The Vaudeville Star (23 page)

They lay together on the sofa for several minutes before he buttoned his trousers.

“Ruby,” he said as she smoothed down her dress.

“Yes?”

“I didn’t plan this.”

“I know that,” she said softly.

“I meant what I said.” He tucked a curl behind her ear. “I love you. I’ve been stubborn as a mule, maybe not wanting to admit it to myself, but I see it clearly now. I love you, Ruby Mae.”

Ruby smiled, trying to fight the tears she felt springing to her eyes. “It’s only taken you a decade or so to catch up with me.”

“None of that matters though. The point is I do love you, and we need to decide what to do next.”

“What do we need to do?”

“I want to marry you. I don’t want any other man coveting you.”

“You mean King Parker.”

“Exactly.”

“I know it’s selfish, but can we wait and make our plans after Paris?” she asked.

Ford smiled and kissed her forehead. “It’s not selfish. I know you’re worried about his reaction, and hell, so am I. But we need to think about the tour and everyone else involved.”

“So after Paris, then what?” Ruby asked.

“After Paris, I intend to make Ruby Sutton, Ruby Rutledge.”

Ruby smiled widely. “Ruby Rutledge. And my career onstage?”

“We can live in New York. I’ll remain with the agency, and you can return to your beloved stage.”

“You wouldn’t ask me to give it up?”

“Of course not. That’s your dream.”

She wrapped her arms tightly around his neck. “You were always one of my dreams too, Ford. Now I have both.”

B
essie pestered
Ruby from the minute she entered their hotel room until she went to sleep. When she woke up the next morning, Bessie was there again. What did Devonshire House look like? What did the ladies wear? What was the king like? What did the queen wear? Were they nice? Were they dripping in jewels? Did she talk to the royal couple?

“Don’t I even get coffee?” Ruby croaked.

Bessie was already dressed and promised to bring up a tray of coffee with breakfast if Ruby would submit to her questions. She faithfully promised, and Bessie was gone in a flash. Ruby turned over in bed to sleep a few more minutes, but a knock sounded on the door. She wondered what Bessie had forgotten as she threw on her dressing gown to admit her friend.

“Oh,” Ruby said softly as she came face-to-face with King Parker.

“Hello, Ruby. I am sorry to intrude on you so early in the morning, but I needed to speak with you,” he said, looking behind him in an agitated manner.

“Of course.” Ruby tied her dressing gown tightly about her waist. “My roommate, Bessie, has just left to get breakfast,” she explained as King entered and she closed the door behind him.

“Yes, I passed her.”

Ruby pulled the covers up on her mussed bed and turned back to King. “You said you needed to speak to me.”

“I do.”

Ruby opened the curtains, and light flooded into the room. It was the first time she really looked at King, and she noticed his clothes were crumpled, and he looked as if he hadn’t shaved. He looked as if he had not been to bed the night before.

“Are you all right, King? You don’t look well. Are you ill?” she asked in concern.

“I didn’t sleep last night,” he admitted.

“Should I call for the hotel doctor?”

“No. No, he won’t help,” he said, shaking his head.

“There’s no alcohol in the room, or I would offer you a drink. You seem to need it,” she said as she watched him pace the room.

“A drink? No. I don’t need a drink. Look, Ruby, I must speak with you before your roommate returns.” He caught her hand, and together they sat upon the sofa.

“King, if it is about our marrying . . .” Ruby began, trying to sound polite.

“Marrying? No. That’s not it at all.”

“I’m sorry. Please. Continue.”

King nodded. “I need your help.”

“Of course. I owe you so much. How can I help you? What do you need?”

“There was an accident last night. A most unfortunate accident. The police have been notified. It’s all a big misunderstanding, but I need you to tell the police that we were together last night.”

“Together?” she asked uncertainly.

“Yes.”

“All night?” Ruby frowned.

“Exactly. This way when they question you, they’ll see that everything is just as I said.”

“But I don’t understand—”

“Damn it, Ruby! You don’t need to understand.” He stood up and began pacing. “I just need you to tell them that we were together at the town house. In Mayfair.”

