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“Germans are leaving downtown since the General Slocum fire. You know, the excursion-boat fire when all their
poor children were killed. Tore the heart out of the old neighborhood, and they’ve just kind of been retreating north — lock, stock, and breweries.”
“What’s the gang called?”
“Marzipan Boys.”
“Like the candy?”
“The old gangs mocked ’em with that name. Now they’re proud of it since they’ve been whaling the heck out of everybody. They’re a tough bunch.”
Harry Warren was halfway out the back door when Bell called, “But why did the Marzipan Boys go to Pier 54?”
“What do you mean?”
“The film stock did burn in the fire,” Bell said with elaborate patience. “Clyde Lynds didn’t welsh on the deal. The Marzipan Boys didn’t buy it out from underneath the Gophers, therefore they weren’t there to pick up film stock they didn’t even know about. So why did the Yorkville gang meet the Mauretania?”
Harry Warren’s blank expression got blanker. “Haven’t found out yet.”
“Find out! Report to me at the office.”
“Isaac,” said Marion. “The doctor said to stay home today.”
“O.K.,” said Bell. “I’ll stay home today. Harry, report to me at the office tonight.”
17
“Clyde,” said Isaac Bell, “you’re going to have to return Captain Turner’s medal.”
“What do you mean, Mr. Bell?”
Bell fixed him with an icy stare.
Clyde Lynds hung his head. “I’m sorry, Mr. Bell. I am so sorry.”
Bell asked, “Sorry for what? Spit it out! What?”
“The film stock. It was mine.”
“Go on.”
Clyde said, “We needed the money to escape from Germany. I mean, I wanted so much to succeed with Talking Pictures. But I was scared crazy for our lives. When the Army issued that phony warrant, I knew my goose was cooked.”
Bell bored into him with his eyes. Then he asked, softly, “Was this smuggling scheme Professor Beiderbecke’s idea?”
“No!”
“Are you sure?”
“The poor old guy didn’t have a clue. It was all my idea. Remember I told you I got lucky? What happened was I bumped into a Gopher I used to know in New York when he was a sceneshifter at the Hammerstein. He had moved up in the Gophers, and they sent him to Germany looking for film stock. He had the dough. I knew an outfit I’d bought from and they steered me to a shipper to pack it and hide it. We worked a deal.” He hung his head again. “I thought, What the heck, everyone smuggles film stock, why not me? I didn’t realize the stuff was so old it was unstable.” He barked a bitter laugh. “I got taken like a rube. Seven crates of garbage.”
“Deadly garbage.”
“I swear, I didn’t know it was old. I think they switched it on me. I mean, I wouldn’t risk hurting all those people.”
“And you are absolutely positive that Beiderbecke had nothing to do with it?”
“I didn’t tell him until it was on the boat… What are you going to do?”
