Speak Easy (Speak Easy 1)

; Chapter Four

After settling the argument between my sisters—Molly lost, I said she had to take Mary Grace to Electric Park—I told them Daddy had gone to Cleveland for a few days, and if they stayed out of trouble while he was gone, they could each pick out a new skirt or blouse from the Sears Roebuck catalog. Then I broke up the fight that ensued when Mary Grace said Molly was hogging the catalog behind the locked bathroom door, which is where she insists she has to go if she wants any privacy at all.

I spent the rest of Saturday morning stocking shelves at the store, jumping out of my skin every time the bell over the door rang, and wiping my sweaty palms on my skirt. I managed to avoid Bridget, who said she needed some fresh produce and took the kids down to Eastern Market. Since Martin was minding the store in her absence, I went over to the garage, where it looked like Joey had attempted to repair the busted lock but hadn’t finished the job. Inside the office, I dug Daddy’s directory out of the desk and called Blaise at the Cloverly Inn.

“Yeah?” barked a gruff voice.

I cleared my throat. “I’m calling for Jack O’Mara.”

“Yeah?”

“Uh, I need to make a pickup. Twelve cases. Tomorrow night, if possible.”

“It’s possible.”

“Can I make the pickup after nine?”

“Thirty-five per. I’ll meet you at the docks.”

There, I thought, allowing myself a sliver of triumph as I hung up. But when I replaced the directory, I noticed someone had been in the secret compartment at the back of Daddy’s bottom desk drawer, the one where he kept the ledgers. I reached in and felt around.

Empty.

“Damn it,” I whispered. Money slipped through Daddy’s fingers like water but he kept meticulous records of what we sold and to whom. My blood iced over as I thought about where those ledgers might be—and worse, where they might end up. Angel had probably taken them, but why? Daddy was sunk if he turned them over to the Prohibition Bureau.

He could go to jail. And I’d be on my own with the girls for years.

Shoving that predicament from my mind, I walked back to the store, focusing on a more immediate problem: I had nothing to wear to a place like Club 23. Two Sunday dresses hung in my closet, but neither was what you’d call smart, and I certainly didn’t want to walk in there looking like a girl on her way to mass. Also, I didn’t want Enzo to think he’d bested me—he’d taken me by surprise, of course, but I wanted him to know I couldn’t be broken so easily.

Later that afternoon I approached Bridget as she rang up a purchase for a customer. Behind her, the boys were stacking empty boxes in the stock room and then knocking down their cardboard tower with glee.

“Would it be all right if I left a bit early today?” I asked when the customer had gone.

“Sure, I have Martin here.” She smiled at me. “Go do something fun. It’s Saturday.”

Right. “Uh, I need a little bit of money from my tip envelope. Is your door open?”

“Should be. How much do you need?” She glanced behind her. “Thomas! Don’t shut Charlie in that box, he’ll suffocate!” While she rescued her youngest child from his brothers, I snuck up the stairs before I had to explain why I was taking every penny I had.

#

My closest girlfriend was Evelyn LaChance. She still lived with her parents too, and their house was only a couple blocks from ours. Evelyn attended nursing school with me, but during the summer she helped out at her family’s bakery. On Saturdays, she only worked mornings, so I walked to her house and found her in the bedroom she shared with her twin sister Rosie, folding laundry and stacking it in neat piles on her bed.

“Hey, I was just thinking about you,” she said. “Want to go to the movies tonight?”

I perched on the edge of the dresser. “I would, but I actually have plans.”

Her plump mouth formed on O. “A date? With who? Where?”

I winced. “Don’t call it a date. With Joey. To a place called Club 23.” I wondered how much was wise to tell her. I was dying to divulge the entire story about kissing Enzo in the boathouse, but I didn’t see how I could without revealing the rest. “It’s for my father…he has business there.”

She hugged a folded pair of white bloomers to her chest. “God, you’re lucky. Joey’s so handsome.”

“You think so? He drives me crazy with his big mouth.”

“Mmm, that mouth drives me crazy too.”

I rolled my eyes. “That’s not what I meant. I’ll put in a word for you, but right now I need you to help me find something to wear.”