“Will the police come looking for me?” she asked.

“Probably. But once you tell them what I’ve told you, everything will be fine. It’s simple. We were together all night. That’s it.”

Ruby looked away from King and to the floor.

“Come, sweetheart! I’m not asking you to do anything so awful. Am I?”

Ruby shook her head.

“After all the things that I have done for you, surely this small favor is little in comparison.”

“Of course, King. I’m happy to help you. And the accident you mentioned—”

“Nothing at all to trouble you. I knew I could count on you.” He kissed her hand before he departed as quickly as he had arrived.

* * *

A
fter King left
the hotel room, Ruby stared at the door. She didn’t understand what he was asking. The conversation had been bizarre. She didn’t want to confide in Bessie, but she knew that Ford was on the same floor. He would know what to do. She would tell him everything and listen to what he said.

Bessie returned shortly after with a tray filled with fruit, toast, and coffee. Ruby gratefully accepted the coffee, thankful not to have to go downstairs and face all the people today. When a knock sounded again on the door, Bessie answered it, admitting a hotel porter carrying a large baskets of flowers.

“Oh my!” she said when the large bouquet had been deposited inside their room. “Quick! Read the card, Ruby!”

Ruby found the card, and when she read it, she couldn’t help but smile widely. There was a coat of arms and his signature.

“They are from His majesty, the king,” Ruby said, handing it to her.

Bessie took it and feigned a bored response. “Oh yes. How tiresome. They are from His Majesty, the king.”

Ruby laughed at her friend’s air of boredom. “What should I say, Bess? He’s being polite. He asked me to sing last night, and I did.”

“You don’t think it’s more than politeness?” Bess wondered.

“No. I met his mistress, Alice Keppel. She’s quite a fixture by his side,” Ruby confirmed. “I don’t think a man his age, and indeed a king, needs a younger woman like me. He wants a woman like Alice, who is more a companion and confidante.”

Ruby looked down at the card and thought again of the conversation between herself and King Parker. She wanted Ford’s advice. In truth, she just wanted to see Ford and feel his arms around her. She had not told Bessie about their intimate encounter or anything that had happened the night before with King Parker and Ford at the party.

She wanted to keep her romance with Ford secret until the timing was right, and she didn’t want to involve Bessie in anything unnecessary.

After Bessie’s numerous questions had been satisfied, Ruby dressed in a light blue frock and pulled on her gloves and hat. The two women had decided to visit the Victoria and Albert Museum and take tea at whatever shop caught their fancy.

As they were set to leave the hotel, a porter stopped them in the hallway to tell them two gentlemen were downstairs waiting to see Miss Ruby Sutton.

“Did they say what they wanted?” Ruby asked.

“No, Miss.”

“Should I wait for you here?” Bessie asked.

“No. It shouldn’t take long. Let’s see them together.”

When they came down the stairs, two gentlemen in dark suits were standing by the front desk. They nodded as the ladies descended the stairs and greeted Ruby.

“Miss Sutton, I’m Detective Chief Inspector Thompson. This is Sergeant Barton.”

“Gentlemen. My friend, Bessie Moore. Should we go into the back parlor? I think it’s deserted at this time of the morning.”

Bessie looked at her friend uncertainly, but Ruby shook her head. Inside the parlor, Ruby and Bessie sat on a small sofa while Thompson took a seat facing them. Barton stood at the door. A waiter came in to ask if any of them wished for coffee or tea. They declined, and he closed the door behind him.

“Miss Sutton, do you know why we are here?” Thompson asked her directly.

Ruby tried to feign a look of innocence. “No. I’m afraid I don’t know.”

“You are currently performing in the vaudeville show at the Matinee Theatre?” Thompson asked, looking through a small notebook he had taken from his jacket.

“I am a singer. Bessie is in the show as well. She’s a dancer.”

“I saw your performance opening night! You were wonderful,” said the younger sergeant in a sudden burst of excitement, earning him a stern look from the older Thompson.

“Sorry, sir,” Sergeant Barton muttered while Ruby bit back a smile.

Thompson held his notebook and flipped through the pages. “Do you know a man by the name of William Parker? He goes by the nickname King.”

