The Cutthroat

Helen Mills said, “I have terrible news and I need your help. Your roommate Anna is dead.”

“What? No! She was fine when I left New York.”

“Anna was murdered.”

Lucy staggered back a step and struck the bed, which nearly buckled her knees. “No, she…”

“I have to ask you some questions. Your answers could help us find the man who murdered her. I’m sure you’re upset.”

“How would you feel?”

“I would be very upset…”

“What do you mean murdered? What happened? Who’s the man?”

“We don’t know, yet. If you can manage to answer my questions, you can help us find him.”

“But why? That doesn’t make sense. She’s a really nice girl. She wouldn’t hurt anyone.” Still in her coat and shaking her head, Lucy sat on the bed. “She read for my part. If she’d gotten it instead of me, she wouldn’t have been killed.”

“Did she have a boyfriend?”

“No.”

“Would she have told you if she did?”

Lucy said, “I would have known it. All she cared about was getting a role. That’s all she wanted. That’s why she left home, and it didn’t sound to me like her home was bad. I think she had a wonderful home.”

“Did she have a man who was hoping to be her boyfriend?”

“No one I saw.”

“Was there any man she might have gone with to an apartment?”

“I doubt that,” said Lucy. “She was Miss Innocent. I’d be amazed if she ever kissed a boy.”

Helen said, “But for some reason she went to an apartment with a man.”

“Alone?”

“Apparently.”

“Well, that’s a surprise, I must say. A huge surprise— Oh…”

“What?”

“No, it couldn’t be. He was too old.”

“Who was too old?” asked Helen.

“Some old man, a Broadway producer, was coaching her to read for a role.”

“Can you describe him?”

“No, I never saw him. She just told me about him.”

“How old?”

“She just said ‘old.’ He limped. I think he used a cane. And he was married. Or, at least he wore a wedding ring. She really thought he was going to help her get a role.”

“Did she read for the role?”

“I don’t know. She said he knew someone important in the show. She was sure she would get the job.”

“Did she say in what play?”

“Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. The spring tour. Barrett & Buchanan are taking it on the road.”

* * *

Isaac Bell was expecting her to wire a report. Instead, Helen Mills went straight to the Broad Street Station and took the train to New York City. Racing uptown from Pennsylvania Station, she stopped at the Almeida Theatre, where Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde had been playing before it went on tour, then hurried to the Van Dorn field office at the Knickerbocker.

Bell was issuing orders in the bull pen and detectives were rushing out. Ordinarily, they would welcome her with big greetings, but tonight all she got were grim nods. Bell sent Harry Warren on his way and conferred quietly with Archie Abbott, who had been his best friend since they boxed in college. An actor before his socially prominent mother demanded he quit the stage, Archie knew the ins and outs of show business.

Finally, Bell beckoned her to join them.

Helen Mills had apprenticed under Isaac Bell and become his protégée. Mr. Van Dorn had ordered her on the Philadelphia posting to broaden her experience. She hadn’t seen Bell in months, and the first thing she noticed was a face so joyless, it looked hacked from granite. She exchanged a quick glance with Archie, who confirmed with a nod that Bell was deeply shaken by Anna Waterbury’s murder. She went straight to business.

“I found Lucy Balant.”

“A wire would have saved time.”

“Wires can be confusing. I thought this was too serious a case not to report in person.”

Isaac Bell raised an eyebrow and gave her a knowing look. Helen Mills possessed a strong drive to be in the heart of the action. Not a bad quality in a detective. At least when tempered with common sense. “Go on,” he said. “Report.”

She told Bell what she had learned and concluded, “It seems to me that it’s a question of how old that producer was. Too old to be strong enough to kill?”

“Young people,” said Bell, “see everyone as old. The middle-aged recognize middle age. And the old see everyone as young. Anna was only eighteen.”

“Young enough,” said Archie Abbott, “to believe a man who claims he can pull wires to get her a role.”

Bell said, “For all we know, he’s only thirty-five and limps because he got shot in the Spanish — American War or hit by a trolley.”

Archie said, “He picked the right show to lure the poor girl. Jekyll and Hyde is a sensation, packed with modern scenic effects. Barrett & Buchanan are going to clean up with that tour.”

“I saw it with my father,” said Helen. “Women were fainting in the aisles.”

“Who played Hyde? Barrett or Bu—”

Bell cut them off. “Helen! Before you go back to Philadelphia, go to the Almeida and ask did Anna Waterbury read for a part in Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.”

“I stopped on my way here,” said Helen. “They’re rehearsing a new play. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde has already left for Boston— Do you want me to go to Boston?”