Phipps exhaled a plume of grey smoke. “Better train them to do more than watch for boys sneaking into the nickelodeon. These murders are in Cabell’s jurisdiction, so God help us all, we may be murdered ourselves.” The coroner’s disdain for the Robey Street captain was well known. He leaned over to tap his cigarette against Hickey’s ashtray. “How’s Mr. Baumgarten taking this?”

“As you might imagine,” said Hickey. “But I agree with him—closing the park will do more harm than good. Panicky mothers, bad publicity…remember Holmes and the world’s fair?”

“Like it was yesterday. I was still in medical school, I assisted on several of the examinations of the victims. Worst thing I ever saw, until Eastland last month.”

Hickey nodded. “Another reason we don’t want to close the park—there’s been enough terrible news this summer. Working people need someplace to enjoy themselves.”

“Yes, but someplace safe,” countered Francis.

“Safe?” Hickey gazed at Francis as though he were a truculent boy. “What’s safe, Francis, when you have a lunatic strangling children? Last night Baumgarten told me to go ahead and hire up to twenty independent security men. Bring in the Pinkertons if we can. Wasserman was here, too—Baumgarten’s agreed to put up a thousand-dollar reward.”

“Who’s Wasserman?” asked Phipps.

“The park’s press agent—James Wasserman.” Hickey leaned heavily back in his chair. “Tomorrow we’ll open and operate as usual. Baumgarten wants enough men on patrol that people feel safe, but not so many that it keeps everyone from enjoying themselves. So there’ll be new hires here at Riverview, and a rotation of plainclothesmen from the city force. And some overtime for you, Francis, and everyone else.”

He turned to the coroner. “I hope the same won’t be true for you, Dr. Phipps.”

Francis fought to keep his voice even. “If the park’s open, Captain, you’ll be inviting the fox right back into the henhouse.”

“I’m well aware of that. But who’s to say he hasn’t already moved on?”

“He may well have,” agreed Dr. Phipps. “Two killings within two days? It’s unusual in my experience. If this is the same man who murdered that girl back East, he waited four years before killing Maria Walewski and the Belascu girl. He may have committed other murders during those four years, but if he did, they weren’t in amusement parks. If they had been, we’d know about them.

“And he’s not necessarily a vagrant,” Phipps continued. “He might be a professional man, like Dr. Holmes. Or a salesman who could arrive and leave town without attracting notice. He could be someone who works in this park. A member of the police force, for instance,” he ended dryly.