Walking a Fine Line: Day 7

Word Count: 42,032

Summary of Events:

Not believing a word of Mr. Varley's story, Joseph was dismissive when Mr. Varley asked him for help clearing his name, but he couldn't help thinking about what Mr. Varley had told him, eventually coming to the conclusion that he might be able to corroborate the story by getting his hands on a Philadelphia newspaper. On his way to work the next day, Joseph did just that, buying the previous day's copy of the Inquirer from a newsstand. He took it home and sought out any articles that might corroborate Mr. Varley's tale that evening, and eventually found one…

Excerpt of the Day:

The article reported that Philadelphia police were, indeed, still looking for an accused thief by the name of Charlie McElligott, who was accused of robbing Mr. Marion Bradley and his wife — named Genevieve — of over $100,000 in jewellery that formed a special collection known as the Augusta collection after Mr. Bradley’s late first wife, for whom the collection had been made.

Each piece, it was reported, prominently featured a large and reasonably valuable ruby, as rubies had been Mrs. Augusta Bradley’s favourite gem. The collection had been largely a display set since her passing, seeing as it’d been made especially for her.

It was also reported in the article that the two least valuable pieces of the collection, a simple bracelet and a ring had been recovered in the backyard of Mr. and Mrs. Clayton McElligott, Charlie’s parents, while Charlie had vanished, presumably with the rest of the collection, within the first few days of January.

The article went on to say that police were becoming more sure that Charlie had left Philadelphia, and so were expanding their search beyond Philadelphia, with New York, Washington, and Pittsburgh being named as places that they were looking for Charlie.

Joseph shifted his jaw as he read on about police having not yet found any of the pieces at pawnshops or jewellery stores in Philadelphia, and their advising of all jewellers and pawnbrokers to be on the alert for the pieces.

He was interested to note that the article said that an earlier edition of the paper had published photographs of the still-missing items, which had been provided to the Inquirer by Mr. Bradley. He’d have to ask Mr. Sheenan if he could track down that edition specifically.

Seating himself, as the article had been toward the top of the page, so he’d had to stand up to read it without lifting the paper from the desk, Joseph thought about what he’d just read.

There had been more details in that article than Mr. Varley had supplied, but Joseph felt like that was more likely to disprove Mr. Varley’s identity as Charlie McElligott than prove it. If Mr. Varley really were Charlie McElligott, he ought to know things that the papers didn’t, instead of having the papers know things he didn’t.

Although, if Mr. Varley was Charlie McElligott, future editions might be worth acquiring to learn how the police’s search in Pittsburgh went, as Mr. Varley had said that he’d bought Philadelphia papers in Pittsburgh and Cleveland on his way to Chicago. That meant people would’ve seen Mr. Varley, and, if Mr. Varley were Mr. McElligott, those interactions might be reported to the police by the newsstand operators who had sold him the papers.

That could then function as a proof of Mr. Varley and Mr. McElligott being one in the same man, but Joseph wasn’t fully sure, as there was no photo in this article of Mr. McElligott that he could compare with Mr. Varley’s face.

Walking a Fine Line: Day 6

Word Count: 36,339

Summary of Events:

Joseph sought out the taxi with the license plate number he'd memorised as he walked to and from his workplace, and watched traffic go by out the windows over several days. Finally finding it, he questioned its driver and was quite glad that the driver remembered Mr. Varley and the address he'd asked to be taken to. After work, Joseph went to the address — as it was on his way home — and found it was a small apartment building where Mr. Varley was listed as a tenant. Going up to Mr. Varley's unit, Joseph found he wasn't home and was going to try and break in when he was knocked out. Upon regaining consciousness, Joseph was suspected as a robber by Mr. Varley's neighbours, but Mr. Varley insisted Joseph was a friend, and asked Joseph to pretend he was to the police, which Joseph agreed to only so that his family wouldn't lose his income. Once the police, having been persuaded, had left, Mr. Varley showed Joseph into his apartment and made him some tea before informing Joseph that his name was actually Charlie McElligott, that he was from Philadelphia, and going on to explain why he'd come to Chicago…

Except of the Day:

“You may not have heard of him, but there’s a fairly wealthy man by the name of Marion Bradley in Philadelphia,” Mr. Varley explained. “His money comes mainly from industrial works and the railway. He was away on business when a lone crook broke into his house and stole a valuable collection of jewellery. Mrs. Bradley heard the robbery in progress and courageously confronted the crook, but the crook beat her and… and did horrible things to her, before getting away.”

