Midnight Harvest by Chelsea Quinn Yarbro

Author:Chelsea Quinn Yarbro
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Tom Doherty Associates

TEXT OF A PRIVATE REPORT TO MAYOR ANGELO ROSSI OF SAN FRANCISCO FROM DETECTIVE INSPECTOR JAMES O’NEIL OF THE SAN FRANCISCO POLICE DEPARTMENT, PRESENTED PRIVATELY AND IN PERSON.

October 19, 1936

Angelo Rossi, Mayor

City Hall

San Francisco

Your Honor,

As you know, I was called to the Saint Francis night before last to investigate the pilfering in the Commodore Suite, which is presently occupied by Ferenc Ragoczy, a Hungarian with a French title: le Comte de Saint-Germain. This Ragoczy has a sizeable amount of money in deposit at the Bank of America, and is about to purchase a house in the Sutro Forest district of the city.

I and two officers arrived at the hotel at eight thirty-three and were escorted up to the suite by the assistant manager of the Saint Francis and Ragoczy’s manservant, a fellow named Rogers. We found Ragoczy standing at the door, saying he had not gone inside once he realized that the parlor was in disarray. The assistant manager—a young fellow named Fisher-was the first man to enter the suite. The upholstery of the chairs and the two settees had been slashed and the stuffing pulled out of them. All drawers had been pulled out and their contents overturned at random onto the carpet. In the two bedrooms, the dressers, armoires, and nightstands had received the same treatment, and the mattresses had been pulled off the beds, the bedding removed, and the mattresses slashed. There is a kitchenette in the suite, and all the drawers and cabinets there had been similarly dealt with.

My men and I kept Ragoczy and his manservant out of the suite until we had thoroughly examined the damage. I then summoned them into the suite to determine what, if anything, was missing. They conducted a complete search, and indicated that so far as they could determine, approximately nine hundred dollars in cash was gone, along with a portfolio of documents and letters of no particular value beyond a personal one. There was also a small case of uncut jewels, unappraised as to worth but of considerable potential value, which Ragoczy claimed he preferred to cash when traveling, being gems and gold hold their value more consistently than currency.

I took Ragoczy into one of the other suites that is presently empty, and I questioned him at length about his presence in San Francisco and his immediate past He explained that he had left Spain the very day their Civil War began, that his company there had been taken over by the government and that he had decided that it was prudent to put Europe behind him for a while. He has business ties to Sonoma County, and has had for twenty years and more; he offered to provide proof of this through Bank of America if we should require it He told me that he wants to expand his dealings there.

He also claims to be an old friend of Rowena Saxon, the artist, and took advantage of his travels to visit her as well. He says she will vouch for him.

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