Lakefront and Mrs. Grey

by Mr. David R. Dorrycott

Chapter Ten

Setting a Trap

On the next morning Kathleen searched out Meg, finding her of all places already on the roof hanging clothing to dry. “I have a problem” she announced softly, explaining about Su Lin when the woman turned to face her. Kathleen had decided to push her native accent back as far as she could. At least for now.

“A Chink. Here? Tha’s no good” Meg admitted.

“I understand. It was not by my choice” the younger woman admitted. “To turn her away. I would not live freely very long.”

“Tha kinda deal then. Your folk, ah’ways dealin. Somtime tha deal goes wild eh?” Meg turned back to her washing. While she hung things up Kathleen remained quiet, knowing that the older woman was deep in thought. She now was certain who held the power in this building, and getting tossed out over some Chinese girl wasn’t worth it. “What yah wanna do?” Meg finally asked.

“Su Lin speaks only very little English. I would have her taught the Irish.”

“Not English?”

“No.”

Meg worked a bit longer. “Good ahdea that. Ahn who will be tha takin on of this task.”

Kathleen eased up, relaxing. “Whomever you choose. I must be at work at seven each working morning, else I will lose my job. Having just been hired” she spread her arms, palms up. “Though I do have other sources of income, I find that I truly like this employment better than the other.”

“Ten dollars ah week. Need us ah Interrpeter.”

“Ten. She will be fluent?”

“Ifin she’s taight ah year, aye.”

“Done.”

“Then yea best be off tah work dear.” Meg continued her work after Kathleen left, chuckling to herself. Old man Bain needed money, having near nothing now. Getting paid five dollars a week to use the Chinese he had learned while in the Navy would be a blessing to him. The extra five would help keep this building in repair, and it bothered her not that the new woman had agreed without haggling. Her kind rarely haggled. They didn’t have time. Nor did she care what that ‘other source of income’ was. As long as it didn’t touch her building or friends that was.

Seven am on Thursday morning found Kathleen Grey entering MacGregor’s employees entrance. It was actually just the back door of the buildings loading dock, and by a short hallway led directly by Mr. MacGregor’s office door. This morning the door was closed, though from what she had heard while introducing herself it was normally open, with a leering employer standing in it, taking his pick of the morning rush. Some girls she discovered were used to being paid to work all day without stepping onto the main floor. It was not a popular occupation, but the girls needed jobs. As long as their families never found out the full truth it was tolerated. Barely.

Patty Thomas led Kathleen directly to her office, though hole in the wall was still the real description for it. “You are certain two days” she asked as the door closed behind them.

Kathleen sat her small purse on the desk, purposely allowing it to make a thump as she did so. “If uninterrupted. Yes.”

“MacGregor is at home, changing clothing. Dealing with ‘es wife I do not doubt.” She shrugged. “Kathleen...”

“Kat, between tha two of us” the Irishwoman corrected.

“Then Pat” the Scottish woman agreed. “With each other only. Kat then. I don know what yer ah-doin here, and as long as it dossn harm MacGregor’s I’ll back you in your legal business. I started as a stock girl, worked mah way up tah Manager. Is tah best I can do, being as who ahn what I am. Those girls an Robert, couple of tha deliver drivers ‘en warehouse men. This place is all tha have. Robert, no one worth workin for would hire Robert. And tha girls? This is Irishtown. Best legit they can hope for is hotel maid.”

“There are people with interest in MacGregor’s” Kat warned Pat. “Small hitters, want tah be big hitters. Ah cannah stand against them. Not yet. Don’t know why they have their eyes on this place, but they do.”

Pat sat on the small desk, not bothering to clean off a spot. Her action caused more than a little leg to show. It was an offer, one she rarely gave. From her new employees look it was an interesting offer. When she was certain that Kat had noticed, Pat nodded to her. “Words around your hittin on Maggy at that restaurant. Why?”

“Waitress? Cause I gave a damn Englishman a chunk of mah life, thought ah loved him” Kat answered truthfully. “Found out it wasn’t love, only wanted tha excitement. After he dumped me I decided to give the other side of tha tracks a lookie see. Always been ah little interested. Ahn I’m sick of tha excitement.“

“And?”

“Looked, haven’t touched. Yet” Kat admitted. “Got myself a nice Chinese marker now. I’ve seen her, so now ah know ahm interested. Buh not in her. And you?”

