Diner is up there, on the corner, he said. He took her elbow, directing her toward the end of the street. Keeping up with him meant long strides, and she took them.
They entered the touristy diner, which was decorated in red plastic and chrome with old movie posters on the walls. Looking around, Jude pointed down a row of glitter-red plastic booths.
Is that him? he asked Whitney.
She looked. A lone man was sitting in one of the middle booths. He was on his phone, and hed doodled all over the napkin at his place setting. He had dark hair that was swept over his forehead in a strange wayhair transplant, gotta keep young, Whitney thoughtand gold-rimmed glasses and he seemed to be thirty-five or so.
I think so, she said. Directors dont have their pictures out there all that often, and I dont think hes been nominated for an Academy Award yet.
Jude edged her ahead of him and she walked toward the booth. Mr. Avery? she asked.
He looked up and waved a finger at her, pointing at his phone. She held still politely.
Jude did not.
He flipped out his badge, and reached for Angus Averys phone, snapping it shut and returning it.
Sorry, Mr. Avery. I know that time is money in your line of work, but time could mean someones life in mine. Im Detective Crosby, and this is Agent Tremont.
Avery took the closure of his phone with little more than a frown, but he seemed perplexed by Whitneys appearance. Agent?
Agent Tremont is with a special unit of the FBI, Mr. Angus, Jude explained, urging Whitney into the booth and taking the seat beside her. Thank you for agreeing to meet with me, he said.
Angus Avery nodded, and then shook his head sadly. Hey. This is horrible. But, I have to tell you, I think its almost my fault.
You killed Miss Rockford? Jude asked.
No! No, of course not! Avery protested. No, noI should have stayed away from that location. I should have shot anywhere else in Manhattanor Brooklyn, the Bronx, New Jersey or Hollywood, for that matter. Its that damn location. Its hauntedand its cursed. And God knowsthe creature haunting the place might just be Jack the Ripperthe real Jack the Ripper!
He leaned forward. Dont you understand? Jack the Ripper left London and came to the United States. And when he did, thats where he lived!
4
Film people.
Great. He couldnt help it, he glanced at Whitney.
She smiled. Surely, Mr. Angus, you dont believe that Jack the Ripper has lived all these years and that hes just starting out to murder women again? At age one hundred plus.
I knew all about the history of the location. I just doubted all that mumbo-jumbo ghost stuff, just the way you do.
I heard something about the location this morning, but I dont really know much about it, Whitney said. She smiled at him. I went to the film school at NYU, Mr. Angus. I loved living and working up here, but somehow, I never learned about the location you were using for the film shoot yesterday.
Well, let me tell you about it, Avery said, leaning toward Whitney.
Maybe the young woman would turn out to be an odd asset, Jude decided. Angus Avery seemed to like her. She was encouraging him to talk. He did believegut feelingthat the movie had something to do with it all. Maybe her background was going to be a good thing.
The building they just tore down had no history. The Darby Building. It was an ugly old thingbuilt in the 1920s. No character, no class whatsoever. It should have been torn down. But what was on the site beforethats where all the trouble comes from.
And what was there before? Whitney asked. A friend of mine told me that it had been some kind of spiritualist church.
An offshoot group of some whacked-out folksnow, I suppose it would be some kind of nondenominational thingstarted out building a church. Plain church. Simple pews, no statues, no stained-glass windows. They began in the 1840s, but it was too close to St. Pauls and Trinity to make the powers that be happy. Anyway, it became a home. But it was a home for believers. I think it spent about twenty years becoming an old-fashioned halfway house for the homeless, immigrants, addicts, you name it. But by the end of the last decades of the nineteenth century, spiritualism was coming heavily to the fore, and along with spiritualism, you had devil worshippers, pagan cults and all that rot. So, imagine, youve got the House of Spiritualism here, and the Five Points area just blocks away. Slums and a cesspool. So. They start to clean up the Five Points area, and where do you think the real crackpots are going to come? Why, right over to the House of Spiritualism.
Angus Avery sat back, looking pleased with himself, as if hed solved everything.
