Sally Spencer: Blackstone and the New World

‘More like my balls on a platter,’ O’Shaugnessy said. ‘So I went to see the lady, an’ asked if there was anythin’ I could do to make it up to her. An’ sure enough, there was. She said that if I didn’t ask her for any money for a whole year, we’d go back to bein’ the same good friends we’d always been.’

‘And you said yes?’

‘Didn’t see I had any choice in the matter. But see, that left me with what the bookkeepers call an imbalance in my accounts. An’ I got expenses to meet every month, same as everybody else.’

‘So Duffy seemed like manna from heaven,’ Blackstone said. ‘But he didn’t escape en route to this precinct, did he? You let him go once he was in your custody — and after you’d seen the colour of his money.’

‘The records show he escaped on the way here, so that must be what happened,’ O’Shaugnessy said, not even trying to sound convincing. ‘Cheer up, Inspector,’ he continued. ‘It’s only like he’s out on bail.’

‘Is that right?’

‘Sure. Guys like Duffy are too stupid to put themselves out of harm’s way for long. He’ll stay in the city, an’ sooner or later we’ll pick him up again. An’ next time, he won’t escape.’

‘No?’

‘No! Because to escape, he’ll need money — and as of today, the man’s flat broke.’

Blackstone had suddenly had enough of the New York Police Department in general, and of Captain O’Shaugnessy in particular.

‘Oh, to hell with you,’ he said, standing up. ‘And to hell with Duffy, as well. Re-capture him or don’t recapture him. It’s not my problem.’

‘Ain’t it?’

‘No, it isn’t — because in a few days I’ll be back in England.’

‘Is that right?’ O’Shaugnessy asked. ‘Remember I cabled your boss to tell him how Duffy escaped?’

‘Or rather, how Duffy was supposed to have escaped,’ Blackstone corrected him.

‘Exactly. Well, this Sir Todd guy sent two cables back, one for me, an’ one for you. An’ this is yours.’

O’Shaugnessy took a telegram envelope out of his jacket pocket and handed it to Blackstone.

‘You’ve opened it,’ Blackstone said.

‘Sure,’ O’Shaugnessy agreed easily. ‘See, I wanted to know if I was right in my suspicions about what he was gonna say. An’ guess what — I was spot on the money.’ He paused. ‘You gonna read it now?’

‘Why should you care when I read it, if you already know what it says?’ Blackstone asked.

‘I just want to see the look on your face when you do read it,’ O’Shaugnessy said.

Well, why not? Blackstone asked himself.

And then he took the telegram out of the envelope, read it, and realized why O’Shaugnessy had been so amused.

+++Completely+incompetent+as+usual+stop+Do+not+dare+return+England+without+prisoner+stop+Todd+stop+++

It could be weeks before they catch Duffy again,’ Blackstone said morosely, after taking a deep swig of the beer that Meade had just bought him. ‘Bloody hell, it could be months !’

‘Cheer up, Sam, it ain’t that bad,’ Alex Meade replied. ‘The commissioner’s agreed to pay your wages for as long as you’re here on American soil — and being here a while longer will give you a chance to see New York.’

‘I’ve already seen New York,’ Blackstone told him.

‘You’ve seen the Lower East Side, Central Park and Fifth Avenue,’ Meade pointed out.

‘That’s what I said.’

‘Why, that’s only scratching the surface of a place like New York City. What about the wonders of Chinatown and Harlem?’

‘ What about them?’

‘And have you ever met even a single Dodger?’ Meade asked. ‘I don’t think so!’

‘A Dodger?’ Blackstone repeated.

‘It’s what we’ve been calling the folks from Brooklyn ever since all their streetcars went electric.’

‘Go on,’ Blackstone said, knowing he shouldn’t.

‘A horsecar can go at maybe six miles an hour, but an electric car can reach up to thirty miles an hour. Problem is, you see, that though the electric cars have got the weight and power of a locomotive, they’ve still got the braking system of the old horsecar.’

‘So they find it hard to stop in an emergency?’

‘They find it impossible to stop in an emergency. In 1895 there were a hundred and five people killed and four hundred and seven maimed in streetcar accidents. And that’s when the folks across the river started to wise up. That’s when they got to develop the habit of always keeping one eye open for approaching streetcars, so they could jump out of the way if they had to. And that’s when we got to calling them-’

‘Brooklyn Dodgers,’ Blackstone interrupted. ‘Have you got any more fascinating stories about New York City, Alex?’

Alex Meade grinned. ‘Well, yes, Sam, now you mention it, I think I must have hundreds of them.’

Blackstone nodded gravely. ‘That’s what I was afraid of,’ he said.