A Charm of Powerful Trouble (A Harry Reese Mystery Book 4) by Robert Bruce Stewart Read Free Book Online Page A

of a cricket ranch here.”
    She reluctantly agreed it was unlikely the fellow wielding the hoe would appreciate her reasoning, and so we made our exit toward Steinway Avenue. I saw a car stopping and suggested we catch it.
    “It’s going the wrong way,” Emmie insisted. “We still have to visit the farm at Bowery Bay.”
    My motion to return home failed on a vote of three to one, so we took a car up to Steinway. By the time we reached there, it was close to six and the vote in favor of stopping for refreshment was three to one. This time Emmie being the dissenter.
    Steinway itself was a small, sparsely populated neighborhood not far from the piano factory. The choices for dining were limited to two German saloons. We went into the more reputable-looking of them and had an enjoyable meal of lager, dark bread, and three kinds of sausage.
    “Emmie, you never told us if you found anything at the farm,” Aunt Nell said.
    Emmie reached into her bag and placed a dried gourd on the table.
    “You thought that gourd significant?” I asked.
    “Look at it.”
    I picked it up and found there was an opening at the narrow end covered by a little grilled lid fashioned from tiny slats of wood.
    “It’s no doubt a cricket cage,” Emmie told us.
    “How can you be sure of that?”
    “The Chinese treasure crickets, Harry. Any school child knows that.”
    “Then what’s special about this one?”
    “Nothing. But I found it at a farm where Lou Ling may be employed.”
    “If you found the revolver he used, it would be a little more definitive.”
    “Well, perhaps next time you can participate more actively.”
    She asked the waiter the way to the second Chinese farm, said to be on the nearby Bowery Bay.
    “Willie there can show you.” He nodded toward a young fellow at the bar. “He speaks their lingo. Hey, Willie! These people want to visit the Celestials.”
    Willie came over to the table and we invited him to sit down. He looked to be about seventeen or eighteen and was built like a farm boy.
    “Do you honestly speak Chinese?” Emmie asked.
    “To get by. I truck their goods over to Chinatown for them. I have a regular route.”
    “Do you happen to know a man named Lou Ling?”
    “The cricket charmer, sure. He’s just up the hill.”
    “Did you see him today?”
    “Not that I remember.” He picked up Emmie’s gourd. “Where’d you get this?”
    “The farm behind the silk works.”
    “That’s nothin’. You should see the ones Charlie Lam makes.”
    “Is he a friend of Lou Ling?”
    “He makes the cages. They all catch crickets, but only Lou knows how to catch the females.”
    “Can you take us to the farm and introduce us?”
    “Sure, I guess so.”
    I went and gathered Thibaut from the bar, where he was performing his cricket in exchange for beer. Once outside, I saw a sign advertising the infamous North Beach Casino—known by its patrons as Erbe’s. If the White Rats wanted a meeting place away from the theatres, this would be an excellent choice—well off the beaten path, at the far end of Bowery Bay.
    Willie led us up a hill that overlooked the bay. It was nearing sunset now, but the farmers were still at work. Willie exchanged a few sentences with one of them.
    “He says Lou never came home last night. He’s been doing some job in the city until late. The cops were here this morning looking for him. Why do the cops want him?”
    “There was a shooting last night where he works,” Emmie told him. “Lou was supposed to shoot another man with a prop gun, only someone substituted a real gun, and another man took the place of the fellow playing the victim.”
    Willie looked to me for interpretation.
    “It seems Lou Ling accidentally shot another man.”
    “I wouldn’t’ve thought Lou knew which way to point a gun.”
    “Do you think they might be hiding him here?” Emmie asked. “We want to help him prove he wasn’t at fault.”
    Willie reentered dialogue with the farmer.
    “He says no