The Diviners

“A murder! Oh, my. Let me just change my shoes,” Evie said excitedly. “I won’t be a minute.”

“You’re not coming,” Uncle Will said.

Evie hopped on one foot while removing her shoes and putting on her new oxfords. “Miss a real-life murder scene? Not on your life.”

“It’s ugly, Miss. Not meant for a lady,” Detective Malloy said.

“I don’t scare so easily. I promise I’ll be as tough as Al Capone.” Evie laced up the first shoe.

“You’re staying here.” Will turned his back, dismissing her.

“Unc, you promised to take Jericho and me to Chinatown for dinner. No sense coming back uptown for me.”

“Evangeline…”

“I promise I’ll be no trouble at all. I’ll sit in the back of the car and wait until you’ve finished,” Evie promised.

Will sighed. “All right by you, Terrence?”

“Okay by me.” The detective held the door for her. “But don’t complain to me if you have nightmares after, Miss O’Neill.”

Evie stifled a gallows laugh at that.

THE HARLOT ADORNED ON THE SEA

The Manhattan Bridge grew bigger as they pulled onto Pike Street. In front of the tenements, a swarm of kids played stickball. As the car moved through, they watched it with narrow-eyed suspicion.

“Future hooligans,” Detective Malloy said as he parked the police car at the end of the street. “Any of you little sh—” He glanced at Evie. “Little brats touch this car, I promise you they’ll be dragging the river for your teeth.”

The men stepped out of the car, and Evie followed.

“You were to wait in the car,” Will reminded her.

Evie had finagled her way down here. She wasn’t about to get this far and not see the actual murder scene. A murder in Manhattan! Already she imagined writing to Dottie and Louise about her adventures: “Dearest darlings, you won’t believe what I saw today…. Naturally, like any modern girl, I wasn’t afraid….” It would be just like the Agatha Christie novels she adored. But only if she could get closer.

“Oh, Uncle Will, but anything could happen to a girl waiting in the car.” Evie glanced meaningfully at the kids playing stickball. “What would my mother say?”

She mustered up a face of pure innocence.

“Then Jericho can wait with you.”

Evie glanced quickly at Jericho. “I’d feel better staying with you, Uncle Will. I promise I’ll stay out of the way. And you don’t need to worry that I’m one of those Fainting Frannys who goes goofy at the sight of blood. Why, last year, when Betty Hornsby nearly cut her finger clean off trying to juggle steak knives at a party, I was the only one who didn’t wilt on the spot seeing all that blood everywhere. It was a real mess but I was ab-so-lute-ly like a stone. Promise.”

She did her best to look completely nonplussed, as if she saw dead bodies all the time. Uncle Will started to object, but Detective Malloy shrugged. “As long as she promises not to faint, it’s fine by me. But this is no mystery novel, Miss O’Neill. I’m giving you fair warning.”

At the pier, a crowd of onlookers had gathered. Cops in blue uniforms with brass buttons shooed them back. Three oyster houseboats bobbed at the end of the pier where they were tied with hawsers.

“Body’s over here,” Malloy said. “Was some fishermen that found her. The body was dumped here sometime in the past day or so, near as we can tell. It was hidden by a heap of oyster shells, which is why nobody saw it earlier. You okay, Fitz?”

Uncle Will had paled. “I hate the smell of fish.”

“Cheer up. What you’re gonna see will make you forget about the smell. Body’s a real mess.” Malloy glanced at Evie. She refused to give him the satisfaction of a reaction. “Got some kind of weird mumbo-jumbo with it, too, which is why I came for you. I’m telling you, Fitz, I’ve never seen anything like it.”

Malloy led them to a spot piled high with shucked oyster shells, pink-white in the evening sun. A police photographer had set up his tripod. The flash lamp in his hand went off, blinding Evie with its brightness. The lamp’s magnesium powder scorched the air, leaving a sharp tang on Evie’s tongue. As they drew closer, the smells of fish, urine, and rotting flesh overpowered Evie. A violent heaving washed up inside her, which she willed back down. She breathed surreptitiously through her mouth. Black flies swarmed the spot, and Evie waved them away from her face.

“This is as far as you go, Miss,” Detective Malloy said, and it was clear it was an order. He nodded at Jericho in some unspoken male code that indicated Jericho should stay with Evie, which only irritated her further.