geraldine was bored and lonely, and was happy to talk about ted tenner or taffy james or jonah james or anything at all
maria just let her talk, did not interrupt or question her, and sipped the tea, which seemed to her completely tasteless. she would have preferred a nice cold glass of chocolate milk, but did not ask for one.
nobody really knew where ted tenner came from, geraldine said. or cared. in those days, nobody really cared where anybody came from. they don’t really care that much now, though they are starting to pretend they do, a little bit. i don’t know why, kansas city wasn’t paris or london back then, and it still isn’t, even if it likes to think it is..
where was i? right, ted tenner. ted had an easy way with men. he could handle his liquor. i guess he was also a pretty good shot, or hunter, hunting moose or whatever, and those two things go a long way with menfolk, as i am sure you know.
did ted have no family? did he come out of nowhere? maria wondered. that did not sound very promising. but she always waited until a person had talked themselves out on their own, and there was nothing to gain by possibly irritating them by asking questions.
and as for the women, geraldine continued, the only problem ted had with women was beating them off. he would have been the perfect husband for any woman who did not have to marry for money, which of course is not a category many of us fall into, sad to say.
which is why i was so happy to have an excuse to introduce him to my friend taffy. taffy had lots of money - or at least her father did, and taffy was the apple of his eye, and she expected him to leave her most of the money. she had brothers, but they were clowns and good-for-nothings, born to be hanged or spend their lives in jail if their daddy didn’t have any money.
and here is the other thing about taffy - she was determined to make money herself! to run the family family business her own self if her daddy got too old or died. i admire that in a woman. much as i love money myself, i could never imagine getting it any way except marrying it.
now taffy had this idea that rich as her daddy was, he would have been a whole lot richer if he had not been cheated by this other fellow some years back and that was why she wanted to hire a detective and that is where ted came into the picture.
at this point geraldine looked at maria, as if to see if she were following the story.
maria already knew the basics of the story from jonathon jones, but asked innocently, “so ted tenner was a detective?”
“well, he called himself something else, but basically he was. yes.”
“and he took the case?”
“sort of, he took it on spec, i can’t remember exactly how it was.”
“so he was hired by mr james, the man who was killed?”
“no, no, he was working for taffy, the old man did not know anything about it.“
“that’s kind of confusing,” maria prompted geraldine.
“well, anyway, it did not amount to anything, because the old man was killed snd ted disappeared just a few days later.”
“mr conover is really interested in ted tenner, because he disappeared, “ maria said. “it seems to me ted would have been suspected of the murder.”
“well, he was not, not at first. nobody knew he disappeared, or knew there was any connection between them. everyone thought jonah james was killed by a passing hobo, or maybe someone with a grudge against him. it was only later that people - some people - thought the two things might be connected.”
“well, what do you think?” maria asked. “do you think ted was the kind of person to commit murder? do you think - since nobody knew where he came from - he was the kind of man who travels from town to town killing folks? ”
geraldine laughed. “you have a vivid imagination, honey. no, i don’t think poor ted was that kind of man at all. but i always had one idea, sort of, if you want to hear it.”
“please.”
“well, taffy told me that her daddy wanted no part of what she was up to - in fact he thought it was a stain on his honor or some such manly nonsense. so, maybe ted approached the old man directly - though taffy dd not want him to - and the old man got mad and they had a fight.”
maria assumed an air of doubt. “i suppose that could make some sense.”
“there is only one problem with it, though,” said geraldine.
“what was that.”
“the old man was shot in the back. why would ted shoot him in the back, even if they had a fight?”
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