And the so-called American victim of Jack the Ripper was killed in the Bowery, and again, were talking about a matter of blocks, Whitney said.
Jude spoke up. Carrie Brown was killed in an old hotel.
They both looked at him, as if surprised that he was in on their conversation.
Yes, she was killed in a hotel room. But Jack the Ripper killed Mary Kelly in her apartment. He was betterin his own mind, Im sureat his task of ripping when he had time and privacy on his side. Well, heres the thingand, Detective Crosby, I believe youll find this in old police records or in memoirs of the officers of the timethey believed that the Jack the Ripper mimic or Jack the Ripper himself found lodging at the House of Spiritualism.
So you believe that by renting the location for your film shoot you awakened the ghost of Jack the Ripperor Jack the Ripper himself, Jude said, trying very hard to keep his tone low and even.
Angus Avery shook his head unhappily. We were finished with the site after that days shootwed broken down. We were already planning on moving. But I called off all shooting for todayeverywhere in the city. Can you even begin to imagine what that will do to my budget?
What made you choose the location? Jude asked.
Ah, well, the real shots we could get. And the fact that the financial district is actually shaped more like the Five Points that once was than the area that was Five Points! The movie takes place in the late eighteen hundreds. Shooting there, we could use the streets with some editing and CGI. And I had a great, almost barren landscape for the set designers to create facades. Youd be surprised at what you have when you black out modern additions to downtown.
Theres a giant pit at the locationdangerous, Jude said.
Avery waved a hand in the air. We had it barricaded during the filming, and all kinds of people keeping watch. Production assistants and city engineers. We had a permit that included working a large section of Broadway, Avery said. I knew about the location, but, as I said, I thought it was all a bunch of hogwash.
And right next door, you had Blair House. Its pristineyou could have done some great shooting there,
Whitney said. I
Jude squeezed her hand beneath the table; he didnt want her announcing that the team was staying at Blair House. Especially since the team wasnt all here yet. As the day went by, he found himself more concerned that they had Whitney Tremont housed at Blair Housealonefor tonight.
Blair House is under federal jurisdiction at the moment. I dont know exactly which historical association is in charge, but its on the national list of historic places. I dont believe that a permit would have been given out for the use of it right now, no matter what was promised to the city, he said.
Precisely, Avery said with a sigh. He brightened. But, we did get some great footage of the facade. In fact, the Blair House facadecleaned up, CGIwill be the house of ill repute where our movie prostitutes were settled.
Just what was the movie you were making? Jude asked.
Am making. OLearys. Im afraid the loss of an extra doesnt stop the giant wheels of a movie turning forever. And dont think badly of me, please. Movies have been completed when the featured stars have died. Everyone cant take the hit. Lord knows, in this country, we have to keep people employed and the money moving these days.
Youre a humanitarian, Jude said.
Whitney kicked his ankle.
And the movie is? Jude asked.
A love story, Avery said. A love story set amidst the squalor of the final days of the Five Points region of New York City. I mean, seriously, its hard to imagine what it was like. Tenements were so crowded that the living often walked over the dead. Gangs were kings politics were crooked. Sewage was a real killerdisease ran rampant. My movie, OLearys, is about two young people who rise above the horror and corruption to make it to the top.
Ah. They moved to Gramercy Park! Jude said.
Finally, hed managed something that the filmmaker could seize upon. Precisely! Avery said with pleasure.
Mr. Avery, what time did you leave the set yesterday? Jude asked him.
Avery was thoughtful. Many people immediately shrank suspiciously from the question, aware that it was not harmless. But the man seemed to be remembering his day. I left by five. One of my assistant directors worked on a few last shots with the prostitutes. I headed to midtown. I gave a speech to a class from the fashion institute at their dinner at six.
Jude didnt ask Avery if there were witnesses; hed check on it himself.
Mr. Avery, we have a witness who saw a man in costume on the streeta nineteenth-century cloak and tall hat, like a stovepipe hat, Jude said.
Was your witness a wino living on the streets? Or was your witness the killer? Avery asked.
You have nineteenth-century costuming on your cast, Mr. Avery, Whitney said. Perhaps the killer is stealing from your wardrobe department?
