Dead Ringer by Kat Ross

Author:Kat Ross [Ross, Kat]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-0-9997621-5-8
Publisher: Kat Ross

I took the Third Avenue elevated to Forty-Second Street and walked north up Madison Avenue to Columbia. I knew the buildings of the medical college well and inquiries soon led me to an empty classroom where John was diligently piecing together a skeleton with bits of wire.

“Harry,” he murmured, without looking up. “Would you hand me that tibia?”

I passed him the leg bone and sank into a wooden chair with an attached desk.

“I saw it,” I said.

That got his attention. “Moran’s double?”

“We were crossing Central Park. I saw it clear as day, John. It looked right at me.” I suppressed a shudder. “I chased it, but it disappeared. Then Moran nearly got run over by a carriage. The horse was stung by a bee and bolted.”

“Crikey.” He sorted through a pile of what looked like toes. “Where are you, my lovely little metatarsal?” he sang.

“Over there?” I pointed helpfully.

“No, that’s the distal. I want the proximal . . . . Ah, here she is.” He returned to his labors, his hair falling rather fetchingly over one eye.

“Then I went to Moran’s house and met his mother. She’s quite a piece of work, John. A laudanum addict, unless I miss my guess.”

“It’s not uncommon,” he replied. “Doctors prescribe it for everything from insomnia to cough. Half the patent medicines have it.”

“Well, I thought she was in a hopeless fog at first, but then I wondered if it might not be an act, at least partly.” I bit my lip in consternation. “I can’t quite get a handle on her.”

“The poor woman has been through a great deal in the last few years.”

“I suppose so. Then Emmeline Bayard came in.”

“The aunt?” John prompted.

“Yes. She hauled Moran off to the kitchen to fetch a glass of milk, though why it required the two of them, I can’t say. There’s something off about her. I’d swear she has affection for Moran that borders on the . . . how shall I put it? The improper.”

John laughed. “I wouldn’t expect any less from his charming family.”

I quickly summarized the rest of my afternoon and John listened without interrupting. It was one of his finer qualities.

“I’ll be lucky if Kaylock doesn’t sack me, but at least Kate and Wayne didn’t seem to mind. And don’t worry, I kept you out of it.”

John frowned. “You didn’t have to.”

“I know. But then at least one of us will still have a foot in the door at Pearl Street if it all goes south.”

“Hmmm. Would you like to know what I’ve found out?” he asked.

“Very much.”

He couldn’t resist a trace of smugness. “I know what it is, Harry.”

I leaned forward. “Do tell, Weston.”

John set the bones down. He dropped his voice and waggled his eyebrows suggestively. “What will you give me—”

“Oh, for God’s sake, just spit it out!” I exclaimed.

John’s smile widened. When he still hesitated, I grabbed a sturdy femur from the table and brandished it threateningly. John laughed and held his hands up in surrender.

“Now, now, no need to get violent.

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