The Renewal

Alethea27

Disclaimer: Copper is a credited to its creators Tom Fontana and Will Rokos and to BBC America. No copyright infringement is intended and no profit is gained from writing this fiction.

A/N: Any dialog taken directly from the show will be in italics. No copyright infringement is intended.

Summary: What became of Eva and her girls at the end of Season 2? Why were Sutton and Lola killed? What will happen in Five Points when Sara decides to open a dress shop and Matthew decides to hire a wealthy white woman and a former Civil War nurse at his clinic? Will Corcoran, O'Brien, and Maguire be able to find out what's going on in Five Points?

Chapter 1

Detective Francis Maguire couldn't remember after Dr. Freeman's announcement that President Lincoln had been killed whether him, Andrew, and Kevin had continued drinking out of grief, misery, or out of fear of what might come with the president's murder, but they were all pretty much stinking drunk by the time they'd left Eva's. He remembered Andrew moaning that Sybil was going ta give him hell for staying at the saloon so late and coming home skunked to the gills.

He wasn't really aware of anything until he opened his door, tripped, and fell over a package that had been left leaning up against his door.

Cursing, Francis picked himself up off the floor, stumbling a bit along the way. He bent and swiped up the package and closed his door.

He struck a match and lit the oil lamp sitting on a table by a window then placed the package on the table. He examined it carefully and could feel it contained something heavy. The wrapping was just cheap, brown butcher's paper, tied with twine, and had nothing written on it either his name or a return address. He tore it open and found a familiar LeMat revolver and two bullets. "Tare an'ouns!" He muttered. Where in the hell had this come from? Donovan claimed to have it, but who had left it here then?

He knew what he had ta do despite it being close to midnight. Francis opened the window and placed the butcher's paper on a plate and set it on fire. He watched as it burned, the smoke drifting out of the window until there was nothin' left but ash that he dumped out the window then washed off the plate.

He put the revolver and the bullets into one pocket of his overcoat, opened his door, and stepped out into the hallway. Moving quickly and quietly, he left his building and headed towards the North River. It was a long walk, but he needed ta get rid of the gun and the bullets permanently. Nobody could blackmail him if they didn' have the evidence. Once at the river he looked around him carefully and then at the buildings ta see if he could see any lights. Nobody was about in the fog and chill of the evening and everything was dark and quiet.

He took the LeMat revolver out of his pocket and threw it as hard as he could into the river. There was the sound of a splash as it hit the water. He followed it with several rocks tossed into the river so in case anybody did hear the first splash they'd think he was somebody wasting time throwing rocks into the river. He walked a little bit further and then one by one tossed the bullets into the river too. Once that was done he turned and headed back home. It was nearly one by the time he got back. Most of his drunkenness had dissipated by this time, but he was exhausted from the events of the last few days and was asleep the moment his head hit his pillow.

The events in the weeks that followed were a whirlwind. Lincoln's body was on view at City Hall on April 24th, 1865. Major Morehouse had enough influence to have a private viewing for himself, his wife, Kevin, and the Freeman's. There were thousands of people waiting outside City Hall hoping to view Lincoln and thousands of pickpockets with the intent of mining those same people.

The same day Kevin came in and announced that he, Major Morehouse, and Dr. Freeman were going south to capture John Wilkes Booth. Both Francis and Andrew tried to argue him out of it, but he was determined. Morehouse had a private train reserved and they were leaving immediately for Virginia.

It was three days after Kevin had left that Andrew came in with the morning Tribune. "Look at this, Francis," he said and spread the paper out on his desk. The headline read: Assassins Caught. Booth Shot and Killed.

"Kevin will be headin' back and should be here in a couple of days then," Francis said.

"Yeah and then I get to give him Eustace's message," Andrew said. He weren't looking forward to that.

Francis and Andrew were coming down the steps of the precinct later that week when they saw Kevin. "Corky!" O'Brien yelled as he and Francis hurried down the steps and over to Kevin.

"Hey," Kevin said.

"I've been pacin' Baxter Street for days," Andrew said.

"As nervous a boy as I've ever seen," Francis joked.

"Wild Bill sent me to deliver Tammany Hall's summons. You're to report to Eustace's office immediately."

"Word is out they want you to replace Donovan," Francis said.

