The Vaudeville Star (8 page)

“What brings you here?” he asked.

“I’m a guest. And you?”

“As King said, we are colleagues.”

Ruby wondered at the vagueness of his answer, but before she could ask him any further questions, King returned.

“All set. Vern is found, and a car is waiting to take you home when you so choose.”

“Thank you,” she said, trying to pull her eyes from Ford.

“Until tomorrow, Ruby.” King bent over her hand and kissed it lightly.

“Until tomorrow.”

After Ruby left the room, King poured two whiskeys and handed one to Ford.

“Charming woman. I think I’m captivated already,” he said, smiling.

Ford said nothing and kept silent about his relationship with Ruby. She had not said anything, so he would follow her lead and do the same. Instead, he said, “The agency said you had a job for me.”

“I do. You were quite impressive with your last assignment, so I thought who better than Rutledge to handle this?”

* * *

“
H
e’s invited
me to the park tomorrow on a picnic,” Ruby told Vernon once they had settled into the taxicab.

“That’s excellent, Ruby! Excellent,” he said, rubbing his hands together.

“Vern, I want to be onstage, and I want top billing like Zeta has. But I’m not a prostitute. So if you’ve promised anything to King in return for services rendered, you’ll both be disappointed,” Ruby said, flushed and angry.

Vernon looked at her in confusion and then laughed. “Oh, my dear, you have it all wrong. King and I were discussing a possible venture this evening. He wants to back a tour to London. He was quite taken with you, and I told him where you lived so that he could send a car for you tomorrow. Other than that, nothing was promised. I can assure you.”

“Oh. I see.” Ruby nodded.

“Furthermore, King did say that you should have a place in the show, and I agree. I want you to open the second act.”

“Open the second act?” Ruby felt her heart beat faster inside her chest. “You haven’t even heard me sing!”

“I did. You sang to the empty audience when you thought no one was around. I was in the back taking a nap. You woke me, and I was never more surprised in my life.”

Ruby thought back to the moment she had been singing to the empty audience and grinned. “Thank you, Vern.”

“As to what you and King do, that is your own affair. I never interfere with love and relationships. Theater? Yes. Love? Never.”

Ruby smiled as she looked out the window. Opening the second act? How exciting! She could barely contain herself as she thought of standing on the stage in front of all those strangers.

“Maybe I’m not ready,” she turned suddenly to Vernon in concern, “to go onstage!”

“You’ll learn. You’ll do fine, kid. No one goes onstage with a perfect act. It takes time. Give the sheet music to the conductor, and we’ll work on it next week. I’ll have Bessie watch as well. She can help you move the right way and show yourself off.”

“Thank you, Vern. You’ve been very helpful to me,” she said sincerely.

“I’ve been in this business a long time. I worked with Tony Pastor, and he taught me how to spot a star, Ruby. And you’re it,” he said quietly.

“Me? I’m a star?” Ruby smiled. “How can you tell that? You don’t know me at all.”

“It has nothing to do with that. It has to do with the face, the body, the way you move. On top of all that, the audience loved you. Even carrying a card and doing nothing, they responded to you. That’s a beginning. That’s what we build on!”

“Well, I’m grateful to you.”

“Don’t be grateful. Be loyal. And work hard,” he told her.

“I will,” she promised him. “I will.”

“
I
know
it’s not much, Rutledge, and not very prestigious, but I would be grateful. My wife’s brother has been nothing but a thorn in my side since the day we married. His gambling debts are enormous. But I need to make certain this new club he joined is on the up-and-up. If they are just taking him for a ride to get to my money, I need to know,” King said.

“Of course. We may have a man already inside. I’ve heard the club’s name mentioned before.” Ford nodded and sipped his whiskey.

“Excellent! I knew you were the man for the job.” King rang the bell, and a butler appeared with Ford’s overcoat and hat.

“I’ll get in touch with you once I have something concrete,” Ford said as he took the coat and hat from the elderly butler.

They shook hands, and Ford stepped out onto the sidewalk, looking for a taxicab to hail.

