Art Reasoner thought he'd be the first one in the office the next morning. He was pleasantly surprised to find Belinda Doyle and Paul Cooley already there.
"Morning all," Reasoner said.
Their responses weren't as impressive.
Belinda limped over to her desk. "Morning. Art."
"Yep, it's. morning," Cooley said flipping through the Port Pinnebog News.
"Sounds like we all had a rough night," Reasoner said. He turned to Belinda. "How's the ankle?"
"A hornets' nest of pain. Doctor said to stay off it for a few days."
"Heeding his advice I see."
"I was kind of hoping Jillian would be here."
"She ever show up at the hospital?"
"No. But a couple of detectives did. They wanted me to I.D. a Jane Doe in the morgue."
"Why you?"
"Nurse Weaver said I might know her because the woman had some card from the Big Wheel Casino with the name Jillian P on it and she heard the page for Jillian Proust several times. She thought it might be the Jillian P in the morgue."
"Card? What kind of card?"
"I don't know. About as big as a playing card with a bunch of raised numbers and letters."
"It's a rewards card," Cooley said. "They issue them to whales."
"That's a little harsh," Belinda said.
Cooley grinned. "A whale in casino lingo is a big spender. A host or hostess is put in charge of hooking the whale and taking care of him or her."
"Did either of you know Jilly liked to go to the Big Wheel?"
Belinda shook her head.
Cooley looked up from the paper. "I went with her a couple of times. She loves the slots. What color was the card?"
"Purple."
Cooley whistled. "She's in deep. I'm red. Just starting."
Art turned to Belinda. "So why did the Jane Doe on the slab have Jilly's rewards card?"
"I was hoping to ask Jilly that this morning."
"Which detectives did you talk to?"
"Hernandez and Porter."
"Josh has got a new partner?" Reasoner chuckled and shook his head. He looked up at the paper Cooley held. "What are you reading?"
"Hmm? Oh. Jess Robbins showed up at the Swann Club last night. I was curious if any of the shenanigans made the morning edition."
"What shenanigans?"
"Louis Norton crashed Viggo Pederson's campaign launch."
"He what?"
"Oh, it was a scene, Artie. Norton was ready to throw haymakers at Pederson but Pederson's head of security took him down."
"Why would our client threaten Viggo Pederson?" Belinda leaned over the desk.
Reasoner pulled the gold cigarette case out of his pocket.
Belinda's eyes widened behind her glasses. "I hope you put that back before Jilly gets here."
Reasoner opened the case. He removed the false backing to show them the photo of Viggo Pederson. "Looks like the missing Mrs. Norton and the man who would be mayor have a past. I mentioned this to Norton. Guess he didn't like the idea of another man in his wife's life."
"No, he did not." Cooley folded the paper. "For his part, Pederson played dumb. Said he had no idea who Phyllis Norton was."
"And?"
"And Norton never said who he was or who his wife was. Just kept asking PEderson what he did with his wife."
"Pederson use her name?"
"No. But everything to me said Pederson knew exactly who Nortoin was."
"What did Pederson do?"
"Sent his chief of staff to get Alicia Webb so he could talk to her again."
"Again?" Reasoner rubbed his temple.
"Yeah. When we first got there, Pederson's head of security took her up to a suite to meet with him. Second time it was a woman that collected Miss Webb because the head of security was dealing with Lou Norton."
Belinda stopped taking notes for the moment. "He buys her psychic eye act?"
"Webb said he's been like that ever since he went to the diner and she asked about some woman she said came in with him. Anyhow, the matronly Missus Filch informed me Pederson was seeing to Miss Webb."
"I hope that means he took her home."
"No kidding."
Art picked up the newspaper. He opened it full to look at the front page. 'Follow the Money' the headline screamed. Beneath it was a picture of men in black tie and women in evening gowns.
"I checked," Cooley said. "There are no pictures of us."
"No, I wouldn't think so." Reasoner set the paper on his desk and tapped a face in the picture. "But I recognize this one guy from my trip to Edgeville yesterday. Barney Phipps. Owns a service station. He had a pinup poster for spark plugs on the wall behind his register. I thought it was Phyllis Turner about ten or fifteen years ago. Phipps said it was a woman named Dorothy Martin. She and her sister did a USO act called the Calvacade Sisters."
Belinda brightened. "I know the Calvacade Sisters. My dad has all their records." Belinda broke into song. "Baby I'm back in Dee-troit, don't want to be here anymore..." She stopped. "Oh, come on. You never heard that song?"
"We've heard the song," Cooley joked. "Just not like that."
"Phipps was a little miffed at me for asking questions. He sent one of his mechanics to deliver a cease-and-desist order. Alicia Webb saved me."
Belinda leaned back and eyed Reasoner. "That's why you brought her and her friend to the Tac."
"I brought them to the Tac because they had invites to the Pederson soiree."
"You're a cheap hustler, Art Reasoner."
"And I don't deny it." He glanced over the story. The reporter's beef with the people in the front page picture seemed to stem from campaign donors from outside of Port Pinnebog dumping money into Viggo Pederson's coffers. He didn't care for the influence but failed to discuss whether Mayor Tibbets accepted money from non-residents.
Reasoner folded the paper and dropped it on Cooley's desk.