Kevin started laughing. "Do I look like a ward boss to you?"

"Kevin, trust me on this, you turn them down, New York is not a place you will ever live in peace," Francis said seriously.

"What're you gonna do?" Andrew asked.

Kevin didn't answer, but instead asked, "How's Eva been?"

Francis shook his head and shrugged. "Sullivan's had us workin' around the clock. We haven't had a night in The Paradise since you left."

"Kevin this is serious! We may win a skirmish against the organization, but no way we win the war," Andrew pleaded.

"I'm gonna hit Eva's and have a drink while I consider my options. Join me when you can."* He slapped them on their backs and walked off.

They watched him walk away, headed to Eva's. "He ain't gonna take this seriously is he?" Andrew asked Francis.

"Shite no!" Francis replied with a frown. "We'll have ta watch his arse and protect him from Eustace just like we done when he went after Donovan!"

"Right!" Andrew replied fiercely.

~*~* Page Break ~*~*

Kevin walked through Five Points to Eva's as he considered Eustace's offer. He knew the only reason he was trying to force him to take it was either to keep him out of his hair or else as a way to get Donovan's blackmail files back.

He came up to Eva's and saw right away that something was wrong. The doors that were always opened were now closed. Looking in the window, Kevin saw there was nobody inside. He tried the doors, but they were locked so he kicked one open and walked in. It was eerily quiet inside and then he noticed something odd. There were two large barrels sitting in the middle of the room side by side with something leaking out of them. As he walked closer, his heart started pounding as he could smell the coppery scent of blood. He peered into the barrels and saw the bloodstained bodies of Lola and John Sutton inside the barrels. He gasped and backed away quickly running towards the stairs shouting, "Eva!" He took the steps two at a time. "Eva!" He headed for her office. "Eva!" He looked around him. Nothing was disturbed and her balcony doors were open as they usually were.

He looked at her desk, but did not see any of the business ledgers that were usually spread out there. He went out on the balcony, his gaze sweeping Five Points. After a few seconds he left, went back downstairs and outside, closing the door again. He ran back to the precinct and burst through the doors. He was bent over trying to catch his breath so he was unable to speak for a few minutes. The coppers who were in the precinct gathered around him and Sullivan seeing something was wrong came out of his office.

Andrew and Francis hearing the commotion came out of their office and Andrew pushed through the other coppers with Francis behind him. "Out of the way! Step aside!" He yelled. They finally got to Kevin and Francis laid his hand on Kevin's shoulder. "Kevin, are ya all right?" He had a bad feelin' seein' Kevin like this.

"What the hell's wrong?" Andrew asked.

"I got to Eva's …the doors were locked and there was nobody around inside or outside. I kicked open one of the doors and went in. The first thing I noticed were too big barrels sitting side by side in the middle of the room. There was something leaking out of them. I got closer and I could smell the blood and I looked into the barrels and saw Lola and John Sutton inside them …everybody else was gone …Eva and her girls included."

"Jesus Christ!" Francis exclaimed.

"Everyone who's able, go to Eva's," Captain Sullivan ordered.

Kevin was first out the door followed by Francis, Andrew, Sullivan and ten other coppers. They got to Eva's and Kevin opened the door and went inside. "Over there," he said pointing at the barrels. Francis and Andrew went over and looked inside. "Christ!" Andrew muttered. "Who in the hell woulda done something like this?"

"Don' know," Francis said looking around. "Doesn' look like there was a struggle of any kind so how the hell could ya kill two people without 'em puttin' up a fierce fight, especially Lola?"

Sullivan and Kevin came over and some of the coppers went upstairs. In a few minutes Glynn leaned over the railing and yelled, "Nobody up here, Captain and nothing's disturbed."

"Goddamn!" Sullivan swore. He turned to Kevin. "Do you think Dr. Freeman would come and take a look at these two if I send Glynn to ask him? It might help us find the one responsible if we know how they were killed and when."

"Don't know," Kevin replied. "He might be busy with his patients, but you can send Glynn to ask him."

"Glynn, come down here," Sullivan yelled up.

"Do you think Eustace might have somethin' to do with this?" Andrew asked

"Wouldn't surprise me," Kevin replied angrily. He hated feeling helpless. "Richie's not around either. Where the hell is he? He's always here."

