Harlem Sunset, page 23
“Louise, if you die and I’m not there, I will never be able to live with myself.”
“You’re in this because of me. Let me save you, please,” Louise said.
This was the woman she would always care about. She would always love her. She pulled the rope away. Rosa Maria leaned forward, beginning to fiddle with the knot around her ankles.
Then the door opened. Harriet stepped in, a frown on her face. “You’re not going anywhere.”
* * *
• • •
HARRIET CROSSED OVER to kneel in front of Louise. In her right hand was a pearl-handled gun. “You know, you are the root of all of my problems.” Harriet laughed a girlish little laugh. “My name is Emily Gilbert. Do you recognize me?”
“You’re his sister.” Louise tried to keep her voice even and steady.
“His only sister. And you took him away from me.” Emily’s eyes narrowed. Her American accent melted away, replaced with a brisk British one. “You trusted me. You told me everything. All it took was one chance encounter. The man on the street that day? I hired him.” She looked very proud of herself. “I have made this past month of your life hell, and it’s only going to get worse, Miss Lloyd.” She stood up, and without letting go of her gun, turned the chairs so they were facing each other.
Emily kneeled down next to Rosa Maria, running the backs of her fingers over Rosa Maria’s face. Rosa Maria closed her eyes. Louise could see that she was sobbing, her lips moving in a silent prayer.
“You ruined my life, Louise. You took my brother away from me. I loved him and you took him away from me. And I don’t know why you thought you could get away with that. Everything has a price. You’d do well to remember that.”
Rosa Maria wasn’t free; her ankles were still bound. Before Emily did anything else, she made sure that Rosa Maria’s arms were tied behind her again.
“Sure, I killed Nora. I drugged you and your stupid little friends.”
Emily began to pace in front of them. Louise didn’t watch her. She kept her eyes on Rosa Maria.
“You know what? I found you two disgusting. Lying on the gross floor of that club, faces inches apart. You two are depraved. I almost shot you then and there. But I didn’t. I thought it would be so much more fun to play with you.”
Emily stepped back to Rosa Maria. She kneeled down. “You know how easy it was to get your little girlfriend to kiss me? I didn’t even like her. Louise was just so starved for affection, she’d do anything for anyone.”
“Let her go.” Louise was not going to let this woman get to her. “You have a problem with me. Let her go.”
Emily looked at Louise. She was smiling coldly, maliciously. “You think I would do that? Just half the fun? I’ve put so much work into this. I had to watch you and hire someone to take photos of you and steer you in the wrong direction. I had to trash your apartment. I even had to call your father and tell him I was concerned about you. Do you think this is easy for me?” Emily exhaled, pouting. “Think about me. I would much rather do anything else, but you needed to learn a lesson, Miss Lloyd. You mess with the Gilbert family and we will mess with you right back. I’m just finishing what he started.”
Emily had done it all. It was what Louise had suspected, but the time and energy and money Emily had invested in taking her down was shocking. She had had to be so patient.
“I want to have my fun now, Louise. And you’re going to let me. I worked so hard to make sure all of this was in place. I called the police on the Dove, saying one of you had murdered Nora and I saw the body. I sat with your father, pretending to really be concerned about you. I called the police on the Black Cat. I have never worked so hard in my life and you tell me to let her go?” Emily moved so she was kneeling in front of Louise. She reached a gloved hand out, brushing her fingertips over Louise’s cheeks. “I bet you fantasized about me. I fantasized about taking you down, you disgusting dinge bulldagger. You’re so stupid, you’ll trust anyone who asks. Think about that.”
Louise’s heart was in her throat. She couldn’t undo her own knots. This was it. This was how she was going to die. She had no idea how to get out.
Emily rose to her feet and paced a large circle around the chairs. She toyed with the gun in her hands, as if this was just a little bit of fun for her. She stopped pacing and tapped a finger against her lips.
“You know what I can’t decide? Which of you I should kill first. Maybe I should just kill her and let you live in the pain.”
Louise had made her peace with dying young a long time ago. “Kill me. If you’re going to kill anyone here, it should be me.”
Emily stopped moving. Louise refused to look at her, focusing only on Rosa Maria.
This was the end. She was sure of it. Louise felt a sort of calm wash over her. There was no way she was going to get out of this alive.
“Wrong answer,” Emily said.
She pressed the gun to Rosa Maria’s temple. Rosa Maria closed her eyes, tears streaming down her cheeks, waiting for the pull of the trigger and her quick death. Emily counted to five.
“I win, Miss Lloyd.”
“Let her go. She didn’t do anything to you. Kill me. Kill! Me!” Louise was screaming, her voice rising octaves.
Emily looked at her, steel in her cool blue eyes. “An eye for an eye, Miss Lloyd. You take someone I love, and I’ll take someone you love.”
Time seemed to slow down. Louise fought against the bindings keeping her in her chair. She was screaming at the top of her lungs.
“Emily Gilbert, drop the weapon.” The voice was cool, clear. It was Detective Martin.
Emily froze. Martin, four officers, and Rafael of all people flooded into the basement. Weapons were drawn, all trained on Emily. Emily dropped the gun only when she knew it was over. The little pistol clattered to the floor. Louise could move her foot just enough to kick it away.