"What's on our dockets for today, kids?"
"I'm going to try to reach Jilly," Belinda said.
Cooley leaned back in his chair, his hands behind his head. "I'm open."
"Good. Go to the Big Wheel. Show Jilly's picture around. See if she was there last night. Ask waitstaff, hosts, other gamblers."
"I want to go," Belinda said.
"You're supposed to stay off your foot."
"I'm fine."
"Take her," Artie said. "She's got a face that puts people at ease."
Belinda wrinkled her brow. "Thanks. I think."
"Where you going to be, Artie?"
"A couple of places. Let's try to meet at the Tac around three. I'll call if I'm running late."
"Call who?" Belinda asked. "It's not like you have a phone in your pocket."
"I'll call the Tac." He rubbed at his temple again.
"You okay, Artie?"
Reasoner looked up at Belinda. "Yeah. Why?"
"You keep rubbing your temple."
"Just thinking in overdrive, I guess."
"Come on, deputy," Cooley stood up from his desk. "Let's ride."
Belinda grabbed the cane the hospital handed her when she was discharged. She followed Cooley out of the office. The room fell still. Almost completely quiet if not for the hum.
Reasoner looked around the room for the source knowing full well he would not find it. The hum had been with him ever since he looked through the crack in the door of the warehouse district and saw that enigma mechanism glowing and turning on a wall. The hum now increased in the absence of the usual commotion in the office. He needed to train his ears on something else to drown out the constant droning in his head.
Reasoner stepped out onto the street. Ten a.m. Trains rolling. Trolleys clacking. People walking. Horns. Bells. Sirens. On any other morning, all of that ancillary noise would be enough to squash any earworms burrowing through his head. On this morning, the humming he heard clung on him like a prickly burr snagged on a pant leg.
Reasoner proceeded along Connelly Avenue. He concentrated too hard on the hum exasperating the situation. What he needed was a distraction.
He stepped into a phone booth, closed the door. The dial tone on the receiver rang in his ear. He dropped a coin into the slot. A bell rang. He focused on the rotating dial, the whirr and clack of each new number. The click of connection after the final number, the ring on the other end followed by the click of the call being answered.
A woman's voice greeted him. "Midtown Precinct. How may I direct your call?"
"Detective Porter. Tell him Art Reasoner is calling."
"One moment."
More clicks. Then silence.
Hum.
Reasoner opened the phone booth door. The city rolled into the booth. He watched the street.
A trolley passed. The building across the tracks came into view. Through a shop window, against the wall in the back of the business, Reasoner caught a glimpse of a familiar-looking turbine. Different colors of the rainbow but pulsing in a similar fashion as the one he saw the previous night when he wandered the warehouse district.
A bald man with glasses passed by the window inside the shop. He pulled down on window shade blocking the view of the shop's interior. Reasoner looked at the sign over the shop.
'Dynamo Donuts.
The phone clicked again. "Art Reasoner," a man said. "How are the land legs treating you?"
Reasoner stared at the rotating, pulsing lights.
"Art? You there?"
"Yeah. How have you been, Swabbie?"
"That's Ensign Swabbie to you, sailor." They shared a laugh. After it passed, Detective Porter asked, "I think I know why you're calling, Artie."
"Heard you were checking on one of my team."
"We were looking to identify a Jane Doe."
"Did you get a name?"
"We did. And a whole. lot more. Next time we meet for beers, remind me to tell you about the surveillance dynamo they have humming at the Big Wheel."
"Maybe that's what iæve been hearing all morning."
"Rough night?"
"Not really. Busy. No, I've had a hum in my ears since I woke."
"Yeah, well, you'll get used to it. No one notices the birds chirping anymore until they stop to listen." Then, shifting the topic back to the incident from the previous night, Porter asked, "You talk to your associate about the card?"
"She hasn't shown up yet."
"When was the last time you saw her?"
"Last night around eight."
"Too soon for us to search but I'll keep my ears open."
"Thanks, JP. I'd appreciate it."
"No problem. Anything to help the guy who pulled me out of the drink when the ship went down."
"Just doing my duty."
"Yeah, well, I and my family appreciate that."
"One last thing, JP. What do you know about Delirium Six?"
"Captain Coughs? We're just starting to dig. We think, can't prove it yet, but think it involves the River Rogues. We do know the folks who have tried have seen some wild things. We also think it's why this Void guy is seen so many places almost at the same time. People are seeing things that aren't there."
"I'll keep my ears open for that."
"Appreciate it, Art. Listen, my partner is signaling we have to go."
"No problem. Good talking to you, JP."
"Same, Art."
The phone clicked.
Reasoner's head filled with questions. Was that why he saw the dynamos? Did he somehow get exposed to Delirium Six? If so, when?
For the moment he was unaware of the hum.
For the moment.
AUTHOR'S NOTES
I took a. break from this chapter to work on some other projects. When I came back, I realized it started as a reminder of what had happened up to this point. I added the Lovecraftian humming to give Reasoner an excuse for returning to the warehouse district.
Next chapter is Porter and Hernandez going back to the Big Wheell where they cross paths with Belinda and Cooley. I think after that it's finally time for the Phyllis in the office with Reasoner chapter.
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