"Could be he was coming to work, saw what was happening, and ran," Andrew said.

"Eustace coulda hired more thugs ta do it," Francis said. "Tammany probably has enough of 'em on call."

"Aww, Jesus H. Christ!" Andrew muttered. Going up against Donovan was bad enough, but Eustace was more powerful than even Donovan had been. "Do ya think this was a message for us or Eva?"

Kevin scratched his head. "If this was meant for Eva; why would her girls be gone too?"

"Maybe Eva saw what was happenin', woke the girls, and got 'em all out. She wouldn' leave them to get hacked up too," Andrew suggested.

"Figured Lola and Sutton musta been stabbed a lot of times seein' all the blood. They've wouldna shot them that many times since it'd make too much noise," Francis remarked. "But why wouldn' Eva and her girls come right ta the precinct if they escaped?"

"After being arrested, jailed, and thinking she might hang when that jackass Ramsey died after she stabbed him; would you want to report one of your help's been murdered besides the guy who was helping Donovan cheat everybody?" Andrew asked. "Probably afraid she'd be accused of murdering them."

"Eva never would have allowed anybody to kill Lola no matter what!" Kevin said. "Sutton I don't know, but he was the front for Donovan buying up a lot of the properties here including Eva's place so that mighta made her a suspect in Sutton's murder."

"If some crazy person did this; she couldn' have stopped 'em and the smart thing for her ta do woulda been to get out, especially with her expectin'," Francis said.

Glynn came back. "Mrs. Freeman said Dr. Freeman's delivering a baby, but she'd let him know we needed him."

A half-hour later Matthew came through the door, carrying his bag. He stopped short when he saw the barrels with the blood leaking out of them. "Oh my God!" He muttered.

Kevin waved and then went over to talk to him.

Matthew did a preliminary examination and confirmed that they'd both been stabbed multiple times.

Sullivan came over to where Kevin, Francis, and Andrew were standing. "I'm having the bodies taken to the precinct where Dr. Freeman can examine them thoroughly. He says they were both stabbed multiple times."

Kevin nodded. He knew Matthew wouldn't be allowed to do it in a hospital and even so, they'd still have to have another doctor verify his findings because nobody would accept the findings of a Negro doctor.

"I'm also sending coppers around the neighborhood here to find out if anybody saw or heard anything," Sullivan said.

"We may as well go back to the precinct," Kevin said. "We won't know anything for sure until Matthew's finished examining Lola's and Sutton's bodies."

They went back and Francis sat down behind his desk and tossed his hat on his desk as Kevin and Andrew did the same. He leaned back in his chair. "I just can' figure how this happened," he remarked. "They had ta been killed at the Paradise or there wouldna been all that blood and Lola especially wouldna just climbed into a barrel and let somebody kill her without a fight, but the place wasn' a mess."

"And why kill just them and nobody else?" Andrew said.

"If Eva and her girls been forced by somebody ta go somewhere, the upstairs woulda been a mess and it wasn'," Francis said. "Those girls that worked for Buzzie are tough and they wouldna gone anywhere without a damn good fight, throwing punches, bitin', scratchin', and kickin' balls! There'd been a lot of noise!"

"That's true," Kevin said, recalling what Eva had said about them. "Maybe Lola and Sutton got a knockout drug to make it easier to kill them."

"Like that case we worked with those missin' boys," Andrew said.

"Yeah," Kevin replied. He got up. "I'm gonna go talk to Matthew."

"Well, that woulda made it easier to get them into the barrels, but knockout drugs are used a lot at Eva's …" Francis shrugged. "It'd been hard ta fool Lola and add the drug ta her drink."

"Yeah, and she wouldn' probably accepted a drink from someone she didn' know for just that reason," Andrew added. "Does that mean it was someone she knew?"

"Eustace coulda easily turned one of Eva's people if the money was big enough …doesn' mean they killed Lola and Sutton …just that they coulda given them the drug."

"You mean after they gave them the drug; somebody else got them into the barrels and killed them? Thugs like Eustace sent after us?" Andrew said thinking aloud.

"Yeah …but that still doesn' answer the question of where Eva and her girls went," Francis said. "Or where Richie's is."

Kevin came back into the room and sat down behind his desk. "Matthew's gonna take a samples of Lola's and Sutton's blood to see if he can find out if they contained a drug."