She never thought she would be so relieved to see Andrew Martin. He pulled Emily away from her, and officers began to untie Louise and Rosa Maria. Louise began to cry true tears of relief as she fell onto Rosa Maria’s lap.
Emily was quiet as she was arrested. She didn’t say anything, just glared at Louise, her lips tight with fury.
As the fear of losing her life dissipated and she realized she wasn’t, in fact, ready to die, Louise realized something else: she was going to leave this basement, this city, and never return.
40
AFTER BEING CHECKED by a doctor, after repeating their statements to police several times, after watching Emily Gilbert be arrested and taken away, they went dancing.
Schoonmaker, Eugene, Josie, Michael, Rafael, Rosa Maria, and Louise all arrived at the Dinner Club as it changed from the restaurant to a nightclub. Louise wore a beaded blue dress with a deep V-neck and a feathered skirt—a dress she had seen in a shopwindow and she’d had to have. She felt glamorous; she felt beautiful. Rosa Maria was wearing a spangled red dress that managed to complement her perfectly. Louise did one Charleston at the beginning of the night, letting the light reflect off the beads on her dress, making her glow as she went through the steps. She and Rosa Maria danced right next to each other, just like old times, holding court on the floor and making everyone else watch.
Truthfully, Louise didn’t feel much like dancing that night. An hour had passed and she was trapped in Schoonmaker’s booth by Rafael on her left and Rosa Maria on her right, making it impossible for her to move. The band was playing a waltz. They had been playing a lot of slow songs and Louise was keeping an eye on Josie and Michael on the dance floor. They had danced every song together. Louise couldn’t help but find it adorable, the way Josie looked up at him with all the care and the trust in the world.
Louise had cried herself out. She felt raw now. Her makeup was doing a bad job of hiding the redness of her eyes. At least her lips were red to match.
“How did you find us?” Louise asked Rafael. She took a sip from her glass, feeling relief swell into every pore of her being.
“Well, it took a little detective work.” Rafael preened. He was grinning and he was going to hold it over their heads for the rest of their lives that he had helped save them. “I called the number Rosa Maria had in her date book but it was disconnected. I thought it was the Black Cat, but I guess it was the house. Then I asked the cable girl to give me the nearest available number. Then I called them, and they told me their address and . . . then I called the police.”
He had had to tell the story several times. Rafael loved to repeat it. He loved feeling like a hero. He was going to try to bask in the glory of it for as long as he lived.
“I have never been more grateful to have a baby brother,” Rosa Maria said.
Rafael wrinkled his nose, annoyed at being referred to as her baby brother. “I had to tell Martin everything you told me,” he continued. “I didn’t think he’d believe me, but he did.”
It didn’t matter how it had happened. The case was closed. Nora’s murder had been solved. The Dove would be able to open up again soon.
Rosa Maria lit a cigarette, then exhaled before leaning back in the booth. She hadn’t been saying much. Louise understood how she was feeling.
Going dancing was supposed to help them celebrate, but for the first time in a while, Louise did not want to be there.
Schoonmaker left them early, intent on flirting a pretty blonde into his bed. Louise could see him by the bar, his tall, languid body leaning down toward her, as he tried every charming move he had. For her part, the pretty blonde didn’t seem too moved. Michael and Josie were still on the dance floor, ignoring everyone else but each other. Louise drained her glass, then filled it again. The band changed, speeding the tempo up a little bit.
Eugene leaned into Rosa Maria. “Dance?”
Rosa Maria nodded. She and Louise had to be careful about dancing together in public in places like this. Louise, especially, didn’t need any more attention than she’d had. She watched as Eugene led Rosa Maria to the floor and began a solid foxtrot. She loved watching Rosa Maria dance. There was a fluidity to her movements that was easy and graceful. She made it all look effortless, like everything else she did.
Rafael watched them go and nudged Louise gently. “You all right, Lovie?”
Louise took a sip from her glass. What a loaded question. She should be fine, and she was fine. But her heart was still stuttering in her chest as if Emily were somehow still right behind her. She was eager to go back to the manse and sleep through the night.
“Everything’s copacetic, babe.”
“You’re lying to me.”
“No, I’m not.”
Louise finished her drink and turned to him. That was her fourth drink and she was now past slightly tipsy and on her way to buzzy drunk, right where she wanted to be. Rafael looked into her eyes. He was wearing a suit of inky green, a lazy and typical fashion choice that would have had women falling all over him if he’d wanted a woman. She blinked, trying to hold eye contact.
“I can read your thoughts, Lovie. And I’ll say it again: you’re lying to me.”
He was teasing her but, at the same time, she knew he was totally serious. There was a part of her that couldn’t believe it. The nightmare from her youth, the past summer, and now this spring. It had all led her to this.
“I’m just not good company tonight,” Louise said.
Rafael raised an eyebrow. He sipped from his glass. He didn’t say anything. Louise opened her mouth to say something, and when she did, she began to cry.
* * *
• • •
EMILY GILBERT GAVE a full confession. Louise was at the manse when she heard, and when the phone call came in, she cried again.
