Whispers Beyond the Veil Read Online Free

train, another scene unfolded before my eyes. The one that sent me fleeing. The one where I am standing over Johnny’s body. The one where my father leaves me to my fate without a backward glance.
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    P ickpockets. So many damned pickpockets. The men who owned the Old Orchard Pier Company could boast all day about the good their project was doing the town but they weren’t the ones out here trying to explain to yet another elderly lady why she neededto be careful with her valuables while out in public. While pickpocketing had always been something of a concern in the popular resort town, the coming of the pier had whipped the criminal element into a frenzy. It seemed every petty thief on the eastern seaboard had come to spend the summer making an indecent living.
    Across the square a crowd was forming. Women in summery dresses, their wide hats tipping precariously, stretched on tiptoe to see into the center of the throng. More often than not, street performers were the cause of scenes like this, but sometimes they were more serious, even dangerous. Yancey headed for the group, his hand on his billy club in the event he should need it. He elbowed his way through a ring of bystanders seven-deep. A young woman in an emerald green dress lay on the ground. Her hat spilled to the side of her. A handbag lay next to her hand on one side and a battered-looking parasol on the other. At least no one had taken advantage of her misfortune and robbed her.
    â€œStep aside, please. Step aside.” Yancey’s voice rang with authority, and the inner ring of people pressed backward into the ring behind them. Yancey knelt by the prone figure. Her chest rose and fell slightly. At least she wasn’t dead. “Did anyone see what happened?”
    â€œI did.” Henry, one of the young boys who drove a confectionary cart along the beach, spoke up. He snatched his cap from his head and leaned toward the policeman.
    â€œWell? What did you see?” Yancey placed the back of his hand on the woman’s forehead as though he were a mother checking for fever. Her skin seemed clammy but it might just have been the weather rather than any sort of internal injury.
    â€œThe lady was standing just over there. She seemed like she was looking for something or someone.” The lad pointed towardthe train depot. “She took a few steps away from the station and a man came up and grabbed at her purse.”
    â€œThat one there?” Yancey pointed at the handbag.
    â€œThat’s the one, sir. The lady held tight to her bag and even began to bash the fellow over the head with her parasol. She got a few good licks in before she lost her balance and fell.”
    â€œDid no one help her?”
    â€œI came a-running as soon as I knew what was happening. Things happened awful fast and it was confusing for a minute there.”
    â€œYou say she slipped?”
    â€œThe man was tugging and she was just a-swinging away with her parasol and it musta tipped her right over. Her head hit the bricks when she landed on the ground. I wasn’t sure if she was dead or alive.”
    â€œDidn’t you try to revive her?”
    â€œShe’s a lady, sir. I wasn’t sure I ought to touch her.” The youngster looked down at his shoes, a blush spreading up his face like a slow-moving sunburn.
    â€œI’ll need a description of the man you saw. But first, I need to attend to this young lady.” Yancey slipped his hands beneath the girl’s head and turned it slightly, looking for blood or a bump. Her eyes fluttered a bit but did not stay open. He scooped her up and stood. The crowd parted and watched him as he strode up Old Orchard Street toward the new police station housed in the first floor of the Odd Fellows Hall.
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    S omeone was draping something cool and moist across my forehead. A spot on the back of my head throbbed dully. I