"Can he do that?" Francis asked sitting up straight again.

"Yeah he figured out those kidnapped boys me and Kevin were searching for been drugged and what drug they'd been given," Andrew answered.

"The next question we need to figure out is where Eva and her girls went," Kevin said, lighting a cigarette.

"Could they gone uptown to Eva's other place?" Andrew answered. "I know it's closed, but Eva still owns the house, don't she?"

"Doubt it. If they had ta leave in a hurry, none of them woulda had time ta dress and a buncha women in their underthings is gonna cause a stir in that part of town. We woulda heard about it by now," Francis said.

"We should go check …just so we can rule it out," Kevin said, getting up.

"Guess so," Francis said, standing up and grabbing his hat off his desk.

As they were coming out of the precinct, Robert yelled at them. He was just getting out of his carriage. They stopped and waited for him. "I was just heading in to see you," he said. He was his usual jaunty self aside from still being a bit pale from his ordeal down south.

"What about?" Kevin asked.

"It seems while we were away, Wild Bill Eustace paid a visit to my father and threatened him, trying to force him to turn over Donovan's blackmail material"

"The bastard …ought ta shoot him in his balls!" Francis muttered.

"My father pointed out that he no longer controls the lockboxes. I do."

"I'm surprised Eustace would threaten your father. I'd think with all his money Eustace might find him valuable," Kevin said.

Robert grimaced then said, "My father is not so innocent. I checked at the bank and it seems my father has let it be known that he's willing to pay a large sum of money to any bank employee willing to open our lockboxes. I suspect the money's from Eustace. My father and he might have reached some sort of an agreement while we were gone."

"He didn't get the blackmail stuff, did he?" Andrew asked.

Robert chuckled. "No ...because I moved it to the Citizen's Industrial Bank here in Five Points. I didn't trust my father to keep his word."

"Smart move," Francis said.

"Well ...I know my father all too well."

"We've got a situation here," Kevin stated. He went on to describe what had happened at Eva's.

Robert's mouth dropped open. "Goddamn!"

"Matthew's examining the bodies and he gonna let us know what he finds. We're just on our way to Eva's other place to see if they might've went there."

"I'll take you there," Robert offered. He opened the door of what was obviously a larger carriage and they all got in. "My father also bought this while we were away. He thought we should make the neighborhood aware of our continuing financial prosperity."

When they arrived at the former Madam Pompadour's, they got out and stood on the sidewalk outside of it. Andrew immediately made the decision to remain outside. "If Sybil catches wind of the fact I've been in there, even if it's closed now and it's because of a case; I'll never hear the end of it!"

Francis smirked. The poor bastard was so henpecked! He, Kevin, and Robert went inside. The girls were assembled in the front room and everyone looked scared even Buzzie's former girls.

Robert motioned for one of the girls to come over when they were suddenly interrupted by a familiar voice.

Kevin whirled around. "Eva!" He rushed over to her and enveloped her in a fierce hug. "Are you all right?"

Eva nodded then broke down and started sobbing. Kevin helped her sit down and offered her his handkerchief. She wiped her eyes and smiled wanly. "Can you tell us what happened, Eva?"

She nodded. "Lola has been getting up early to get the bar ready for opening. As you know we have customers …of all sorts early in the morning, but this morning we didn't. I was sleeping and I heard a loud scraping noise coming from downstairs. I got up and went out to the balcony railing and saw these two men shoving these barrels into the middle of the room and I saw Lola and that man who was introduced to me as a real estate agent …"

"John Sutton," Kevin said.

Yes. They were lying on the floor unconscious. A third man was watching out the doors. The men picked up Lola and Sutton and dumped them into the barrels and then …started stabbing them! I could see blood start leaking out of the barrels! I was horrified and I almost screamed, but instead I backed away from the railing quietly and I woke up the rest of the girls. I didn't know if he meant to kill us all. We went down the back stairs and out the alley door. The man who runs the store across the alley was unloading a wagon and I paid him to bring us all up here."

"Tare an'ouns!" Francis exclaimed. "Ya had a close call!"

"I think you should stay up here and not go back to the Paradise until we find out what happened there and whether it's connected to Donovan somehow," Kevin said.