Mr. Varley looked shaken, suggesting to Joseph that it might be best not to ask what else the crook had done, but to simply guess that it was along the lines of what Joseph had suspected Mr. Varley had meant to do with Theresa when he’d sought to guide her away from the park.

“Despite the robbery’s being carried out in darkness,” Mr. Varley continued. “Mrs. Bradley was able to determine that her attacker was tall, lean, and had auburn hair. The police publicised this, hoping for a lead. Someone gave them my name as fitting the description, so they put out a warrant for my arrest.”

Taking up the teapot, Mr. Varley filled the two cups with what looked to be not so strong of tea as Ma liked, for which Joseph was grateful, as he didn’t like strong tea, it was almost as bad as coffee.

“When my parents saw this they questioned me extensively,” Mr. Varley went on, his voice catching in the last word. “My alibi was weak. I had been alone that evening, trying to find my wallet. On my way home from school that day I’d seen a couple children trying to get a cat out of a tree, so I stopped to help them. I thought that while doing so I’d lost my wallet, but I didn’t find it there, and I still haven’t found it. I think someone pinched it. I didn’t ask anyone to help me look for it, and I should’ve, as then I would’ve had someone to affirm where I was.”

Joseph drew his tea toward himself and added a bit of sugar to it, doing his best to stir the sugar in quietly, although Mr. Varley seemed to be focusing on preparing his tea and recovering his composure, as he seemed near to tears.

“What’s worse,” Mr. Varley said, his gaze fixed on the tea. “Is that the police later found a couple of the pieces of jewellery hiding in the snow in my parents’ backyard. So when my parents told the police about my missing wallet, they declared it would be found at the crime scene, but they’ve failed as much as I have to find it.”

Taking a sip of his tea, Joseph wished he could have some milk in it, although it wasn’t too bad overall.

“The police also showed a picture of me to Mrs. Bradley that my parents gave them,” Mr. Varley added. “And she told the police emphatically that I was the man.”

Walking a Fine Line: Day 5

Word Count: 30,106

Summary of Events:

Having finally spoken to everyone on Theresa's list of witnesses, and even to some other people whom those he'd spoken to had mentioned who weren't on Theresa's list, Joseph decided to call on Mr. Fannon again and ask some more questions. He went near closing time and, after having all of his questions answered — with the answers further reinforcing Mr. Varley's upstanding character — Joseph decided to ask some more questions of Mr. Varley, as well as discreetly finding out where Mr. Varley lived. To his frustration, Mr. Varley continued to be evasive, as well as to probe Joseph for information about himself, including seeking Joseph's surname, as he'd not yet learned it from anyone…

Excerpt of the Day:

Joseph set his jaw and glared at Mr. Varley stubbornly.

“You contend that I’m being evasive and withholding information from you,” Mr. Varley said. “But you have knowledge of a fact about me and refuse to share the same fact about yourself with me, which suggests to me that you’re being rather hypocritical. If you don’t want me to know things about you that you don’t know about me, then you should be willing to give me those pieces of information about yourself such as you already possess of me.”

Resentful of the validity of Mr. Varley’s point, Joseph glared at him for a long moment.

“Neil,” he finally spat bitterly.

“Joseph Neil,” Mr. Varley said. “That doesn’t sound too unique.”

“I can assure you that it is,” Joseph snapped. “My father was the only son to live long enough to have children of his own, thus none of my paternal cousins have the surname Neil, even if they have the same first name as I do.”

“But surely your grandfather had brothers,” Mr. Varley pressed.

“He didn’t bring his family here,” Joseph replied firmly. “After his death his wife moved her family here because she had relatives on her side in the city. Furthermore, I’ve not heard of having any relations outside of Chicago but within this country. All the other Neils I know of as relatives are still in Europe.”

“I don’t feel like Neil should be that uncommon of a surname,” Mr. Varley said. “Nevertheless, you have provided me that for which I asked, and for that, I thank you. Now a good night to you, Mr. Neil.”

“You haven’t answered my question,” Joseph declared. “And that’s not the only one I have for you either.”

“Some other time then,” Mr. Varley replied, indifference in his voice. “As I said, good night, Mr. Neil.”

A taxi pulled up to the curb and Mr. Varley got into the backseat. Joseph started toward the taxi to haul the door open and drag Mr. Varley out of the vehicle, but it pulled away from the curb almost immediately.

Managing to sight the license plate, Joseph read the numbers and letters on it and started repeating them over to himself, that he might commit the plate to memory and question the cabbie as to where he’d taken Mr. Varley, whom he angrily supposed to have spied the taxi coming and summoned discreetly, as he prided himself in being observant, yet he didn’t recall seeing Mr. Varley signal for the taxi in the way most people signalled, which was more obvious.

