Red Dog Conspiracy, Act 1

The Jacq of Spades-3

I smiled. “A pleasure to see you too.”

She flinched and set her jaw. So disdain, not shyness, kept her from greeting me.

Get in line with the rest, sugar.

The Harts’ Inventor (and heir) Etienne Hart never acknowledged us, so engrossed was he in his book. His thick spectacles had a multiplicity of lenses for closer magnification.

Julius and Rachel Diamond, so dark of skin and hair, were the most attractive and the youngest of the Family heads. They gained their title when the elder Mr. Diamond turned his cards in six years ago.

Rumor had it the father’s death was not natural, but who expected a Family Patriarch to die in peace?

Julius wore a black tuxedo with a white cravat. Ironic, since Tony wore the same. Rachel wore a beaded, embroidered silver-gray gown. One of the Diamond sons (they had seven in all) stood across the table. We waited at a discreet distance until the man finished conversing with his father.

The man, just past thirty, glared at Tony when he saw us, then left. We came forward.

“Hello,” Mr. Diamond said, but he didn’t offer his hand to either of us. A powerfully built man, but a fiercely suspicious one.

“Hello, sir.” Tony didn’t offer his hand either.

Julius Diamond had never spoken to Tony in my presence otherwise. Something deep lay in his eyes, close to outrage, as if Tony once gave him a terrible insult which felt fresh, which he could never forgive. Tony had never revealed what sparked his wrath; he accepted the anger as if he deserved it.

“One of these days we must get together.” Mrs. Diamond spoke in a childlike tone. Could she be unaware of her younger son’s vendetta against our Family, the glares of her older son, the open hostility of her husband?

They say Rachel Diamond was once a brilliant woman, who never recovered from the death of her father-in-law. I felt it a pity not to have met her before then. “Yes, we must.”

Their Inventor, a thin man with a face to match, tinkered with his pocket-watch there at the table, unaware of our presence.

Alexander and Regina Clubb had bright blue eyes and golden hair. Lean and athletic, they appeared much younger than the truth, by all accounts. Some whispered Regina must be at least seventy, her oldest daughter being over fifty. Whatever her age, Regina had smooth skin and a fine figure. Her royal blue gown matched Alexander’s cravat.

Alexander Clubb had a mechanical left arm, a memento from the Bloody Year long before my birth. Rumor said his arm was a marvel, made by a master craftsman, and all the fingers worked. Just a glint of bronze and leather showed between his white glove and shirtsleeve when he greeted us.

“We’re launching our new yacht next month, assuming the weather holds warm,” Mrs. Clubb said. “Would you like to visit for a week in the Spring?”

We glanced at each other. The invitation seemed genuine. “Certainly!” Tony said. “Please send word when you’re ready.”

Their Inventor, a young brown-haired woman, smiled and shook hands without rising. To speak with another Family’s Inventor raised suspicion. So our duties completed and the music waning, we descended to join the real party.

I glanced back at the dais. “What do you suppose the Clubbs were about?”

Tony smiled for the first time since entering the ballroom. “We’ll learn soon enough. Neither of them breathe without it being part of some intrigue.”

The loudspeaker blared, the applause died down, and the music began. Tony and I danced a slow waltz, deliberately circling the dais. This gave us the opportunity to survey the room. Couples from all four Families danced around us. Since the Bad Times, much of the city’s population had Family ties, even if “under the table.”

”Fled, dead, or in a Family bed,“ so it was said.

Lance Clubb, a shy blond man of three and twenty, chatting with Julius Diamond? A more unlikely pair I couldn’t imagine.

“What do you find funny?”

I gestured with my chin, and Tony peeked at the two.

Julius Diamond beamed, shaking Lance Clubb’s hand with enthusiasm.

“I have a guess as to that.”

“Do tell.”

“You like puzzles, solve it yourself.”

Lance was Alex and Regina Clubb’s youngest child, only son, and the Clubb Family heir. But what could he have said to please Julius Diamond so much? I needed more information, so I put the matter aside.

The music ended, the loudspeaker died away, and we turned to promenade the room. “A drink?” Tony said.

“Will they serve anything stronger than port?”

“It’s unseemly for you to drink liquor in public.”

I laughed. “You mean to drink a ‘man’s drink.’“

He continued on with the same pace, his face and body not showing his emotions. He was a master at it. “No, Jacqui, you drink too much. The amount you drink at these events is commented upon.”

I patted his arm. “I am always in perfect control of my faculties. I would never cause you embarrassment.”

“We shall see.” But he brought me to the bar anyway. Tony could never deny me anything back then.

The bar did have some proper drinks after all. I chose a rum and soda. Tony chose a table across the room where we could see the staircase, the dais, and the dancers.

“The perfect place to sit,” I said, and Tony smiled.

Our rather long table filled with sycophants, Tony’s main men, and their dance partners.

Major Blackwood, white-whiskered and round, classified in the first group. As always, in uniform, which I suspected was custom-made well after leaving the service.