Avery shook his head. You may speak to my costume designer and the wardrobe mistress. I insist on all costumes being returned at the end of the day. If a costume wasnt returned, Id have known it. I might be making a movie, but any half-baked costume shop in town might have a cloak and a stovepipe hat! Look, please, check my alibiand check my work record. It couldnt have been me, and I guarantee you, my wardrobe mistress would have been fired if there had been anything missing.
Averys alibi didnt actually clear him. He might have given a speechand returned, Jude thought. New York trafficalways a major if factor in the city. And, still, by the time Virginia Rockford had been killed, there had been very little traffic downtown. Avery could have well done everything exactly as he had saidand still arrived back on Broadway in time to commit murder.
How well did you know Miss Rockford? Jude asked.
Know her? I didnt know her at all, Avery said. But she was working on your film, Jude said. Directors seldom hire the extras, Whitney said quietly.
Oh, right, well, of course not, Jude said.
Her death, however, devastates me, Avery said.
A waitress stopped by their table; Jude ordered coffee and Whitney did the same. Avery already had a cup before him.
When she was gone, Avery became businesslike. Ive asked my office to make sure that your fellow officerDetective Sayerhas a list of everyone associated with the film, and what their position is. Except for poor Miss Rockford, of course.
Of course, Whitney murmured.
Do you have an idea of anyone else who might have stayed behind last night?
We have a guard who stays on until the last actor, costumer, production assistanteven catererhas left the set for the day. Last night that would have been a fellow named Samuel Vintner. My offices have given Detective Sayer everything he could possibly needphone numbers, addresses, even social security numbers. We desperately want to see this murder solved.
Thank you for your help, Jude told him.
Angus Avery wagged a finger in the air again, directed at them both. You mark my words. Its evil land. I think that they were burying people in the walls and foundations. I think that youll find that Jack the Ripperthe real Ripperis buried somewhere on that location. You have to find the corpse and burn it and say lots of prayers. Maybe that will stop this.
Were hoping to catch a flesh-and-blood killer before anyone else dies, Jude said.
Mr. Avery, there might have been someonesomeone working on your moviewho had a grudge against Virginia Rockford, Jude said.
There might have been. I told you, I didnt know the girl, Avery said, sounding impatient at last. You have the names and office address of the casting directors. Madison and May Castingtheyre actually on Madison. They can tell you all about the extras. He stood. If theres nothing else, I have a date with a bottle of blended scotch whiskey and a friend. This is becoming a nightmare, what with my actors in a stew and the press all over everything in the world forgive me. Order dinner on my tab, if you like. I need to go now.
You noticed nothing unusual on the set at all? Whitney asked.
I told youthe location is cursed. We had a fellow die of a heart attack when he was moving set pieces. That was unusual. Natural causes, though, thats what they said. And we had a few injuries, too. Its the location. Go dig up the Ripper, burn his bones and the world will be back to normal. Down to a few domestic, drug and gang murders a week! Avery had grown really impatient. Im easy to find, Detective Crosby. But, please, Im a busy man. Call me only if you believe I can really help you.
Sir, police business does take precedence. Rest assured, I dont like to waste my time. But if I feel that I need you, I will find you, no problem. Wherever you are, Jude assured him.
Averys lips tightened as he rose and walked out, a clipboard in his hands. Jude watched as he headed out to the streetand a waiting stretch limo.
Are we having dinner on him? Whitney asked him.
Nope, and Im not seeing his movie, either, Jude said, rising. He looked at the three cups of coffee and laid a bill on the table, and then lifted a hand, hailing their waitress. When she arrived at the table, he said, Miss, I need that cup, please.
What?
Im a police officer. If you need to get the manager, do so. That cup is evidence in a case Im working.
You need a Baggie? she asked. The cup is all yours!
Thanks. I carry my own, he told her.
In a few minutes, hed secured the cup that Avery had been drinking from. Lets go. He flipped his phone out and put through a call. Ellis? Hey, yes, Ive met with Angus Avery. I want the limos that worked that film site yesterday impounded. Youll need warrants, but you wont have a problem getting them now. I want Forensics going through them.