— Chapter Fourteen —

 Three Cups of Coffee

O

n Monday morning, Felix had parked his 1921 Daniels, D19 Speedster, in the parking lot next to The Harold. He glided up the stairs, two at a time, to the second floor and headed towards the sports department. The young man was well-rested and even took the time to wash his D19 Speedster over the weekend. As he approached Minnie Jacoway’s desk, her voice called out from behind him.

“Well, good morning there, Mr. Ace Reporter. Did you get any sleep over the weekend?” asked Minnie.

“I sleep for a whole day, Minnie. Now I’m ready for the workweek,” said Felix. —Then they heard a booming voice behind them.

“KENDELL —get in here!” said JB from his desk.

Felix walked into JB’s office and said, “Good morning, JB. What can I do for you?”

“Close the door,” ordered JB.

As Felix was closing the door, Minnie came up behind him, saying.

“All no, you don’t! I’m also going to be part of this secret society meeting,” said Minnie as she was the one who closed the door behind her.

“Alright —now that we are all here,” JB said, looking at Minnie with a stink eye. “I wanted to tell you, Kendell. After submitting your article in the early hours of Saturday morning, I forwarded it up the chain of command.

“The news story was more significant than a sports story, so when the owner of The Harold, Herbert Lance, read your scoop. He ordered your complete story to be on the top fold of the front page. We used a cut version of Saturday’s edition as a tester. The idea worked. The article in the Sunday morning edition sold like hotcakes,” he said.

As JB talked, Minnie walked over to a coffee pot in his office and began pouring three cups. She made the first cup with two cubes of sugar, the second cup with cream, and the third cup was straight black. Minnie gave JB the one with the two cubes of sugar. Felix received the one with cream as she took the straight black cup. Minnie then sat down in one of the leather chairs. She crossed her legs and leaned in to hear the conversation. She held the coffee cup with both hands as if she were holding a baby bird.

“Not only did we sell out of papers yesterday,” said JB. “The Harold is going to rerun your article in today’s edition. —This time, on the top fold of section C.

“Wow, Felix. Since I’ve been at The Harold, I have never seen an article run twice,” said Minnie.

“It’s because news articles like the one Kendell wrote don’t happen very often,” said JB. “Not only that, but the word has gotten out, and newspapers around the country are asking to print your story, Kendell. Do you understand what this means? Those papers will have to give us credit and bill you as the article’s reporter. They’ll also need to pay The Harold to publish the story in their paper,” said JB.

“That’s fantastic, JB,” said Minnie.

“Okay, Kendell, spill it,” demanded JB

“Come again, JB?” asked Felix.

“Spill the beans. How did you figure out this murder case? Hell, you even beat the Chicago Police Department to the punch. How did you piece this all together?”

“Yeah, Felix,” said Minnie. “I read your article forward and backward. How did you figure out who killed Jack Tate?”

“Well, first of all, there were a lot of people in the mix’ said Felix. “Take the first night, for example—”

“DAMMIT, Kendell! —What made you realize it was Ruby Lansberry who killed Jack Tate?” demanded JB.

“OH, it was the scarf,” said Felix simply.

“What do you mean, it was the scarf?” asked JB.

“You see,” said Felix. “Ruby and Jack were dating for a couple of months. Jack invited her to the Elephant Tent with us the night leading up to Jack’s death. When we were driving on Lake Shore to pick Ruby up, Jack told me everything I needed to know about her.”

“Jack told me that ‘she’s wild,’ which later I figured out meant she does things on the spur of the moment. He also said, ‘She has her hang-ups,’ meaning that Ruby was in love with Jack and didn’t want him to leave her. Jack also mentions that she is a ‘kleptomaniac.’ Ruby was the one who stole O’Brien’s pistol.

“Jack also said to me, ‘I always need to buy her stuff to quell her urges.’ The scarf found at the hotel was a designer-made Parisian silk scarf. It was expensive, and Jack bought it for Ruby. Jack also said, ‘She keeps things lively,’ meaning Ruby will push a fight to the limit. And lastly, Jack said, ‘she’s my suicide blonde,’ meaning that Ruby has threatened to kill herself before. After the police left me at the hotel with her scarf in hand, they went to her apartment. Where she confesses to Jack’s death,” said Felix.

“Alright. Now guide me through Friday night and what happened,” JB said.

“When we got to the Elephant Tent, we boarded the boat. We were all having a good time until Jack had one too many to drink. Ruby went to the restroom, and when she got back, Jack was dancing with twin sisters on the dance floor. Ruby always feared that she was not good enough for him. So they fought, and she left the party in a cab. She goes back to her place and gets the gun she stole from O’Brien. Then taxied back to downtown and stayed outside the Blackstone Hotel, waiting for Jack.

