Red Dog Conspiracy: A Noir Future Steampunk Crime Family Saga

During luncheon, Tony said, “My appointment with the man at the Records Hall is day after tomorrow. Would you like to accompany me?”

“Mrs. Hart and I will be having luncheon that day.”

“Oh.” He sounded disappointed. He seemed very much like Katherine then.

“There will be other times.”

“Well, yes,” he said. “Will you be having luncheon here, then?”

The Harts had never come to Spadros Manor, as far as I knew, refusing every invitation. This I found odd. Even if they despised me, to refuse Tony’s invitations could be construed as an insult. “No, we’ll be meeting at the Women’s Club.”

Tony nodded. “Probably for the best.”

I glanced at the servants, who were pointedly not watching us, and decided to save the obvious question for another time.

I pondered our conversation the night before, and the question left unanswered. Was the attack on Tony a distraction? A distraction from what?

The boy and the men, held in the same place. What was the connection? Who was Frank Pagliacci, and what was his connection to Jack Diamond? To hear the stable-man tell it, Frank Pagliacci was in charge. I knew little of Jack, other than what Jonathan and Gardena told me and what I observed. But Jack Diamond didn’t seem like a man who allowed another to command him, even in pretense.

Tony said, “Would you like to go for a stroll?”

I didn’t, really, but I had no reason not to. “Of course.”

We walked through our garden, past the flower mounds Gardena plucked from, and around again. The days seemed ever overcast, the sun a pale ball in the sky, when we saw it. “Do you feel the weather has worsened since we were children? It seems to continually threaten rain of late.”

“What troubles you?” Tony said.

I shook my head. “Nothing.”

“Forgive me, then, but it seemed at luncheon …”

I went back over my train of thought, and much of it, I couldn’t talk with Tony about. “Oh! I was thinking of the Harts. Why do they refuse our invitations to visit? It seems rather rude.”

Tony chuckled. “Yes it does … but I’m sure they have their reasons. My guess is they don’t wish to be accosted by my father.”

I laughed. “I hadn’t considered that!” I didn’t want to see Roy either. I felt glad Tony banned him from appearing uninvited.

We walked on for a while in silence. “Last night, you said perhaps this attack was meant to distract you.”

“Yes,” Tony said, “but I can’t think of from what.”

I had a sudden thought: what if the attack was to distract me?

“What is it?” Tony said.

“It occurred to me that we may be viewing this the wrong way. What if these events have been meant to test us? Our defenses, our information sources, our thought processes, our methods of attack. How the Business functions with you incapacitated. Who we trust and who we do not.”

A prelude to something else?

“Wake up,” Tony said. “I never considered this. A spy. An Associate?”

“That, spies in our household,” I said, “or a spy amongst your main men.”

“Or all three,” Tony said. He turned, hurrying to the house, and I followed far behind. Who might fall into all three of those categories? Pearson came to greet him, they exchanged words, and both went inside.

When I entered the house, all was a-flurry. Tony seemed a different man, giving orders in a firm voice, too low to hear unless you stood nearby.

I remained a few paces away, watching as he spoke with one of his men after another. He turned and gave me his hand. “Come with me.”

We went into his study. He closed the door behind us, and took my hands in his. “You see things I do not. My father was right to trust you.”

I stood in shock. Did this mean Tony hadn’t trusted me until now? I could sleep with a man I didn’t love, but surely you couldn’t sleep next to someone you didn’t trust.

Tony brought me to the chairs by the fire and we sat. “I have felt uneasy since my men were rescued. I’m having them brought here to account for themselves. Never fear; they will be bound. Don’t speak; I would like you to listen and watch. Tell me what you see.”

I nodded, feeling nervous about this.

Tony rang for Pearson. We ordered drinks, and I asked for my cigarettes.

The reports of his men recounting their journey in a carriage together yet ending up at different places had bothered me. At the time, I blamed faulty memories of the situation.

Pearson returned with our drinks on a silver tray, which he tucked under his arm as he lit my cigarette.

“Thank you, Pearson,” I said.

He bowed and left.

Tony smiled at me. “Thank you for being here.”

I squeezed his hand, my heart too full to speak. Whether he trusted me before no longer mattered. He did now, and this meant a great deal.

A few moments later, a knock came at the door. Tony let go of my hand. “Come in.”

Four of his men dragged in two men who were bound hands and feet, with hoods on. These men they placed on their knees, and removed the hoods. They were blindfolded and gagged. These men were young, perhaps younger than Tony and I. Both had light skin and brown hair but one was taller and painfully thin. I didn’t know them; with the blindfolds on it was difficult to tell who they were in any case.

Tony said, “You betrayed me, of that I’m sure. I don’t wish to turn you and your families over to my father yet, so I will give you a chance to confess. The first one to do so will live.”

