All Bedlam Courses Past (part two hundred twenty-three)

 

 

 

 

 

All Bedlam Courses Past

 

 

Chapter Eight

Things Relative

 

(part two hundred twenty-three)

 

 

 

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Correct. You look at me as though you hope for more. Shall I surmise you‘d have me know the hour and minute I rose from the table? I do not.

But having left your wife’s cabin after what you call the luncheon, you did not see her, not look in on her, not hear anything of her activities from another party, between that time and your being informed next day, by Miss Buckley, of Mrs. Demrose’s absence?

Why do you ask?

Now, sir, you will not be starting such business with me.

Well, then, no.

You did not look in on her, hear of her…

No, to either. Or to both.

One o’clock in the afternoon?

What of it? No, Mr. Monaghan, I comprehend you. I grow wiser. I suspect you have spoken with Arnulfa, and hope to see me contradict that testimony above reproach.

You have a curious turn of mind, sir. You spent in the nature of an hour, dining with your wife in her cabin, and you left her cabin, and did not return to it, until the following morning, in company with Miss Buckley, and under a state of alarm.

Yes. I left the cabin, and went at first to my own. I did nothing of note but strip to my underthings, tamp my face and arms with a wet cloth, and lie on the bed.

You were in your cabin alone from the end of the noontime meal until the dinner hour.

Alone but not incommunicado. I was called out for some attraction by my steward. Joseph, I believe.

Joseph Palano.

I can’t swear to it.

You are trying to say that the steamer Aurora Belle had been docking herself there at Milwaukee, and those remaining on the Chief, not taking the day excursion, were invited topside to have a look.

Captain Webster had given every indication of imagining this a treat, yes. I dismissed Joseph. And because you are so precise in your tedium, no, for no purpose did I go topside.

Not for the departure, the Chief setting off at first, prior to the ice delay, six-thirty by Captain Webster?

For no purpose.

 

If a day in Milwaukee had struck him brightening, of course he could have gone solo. He had not thought of asking Myra. If the thrust were to suggest that Regina could have minded, no, that was absurd.

No, he had never been to Milwaukee, knew not a soul there, had certainly no communications with anyone ashore. He had sat on the bed and thought of things. Inconsequential things, which hardly could be recalled now. Yes, at length he had dressed, and gone out to wander the decks.

State of mind? He was amazed Monaghan would ask. Is this what modern policing is? I doubt I’ve ever had one…but, shall we say, bored?

 

 

235

 

 

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Bedlam

All Bedlam Courses Past (part two hundred twenty-four)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(2025, Stephanie Foster)