"Well …the Paradise is the real money maker and the longer it stays closed …" She stopped when she saw Kevin's expression. She knew ever since his Ellen's suicide that he was determined he would not lose anyone else. "All right, Copper, for now I'll stay here, but if your investigation drags out too long I'm reopening the Paradise whether you've found Lola's killer or not," she warned him.

"Fair enough," Kevin replied.

"Did ya recognize either of the thugs you saw killin' Lola and Sutton?" Francis asked. "Would you know 'em if you saw 'em again?"

Eva shook her head. "I didn't get a real good look at them because it wasn't full daylight yet. I don't think if I could even give a general description of them."

They said goodbye to Eva, left, and went back outside where Andrew was still waiting. "Find anything?"

Kevin repeated what Eva had told them. "So we still don't know if they was local or they came from somewhere's else?" Andrew asked.

"That's the size of it," Francis said as Morehouse's carriage took them back to the precinct. They went inside. "Think I'm gonna go and check with me contacts ta see if they've heard anything." Francis had the most contacts of the three of them.

Kevin nodded and said, "Good idea. We need to know if there is somebody new operating in Five Points."

"Captain Sullivan came into their office. "Anything new?"

"We found Eva and her girls safe up at her closed place uptown," Andrew said. "She said two men killed Lola and Sutton, but it wasn't light enough for her to tell if they were locals or not. She said another one stood guard at the doors."

"Anything from Dr. Freeman yet?"

Kevin shook his head. "Nope, but it was at least two days or so before he could figure out what drug was used on those boys that went missing."

"Keep me appraised," Sullivan said, leaving their office.

Francis was back in an hour and sat down behind his desk. He lit a cigarette and said, "Everybody's heard what happened at Eva's, but so far nobody's heard anythin' about who done it. I told 'em ta let me know if they heard of any new faces in town."

"I was thinking about what Eva said when she was first jailed. She told me she wanted Lola in charge and for her to watch Richie because she thought he'd started dipping into the till," Kevin said.

"So what you're thinking is that Richie mighta drugged Lola and Sutton for money?" Andrew asked.

"Lola woulda accepted a drink from Richie without thinkin', but that doesn' explain how Sutton comes into it," Francis said.

They worked for two days trying to trace the former barkeep's whereabouts, but hadn't turned up any useable information so far. Matthew had confirmed that both Lola and Sutton had been dosed with a knockout drug before their deaths which would have made them unable to fight their killers.

~*~* Page Break ~*~*

Emma Sterling got off the train carrying her heavy carpetbag. She was petite with thick, dark brown hair pulled back into a bun, big brown eyes, a pert nose and an attractive smile. She was dressed in a plain dress of a dull blue color which did nothing to hide her impressive breasts.

She was originally from Washington DC, the youngest daughter of a very rich man who had been a good friend to the late President Lincoln. Her father had made the majority of his wealth on the railroad and had met Lincoln when he was the lawyer for the railroads. They had moved to Washington at Lincoln's urging, but her father had refused any offer to be part of his administration.

She had scandalized her family by opting to train in Dr. Elizabeth Blackwell's nursing program then to join Dorothea Dix's nursing corp. rather than get married as her three older sisters had. She had worked mainly in military hospitals in and around Washington. Although President Lincoln had approved of the nursing corp. and had commended Miss Dix on it; it was generally looked on with dismay by the rest of society. The idea of young, unmarried girls seeing ghastly wounds, changing pus-stained bandages, and possibly handling severed limbs was disgusting and a disgrace!

Once the war was over, Emma had still wanted to use the nursing skills she had acquired and had decided to move to Five Points where there were plenty of people who could probably use her skills.

"Miss Sterling?" A voice called interrupting her thoughts.

She turned and smiled. "Major Morehouse. How lovely to see you again." She had taken care of Major Morehouse while he was hospitalized after the amputation of his leg.

"All thanks to your nursing skills and your watching over me in the hospital like a hawk, Miss Sterling," Major Morehouse replied. "Your father telegraphed me of your impending arrival and asked that I meet you."

Emma sighed. "I am twenty-five and my father still thinks I am twelve."

Major Morehouse grinned and offered her his arm while Gustavus, the Morehouse coachman, took her bag.

