their meet-up.”

“It’s been over a month,” Morton said. “Chances are they’ve met and gone their separate ways.” He frowned. “But if their families haven’t heard from them —”

“So they claim,” Sawbuck said.

“True,” said Morton. “But I’d be surprised if any meet-up hasn’t happened already.”

Tony sighed. “I hoped we might have something, some witness or evidence to give to the inquest, if only to offer assistance.” Tony turned to me. “I hope this doesn’t distress you.”

I shrugged. The inquest didn’t appear to be my concern.

The wind gusted in through the open window; my bird chirped and fluttered around the cage.

I rested my hand on the bars. “Shh, be still.”

My mind had gone round and round this past month, yet I had found few answers.

I wanted — no, needed — to get me and Ma out of Bridges. But I couldn’t think of how.

I didn’t have enough money for one zeppelin ticket, let alone two. Since the explosion, I was constantly watched, so I couldn’t take new cases. The Traveler’s Federation, outraged over their craft’s destruction, had taken over gate and cargo security in the zeppelin station. Everything was being searched, down to the smallest handbag. So there was no longer even a way to be smuggled out.

But if I had the tickets in my hand, I couldn’t leave without learning who shot Marja. She was family, and when I found the scoundrel who killed her, he would die.

I had few tangible clues: her note of warning (which I burned) and a scrap of paper in her dying hand which I couldn’t read. But she sent the warning from a produce distribution center in Spadros quadrant owned by the Clubb syndicate.

How dare the Clubb Family own a building in Spadros quadrant? Why did Roy Spadros allow it? The idea revolted me.

Morton said, “Was Dame Anastasia as bad a woman as they make her out to be?”

“You would have liked her,” I said. “She was old, yet beautiful — with a wicked past.”

Morton was in his mid-thirties, and laughed like a man who’d seen more of the world than he liked. “As have we all.”

I considered her last letter: I truly am fond of you, and I wish you well. “But I’d like to think she meant us no harm.”

Tony seemed quite interested in the inquest, and I wondered why. “Who’s to appear? Will we be expected to attend?” I didn’t particularly want to go — I felt sure it would be in some dank court hall on Market Center — but it seemed best to prepare.

Tony’s face turned grim. “You’re the key witness.”

My bird chirped and fluttered about its cage.

“I? For what possible reason?”

Tony folded his newspaper and set it aside. “This is one matter I wished to discuss, since you finally seem to be improving. And since you and Master Rainbow inexplicably appeared at the zeppelin station — in defiance of my father’s wishes — as the explosion took place. But up to now, neither of you would speak of it.”

Morton grimaced, glancing away.

I feared what Tony might do to Morton to uncover the truth, always feeling relieved when I saw Morton unharmed. “I told you what happened.” I’d told Tony that we changed plans at the last minute, going to the zeppelin station to see Anastasia off. A bit unbelievable, given Gardena Diamond’s attitude towards the woman, but the best I could come up with.

Tony said, “What I know is you received a letter. In the midst of your trip to the Diamond Women’s Club, you insisted on going to the zeppelin station.”

“Yet your men forced me to go to Diamond quadrant.”

“They took you where I told them to. We had strict orders not to go into Clubb quadrant until the Celebration. My father didn’t want the Spadros Family entangled in this.”

“So he knew this would happen?”

Tony shook his head. “All we had was rumor. You arrived at the Diamond Women’s Club just before one. The attendants at Gate 19 testified you arrived at the gate as the zeppelin left dock, which was half past three. Where were you the rest of the time?”

Morton didn’t move.

“We were delayed,” I said.

“By what?”

I faced him. “There was a great deal of traffic.”

“Traffic,” Tony said. “You were in traffic, at one in the afternoon, for two and a half hours? Also, the station guard testified that he greeted you — and a man fitting Master Rainbow’s description — at the train station entryway. Yet you tell me the Diamonds brought you by carriage, presumably through the front gate. Which is it?”

Morton and I exchanged an alarmed glance. They had the station guard examined? I recalled the man Morton gave his newspaper to, who directed us to the gate. What reason would they have to question him?

“And so,” Tony said, “therein lies the problem. Neither of you will speak. I have need of Master Rainbow — ”

Why would Tony have so much need of Morton?

“— so I have not induced him to break his oath — ”

Oath? I glanced at Morton, surprised, and he nodded to me.

Very clever, Master Rainbow.

“— and the doctor has been concerned enough about your condition that I haven’t pressed you. But the board of inquest will ask the same, and any misspoken word could be used against us. I must learn the truth if I’m to help.”

I frowned at him. “Why should I have need of help?”

Tony’s eyes widened. “Have you ever been to an inquest? A trial? Court proceedings of any kind?”

“Why, no.” No member of the Pot would be brought to trial or stand as witness. We’d either be shot in the street, or deemed unreliable to give evidence in crimes of any magnitude.

“These are serious matters,” Tony said. “We’ll meet with our attorneys to determine how to answer. But the most important thing is to determine the full truth of the matter.” He leaned back. “Then we can decide how to play it. We can’t just go in and speak; the words we use might be twisted any number of ways.”

“I don’t understand.”

Sawbuck stirred. “It’s open court, mum. The press, the rabble, anyone who wishes to will be present. A stray word, turned into some slogan, and we could have a mob at our door. I don’t mean to alarm you — it’s just the truth.” He lapsed into a glum demeanor, staring out of the window.

“Yes,” Tony said, “Ten — as usual — has said it best. So we must plan our course of action before we appear.” He leaned against the door frame, closing his eyes.

I felt relieved that he seemed to have forgotten his original line of questioning. Or wasn’t willing to speak of it further.

My little bird chirped, but seemed less distraught.

How could I tell Tony what happened? How could I relate my trip with Gardena Diamond to meet her blackmailer without revealing her role in her grandfather’s death?

Revealing the contents of Dame Anastasia’s letter, why I defied him and his father, disguised myself, and evaded his men, would reveal a great many things: my detective business, Anastasia’s relationship with Frank Pagliacci, how I learned about their scam.

If I told Tony that Morton and I rushed to the zeppelin station on the train as the police searched for us with pistols drawn ...

No. How could I tell Tony about any of it? Yet I felt Sawbuck’s gaze, and realized there was much he hadn’t revealed either. For example, that I wasn’t in my bed — as Tony believed — the night of Marja’s murder.

How long would it be before someone squealed?

I leaned against the carriage wall, heart pounding. The situation was getting out of control.

“I have other ways of learning the truth, Jacqui,” Tony said, “but I’d rather hear it from you.”