“Available on long term contact only” Pat answered, curtailing her accent as easily as changing her mind. “Those men, I think I know why they want this building. You see MacGregor’s is not exactly like the rest of the buildings around here, though like most it is five stories tall. It used to be part of the hardware store next door. It was one big basement then. I’ll show you where the wall was bricked up. Mrs. MacGregor’s father long leased the other side when times got hard. It still belongs to the family, so if you can take over this place you can break the lease. Its up next year anyway and Mr. Langtree has already hinted that he wants to move. Business is getting worse every year. You knock a hole in that wall, then put a Speakeasy in the basement. No raid will ever find anything.”

“We could do better” Kat countered, then slowly put her fingers to her lips as her own accent vanished. “Sorry” she said softly. “Old habits.”

Pat stood, brushing her skirt so that it fell correctly. “Find out how bad things really are. I can get us a meeting with Mrs. MacGregor when you are ready. But as long as her husband is around there isn’t much anyone can really do. Men control the business, always have. Probably always will.”

“And if he suddenly wasn’t around” Kat asked, her voice still soft.

“At what price?”

“You. For one. Long term contract” Kat whispered with a smile. “If I’m still around. I probably won’t be though.”

Pat’s eyes went wide before she smiled in return. “Ask me again, when we know each other better. And we know the truth, about everything. You, me, this place. Here is the safes combination, and I found you a new pen.” Then she left, leaving the door open behind her. And the second part of Kathleen’s statement unquestioned.

Kathleen turned to the safe, opening it with the combination she found everything exactly as she had left it. Taking out the books and receipts she needed, she closed and locked the safe, leaving the slip of paper within it. It was a simple combination and there was no need to chance someone else discovering that paper. One never knew when some young punk might want to rob a General Goods store. It happened often enough, money was money after all. For Kathleen it would turn out to be a long, and very depressing day. She found herself pushing her hard earned education to its limits, then learning two or three new things as she worked.

At lunch at the local public cafeteria a young woman sat down across from Kathleen, carefully setting her tray aside after emptying it. She smiled at the Irish woman before starting to eat. It was only after a few minutes that the girl finally spoke, with an Italian accent. Though her English was near perfect. “Your package will be in place at nine” she said simply.

“When I no longer need it?” she asked in return.

“Simply return it to its place. They will send someone to deal with the problem. This cabbage, it is a bit weak.”

“This is Irishtown” Kathleen explained. “Fresh food is rare. Most being poor we always get the less desirable food.”

“As do we. Spices are effective in masking such problems.”

Kathleen snickered. “Very few spices are known in Ireland. Mainly salt. And what the English throw by the wayside.”

Nodding in agreement the girl ate further before speaking again. “Perhaps MacGregor’s should begin carrying spices.”

It was, Kathleen knew, a suggestion. The Italians or the Spanish. Or both wanted in. “MacGregor’s is a strong Scottish company” she countered. “Who’s products do not include groceries. Nor do the Irish have need of spices not from home.”

“You are certain?”

Kathleen started stacking her now empty plates. “I do not own MacGregor’s, thus I do not make policy. You must speak with the owner. Were the company mine to guide, I think that I could find better use in the commonplace. I know nothing of spices, I want nothing to do with groceries. Though I am quite certain they have their places I fear that I must remain within that limited area of experience that is mine. Groceries is not that place. There is though a grocery store a block North of us, one who’s owner may be willing to speak with a spice seller. Harcourts I believe is its name. They have open shelf space.”

She stood ten, gathering her plates onto her tray. “It was a delight to meet you. I very much wish to meet you again, if it is possible. In private.”

“I do not know. I will ask. Good Day Mrs. Grey.”

Kathleen returned to work, not knowing whom her visitor was but well aware that the opening steps had just been made. The Italians still wanted into Irishtown. They would never take a direct no for an answer, but they could be diverted. This time. Building a personal friendship with the contact would make things easier on both sides. Friends meeting and talking would be less noticed than a cloak and dagger liaison. Eventually though she would have to deal with them, and that young lady had been no simple messenger. She moved in a way that warned Kathleen that they were a pair. Though Kathleen was certain of one thing, that girl would be no match for her. Not alone.

“Your numbers Pat” Kathleen announced the next morning just before lunch.

“Bad?”

“With luck, and a change in Captaincy, this old ship just might remain afloat. Without such change, in two months it will run aground on the reef and be lost within three.”

“That bad.” Pat took the papers Kathleen had offered her, read and after a time lowered those pages. There were tears in her eyes. “My first job was here” she whispered. “All my working life is here. Kathleen, my word. I have dreamed of owning this place. Or one like it. There is no choice? Bankrupt by mid-month?”

