Dead Leprechauns and Devil Cats: Strange Tales of the White Street Society by Grady Hendrix

Author:Grady Hendrix [Hendrix, Grady]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-1-625675-25-5
Publisher: JABberwocky Literary Agency, Inc.
Published: 2020-05-15T00:00:00+00:00

My spirits immediately lifted the next morning when I read the ’papers. My slumber had been troubled, not just by a pricking of my conscience but by a darker feeling that I could only call fear. Would Augustus and I be linked to the scene? Had we done something seriously wrong? Were orphans just as good as real children in the eyes of God? Would I awaken to find John Law pounding at my door?

By the time I arose, I had determined that I would go immediately to Augustus and convince him to accompany me to the police station, where we would take responsibility for our error, and throw ourselves on the mercy of the courts. But then I saw the ’papers and stopped in my tracks.

According to the The Sun, shortly after we left the orphanage, an ominous racket had been heard emanating from upstairs. The local watch appeared on the scene and discovered a drunken Jim Mahoney surrounded by dead orphans. They were not inclined to accept his explanation that they were like that when he found them. They also discovered, upon further investigation, an unidentified man distributed about the room in several small footlockers.

Mahoney was taken into custody by the law, but that was not the news which caused me to leap hastily into my clothes, go bounding out of the house, and run through the bright white streets. That was not the news that saw me pounding on the door of the White Street Society shortly thereafter. That was not the news that caused me to seize Charles in a fierce embrace when he informed me that Augustus was in the library.

“Did you see?” I shouted to Augustus, bounding into the room and shaking the papers at him.

“Mm?” he asked, raising an eyebrow.

I read aloud from the article:

“Due to a sudden influx of arrestees from a small riot in the Tompkins Square Park Bavarian Beer Garden, the suspected Mahoney was mistaken for another Mahoney, arrested earlier in the evening for public drunkenness, and he was erroneously released on his own recognizance. His whereabouts are, at this time, unknown.”

“Quite,” Augustus said.

“It’s a Christmas miracle, Augustus!” I cried. “Now we just have to find Mahoney and spirit him out of the country, and all will be well. If only we knew where he was.”

I began to pace.

“I know where he is,” Augustus said.

“You do?” I stopped my pacing. “My God, man. Where?”

“He was just here this morning,” Augustus said. “Banging on my door like a savage and demanding money for passage to South America.”

“What did you do?”

“I gave him money, of course,” Augustus said.

“But you never loan money!” I exclaimed.

“It wasn’t a loan,” Augustus said. “It was more of as an investment in my future. Right this minute, he should be on a steamer heading for South America. You might be interested to know that I also made my first investment in show business this morning. Before the New Year, Mahoney should be performing The Dogs of Shakespeare in Brazil or some such place, and probably dying of malaria in the bargain.

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