* * *

“
P
leasant party
?” Alice asked as she entered her son’s study.

“Pleasant enough. I hired Rutledge again. That damned ass Harry! Causes nothing but trouble.”

“You always bail him out,” Alice said. “Try not bailing him out for once.”

“And have our family splashed across the newspapers in a scandal? Why can’t the man behave himself? Instead, all he does is find trouble.”

“I met the lovely Miss Sutton,” Alice said, changing the subject.

King didn’t respond.

“I don’t think Lourdes was at all pleased at the attention you gave her,” Alice continued.

“As you’ve mentioned time and again, Mother, if Caroline cannot produce an heir for this family, Lourdes is equally out of the question.”

Alice’s eyes widened. “What are you saying?”

“Nothing. Stating the obvious.”

* * *

I
nstead of being alone
with only Vernon and Bessie to practice her new song, Ruby handed the sheet music to the piano player and took center stage in front of the entire vaudeville group. Vernon had assured her there was no reason to be concerned as the theater group was there to support her, and Zeta, the reigning diva, was nowhere in sight. She knew the words by heart and waited until Vernon nodded at the piano player.

Ruby wet her lips and looked out into the auditorium. She was nervous and willed herself not to wring her hands or fidget. Ruby had agreed with Bessie that the song should be sung without the dialect, and she had learned it that way. She took a breath and looked out into the near-empty theater.

“Sweetest little feller, Everybody knows; Don’t know what to call him, But he’s mighty like a rose!

Looking at his Mammy, With eyes so shiny blue, Might you think that heaven, Is coming close to you!”

Her voice was clear and sweet, and when she finished the song, silence filled the bare auditorium. She turned to see Vernon staring at her while Bessie looked as if she had tears in her eyes.

“What? What’s wrong? What did I do?”

“I say,” said Lou as he stood leaning on the piano.

“What?” she asked, perplexed.

“No, my dear. You were—” Bessie tried to find the right word.

“Perfect,” came the word from Lee Chen, who usually never spoke at all.

Everyone turned to the Chinese magician, who held his deck of cards in one hand. Vernon grinned, and she remembered their conversation in the taxicab home.

“You’ll open the second act, Ruby,” he said loudly so everyone could hear, and Max was immediately writing the direction down in his small notebook. “Starting next Friday.”

Vernon looked her up and down and said sharply, “Follow me, kid.” He led her to the costume department. “You need something special. Something different. The card girl costume won’t do.”

He rummaged through the different trunks and dresses that were hanging until he came upon what he wanted. It was an off-the-shoulder evening gown with a cream-colored bodice and an orange skirt. It was decadent and bright and would attract the eye.

“Can you sew?” he asked, quickly taking the dress and handing it to her.

“Yes.”

“Ask Bessie to help you find the loose rhinestones somewhere around here and sew them into the bodice,” he directed. “It will make you sparkle under the lights onstage.”

* * *

R
uby dressed warmly
in a brown and blue traveling suit with a small hat and gloves for her picnic with King. She was picked up promptly at eleven, and he was already inside the car waiting for her.

“I value promptness,” he said, smiling as she joined him.

He explained that his car was a Mercedes Benz and that he had paid an exorbitant amount for it, but Ruby only feigned an interest. He seemed to like his wealth only because he was able to purchase the most expensive items and display them to the world.

The picnic basket lay on the floor at his feet, and he told her he’d had his cook prepare something especially for her. She smiled at the thoughtful gesture, and when the park came into sight, she saw that it was indeed a green jewel amid the concrete chaos.

“I would never have guessed this was here.” She smiled.

“Exactly so.”

He helped her down from the car and took the basket in hand. “You pick the spot.”

Ruby found a large tree on a sunken bank, and he took the blanket he held and placed it on the ground. When they settled upon it, he took out the different items his cook had prepared. Among the delicacies were fried chicken, cheese, bread, and beer. There were also tart green apples and oranges.

“I believe the fried chicken is for you. I told Cook to prepare something Southern,” he beamed, “for you.”

“That was very thoughtful, King.”

