Robert Walker - Shadows in the White City

“So now you’re worried about Mother and me?”

“Gabby, if you value your life and your mother’s life, you’ll go to her now and with Philo Keane’s help, convince her to leave Chicago until I send word. Until this is over.”

She nodded. “I will follow your wishes, Inspector.”

He hugged her once more, and together they felt a father-daughter concern that had evolved between them. Parting, he wished her hail and well-being, waving her off, adding, “Take every precaution!”

Surgeon and coroner, Dr. Christian Fenger, joined Ransom only after Gabby had gone. “What’ll you do now, Alastair? Now that he’s killed Drimmer?”

“Walk with me, Doctor.”

They took a little-used footpath toward the lake. For a time, they remained in silence until Fenger said, “I want you to know something, Alastair.”

“And that is?”

“My morgue is not a stone’s throw from the stockyards where cattle and swine are kept and slaughtered.”

“And this fact is of what importance?”

“It would not be a small matter, but Shanks and Gwinn have been known to dispose of a body there. Pigs are one of the few animals on earth that will eat human flesh in quantity, and while Waldo Denton is slight, I am sure they might enjoy a nice appetizer.”

Ransom looked at the doctor as if he’d never seen him before. At one time the two of them had halfheartedly spoken of making Dr. Tewes disappear, when Ransom only knew James Phineas Tewes as a man, and that Tewes was blackmailing Fenger. Christian had backed off the idea, but here was no equivocation whatsoever. “I-I will take that under advisement, Christian.”

“There also exists a pit where the hospital disposes of severed limbs.”

“I will handle this my way, Doctor, and I do not want you or your hospital involved.”

“To be sure, Denton has ransomed his body and soul to you. No pun intended.”

“Griff would’ve enjoyed the pun.”

“I realize you don’t trust Shanks and Gwinn, but please, Alastair, you must trust me.”

“One can’t be too careful, but Christian, I know your heart.”

“Good.”

“And conspiracy to murder does not become you, Doctor. So let us just say that this particular execution is a one-man operation -and no pun intended.”

“All the same, should you need ’em, I can put Shanks and Gwinn at your disposal.”

“Daft idea! Neither of those maggot-eaters could keep their mouths shut for more’n a night. And which of the two sells information to Kohler do you guess?”

“All right, then, but like I said, I know some pigs need feeding.”

Alastair looked deep into the doctor’s eyes and found him dead serious.

Christian added, “I was quite fond of Griffin.”

“As I. Fret not, Dr. Christian. Something will come of the ripple this monster has made in our pond. In the meantime, you sir, you should take a holiday.”

“I see…for my health, say Springfield or Missouri?”

“Good choice, sir.”

“All right, Ransom. Perhaps I will.”

“Without delay.”

“Then you intend on seeing to this little matter of the little man soon?”

“I will waste no more time.”

“Careful of your back, then, Rance, as there is so much of it back there !” He tapped Ransom’s shoulder. “You’d never see Denton coming.”

“I am not so old and fat that I can’t take care of myself in a fight.”

“I’d’ve said the same of Griffin, before today.” Fenger bid him good-bye and good luck. They’d come full circle, the path having led them back to the steps of the museum.

Fenger and Ransom watched Kehoe and Kohler approaching now-the men who’d allowed Denton his freedom while Alastair lay on his back in hospital. “Speaking of swine,” said Dr. Fenger.

“The two men-other than myself-responsible for Griff’s death,” muttered Ransom, working hard to control his temper and to curb his tongue.

“Gentlemen,” said Fenger to Kohler and Kehoe. “A brave new day and again the viper strikes-and this time at one of our own.”

“All bets’re come to this,” began Ransom in icy voice. “What’ll the papers make of it, Chief? Mr. Prosecutor?”

“People seem to be dying around you at every turn, Inspector Ransom,” began Kohler. “That’s what’s to be made of it.”

“You partnered me with the young man so that he might keep tabs on me, keep close to my investigation of Haymarket, and when he failed you, you failed him by-”

“I resent the accusation on its surface!” countered Chief Nathan Kohler. “I partnered him with you, so he might learn…so he could be all that he could be under your tutelage, Alastair. To learn from the best in the department.”

“Kohler, you beset my life with one spy after another. Now you intend on using a young girl, Gabrielle Tewes. Do you have any notion the wrath you are going to stir up in her Aunt Jane Francis and her father, Dr. Tewes, when they learn of this? No, I suppose you don’t have a clue.”

Kohler stared long into Alastair’s eyes. Each man silently told the other that Dr. Tewes’s disguise as a man was known to them both. Still, Kohler affected a smug look that said “I mean to say nothing on the subject.”

“Setting spies on me. You are so subtle, and your subtlety got Griff killed as surely as any factor in this horror. When our common enemy surfaced, you should’ve backed me, but I knew early on that you’d fail to draw ranks, even in the face of a multiple murderer.”

Prosecutor Kehoe stood dumbfounded at this outburst. “Careful, man, or you will be up on libel charges, and I will happily stand witness.”

“Screw you, Kehoe! What hole did you dig your head out of now that all hell’s broke loose, thanks to the failure of your office in all this!”

“That’s insulting!”

“Damn straight it is!” Alastair banged his cane on the pavilion steps. “But not so insulting as your order releasing a multiple murderer to the street.”

“There’s no proof of any such-”

“To again terrorize the city and make a mockery of your precious, grandiose fair!” Ransom clutched his cane until his knuckles bled white. His raised voice attracted media attention, while the boisterous, even rowdy crowds continued along the fairways as if it were just another day of jolliness and sunshine.

“Curb your bloody tongue, Ransom!” ordered Kohler.

“How could you let a killer go just to spite me, Nathan?”

Thom Carmichael had obviously been given special privileges, as he’d come in Kohler’s company and was this side of the police barricade. The Herald reporter began furiously taking notes when Kohler said, “Thom, none of this sees light of day, understood?”

Other reporters had begun to take notes as well. “You getting this?” shouted Ransom to the hungry press, salivating for a scandal.

“This man’s ranting nonsense, Carmichael.” Kohler glared at Ransom. “Another word, and I’ll have your badge, Inspector!”

“Is it my bloody badge you want, Kohler? Is that it?” Ransom shouted, raising his cane. “Is that why Griff is dead?”

Several of the gray-uniformed World’s Fair cops moved in to take hold of Alastair, to pull him away. Their concern rested with returning the fair to its former peaceful atmosphere. But even in their grasp, Ransom kept up his rant: “Is that why you let a killer walk free? All to make me look incompetent?”

The fair brigade coppers tugged him farther, but he only raised his voice to reach across the chasm. “Like the stories you’ve supplied the press? Giving Carmichael an exclusive on my breakdown?” He snatched his inspector’s badge from a breast pocket and threw it at Kohler’s feet. “You’ve wanted this for so long and so badly that you got Griffin killed for it, so by God take it!”