Cupboards All Bared by Patricia Meredith

Author:Patricia Meredith [Meredith, Patricia]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: twin detectives, conman, clockmaker, president mckinley, Idaho mining, thief, female friendship
Publisher: Games Afoot, LLC
Published: 2022-05-16T22:00:00+00:00

THOMAS COULDN’T BELIEVE it, but part of him was starting to like Bach. He’d never been big on reporters, had always thought of them as an acknowledged evil. His father had encouraged this dislike from a young age, filling their heads with how reporters were only out for a story, nothing more, nothing less, and at whatever cost.

“Just the other day,” he’d say, “I was at the deathbed of a friend, when this reporter fellow comes in, all solicitude and sadness, only to lean over the dying man and ask, ‘Have you anything to say about this disgraceful report concerning your son?’” His father had simply shaken his head in a manner that said, “What more can you expect from a reporter?”

The term had been a curse, a derogatory, vulgar name for someone worth less than the scum beneath your boot.

But maybe, just maybe, his father had been wrong. After all, his mother had said, “It pays to be polite to all.” And if he was honest, Thomas had met his fair share of decent reporters in his time. Perhaps some of them were just trying to earn an honest living...in a disagreeable way.

“So, what do you think?” Thomas waved his pipe toward the incline before them. “An accident?”

Bach threw the butt of his cigarette onto the ground. “Like you said, it would be easy.” His eyes focused on the creek beneath them, then he took a step back and looked at Thomas. “Perhaps the hobo did it?”

Thomas scratched his chin and began to tamp out his pipe onto the ground. “Perhaps. You’re thinking he accidentally tripped London, he fell to his death, and then the hobo felt so guilty about it he came in to ensure we found the body?”

Bach shrugged. “I know it’s not likely, but maybe we should speak with him again?”

Thomas shook his head and replaced his pipe into his coat pocket. “That hobo’s long gone, probably snuck onto the first train out of town. Especially if he just accidentally killed a man.”

“You’re right,” Bach said.

“However, if it was an accident, it’s also possible London had enemies that might turn an ‘accident’ to their advantage.”

“Like Mr. Campbell?” Bach suggested.

“Hm,” Thomas said.

Bernard had a tendency to get impressed by the big wigs, by the upper crust, but to Thomas’s mind they were no different from middle-class like himself, or even the hobo. They were still people. And people had motives.

He had no problem suspecting Mr. Campbell, especially as it was possible he’d found out about whatever Pavoni and London were discussing behind the house at odd hours. But to go so far as killing?

It’d only take a simple accidental shove. It wouldn’t even dirty his fancy evening dress shoes...

It was a possibility, though he was hesitant to mention it to Bach. The reporter may be growing on him, but that didn’t mean he intended to give him a story like that to run in the paper. The last thing he needed was the Campbells calling for his head.

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