Mortal Music by Ann Parker

Author:Ann Parker [Parker, Ann]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Sourcebooks
Published: 2019-11-27T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twenty-Two

December 24

After leaving Mrs. Stannert, de Bruijn ventured out on the veranda, clutching his hat against the fierce breeze. The wide planks were empty. Staying close to the walls of the building, he approached the nearest corner, thinking to make a circuit of the outside in search of Rubio.

The west-facing promenade came into view, and he stopped. The porch, far from being deserted, had a small crowd milling about. Flickering lanterns lit shadowy figures, most of them peering over the railing, some pointing down at the steep, rocky cliffs that gave the roadhouse its name. He was tempted to approach, linger about the edges, and find out what the disturbance was about. It was not unknown for some unfortunate soul, too drunk to see straight or perhaps with a little help from a more sober ruffian, to tumble over the railing and onto the rocks.

De Bruijn then recalled the ruffians he had recently left counting to one hundred and decided it would be more circumspect to leave. Besides, he would most likely not find Señor Rubio now. If the pianist had come to meet Miss Green, their meeting would have been brief by necessity, since the young singer would have had to return to the parlor before she was missed.

In any case, if Rubio had departed, de Bruijn would know soon enough. He had hired a dependable set of eyes to watch for just that event.

The investigator took a nearby door and made his way back to the front of the Cliff House, avoiding the more public areas.

The size of the crowd at the entrance matched the crowd at the back, and the attendants were busy helping departing parties into various rigs and hacks. Eagle-eyed Pete, the doorman de Bruijn had engaged, hurried up to him. “Would you like your carriage back to town, sir?” he said, loud enough for others to hear, then lowered his voice. “He left, not fifteen minutes ago.”

De Bruijn believed him. Pete had an almost preternatural ability to keep straight a multitude of faces and names, which made him invaluable to Cliff House management as well as to the investigator.

Resigned that his quarry had yet again slipped away, de Bruijn nodded and slipped Pete a single. The paper note slid from palm to pocket with nary a crinkle.

“I’ll get your hack,” Pete announced and started to turn to the carriage house.

“A moment,” said de Bruijn. “Do you know what happened on the west veranda?”

Pete scratched one of his sideburns. “Someone went over the second-floor railing. Body’s hung up on the rocks just above the beach. Captain Foster came out here, looking for volunteers to go down and bring ’er up.” He lowered his voice. “Rumor has it’s one of the doxies that was here tonight. Poor mite, Christmas Eve and all, maybe it was too much and she decided to end it, eh? Anyhow, things are quite a muddle right now. Not good for business and the Captain isn’t happy. There’re more than a few folks cutting holiday celebrations short and heading back to the city.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.