“Yes, I do, Inspector. He has financed our tour here to London and Paris. Our next city.”

“Hmmm.” The inspector nodded, scanning the contents of his notebook. “How well do you know Mr. Parker?”

Ruby met his brown eyes and looked at Bessie and then Sergeant Barton. “I’m not sure I understand your meaning.”

“Come now, Miss Sutton. We are all adults. And as much as I enjoy the theater too, you ladies have a reputation.”

“I beg your pardon!” Ruby could feel her face getting red.

“That is most uncalled for! You know nothing about us!” Bessie said, coming to her friend’s defense.

“All right. All right,” he said, raising his hands. “I’m not here to judge your actions. Tell me where you were last night, Miss Sutton. I understand you were invited to the ball at Devonshire House.”

“Yes, I was.”

“By whom?” he asked, noting their conversation in his little book.

“The king.”

“King Parker?”

“The king of England.”

He raised his eyes to meet hers, and she nodded.

“And at the party?”

She could see the darkened room in her mind’s eye and Ford pressing her against the wall with his hot mouth moving over hers.

“I sang for the assembly.”

“Anything else of note?” he asked.

She remembered Ford lifting her skirts and their combined sighs as he sank into her.

“No.”

“Then after the ball?”

“After the ball?” she repeated, looking at Bessie and then the sergeant.

A knock fell on the door, and Archie Moore entered. “Bess! I’ve been looking everywhere for you,” he said, his eyes taking in the two strangers and Ruby.

“Inspector, Sergeant. My brother, Archie Moore,” Bessie introduced them quickly.

“Is there anything wrong?” Archie asked as his sister walked toward him.

“Nothing is wrong.” Bessie took her brother’s arm, and they left the room.

When the door closed behind them, Thompson resumed the questioning.

“After the ball, Miss Sutton?”

“After the ball, I went to visit Mr. Parker at his town house in Mayfair,” Ruby said, repeating the lie King had demanded of her.

“How long did your visit last?” he asked, his pen held at the ready to record her answer.

“I—that is to say . . .”

“Yes?”

“I-I stayed the night.”

“Hmmm.” He recorded her answer. “To read Shakespeare over sherry, no doubt.”

“If there’s nothing else?” Ruby stood, suddenly flushed.

Thompson placed his notebook and pen inside his coat jacket and smiled.

“Nothing more, Miss Sutton. Mr. Parker is quite lucky to have such beautiful women by his side. Oh, did I say women? I meant woman,” he said cryptically.

The inspector moved forward, leaving the sergeant to trail behind.

“I did enjoy your performance, Miss Sutton. Very much so,” he said, smiling at her.

“Thank you, Sergeant,” she said sincerely. “I’m glad you did. Sergeant. A moment. This questioning about where I was. What is it all about?”

The sergeant looked over at the inspector, who was speaking to the front desk clerk, before he turned once more to Ruby.

“There was a lady who was killed. She was strangled. We don’t know much about her. She’s apparently a foreigner. There was someone who linked her to Mr. Parker, but he was very firm when we spoke to him that he was with you last night. So now that you’ve cleared that up, he’s in the clear as well.” The sergeant smiled at her.

“Barton!” came the inspector’s loud voice.

The sergeant began to move away, but Ruby caught up with him again. “Sergeant. The name. Do you know the name of the woman who was killed?”

“Yes.” He pulled his own notebook out and scanned it quickly. “Here it is. Lourdes. Lourdes Banegas.”

* * *

B
essie rejoined
Ruby as she sat in the hotel foyer, feeling dazed.

“I’m sorry I left you. Archie was going on about—” She suddenly stopped talking, taking in her friend’s vacant look. “Ruby?”

“Bessie, I . . .”

“Ruby?” Bessie sat next to her and took her hands in hers. “Your hands are like ice!”

Ruby looked at her friend and then looked up and down the hotel lobby. She tried to remember what words King had used when he had come to her room.

“ . . . there was an accident last night. A most unfortunate accident. The police have been notified. It’s all a big misunderstanding, but I need you to tell the police that we were together last night.”