I immediately saw the error in Tony’s plan, but I thought better of speaking, especially in front of his men.

Tony gestured; two of his men took the man on the right away, who struggled and made urgent noises, while a third followed, opening and closing the door for them.

The man remaining was the thinner of the two. He hadn’t tried to speak since his companion was removed, yet tears streaked his face and blindfold.

“Remove his gag,” Tony said.

The man said nothing.

“Well?”

Silence.

“I see. You don’t wish to confess. I’m disappointed in you, Duck. But perhaps Crab will confess, given time. My father trained my men well. When they —”

“No!” Duck said. “Don’t hurt him! He did nothing.”

“He did nothing? How do you know he did nothing?”

“I just know.”

“Do you confess then?”

“Not if you’re gonna kill him, I’m not.”

Ah, as I thought. Tony had gotten himself into difficulty.

“Oh, well,” Tony said, after a moment. “I suppose I can just turn the both of you over to my father, then.”

“No! Please, Mr. Anthony, no!” Tears began to course down Duck’s face again. “I beg you, don’t let Mr. Roy hurt him.”

Tony glanced over at me with surprise on his face. “What is Crab to you?”

Duck said nothing.

“Very well, I’ll speak with him then.” He spoke to the two men standing: “Move him … let’s see, over there.” He pointed to the far corner of the fireplace. The men moved anything which Duck could use to free himself and left him kneeling, still bound and blindfolded, on the hard stone.

Tony took cotton from his pocket and put a pinch in each ear. “Hand me your pistol.” One of his men did so.

Tony held the gun in his left hand. “If you make a sound,” he pulled back the hammer with the gun pointing at the ceiling, “I will shoot you.”

I stared at Tony in shock. In the house?

Duck had been sniveling, but instantly went silent.

Tony said, “Bring Crab in.”

Crab was shorter and heavier, his hair, thin at the temples. The men brought him in, and Crab knelt with a defiant air.

“Remove his gag,” Tony said. “Well, Crab, what do you have to say for yourself?”

“What do you want to know?”

“When my father finishes with Duck, who takes his body?”

Crab sat with his mouth open. “Why are you doing this?”

“Because,” Tony said, “you betrayed me. Duck told us all.”

A strangled noise of outrage burst from Duck’s throat. Tony’s arm lowered in a relaxed, almost lazy motion as he shot the man in the leg — but not before I and his men hastily covered our ears.

Duck screamed in agony and fell over onto the carpet.

Crab’s face around the blindfold went white. “You bastard! Duck! Duck!”

I felt terrified. What if Tony missed? In this small room, the bullet could have hit any of us on the ricochet.

Duck slumped to the floor. Tony gestured for his men to take Duck out, leaving a plate-sized puddle of blood on the gray stone.

“Duck! Speak to me!”

“He can’t talk to you anymore,” Tony said loudly, “but you can still save yourself. Tell me true, now: what happened that night?”

“You’re a fucking monster, same as your father.”

Tony sighed. “You are trying my patience. But I’d rather not have my father tear your tongue out just yet. Duck is not dead; he merely fainted. I’ll get him help, but you must help me in return.”

Crab began sobbing. “Thank the Dealer … please help him …”

I felt sorry for Crab. I suppose I shouldn’t have, but I did. I hated to see anyone cry.

Over time, Crab gradually became calmer. “I’ll tell you what you want to know.”

* * *

Crab, Duck, and Bull (the man Tony executed at the Grand Ball) joined as Associates at the same time. This wasn’t an accident; they had known each other since they were boys, and not in a platonic sense, either.

A man came to them at the Grand Ball after they learned about Tony’s order, when it was too late to save Bull, and offered sympathy. This made Duck angry at first, but then the man asked if they wanted payback. “All we had to do was distract the others, get them to walk away from the door, and he’d pay us $100 each.”

Tony and I stared at each other. Where did this man get that kind of money?

But at the appointed time, ten other men arrived, shot their buddies, and took them to a warehouse in the Diamond quadrant.

Tony stared at Crab, appalled. “Good heavens, man, why did you not tell me this before?”

“He said Mr. Roy would torture us and our families to death if we confessed, because we betrayed the Family. Then when he let us go he upped the ante. We had to spy wearing the clothes he told us to. Brown gentlemen garb —”

So they followed me, at least some of the time.

“— If you asked about our imprisonment, we were to lead you astray and talk about a little boy, who he described to us.”

I gasped, and Crab nodded. “I thought you were there, mum. Mr. Anthony doesn’t smoke. Anyway, there was no boy. I’m not sure why he wanted us to say so.”

If I hadn’t seen the boy struggling to free himself, I might begin to doubt his existence.

“Tony said, “Did this man give a name?”

“Frank Pagliacci.”

Tony and I stared at each other in shock.

Tony said, “Give him a chair and take off his blindfold.” The men released Crab’s hands but not his feet, tying him around the waist to the chair.

