The Lions of Fifth Avenue

Sadie, temporarily banished from the library, works from home preparing for the exhibit. She is desperate to get back, to have another look at the cage and figure out how the thief is gaining access. The following Monday, she meets with Dr. Hooper and Nick. Sadie tries to explain what happened, but as only one of two people with a key to the cage (Hooper is the other), he sees her as the likely suspect. Nick mentioned her connection to Laura Lyons, and Hooper “wonder[s] what else you’ve been keeping from me” (251). He orders her to take a leave of absence. Sadie denies any guilt, but Nick escorts her from the building.

Later, over drinks, Lonnie suggests Sadie retain a lawyer, but she is more interested in solving the mystery. She wishes she’d probed their mother more deeply about her past. With time off and nothing left to lose, she decides to go to London to find out more about Laura’s life and death. Sadie finds out Laura and Amelia died during the German blitzkrieg.

Jetlagged, Sadie fumbles her way through London. Eventually, she locates the townhouse where Laura lived and worked, the place which spawned her many radical essays and ideas. She meets Hilary Quinn, Laura’s former housekeeper. Sadie asks about Laura—her relationship with Pearl, her love life—but Quinn is terse. When Quinn admits she personally destroyed all of Laura’s letters and notes—as per Laura’s wishes—Sadie is distraught, and Quinn asks her to leave.

For the next three days, Sadie returns, but Quinn refuses to answer the door. On her last day, she stands outside the door, confessing that “my job is on the line” (263). Quinn finally lets her in. She’s more open this time, and mentions that on the day of the blitzkrieg, Laura had visited Amelia in London. After a bit of urging, Quinn admits that Laura and Amelia were lovers. She also claims that Laura left one final essay to be saved after her death, an essay that “told the truth” (266), but the work was apparently lost after her death. Quinn recalls an intoxicated Laura mentioning a Poe book that was hidden away, “exactly where it should be, yet exactly where it should not” (267). Sadie wonders if Jack hid the book—Tamerlane—somewhere in the old apartment now being used for storage. She flies home, newly energized, but the next morning, LuAnn calls: Valentina is missing.

Harry is home from the hospital, and Laura questions him about missing school. He claims he cut classes because he’s failing. Laura asks why he didn’t ask for help, and Harry says she was never available. When she asks him to read, he complains the words are blurry. She realizes Harry simply needs glasses. Laura resolves to take care of her family, first and foremost, as her career aspirations are unrealistic for a married woman with children.

After Harry has recovered, Laura takes him to the eye doctor. When they return, Pearl reports that a woman (Amelia) has delivered a book for her, and that Jack grew angry and threw it against a wall. The book—Kate Chopin’s The Awakening—contains a reference to a particular passage—“it was a love note, bound in leather” (274), and Jack understood the clue. The couple discuss the matter in private, and Jack forbids Laura from taking the children away from him. Laura chafes at being dictated to. She tries to explain herself, but Jack is too upset to listen, instead worrying about his reputation and publishing prospects. She tries to leave, but Jack grabs her roughly, and Harry witnesses it through the open door. He runs upstairs, and when Jack and Laura catch up to him, he has thrown Jack’s manuscript into the fireplace.

Enraged, Jack slaps Harry, and the violence escalates—Laura shoves Jack, Harry flees down the stairs, and Jack pursues him. Laura fears that Harry, feeling neglected for months, has sought retribution in destruction, possibly learned from Red Paddy. Just then, she notices a 10-dollar bill protruding from the dumbwaiter. She opens the door and finds dozens of tens and twenties, all covering a book: the missing Tamerlane. Jack returns—without Harry—and he and Laura deduce that he’s been stealing the books and selling them. Laura fears for his fate if they turn him in, but Jack is afraid he’ll lose his job if they don’t. Harry has fled outside, and Jack wants to leave him there for the night: “Maybe it’ll teach him something” (283). The couple blame each other for Harry’s actions, and Jack retreats to his study. For a moment, Laura considers burning Tamerlane, to destroy the evidence of Harry’s crime, but can’t bring herself to do it.

Laura wakes the next morning, resolved to repair the night’s damage, but is interrupted by the appearance of Edwin Gaillard and two officers at the front door. They report that Jack hung himself in the basement. They also reveal a note in which Jack apologizes “for the trouble I caused the library. The fault is mine, as is the shame” (288). Laura denies knowing what the note means, although she suspects Jack is trying to take the fall for his son.