As he stared after the retreating machine until it disappeared, Joseph seethed that Mr. Varley had so craftily evaded him, and certainly thwarted him in his efforts to ascertain where Mr. Varley lived as well. He hoped that Mr. Varley was getting the cabbie to take him directly home, so that it would simply be a momentary delay, not a long-term evasion.

Walking a Fine Line: Day 4

Word Count: 24,108

Summary of Events:

Having been told by Theresa that Mr. Varley had gone out of his way to help people or make sure that he set things straight when he made an error in calculating how much they were supposed to pay, Joseph asked her for a list of witnesses to corroborate her accounts, and by meeting them in the streets or having them come to his workplace while he was working once he'd received it, Joseph learned from all of them that Mr. Varley had, indeed, done the things that Theresa had attested to his doing…

Excerpt of the Day:

Joseph then started packaging up all of Mrs. O’Reilly’s purchases neatly.

“I’ve heard that Mr. Fannon has a new assistant at his shop,” Joseph said as he worked.

“More a clerk than an assistant, really,” Mrs. O’Reilly said. “A very nice young man.”

“Is that so?” Joseph asked.

“Yes, indeed,” Mrs. O’Reilly replied. “He seems to me like he must be well-educated, or at least come from a well-educated family. I’m surprised he works in a butcher’s shop.”

“Where do you think he should work?” Joseph asked.

“A bank or a law office,” Mrs. O’Reilly replied. “Although with his honesty, he could make a good priest too.”

“Honesty?” Joseph asked.

“Yes, of course,” Mrs. O’Reilly said. “Just a couple weeks ago I was there to purchase a roast for Sunday dinner and paid for it, thinking nothing of the price. The next time I was there he told me with the most genuine sincerity that he’d charged me too much for the roast by inadvertently charging me ninety one cents instead of nineteen, so he gave me a credit of the difference on my purchase to make it right.”

Joseph nodded. He presumed that the roast had been $1.19 not 19¢, as he was pretty sure roasts weren’t that cheap, even though Chicago was a city where a good deal of livestock were sent to be slaughtered and processed into meat for the whole nation.

“Now, I know that the Fannons are good, honest people,” Mrs. O’Reilly said. “But you can never tell who’s inclined to be greedy these days. It’s entirely possible that a lesser man would’ve pocketed the overcharge to make sure the books balanced out and his employer was none the wiser while enriching himself, but I’m glad that the clerk didn’t.”

Nodding again, Joseph started on the final package.

“In fact, I’m quite impressed by him,” Mrs. O’Reilly said. “As I heard from Mrs. Walsh the other day that he apparently overcharged her by just two cents, but gave her the credit on her bill in order to make things right. In my case it was seventy two cents, which can buy something of substance, but two cents hardly buys much, yet he is so scrupulous that he couldn’t even let such a little discrepancy remain.”

Joseph nodded a third time. “Will you need some help with your packages, Mrs. O’Reilly?”

“No,” Mrs. O’Reilly replied. “Johnny was going to pick me up.” She turned and looked out the windows. “He should be here already.”

Evidently not seeing him, she strode toward the windows to have a greater field of vision along the streets. Joseph watched as she looked, thinking about her report. He knew Mrs. Walsh, but her name hadn’t been on Theresa’s list, suggesting she was one of the witnesses Theresa had forgotten, or that Theresa mayn’t have even witnessed her interaction at all.

Walking a Fine Line: Day 3

Word Count: 18,019

Summary of Events:

Arriving home from their visit to his oldest sister's house, Joseph was displeased to learn from Theresa that she'd been invited by Mr. Varley to meet him in a nearby park, and that she intended to go without a chaperone. Since she left before he could insist on accompanying her, Joseph followed her discreetly and observed Mr. Varley to look just as Theresa had described. He was alarmed when Mr. Varley looked intent to flee the park with Theresa for some reason and pursued them, getting into fisticuffs with Mr. Varley before revealing he was, in fact, Theresa's brother, and not a suspicious person coveting Theresa for himself. Having the opportunity to speak to Mr. Varley for himself, Joseph took advantage of it to question Mr. Varley about his family in hopes of learning more from Mr. Varley than he'd learned from anyone else thus far…

Excerpt of the Day:

“Where do your parents live?” Joseph asked.

“What does it matter?” Mr. Varley asked, his voice sounding unbothered, but his eyes belying a degree of displeasure with Joseph’s enquiry.