Martin asked both her and Rosa Maria to come down to the station. When they arrived, they were escorted into his office. He regarded them both. It had been a day since Emily was arrested. Louise’s name didn’t make the papers so much this time around. She hoped that Nora’s friends would be able to find some closure.
“I believe I owe you an apology,” Martin said. He practically choked on the words as he said them.
Louise and Rosa Maria shared a look.
“To who?” Louise asked.
“Both of you.”
Martin didn’t look at Louise. His eyes were on his desk. He was hating every moment of this and she was going to milk it for all that it was worth. She was reveling in the feeling of a case finished and closed, the long exhale after which she imagined that her life would get back to normal. She would be able to move on, and that was what she wanted.
“Why don’t you apologize to her first?” Louise asked.
Martin glared at her. He cleared his throat. “Miss Moreno, on behalf of the New York City Police Department, I apologize for falsely suspecting you of murder.”
“Apology accepted,” Rosa Maria said.
Martin turned to Louise. She could not keep the smile off of her face. This was all she ever wanted in her life and she was so excited that it was finally happening. “Miss Lloyd, although you are a pain in my side, on behalf of the New York City Police Department, I apologize for falsely suspecting you for the murder of Nora Davies.” He exhaled, as if that had been a Herculean task that was the hardest thing for him to do.
“Thank you,” Louise said haughtily. She and Rosa Maria shared another look.
“I very much appreciate it,” Rosa Maria said.
He was trying to make sure they didn’t sue the police department, but all Louise wanted was to leave.
“If that’s all, I think we’re finished here,” Martin said.
Louise didn’t move from her spot. She wanted to say something else but she wasn’t sure what. She felt as if she could sleep for three days and still be tired. “What is going to happen to her?”
Martin had turned back to his paperwork, already trying to forget who was sitting in his office. “She’ll probably hang.”
“Right,” Louise said.
That didn’t come as a surprise. Louise would have liked to be there to watch her be executed. She wondered how many women had been executed in the state of New York.
“If that is all,” Martin repeated, “I hope the two of you have a pleasant rest of your day.”
Louise and Rosa Maria shared one last look and left the small office.
Once they were outside, Louise turned to Rosa Maria. It was a cool spring afternoon and they stood in the middle of the street, facing each other as people rushed past them. Louise didn’t mind being anonymous in the swarms of people on the Harlem streets.
“Do you want to go back to Schoonmaker’s? I think we need to talk about some things.”
Rosa Maria considered Louise’s suggestion for a moment, lighting a cigarette as she did. She looked so beautiful in the afternoon light, dressed seriously in black. Her brown eyes glinted in the sun. Her black dress made her look taller than she was. She still had marks on her wrists from the ties. Louise did too. They were still sore from being bound up so tightly. Louise had dressed similarly, not wanting to stick out or draw attention to herself in any way.
She hoped that the Harlem’s Hero part of her life was over now. She hoped that she was free to be whoever she wanted now without the prying eyes of newspapermen or police or people who wanted to change her or make her do things she didn’t particularly want to do.
“Why not?” Rosa Maria said. “It’s not like I have much to do today anyway.”
41
ROSA MARIA HAD never been to the Schoonmaker manse. While Schoonmaker still insisted it was a normal house where normal people lived, Louise and Rosa Maria agreed that it was definitely a mansion. Louise gave her a quick tour, showing her the parlor and sitting room and living room, and taking her out to the backyard.
They ended up in the blue room, where Louise was in the middle of cleaning and making sure she was ready to leave. Packing up the large room was easy because Louise had barely unpacked. It was Josie who had made the initial mess, but Anna had come in every day after breakfast to tidy up. Louise would miss living with Anna, who was efficient and quiet. There were a lot of luxuries that Louise had gotten used to while living at the Schoonmaker manse, and she didn’t know how she would adjust after she was gone. Trying to get out of 3I as fast as she could, Louise had thrown her things into her trunk haphazardly. Now all she was doing was moving one article of clothing at a time from one spot to another. Josie had already packed her things in anticipation of her own move. Louise couldn’t believe that her youngest sister was going to move away from the place they had called home for the entirety of their lives.
But Louise figured that if Josie could do it, she could do it too. Her tickets to Paris were now secreted in her trunk along with her passport. The ship departed in two days and she was going to have to soak up every minute of living at the Schoonmaker manse until then.
“This is just like old times,” Rosa Maria said.
Louise laughed. In the boardinghouse they had lived in together, Louise’s bedroom had been pink. They had spent hours in that room, getting ready for nights out, sneaking back in, having a life together.
Rosa Maria sat on Louise’s bed, crossing her legs underneath her, watching as Louise rearranged her things. She lit a cigarette, then moved so she was lying down on her stomach.
“I have two tickets to Paris,” Louise said.
At the same time, Rosa Maria said, “I think we have to talk.”
“You go,” Louise said.
Rosa Maria pulled herself up so she was sitting on her knees. Louise could see her working through exactly what she wanted to say, making sure she had the right words. “You’re my first love. I will always love you, but I think it’s best if we stay apart.”
