HECHT COLLARED HIM as he stepped off the streetcar at Riverview’s entrance.

“Bacon!” Bennie ran up, dressed in the same checked suit as yesterday, now even more rumpled, and carrying a battered leather satchel. “Can we speak for a few minutes? Alone?”

Francis looked over at the park gates. A policeman stood there, along with men he recognized as reporters. It was not yet seven, hours before Wasserman would meet with the newspapers, but already they smelled blood. He nodded. “Yes, but not here. Come with me.”

They walked a few blocks to a small German restaurant that Francis knew opened early. Inside were a half-dozen tables, only one of them occupied, by a man whose bloodstained overalls identified him as a laborer from Packingtown. Francis and Bennie took a table in the back.

“Just coffee for me,” Francis told the waiter, and set his helmet in his lap. “I’ve already had my breakfast.”

“Not me.” Bennie perused the blackboard menu, ordered white sausages and beer. “And a pretzel. And strong black coffee. And some iced water, please. I haven’t slept since Friday.”

Francis winced. “Good thing you’re young.”

“I feel a lot older than I did three days ago. You were right—I was able to confirm that account of Deirdre Monahan’s murder. It checks out as your man told you it did. This is what else I found.”

He unlatched his satchel, withdrew a large envelope, and set it on the table. Inside was a copy of the New-York Tribune, dated the last week of July. Its front-page headlines blared news of the Eastland disaster, which had occurred less than a week before.

“Page seven,” said Bennie. Francis scanned the columns until he found a brief item:

Skeleton Unearthed in Dreamland Ruins

A human skeleton was uncovered by a railway worker at Coney Island, on the grounds once occupied by the Hell Gate boat attraction at Dreamland amusement park. The skeleton is said to be small, that of a child or resident of Dreamland’s Midget City, though no one was reported missing in the conflagration’s aftermath. It is requested that anyone who might shed knowledge upon this macabre discovery contact the Coney Island police.

“There’s one more,” said Bennie, and handed another newspaper to Francis. “This is from May.”

Gary Register

The body of a twelve-year-old girl was discovered in a drainage canal near Simons Road on Tuesday evening. Police are seeking information as to the child’s identity and as to whether local people have sighted any vagrants in the vicinity. Any individual who has witnessed suspicious behavior or has any other information to impart, please contact Constable Musick.

Francis looked at Bennie. “Did they ever identify her?”