When the meal was consumed, they remained seated on the blanket in silence until King looked over at Ruby. “I told Vernon I would give serious contemplation about financially backing the tour to London. And I am. But I want you to have a role in the show, and if we tour Europe, an even bigger role.”

“You hardly know me,” Ruby said, looking at him.

“I’m smitten, Ruby. That’s the truth. I’m smitten with you.”

“Will—I mean King. You don’t know me. You shouldn’t say these things, especially as you are married,” Ruby said, feeling uncomfortable.

“I’ve succeeded because I can see things that most people can’t. I see what will be—long before anyone else. I see you. I see the star you were born to be, Ruby. And right now all I ask is that you allow me to help you. Nothing more. And allow me to admire you. From afar.”

“King—”

“As to my wife, Caroline, she and I married as a business transaction. Her family came from money, and I have my own. It was never a love match, but I have given her a home and my name. But she is ill. She has consumption. We will never have any children, as it could kill her.” He looked away and seemed lost in thought until he remembered her seated next to him. “But enough of this. The afternoon grows late. Let’s get you home.”

* * *

A
s Ruby opened
the door to the boardinghouse, a quiet stillness surrounded her. Then she remembered today was Mrs. Hodges’s quilting circle, and most of the vaudeville performers spent the afternoons out shopping. She climbed the stairs to her room with her thoughts focused on the afternoon she had just spent with King.

He was a powerful man, willing to help her. If it was true that he asked for nothing, then she could hardly push him away, especially if it meant the other troupers would benefit from her association with him.

She was so deep in thought that she didn’t hear her name being called. When a hand reached out to touch her shoulder, she whirled around.

“Ruby!” Ford said.

“Ford!” She was shocked to see him there. “What are you doing here? Luckily, Mrs. Hodges is out this afternoon. She’s very particular. She doesn’t like us to have gentlemen callers.”

She unlocked her door and entered her room, and he followed.

“And how many gentlemen callers do you have? I mean besides me and King,” he said, and Ruby recognized the jealousy in his voice.

She unpinned her hat and took off her gloves. “How did you find me?”

“I have my ways.”

Ruby turned to him and tried not to focus on his broad shoulders and handsome face. She had always liked her room with the hardwood floors and the curved window seat that overlooked the street, but with Ford in it, the room seemed small.

“You said you were colleagues when we met. What does that mean?” she asked.

“I do jobs for him sometimes. I joined the Pinkerton Detective Agency. He’s a client.”

“You’re a detective?”

“Yes.”

“But why? You have the plantation. You’ll inherit it.”

“As fascinating as it sounds to sit around watching crops grow and drinking mint juleps for the next ten, twenty years, I need a little bit more excitement in my life than that.”

“So you’ll return eventually to Mississippi when you tire of the excitement?” Ruby asked.

“Something like that.”

“I’ll never return,” she stated firmly.

“Don’t kid yourself, Ruby. At heart, you’re a Southern belle.”

“Maybe. But there’s nothing in Mississippi for me now.” She flushed and watched as Ford moved about the room.

“You still haven’t told me why you’re here.”

“I came to warn you,” he said softly as he stood before her.

“Warn me?”

“Yes. I’ve worked several jobs in New York, including high-profile ones, and I’ve worked for King, so I’ve seen it firsthand. He has a reputation.”

“A reputation?”

“With the ladies.”

Ruby looked into Ford’s handsome face. “What has that to do with me?”

“I know you went to the park with him today.”

“Are you spying on me?”

“And he’s captivated by you,” he continued. “Which isn’t hard, I know.”

Ruby heard something in his voice that made her stop. “He’s in talks to finance a tour to London with the vaudeville show,” she explained.

“And the price of his backing is what? You?” he asked coldly.

Ruby wanted to slap his face, but she didn’t. “Don’t presume to know me, Ford. You don’t at all.”

Ford grinned and took a step toward her. A blond curl had untangled from her ribbon and he tucked it behind her ear. “I don’t know you? I think of all the men in New York, I know you only too well.”