“Month and a half” Kathleen agreed. “Your last bookkeeper was draining the accounts. Mr. MacGregor’s withdrawals were hard, but sustainable. Barely. With the bookkeepers theft it was too much. It looks like he played the ponies so no, there is no way to get a penny back.”

Pat laid the papers down, took a deep breath then with shaky hands lifted them again. “Then its to the Police. I must call Mrs. MacGregor first though. Will you stay after work and talk with her?”

“Patty, ahm an employee. You say stay, ah stay or you fire me.”

“Thank you. Go back to your office. I’ll let you know what she says.”

A crash from the main floor caused both womens heads to turn. Moments later the well know voice of Aimee could be heard apologizing. “She has to go” Pat decided. “That is the third expensive mistake this month.”

“Go, or be sold.”

Pat spun her head around. “What do you mean Kat.”

“Your own records show she has damaged, or broken a couple hundred dollars worth of stock. I might be able to get that much for her in Chinatown, if she’s on their list.”

“List?”

Kathleen gently kicked Pat’s office door closed. “She is a natural blond, I stumbled across her in the toilet this morning. She’s cute, intelligent and perky. She’s just clumsy. If they have a buyer for a perky blond, well let me bring Su Lin over after lunch. Then I’ll run down the China Town ‘on business.” She reached out to touch Pat’s hand. “Any money back will help, and if she’s broken that much why haven’t you fired her already?”

“We were.. Together for a while” Pat admitted. “I don’t like the idea, but I can’t think of any other way to get back the money she’s cost us. I’m already docking a third of her pay. There isn’t any other way? Kat I don’t want to get into white slavery.”

“And you won’t. I will. Besides. New York is going to be here in a few days. I probably won’t survive the visit. So you’ll have the moral high ground.”

Pat leaned against the office door, looking hard at the slightly smaller woman she still knew so little about. “Your Mob, that’s obvious. You’re an enforcer, or at least a killer and you don’t mind me knowing it. Why. Am I going to die with you? Or will you just sell me with Aimee.”

Kat shook her head no. “My husband stole from Lucky Louie. About a hundred grand, probably more. You don’t do that. As his wife I’m just as responsible. I sent a letter before I got on the ferry. Told them where he jumped the train. Called them before I came here. Told them as soon as I settled I’d let them know where to find me. I made that call yesterday. Two days, three and they will be here. Pat, the best I can hope is they just beat me half to death and warn me never to return to New York. But I don’t sell friends.”

“Worst?”

“I get turned turkey. They start by tying you naked to a steel bed, then they cut your eyelids off so you have to watch. Gisborn’s coming, he’s the best. I’ll live three, four days.”

Pat’s face turned a deep shade of green, her hands going to her stomach until she caught a grip on herself. “Run then.”

“I run, everyone I’ve met here gets asked where I went. You want to go through that? No. I don’t want anyone else to either. Eventually they will find me, even if I end up a slave in China. They will find me. Listen Pat, I’ve told a lot of people a lot of lies since coming here. A couple to you too. I’m a damn good Bookkeeper, I was trained by one of the best. My husband. He dragged me outta bed and onto a train in the clothes I was wearing when I walked in here the first time. I’ve been running on habit and some serious good luck since he told me what he did, then the snip jumps off the train with his stolen money, leaving me with what I had in my purse. About ninety bucks. Lucks oddly run my way so far and I’ve started making plans, until I remembered. You can’t run away from the Mob. Eventually your going to be found and its worse later. So I made a decision. Lucky Louie knows me, knows I’d never snag a penny from his bag. But he needs an example, and since my dear English husband got away clean I’m it. I just hope luck stays with me and he lets me live.”

Pat shook her head in disbelief. “So let you do what you can until its over, damn the coppers.”

Kathleen grinned weakly. “Look at it this way. I’ve done a lot of bad, maybe I can help you save this place. Maybe not. Tell your girl just before lunch that she’s fired, then this evening while she’s walking the streets wondering what to do I will get an unsigned message to her that there is a job opportunity and send her to an empty office. I’ll be there alone and she’ll never darken your life again. What I get for her you get. No commission. If I survive New York I’ll even deal with the old man. And his pretty little bed toy.”

“And if you survive New York?”

“Then we have business together, maybe personal too. Or not. Your call.”

Pat rubbed her temples. “I’m going to burn in Hell Kat. I really am. Still I’m in a corner. This place is the only hope for over thirty people. It goes, their on the street. All right then. Deal.” She left the little office then while Kathleen lowered her head. It was up to her now, and New York. Of the two, Kathleen was certain only of her own actions.