The Five of Diamonds

The Girl

The GirlMy sister-in-law Katherine Spadros had changed in the two years since I’d last seen her. Now fifteen, her face had lost its baby fat, and although she’d not developed much of a womanly form, she’d grown taller, and strong. I blinked at her, stunned. “What on earth are you wearing? And what have you done to your hair?”

She touched her formerly long auburn hair, now dyed black and cut to her chin. Then she flung her arm to her side. “It’s how I want it,” she said defiantly. “It’s certainly none of your concern.”

Morton smirked, his hands still firmly grasping Katherine’s shoulders. “I take it you’ve been introduced.”

I sighed. “Indeed.” We had to get her out without the entire quadrant knowing. “Put your mask back on.”

Katie frowned. “Why?”

A door opened and shut from far off, and voices rang in the hall.

I leaned closer and whispered, voice shaking. “You want your quadrant to learn you’ve been stealing from them? You’ll have everyone trying to kill you.”

Katie shook off Morton’s grasp. “I’m Katherine Spadros. No one would dare kill me!”

Grabbing her shoulders, Morton spun Katie around, then drew his revolver. “Put it on, or I’ll shoot you right now.”

Katie scowled. But she put on the mask.

Morton grinned at me. His gun’s hammer wasn’t c****d; I hadn’t seen him even load the thing.

Morton and I each took an arm, leading Katie past the apartment’s astonished owners. We ignored their questions and exclamations as we took her down a flight of stairs and out to my “plain” carriage parked around the corner.

Without markings, in the dark it looked remarkably like a taxi. My former day footman Skip Honor and my butler Blitz Spadros stood beside it, dressed in street clothing.

I handed her over. “Don’t take your eyes off her.”

I turned to Katie. “And don’t you say one — single — word.”

Katie looked angry, but she stayed silent. Morton and I returned to the homeowners.

After several burglaries, the collective’s Board went to our mutual lawyer Doyle Pike for help. Mr. Pike sent them to Mr. Jake Bower, his main investigator. Mr. Bower, who’d sent us cases from time to time, contacted me.

The past year hadn’t been kind to me: my reputation had been all but ruined amongst the high-card quadrant-folk. Did I care? No — except in instances like this.

The Board wasn’t entirely pleased to see me at our first meeting. But after much discussion, they agreed to our plan. And to my surprise, when the plan was presented to the entire membership, this elderly couple volunteered to leave their window open for the night’s exercise.

Their butler let us in, showing us to the parlor. When the pair saw us, they rushed over. The woman said, “You’ve caught the thief, then?”

Her husband’s face turned amused. “I’ll let the Board know.”

I held out my hand. “p*****t’s due in full, sir.”

“Oh, yes, quite right.” But he hesitated, I suppose, to pay a “Pot rag” woman. Instead, he glanced at his butler. “Pay the gentleman, and send a notice to the Board for our reimbursement.”

“Very good, sir.” The butler turned to Morton. “Follow me.”

Morton gave me a wry smile, then went into the hall.

The old woman said, “But who was it? Why would anyone steal from us?” She drew back, palm to her chest. “And how did they climb all the way up here?”

The fact that none of the burglaries had been on the bottom floor of this large complex gave me the idea that this might be a climber. “We’ll take care of it.”

Morton stood in the hall, putting an envelope into his brown tweed jacket’s left inner breast pocket.

I gestured at the envelope with my chin. “All in order?”

“It is.”

So we returned to the carriage. But rather than sitting quietly, the carriage rocked from side to side. Blitz stood at one door, Honor at the other, blocking the way.

Angry words came forth: “Scoundrels! Traitors! My father’ll have you killed!”

I pushed past Blitz, into her view. “Will he now?”

Katherine looked abashed.

I sat beside Katie; Morton climbed in to sit across from us.

“Lock the doors,” I told Honor. “And take us to Spadros Castle.”

He disappeared from view. The locks clicked into place.

Katie scowled, pulling off her mask, her hair wild. “Now I’m to be locked into the carriage like an infant?”

“If you act like one,” I said. “Now be silent, as I asked.”

Katherine turned away in a huff.

She used to be a sweet little girl; now she’d become a royal brat.

I rested my arm upon the window’s edge, staring through the pane to the sights beyond. Most shops were closed, their windows dark and quiet. Few were on the streets, which was fortunate, given the circumstances.

I glanced at Morton, grateful for his help. With him, I could take on many more cases, without the constant struggle clients gave to a woman alone.

He looked up from winding his pocket-watch and winked.

Katie’s head drew back, and she glanced from Morton to myself, suspicion in her eyes.

I peered out of the window. The arrangement was perfectly reputable, or I suppose it would have been, were I a man.

Morton hired me more than a year earlier to find his informant, a former Detective Constable turned Spadros Family man named Albert Sheinwold. Over time, though, Morton and I ended up working together, as we’d done to find young David Bryce a few years back. With little other income, we took these jobs for one reason: to get paid.

At the time, I was in a unique situation. I’d been a private investigator twelve years, with many a reference. I was still technically married to the Spadros Heir, which at times helped. Yet over the past two years, I’d separated from both my husband Tony and the Family. In some minds, that made me more trustworthy.

Whatever the reason, Morton and I had no shortage of clients. We split the proceeds, and where we could, looked for clues as to what might have happened to Albert Sheinwold.

His family and friends knew nothing. The police were baffled. The Spadros Family had scoured the city. It was if Mr. Albert Sheinwold had vanished without a trace.

Personally, I believed the man to be dead.