~*~* Page Break ~*~*

While Robert was meeting Emma at the station, Elizabeth Morehouse and Eva were visiting with Sara Freeman about her idea to open a dress shop in Five Points. She would design dresses or sew them from a pattern whichever the customer preferred. If they didn't want to come to her shop in Five Points; she would go to them. "Matthew is very supportive of my idea. He believes our people can only get ahead if we're willing to push our boundaries."

"He's right," Eva declared. She and Sara had gotten to know one another when she'd been attacked and injured by Buzzie Burke and had spent time recovering at Sara and Matthew's home. "Some people will likely be nasty to you at first because of your shop, but they'll get used to the idea eventually." Eva was still pale from her ordeal of being in prison, Lola's murder, and her and her girls subsequent escape, but it had also hardened her resolve. If somebody was attempting to force her out of Five Points; they wouldn't succeed. She was staying! Hell! She might even expand her business!

"I think it is a wonderful idea," Elizabeth Morehouse said. "I received so many compliments on my wedding dress that you designed. You are very talented and that talent should not go to waste."

Sara sighed. "I know there will likely be some hostility over my opening my own shop, but I'll be able to employ other women as seamstresses as my business picks up," Sara said.

"Why we came to see you, Sara, is that Robert heard from Matthew about your wanting to do this and so we want to provide the money to get you started."

Sara eyes grew moist. "Elizabeth, you've done so much for me already. Allowing me to design your wedding dress and then buying my mother out of slavery and bringing her back to New York."

Elizabeth nodded and patted Sara's hand. "There are no thanks needed, Sara."

"We want to do this and I know it will be an excellent investment," Eva declared.

"Thank you, both, and I promise you, I will make it a success."

~*~* Page Break ~*~*

Two days after she arrived Major Morehouse took Emma to Matthew's clinic to introduce her to him and possibly convince him to hire her.

Emma spoke of her past. "My father was a firm abolitionist and was an old friend of Mr. Lincoln's. We had Frederick Douglas and Sojourner Truth at our home and they spoke forthrightly about their lives as slaves."

Matthew nodded. "My wife, Sara, met Mr. Douglas at a fête Major Morehouse had. He gave her some excellent advice. He paused then said, "I understand you trained under Dr. Blackwell and Miss Dix."

Emma nodded. "I received my nurse's training originally in Dr. Blackwell's program and then I joined Miss Dix's nursing corp. She is a good trainer and a brave woman."

"I met her at a field hospital when Corporal Corcoran and I bought Major Morehouse in from the Wilderness battlefield. A very determined woman I would say. She didn't allow herself to be intimidated by any of the doctors, officers, and stood her ground."

"I'd credit her with greatly improving the sanitation of the battlefield hospitals and lowering the death toll from infection," Robert added. He grinned. "Also improving the food the patients were fed."

Matthew nodded. "I assume, Miss Sterling that you are here in search of employment as a nurse?"

"Yes, I want to continue to be able to use my nursing skills to help people," she replied.

"Your credentials are impeccable and Major Morehouse speaks very highly of your nursing skills," Matthew said. "And my practice has picked up so much that it's difficult to find time for research." He thought about his research into the polluted water of the tenement and the death of Hazel Turner which still haunted him.

Emma nodded at Robert in silent thanks. "I hear a 'but' coming, Dr. Freeman."

"You do realize if you come to work for me people will be horrified and you will most likely be slandered badly and you could even risk being harmed."

Emma shrugged. "It doesn't bother me, Dr. Freeman. I learned that when I joined Miss Dix's training program that some people are going to disapprove of you no matter what you do and their opinions matter nothing to me."

"You won't find a better nurse in Five Points, Matthew," Robert added.

"How does a dollar and half an hour including lunch sound?" Matthew asked. "Your days could be long though …possibly ten hours."

"That sounds fine, Doctor Freeman."

~*~* Page Break ~*~*

Francis was in the office alone; Kevin and Andrew were out chasing down a possible sighting of Richie. Stubby stuck his head in the door. "Detective Maguire?"

"Yeah, Stubby?"

"There's a kid here wanting to see you."

"Send him in." Francis knew his contacts always sent a kid with a note if they needed to meet with him about something. That was their agreed on method of contact since none of 'em wanted ta be seen goin' into the precinct.