Major Blackwood made his living by being amusing at parties. He then secured invitations to luncheon, dinner, and tea the rest of the year. I imagine this saved him quite a bit of money.

The Major began regaling the ladies at the far end of the table with a bawdy story from his days in the military.

“… I had a time when I was shot in the leg when I was in the Army, and I learned to use a cane,” he brandished it, “to get around, and began to rely on it for fetching other things near to my bed … pretty nurses, for example!”

The ladies giggled.

“The use of a cane is like a habit to me, and I was walking along once …”

Since they were at the other end of the long table, the music was a bit too loud for me to hear him properly. I spent the time watching the orchestra.

“They play well,” Tony said. “I’ll have Michaels send a note of congratulations to the leader.” Jacob Michaels was Tony’s manservant, like my Amelia. The idea of servitude is abominable, but few people care what I think.

“That would be lovely.” I drank more of my rum.

“… why, it wouldn’t have been gentlemanly for me to just let her lie there …” Major Blackwood said.

A fair quality rum, but they served better the year before. Had Roy Spadros taken up economizing as his new hobby?

“I remember when I was in the military,” Major Blackwood said, “the scrapes I got into …”

I wanted a cigarette, but it annoyed Roy when women smoked. I didn’t need to attract his attention tonight.

“… and we hoisted the horse onto the ROOF!”

Gales of laughter came from the other end of the table. Tony and I grinned at each other.

When the set finished and the applause died down, the announcer said, “MASTER JOSEPH KERR, AND HIS SISTER, MISS JOSEPHINE KERR.”

I sat, mouth open in shock, my heart beating painfully. I could hardly breathe.

Joseph Kerr.

When I saw him on the stair after all those years, I knew he was going to be trouble.

Dark brown hair, green eyes, golden skin, stylishly and immaculately dressed, his body toned and taut. Sensual as a cat, a large, dangerous cat, exciting and sleek, languid yet fierce.

Still the most handsome man I have ever seen. He knew he was handsome, and from the rumors, used it to good advantage.

Arm in arm with his twin, Joseph Kerr acknowledged the applause all the way down the stair. Josephine was as blond as Joe was dark, beautiful, and single. I heard many stories of their exploits over the years. Every young man wanted her; every young woman wanted him.

Josie refused every man who asked for her hand, a source of constant discussion and speculation. As far as I knew, Joe never asked anyone for her hand since the night we last met. This sparked less controversy and more speculation as to who would tame him. No one ever asked my opinion, for which I felt grateful.

I watched Joseph and Josephine Kerr descend the stairs. The unmarried set gathered around them, laughing and talking.

Joseph Kerr was only a year older than I, yet had a reputation as a gambler, a womanizer, a dandy. Some accused him of worse. But most people defamed the Kerrs since they lost control of Bridges four generations ago.

A waiter approached, so I finished my drink and exchanged the empty glass for a glass of champagne on his tray. Tony took a glass too, and asked the waiter to bring some for the whole table.

Tony stood, addressing his men. “This has been a good year for the Spadros Family, and it’s because of you. To greater success in the New Year.”

I paused, remembering a magical night long ago, then smiled up at Tony. This time, it was genuine, the smile of a woman who adored her man, a woman in love. Tony, confident in his triumph, gave me the same smile in return. If I thought about it too long, it might break my heart.

In my whole life up to then, I had only loved one man. I had given my whole heart to this man, my very soul, if you (unlike most) should think I owned one.

“To greater success in the New Year,” the rest of the table said, and sipped at their glasses.

That man …

… was Joseph Kerr.

The champagne tasted bitter, but I drank my glass dry.

I went to the Spadros Ladies’ Room just off the ballroom and found Amelia to get another smoke.

“Are you enjoying yourself?” Amelia said.

“Certainly.” I sat and let Amelia light my cigarette, while the attendants fussed with my gown and hair.

Why was Joseph Kerr here, now, tonight, of all nights? Where had he been all these years? Why had he never sent one word? I took a drag, and tried to blow away the melancholy in smoke.

The wind blew chill beside Benjamin Kerr’s statue, broken upon the ground. Burns and ax-marks and hateful words decorated it.

Joe stared at the ruin. “My ancestor.” He surveyed the shattered plaza. “One day this place could be good, like he made it. No more cold, no more rags.” He took my hands in his. “I love you, Jacqui. I want you by me when all this is set right. Will you have me?”

“I will.” I kissed his hands. “But how can I? I’m to marry his boy.”

Joe turned away. “My daddy’s old man has money, I seen it. We can go on the zeppelin, far from here. Just think, Jacqui … we’ll be free.”

That was six years before. I believed Joe, and gave him all a girl had to give a man.

That night, my mother woke me. She put me into a carriage with people I had never met, to live with people who had only disdain for me.

Roy Spadros said if I set foot in the Spadros portion of the Pot again, he would burn Ma’s cathedral with everyone in it.

I never saw Joe again, until tonight.

I still loved him.

I put out the cigarette and went to the door.