“What do you mean? She WAS going to kill Jack?” asked Minnie.

“No, no. Ruby only wanted the pistol as a ‘vaudeville’ prop,” said Felix.

“She wanted to use it to threaten to kill herself if Jack didn’t take their relationship seriously. Once Jack and I returned to the hotel, I bid him goodnight and went to my room. He went to smoke outside in the evening air.

“Ruby approached Jack for a light. He invited her to his room. Ruby didn’t go with him, only to follow him up after leaving her outside the hotel. She had been to Jack’s hotel several times over the two weeks while he stayed at the Blackstone Hotel. Thus, she knew his room number. When Ruby got to his room, he had left his room door open for her to walk in. She walked in and closed the door behind her. Jack was undressing after the evening events when she arrived.

“Ruby walked over to a desk in the room and put out her cigarette as Jack poured a drink for both of them. Ruby refused his glass, and the two started bickering about what happened on the boat. Ruby demanded to know where they were in their relationship. Then, at some point in their conversation, Ruby pulls the pistol out of her purse. She puts it to her head and tells Jack that she might as well kill herself. Jack sat down, then laughed at her, calling her bluff.

“Ruby was furious at him and started to storm out of the room. That’s when she spotted a pillow on the couch. She picked it up and hit Jack over the head with it. But Ruby still had the pistol in her right hand. She used both her hands when she hit Jack with the pillow, pulling the trigger when the pillow hit Jack’s head. The gun went off accidentally as the pistol’s muzzle was pressed against the pillow’s fabric, which muffled the sound of the shot. The bullet went through the pillow into Jack’s head, making it appear that it was the job of a hitman.

Why did George Halas give a loaded pistol to O’Brien as a gift?” asked Minnie.

“He didn’t. Ruby bought the bullets in case she needed to defend herself. She wanted one because of her neighborhood. She was aware that you had to pull the slide back before you could start firing the pistol. But one night she heard a sound within her apartment, and that is when she got out the gun and pulled the slide. When she found out there was nothing more than noise outside her apartment window, she put the gun back in the drawer. Forgetting that the pistol was now loaded and dangerous, with a live round in the barrel.

Once Ruby realized what she had done in the hotel room, she panicked and ran out of the room, leaving the door to Jack’s room open. Now that she was in flight mode, she wouldn’t wait for an elevator. Thus, Ruby ran down the stairs. Winded after four flights, she found herself on the eleventh floor.

“She wanted to take the elevator but realized she was still holding the gun in her hand. She noticed the trash bin next to the stairwell door. But she needed her fingerprints removed from the pistol before throwing it away. So she took out her scarf and wiped it clean before tossing it into the trash bin. She then ran towards the elevator and left the floor. She did not realize that she had dropped her scarf less than twelve feet from the trash bin. When she got to the lobby, the night manager and Velvet were still dealing with the fender-bender in front of the hotel. —They never saw her as she left the building,” said Felix.

“So, when did she break into O’Brien’s home to steal the pistol?” asked Minnie.

“She never broke in,” said Felix. “She was invited. The night that O’Brien had his party, Jack and Ruby were there. Ruby became bored with the party, which was mostly attended by football players. She wandered around O’Brien’s home. In O’Brien’s office, she eyed the box Halas had presented to him earlier. Ruby went over and opened it, looked over the pistol, and took it. O’Brien never cared for pistols; thus, when he placed the box in his office, he never glanced at it until I asked him to. —O’Brien thought the gun was in the box the whole time,” he said.

“And now charged, Miss. Ruby Lansberry faces manslaughter,” said Minnie. “I’m sure the DA will file other infractions. Theft, carrying, and discharging a firearm in a public building.”

“I’m sure that will be another story later for The Herald,” said Felix.

“Well, Kendell, good job, but you are only as good as your last story. That means back to work,” said JB.

“And that means my coffee break is over,” said Minnie as she got up and left JB’s office.

“Kendell, you have been here for over a week now,” said JB. “I am still waiting to see a sports article from you. So, go to Comiskey Park and get a story out of manager Gleason. I want to know why the White Sox are so God-awful this season,” he said.

A smile came over Felix’s face as he said, “Yes, sir. —I’m on it.”

As Felix walked out of JB’s office, he passed Minnie. She was already typing a mile a minute on the morning’s paperwork.

“Well —I’m off, Miss. Jacoway,” said Felix. “To get that next big story. I should be back by the afternoon,” he said, putting on his light blue straw fedora.

“Okey dokey, Felix! Call the desk if you need anything. You know where I’ll be,” said Minnie.