“Do they know where you are?” Joseph asked.

Mr. Varley said nothing.

“Do they know what you’re up to?” Joseph pressed.

The expression on Mr. Varley’s face darkened.

“You seem quite intent to get information out of me about my family, but you have no intentions of volunteering anything about yourself,” Joseph snapped. “It makes me doubt whether anything you’ve told me — or even Theresa — to this point possesses the least bit of truth.”

“My parents want nothing to do with me,” Mr. Varley replied, his tone hard and bitter. “Thus I can’t say I see any reason for their place of residence or knowledge of my activities to be relevant to you.”

Joseph felt immediately quite suspicious. If Mr. Varley’s parents wanted nothing to do with him, that seemed to Joseph a clear indicator that he was doing something they disapproved of, and if that was the case, Joseph wasn’t sure why he should be inclined to think Mr. Varley was as upstanding as everyone else seemed to think he was. Surely his parents weren’t unjustified in their actions.

“Oh, Ernest!” Theresa exclaimed, the sympathy in her voice evident. “Why would your parents want nothing to do with you?”

“Please, Theresa,” Mr. Varley said gently. “It is a wound too fresh for me to think on at the present time.”

Theresa nodded in evident understanding, but Joseph was by no means reassured. It was clear that Mr. Varley was wont to hide as much about himself as possible from everyone, including the girl whom he evidently possessed a romantic interest in.

“If that’s the way you’re going to be, I don’t think I’m inclined to give my approval to the two of you continuing to see one another,” Joseph snapped sharply. “I don’t want my sister keeping company with a man who is intent on keeping so much of himself hidden in the shadows. Theresa, we’re going home.”

“Joseph, you’re being unfair,” Theresa protested.

“No I am not,” Joseph snapped, taking hold of her upper arm and guiding her toward the end of the park that was nearest their home, in order that they might reach home in the shortest period of time.

Theresa tried to break free from his hold, but Joseph didn’t loosen it.

“Furthermore,” he hissed into her ear as he towed her along. “I have no intentions of leaving you alone with him. Ever.”

There was no mistaking that Theresa was sorely displeased with the situation. She continued to struggle against Joseph’s hold, but he didn’t release her. He had no intentions of letting her run away to Mr. Varley. Despite everyone else’s shining reviews of the man, he had seen nothing but tarnish, and if he wasn’t wise enough to keep his sister away from such a man, then Da had been right about him, and he didn’t want that to be the case.

Walking a Fine Line: Day 2

Word Count: 12,062

Summary of Events:

Having questioned Theresa thoroughly about the butcher's assistant and gotten little more than his name, Joseph decides to question neighbours whom he knows go to the same butcher for information on the butcher's assistant, but even the butcher himself doesn't have near as much information as Joseph was hoping for — and the assistant's work schedule is the same as his, so he's unable to meet the assistant at the butcher shop when he stops by on his day off. Feeling quite stressed about the matter, Joseph isn't altogether appreciative when — at his oldest sister's house for lunch on Sunday — the youngest of his older sisters notices his distress and takes him aside to talk about it…

Excerpt of the Day:

“I fail to see what’s problematic about that, Joseph,” Ruth said. “Every girl falls in love eventually.”

“But I don’t know who he is,” Joseph replied. “That’s the problem.”

“You know his name,” Ruth said.

“But I’ve never met the man,” Joseph said.

“Well, if she’s sweet on him–”

“He’s also sweet on her,” Joseph interrupted. “I learned that much from Mr. Fannon when I questioned him last Saturday.”

“Surely this is a recent development if I only just learned of it,” Ruth said.

“I think it is, but I don’t know,” Joseph replied. “And I don’t like that I don’t know.”

“I’m sure they would make a fine match,” Ruth said.

“But I’m not,” Joseph argued.

“I have a feeling you wouldn’t want to like Mr. Varley if you met him,” Ruth said.

“What do you mean?” Joseph demanded.

“You’re going to have to let Theresa go someday, Joseph,” Ruth said, grasping his hand gently. “And it may well be sooner than you’re ready for it to be.”

Joseph looked at Ruth uneasily. She’d always been a perceptive one, and he didn’t like the fact that she’d made such an incisive probe.

“Besides, if you hold her back, things are likely to turn out akin to Brighid.” Ruth added.

“Brighid isn’t my fault!” Joseph snapped defensively.

“I’m not saying it is, Joseph,” Ruth said tenderly, putting her free hand on his other forearm. “But if Theresa were to become the same sort of person, it would be.”