The kid came in and gave Francis the note and Francis flipped him a $.50 cent piece. He read the note that was from his best contact, a guy who went by the name of the 'King of Spades'. They never used their real names.

He left the note on his desk under a case file and left his badge in his desk drawer. He stopped at the front desk that Glynn was manning today. "Hey, Stubby, going out ta check a lead if anybody wants to know."

"Okay, Detective," Glynn replied.

Francis left the building and headed to their usual meeting place one of the many short busy streets that dotted Five Points. He spotted his contact lurking in one of the junctures of the street and stopped beside him leaning casually against the wall. "Whatta ya got for me?"

"Heard about what happened at Eva's and hear there's some new thugs in town from Chicago."

"Thugs, huh?" Francis asked.

"Yeah, three. Well-dressed and cold as a witches tit. One's tall and the other two shorter than him. Heard they're here to make some changes …killing changes."

"But why kill a whore and a guy that was frontin' for Donovan?" Francis asked while casually glancing around him.

"Heard they did the whore to stick it ta you coppers 'cuz Eva's your second home. The other guy spilled his guts to Corcoran and blew Donovan's plans for Five Points ta hell. Some people lost a lotta money."

"Are the thugs bein' here Tammany's doin'?"

"Don't know. Everybody's leery 'bout what they done and don't wanna step on their toes …me included." He looked around and then slipped out of the juncture, leaving Francis alone.

He decided to stay and watch the street for awhile still leaning casually against the wall. About twenty minutes later he spotted somebody he thought fit the description given him. He waited and watched. Two other men, similarly dressed joined the other. They talked for a few moments and then split up. Francis straightened up and decided to follow one of them. He kept several people between them as he followed him.

Unfortunately somebody was following him and because they were on his left side, he was unable to see them. When he became aware that there was someone following him, he'd taken out his gun, holding it at his side, and was just turning to confront them when the blow fell and everything went black.

~*~* Page Break ~*~*

About four o'clock Kevin and Andrew came back. Andrew sank down in his chair. "The day was a waste! That sighting wasn' Richie …not even close!"

"I know, but we had to check it out," Kevin said. "Where's Francis?"

"Don't know," Andrew said. He got up and went to the door and called, "Hey Stubby?"

Glynn stood in the doorway. "What do you need, Detective?"

"You seen Francis lately?" Kevin asked.

"Not since about two. A kid came in with a note for him and then a few minutes later he came out and said he was leaving to check out a lead. He hasn't been back since."

"Thanks Stubby," Andrew replied. He sat down again and looked at Kevin. "Two hours is kinda long time to check out a lead."

"Yeah, does seem like it."

"Maybe he left something …to say where he was going," Andrew suggested.

"Maybe," Kevin said going over to Francis desk. They looked at the files sitting on his desk and Kevin lifted them and looked through it. "Why's these still here; you guys closed them, didn't you?"

"Francis was gonna ask you about them. He said they was closed too easily and he was gonna have you take a second look at them just to make sure we weren' overlookin' nothing." Andrew spotted the note that had been under the file. "What's that?"

Kevin picked it up, opened it, and read it.

"What's it say?"

"It's from somebody who calls himself the 'King of Spades' and he has information what Francis asked about."

"Didn't Francis say the other day he told them to let him know if there was any new faces in town?"

"Yeah, so either this guy …" Kevin held up the note. "Had good information or it was a trap. I'm thinking it was a trap."

Andrew was poking around in Francis' desk and found his badge in the drawer where he'd left it. "He left his badge here."

Captain Sullivan came into the room with his hands on his hips. "Either of you seen Maguire? And what in the hell is his badge doing there? It's supposed to be on him and not in the damn drawer."

"We were just talking about it Captain," Andrew replied. "He told Stub …Patrolman Glynn that he was going to check out a lead and that was about two."

"A kid brought this note for him before that," Kevin added handing the note to Sullivan.

Sullivan read it. "Who in the hell is this King of Spades and where is this 'usual place'?"

Andrew shrugged. "That's what we don't know, Captain."

"It's possible it was a trap," Kevin said.

"Well, you two can't search the whole of Five Points by yourselves." Sullivan shook his head, "Christ! There's nothing I hate worse than sending out coppers to look for another copper." He called all the coppers together, explained what was going on, and ordered, "Half of you go with Corcoran and the other half go with O'Brien."

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