We sat there, Crab and I, staring at each other.

“What else did you do for this man?” Tony asked.

Crab shuddered, as if remembering a scene he wished he did not. “Every day we wrote what you both did, what you said, where you went —”

I twitched, startled at the thought. How much did they find out about me? Did they know about my disguises?

“— who you met with. You have good taste in dressmakers, mum, but yours takes too long to make a dress. My mother could make one in half the time.”

I felt relieved that he was unable to follow me further.

Tony frowned. “That’s none of your concern. What shall I do with you? You’ve lied to me, spied on me and my wife, and who knows what else?”

“Nothing else, sir, I promise. If I would have known this man was so false … ahh.” Crab put his face in his hands. “What did I expect? I betrayed my Family, we both did … we never meant it to go this far.”

“I know.” Tony turned to his men. “Bring him to his friend, and guard them well. I’ll have further orders shortly.”

“Yes, sir.” The men took Crab, closing the door behind them.

Tony rang for Pearson, then turned to me. “I’m sorry you had to see that.”

I shrugged. I assumed that was what he wanted me there for.

Pearson came in. “We’ll be taking tea in here,” Tony said. “Have a girl clean up the blood.”

After a brief glance at the fireplace, Pearson bowed and left.

“What do you think?”

I stared at Tony. About shooting a gun in the house? About being followed? About his men spying on us? “About what?”

“About the situation before us.”

I took a deep breath and tried to focus, considering the matter. “Perhaps this can benefit us. Assuming no other spies remain, Frank Pagliacci doesn’t know these men are ours again.”

“Do you think we can trust them?”

“Duck? No, but he won’t be going anywhere soon. Crab, now … him we can trust to do what we ask.”

Dr. Salmon came over to treat Duck’s wound. While he was upstairs with Duck, the maid cleaned the hearth. Soon after, Pearson came in with a letter for Tony.

Tony read the letter, his face stern. “Has a Constable Hanger been here?”

“Why yes. Twice, about a woman wanted in a kidnapping. He seemed to think I knew her.”

Tony frowned. “Well, he got a warrant to search the home of one of our maids at the Country House. Why would he do that?”

Fear stabbed at me. Had she done what I asked and destroyed the letters? “I don’t know. What happened?”

“They found nothing. How dare he step onto my property, question you without my leave, and search my servant’s home? That is one fellow I would happily turn over to my father.”

He’s angry, I thought. Surely he doesn’t mean it. “What will you do?”

“I’ll talk to the Chief of Police when I’m on Market Center. This nonsense will stop.”

A knock at the door. “Come in,” Tony said.

Dr. Salmon came in, Sawbuck with him.

“How is he?” I said.

“Resting. I was unable to locate the bullet, but it should work its way out in time. I’ve dressed the wound and dosed him with pain medication. I left more with his … friend, with instructions.”

Tony nodded. “You did well.”

“I’ll return tomorrow to check on him,” Dr. Salmon said.

“Ten,” Tony said to Sawbuck.

“Yes, sir?”

“Get Crab back down here, I want to talk to him.”

“Right away, sir,” Sawbuck closed the door behind him, returning a few minutes later.

Crab had been cleaned up and appeared much more willing to talk with us.

Tony said, “What does this man really look like?”

Crab’s description of this Frank Pagliacci could match several dozen men at the Grand Ball that night, and several dozen more of their retainers: brown hair, brown skin, wearing a “dark” tuxedo, and “very good looking.”

“What color tuxedo?” I said.

Crab shrugged. “I don’t do well with colors, mum. Never did. It runs in the family. Maybe ask Duck when he comes to?”

Later we sent Crab to ask, then heard Duck shouting, “How in the hell am I supposed to know what color his fucking clothes were? Maybe you’d know if you hadn’t been staring at his fucking arse the whole time!”

I laughed. “By the Shuffler!”

Tony shook his head, not finding it funny. “Duck’s in pain, and medicated. I’ll have Sawbuck look through the guest list and the list of retainers, and see who might fit this description.”

Crab returned red-faced, and we set him with a charge: continue to report to Frank Pagliacci, but report what we told him to. If Frank Pagliacci asked, he should say we sent Duck to the countryside. Crab agreed readily when we told him we would hold Duck to insure Crab’s good behavior until this man Pagliacci was either caught or killed.

We moved the men to a room on the top floor, locked their windows, and stationed men outside of the Manor and outside their door. Then we sent word to Duck’s family that we needed him in the countryside; he would send word when he could.

“Duck’s Ma and Pa don’t care about him,” Crab said, “only one who’d care is his brother, and he’s too young to come here.”

After dinner, Tony and I retired to our rooms, and spent many hours talking. It felt exhilarating to help in such a practical way with the Business, and I wondered if this was what Roy meant for me to do all those long years ago.