The Thief (Isaac Bell 5)

Dozens of guests had arrived early in the First Class saloon lounge, the men in white tie, the ladies in gowns, and all wearing the tentatively relieved expressions of people whose seasickness was fading into memory. As Clyde Lynds put it when Bell and Archie approached him and Beiderbecke, “Getting over seasickness is like being let out of jail.”

Archie took Lynds’s elbow. “You must tell me about your jail experiences.”

Bell steered Beiderbecke into the small bar at the front end of the lounge. “I’ve got a case of groom’s jumps. I hope you’ll join me in a drink?”

“I am not quite over my seasickness.”

“A ‘stabilizer’ for the gentleman,” Bell told the barman. “A dash and a splash for me, please.” “The stabilizer is half brandy, half port,” he explained to Beiderbecke.

Beiderbecke shuddered.

“Trust me, it works.”

“It is gracious of you to invite us to your wedding.” The Viennese professor flourished his invitation, a thick sheet of parchment paper that had been embossed in Mauretania’s print shop, and marveled, “With this document in hand, barriers between Second and First Class tumbled like the walls of Jericho. Young Clyde slept with his under his pillow, lest villains steal it.”

Bell raised his whiskey and soda to the Viennese. “Continued smoother sailing.”

“And to your bride’s happiness.”

Beiderbecke sipped doubtfully and looked surprised. “The effect is immediate.”

“I told you you can trust me,” said Bell. “Now, can you tell me what exactly does an electro-acoustic scientist do?”

Franz Beiderbecke looked guilelessly at the tall detective. “I experiment how sounds might be recorded faithfully by employing electricity instead of mechanical means.”

“Can that be done?”

“That is my hope. In theory, it is a simple matter of amplifying and regenerating weak electrical signals. Though the actual doing of it is not so simple. But wait—” He blinked, perplexedly. “Wait! How do you know that? I did not discuss my field with you.”

“I was curious,” said Bell. “I marconigraphed a colleague in Berlin, who informed me that you are a famous scientist in the field of electro-acoustics.”

“Marconigrams are dear. You went to considerable expense to inquire about me.”

“I don’t often meet inventors of so-called secret inventions.”

“Can you blame my protégé for being cautious?”

“I blame Clyde for risking your lives,” Bell said bluntly. “He may be smart, but he’s not smart enough to distinguish friend from foe. You know that I won’t betray you to the people I stopped from kidnapping you.”

Beiderbecke touched the stabilizer to his lips. “Don’t you find protégés are more interesting that one’s own children?”

“Don’t talk circles around a deadly subject, Professor. You and Clyde are in danger. What if they have accomplices on the ship? If you do make it to New York intact, what makes you think that a powerful trust like Krieg Rüstungswerk can’t grab you in America?”

“I think of Prussians as pathologically insular.”

“You have invented something that those Prussians regard as unique. What sort of a weapon is it?”

“Weapon? Sprechendlichtspieltheater is not a weapon.”

“Sprechend-what?”

Beiderbecke put his glass down and repeated staunchly, “It is not a weapon. And I will say no more of it. I gave Clyde my word.”

“If it’s not a weapon why does a munitions trust want it?”

“I do not know. It is not for war. It is for education. It is for science. For communication. Industrial improvement. Even public amusement. It is—”

Clyde Lynds was approaching, trailed closely by Archie, who gave Bell a look that said he had diverted him as long as he could. Beiderbecke appeared deeply relieved by the interruption. “Ah, Clyde. I was just giving Mr. Bell an older man’s advice on how to survive marriage.”