The Angel of Darkness - Caleb Carr [50]
“A job which she undertakes on the last car of the Third Avenue Elevated in the middle of the night? It won’t do, John, and you know it. Though I’m inclined to agree with you about her being a professional of some kind.” He wrote the words GOVERNESS OR NURSE after the last phrase as he added, “But for entirely different reasons.”
“She could’ve been taking the train down to the Cubans’ headquarters,” Mr. Moore protested.
“John,” Miss Howard said, fairly condescendingly, “anyone who goes to the trouble of hiring a kidnapper and a nurse can certainly afford to pay for a cab.”
“Have you ever met those Cuban Revolutionary fellows, Sara?” Mr. Moore answered, topping her condescension. “I have—they’re a moth-eaten group, if ever I saw one. Whatever money Hearst is using to spread war fever, he isn’t giving much of it to them.”
“John’s right about that much,” Marcus said. “Maybe they’ve run out of funds.”
“Which still does not explain what the devil she was doing on the train, in the first place,” the Doctor answered. “The general idea is to keep the child hidden, isn’t it? Not parade her around before half of the city. There must be a reason why they would allow her to be seen in public, and that reason must have a political dimension.”
Lucius spoke up: “Well—there’s really only one.”
The Doctor turned. “Yes?”
“They wanted the girl to be seen.”
Dr. Kreizler nodded once. “Yes. Thank you, Detective Sergeant. That is, in fact, the only possibility.” The words DELIBERATE DISPLAY then went up. “Someone, somewhere—perhaps even the señora—was supposed to see the child, so that the kidnappers could prove they actually have her and are in earnest. And the best place to do such a thing would be in a very public place. And so we arrive at our final destination …” The Doctor moved up to the left-hand side of the circle. “Having demonstrated that they have the child, our abductors make their demands known. Yet the señora seems to think that they have not.”
“Consul Baldasano and Linares could be lying to her,” Lucius said. “They may have received the demands and don’t intend to meet them. They don’t want a stink, so they lie to the mother.”
The Doctor was busy writing DEMANDS: as he weighed this. “Yes. Again, Lucius, the only possibility, really, unless Moore is right and they’re biding their time. But whether they’re waiting or have been refused, what is it that each group would want? A simple kidnapping for ransom is again ruled out here, because one doubts that the Spanish would fail to meet mere monetary demands. We must stick to the political dimension—which means what?”
“Well,” Mr. Moore said. “The American jingoes and the Cubans want just one thing—war. It’s not really a matter of ‘demands’ as such.”
The Doctor spun around and pointed an accusing finger at his old friend, smiling. “Precisely. Thank you, Moore, for eliminating two of your own suggested culprits.” He turned round again, writing WAR under DEMANDS:, as another lost look came over Mr. Moore’s face.
“What’re you talking about, Kreizler?”
“You abduct a child. Your goal is a diplomatic incident. The child’s disappearance is designed to be the cause—her absence alone is important. Beyond that, she is a liability.”
Miss Howard’s face lit up. “Yes. And in that case—why is the child still alive?”
“Exactly, Sara,” the Doctor answered. “For both the American war party and the Cubans, the living child is only a breathing risk—she can only contribute to their capture. If either group were responsible, the Linares girl would be at the bottom of one of our rivers by now, or perhaps, like the detective sergeants’ discovery of Sunday night, in pieces at the bottom of several rivers. Of all the potential political culprits, only the Spanish would have any interest in keeping the child alive—yet they also have the greatest interest in keeping her out of sight and the most resources with which to make sure she stays so. And thus”—the Doctor drew a hard line