“I… who says that I’ll hold her back once I meet this Varley?” Joseph demanded. “I just… I feel like they’re getting married tomorrow.”

“Why?” Ruth asked, withdrawing her hands from him.

“I don’t know,” Joseph admitted. “Everybody just goes on and on about how great this Varley is, which must mean he exists, but… I can’t find him, and I haven’t met him, and…”

“Theresa’s your dearest sister, so you don’t want to let her go unless you know where she’s going,” Ruth finished.

“Exactly,” Joseph replied. “And I don’t like that nobody seems to know where he’s from, where he lives, or anything like that. It’s suspicious.”

“Not even Mr. Fannon?” Ruth asked.

Joseph shook his head.

“Hm,” Ruth said. “That is somewhat unusual, I think.”

“I think I could maybe like him if I could meet him,” Joseph said. “But if he’s going to remain elusive like this, then I don’t care how much she likes him, she’ll have to find someone else who is more like a human and less like a ghost.”

“Well, there is still time yet,” Ruth said reassuringly.

“It doesn’t feel like it,” Joseph replied.

Ruth put a gentle hand on Joseph’s upper arm. He knew she was trying to comfort him, but it was frustrating to him that people he knew weren’t given to hallucinations had seen Mr. Varley, but he hadn’t. It was making him question whether Mr. Varley was a real person at all, even though he knew he had to be.

Walking a Fine Line: Day 1

Word Count: 6,016

Summary of Events:

Arriving home after another day of work, Joseph's time before supper was served ended up being occupied by his youngest sister, who reported to him that the older of his younger brothers had taken one of her dolls, which he learned from his youngest brother had been put in the tree in the backyard, from whence he managed to fetch it. Over supper, Joseph's oldest sister still at home was asked by his mother what she was up to the following day, with both her and Joseph being perplexed when the oldest of his younger sisters volunteered to go get the meat from the butcher with an unusual eagerness…

Excerpt of the Day:

Brighid looked sceptical, and Joseph had to admit that he was of the same sentiment.

“It isn’t as if I don’t have other errands to run tomorrow,” Brighid said. “I can get the chicken just fine.”

“Oh, but I really want to,” Theresa said.

“Why?” Joseph asked, raising his eyebrows and drawing them together in a dubious expression.

Theresa looked at him for a moment, her countenance quickly displaying shyness before she turned away, a flush coming over her cheeks.

“Yes, that is a good question,” Brighid said. “Why?”
Keeping her head down but raising her gaze to look at Brighid, Theresa still looked shy and girlish.

“When you sent me to the butcher last time I met his assistant,” Theresa replied.

“And?” Brighid asked.

“Well…” Theresa replied. “He’s… handsome.”

“Oh,” Brighid said tersely.

Joseph set his jaw, not so much in irritation as in worry. He could feel his appetite fleeing like a flock of startled pigeons. He forced himself to look at the half-full plate of food before him.

“Well then I am definitely going to get the chicken tomorrow,” Brighid said.

“Why?” Theresa protested with a tone of childish displeasure.

“Because you’ll definitely be late for school if you go there to goggle at Mr. Fannon’s assistant,” Brighid replied.

“I won’t,” Theresa replied with a hint of soft indignation. “I just want to be able to say hello to him.”

“Hello is always the beginning of a conversation,” Brighid sniffed.

It took conscious effort for Joseph to take up his utensils and force the rest of the food on his plate into his mouth, as he didn’t need to get lit into by Brighid and Ma for not cleaning his plate — besides, they would probably suspect there was something wrong with him if he were to leave food behind, and he didn’t want them to know that for sure.

Brighid continued detailing to Ma what else she had to do during the rest of the day as Joseph shoved the remainder of the meal into his mouth dutifully until his plate was appropriately clean.

He set his utensils down on the plate, followed by his glass once he’d drained the water out of it. Leaning back in his chair, he stared somewhat numbly forward at the roasting pan in which there was nothing but a few little morsels of meat left, which was no surprise, considering there were nine people about the table who’d partaken of the meal.

It wasn’t as if it was wrong for Theresa to have a boy she thought handsome, she was going to be eighteen two days less than a month after his birthday, and when school let out for the year she would be finished with that too, so it was only fair for her to start looking for a future husband, but Joseph couldn’t help feeling unsettled.

Theresa was, to all intents and purposes, his best friend. The idea of someone interfering with the bond they shared wasn’t something he was eager for, especially considering he wouldn’t be able to have someone for himself probably for at least another five to ten years.

Pronunciation:

Brighid: breed