Ten Days in August Read Online Free Page A

library.”
    Hank rubbed his sleeves as he followed Graves, trying to smooth out the wrinkles that seemed to be pressed permanently into his shirt. He’d been too hot all day to give a toss whether he was properly attired or not, but now that he was inside the grandiose Cooper manse, he felt self-conscious. The feeling intensified when he laid eyes on Amelia Cooper, resplendent in a bright blue gown that hugged her midsection and seemed to have a lot of flounce and frippery. Her hair was pinned up elaborately atop her head and decorated with pearls that sparkled in the waning daylight pouring in through the open window. When she turned, a gleaming diamond necklace at her throat caught the light and reflected it back toward Hank bright enough to blind him.
    â€œAh, Mr. Brandt, my old friend. So good to see you on this wretched evening.” She smiled broadly. “Leave us, Graves. Let Mr. Cooper know I will join him and Mr. Knight in the parlor in short order.”
    â€œAt your pleasure, madam.” Graves bowed and left the room.
    Hank still wasn’t used to seeing Amelia this way, decorated so thoroughly in all this expensive finery, even though she’d been married to steel magnate Jonathan Cooper for nearly three years now.
    â€œWhat brings you here, Hank?” she said when Graves left.
    â€œCaught a case today.”
    â€œWell, naturally. It is a day ending in y , is it not? Are you calling on me to discuss it?”
    He wanted to talk to her, his closest friend, because this case troubled him far more than any that had been tossed his way in quite some time, and Amelia had been the person with whom he could most easily sort through his thoughts. She’d helped him think through difficult cases in the past, even though discussing cases with civilians was improper. Still, Hank trusted Amelia like no other person in his life. More to the point, a wealthy man slumming as a possible suspect was reason enough to come uptown; perhaps Amelia had heard something. “I am interested in your insights. The last person seen alive with my victim seems to be a man of some means.”
    â€œYou believe him to be one of the Four Hundred, then?”
    â€œThat remains a leap in logic I do not have the evidence to support, but one of the witnesses implied he’d seen a man who might have gone down to the Bowery for sport.”
    Amelia rolled her eyes. “Oh, yes. What a jolly good time may be had when the population of Fifth Avenue decides to sojourn downtown to see how the other half lives.”
    â€œFor all I know, the description of this man is an elaborate lie made up by the real killer, but you know as well as I do people of your ilk visit the resorts along the Bowery to make themselves feel superior.”
    Amelia bristled. “Not of my ilk.”
    â€œNo, not you, my dear, but not all of your husband’s friends are fine, upstanding individuals all the time.”
    She shrugged. She pulled an escaped curl away from her face and tucked it behind her ear. “What aren’t you telling me? Do you suspect one of Jonathan’s friends?”
    â€œI don’t have any suspect at all. Perhaps I’m just asking if you knew of anyone who went to the Bowery resorts last night.”
    â€œHow should I know, Hank? I’m just a hollow-headed woman. No one tells me anything.”
    â€œOh, come now. Bitterness doesn’t suit you.”
    She sighed. “Jonathan and I dined with Mr. and Mrs. Beekman last night. Mrs. Beekman implied Mrs. Astor herself would grace us with her presence, but alas, we continue to be beneath her notice.”
    Hank gazed at Amelia, from the curls atop her head to the delicate jewelry at her neck and wrists, to the intricate pattern of embroidery on the bodice of her gown, to the satin slippers peeking out from under her skirts. It was a marvel to him that Amelia had triumphed over their childhood as kids in Greenwich Village. They