The Chimney Sweep's Tale

The Chimney Sweep's Tale

A Mimi Delboise Mystery

New Orleans, Louisiana - October 1891

________________________________________

PART ONE: "The Fall"

The scream that pierced the morning air was sharp enough to cut through the gentle murmur of conversation at Still Perkin' Café. Mimi Delboise looked up from her coffee and the case notes she'd been reviewing at the corner table, instinctively cataloguing the sound, young, male, filled with both pain and terror.

She was already rising from her chair when a second cry followed, this one weaker but somehow more disturbing in its quality of desperation. The other café patrons had fallen silent, their attention drawn toward the windows facing Prytania Street, but something in those cries pulled at her detective's instincts more urgently than mere curiosity.

"Madame," the waiter said as she placed coins on the table, "your breakfast…"

"Keep it warm," she replied, already moving toward the door. "I may be back."

The October morning carried a blessed relief from the oppressive heat that had dominated the city through September, though the humidity still clung to everything like a damp shroud. Mimi stepped out of the café and followed the sound of gathering voices down Prytania Street, where the elegant mansions of the wealthy rose behind elaborate iron gates and manicured gardens.

A small crowd had assembled outside the Beaumont mansion on Prytania Street, their faces turned upward toward the imposing three-story structure with its distinctive columned galleries and steep-pitched roof. At the center of the gathering, a small figure lay crumpled on the brick walkway that bordered the house, a child, she realized, his clothes blackened with soot, one leg bent at an angle that made her stomach tighten.

"Someone fetch Dr. Tran," a woman was saying, her voice carrying the authority of someone accustomed to giving orders. "She's the only physician in the Quarter who'll tend to the likes of him."

"Already sent for her," replied a man in work clothes, kneeling beside the injured boy. "Poor little fellow fell from the roof. Must've been thirty feet or more."

Mimi approached the edge of the crowd, studying the scene with the careful attention that had become second nature. The child appeared to be perhaps eleven years old, small for his age in the way that spoke of poor nutrition and hard labor. His clothing was the rough cotton and canvas typical of working children, but what struck her most was the elaborate system of ropes and brushes scattered around him, the tools of a chimney sweep.

"What happened?" she asked the man kneeling beside the boy.

He looked up, taking in her practical dress and serious demeanor with the quick assessment of someone who had learned to judge people quickly. "Name's Murphy, ma'am. I work the stables for Mrs. Beaumont. Was tending the horses when I heard the crash." He gestured toward the roof. "Little Tommy here was cleaning the chimneys. Been doing it for nigh on two years now, never had trouble before."

"Tommy?"

"Tommy Calhoun. Works for Mr. Cork's crew, they handle most of the big houses in this district." Murphy's weathered face creased with concern. "Good lad, careful as they come. Can't understand how he came to fall."

Mimi looked up at the mansion's roofline, noting the elaborate network of chimneys that served the various fireplaces within. Even in October, many of the wealthy families were already preparing for the winter months ahead, ensuring their heating systems were clean and functional. It was dangerous work under the best of circumstances, but the alternative for children like Tommy was often worse, the streets, the docks, or the factories where injuries were just as common and medical care even scarcer.

"Has anyone sent for the police?" she asked.

"What for?" Murphy's expression grew grim. "Boy fell from a roof doing his job. Happens all the time. Police got better things to worry about than accidents involving chimney sweeps."

The casual dismissal sat poorly with her, though she understood the logic. In New Orleans, as in most American cities, the lives of working children like Tommy existed in the margins of official concern. Their injuries and deaths were recorded, if at all, as industrial accidents, regrettable but inevitable consequences of economic necessity.

The sound of wheels on cobblestones announced the arrival of Dr. Evangeline Tran, a slight woman in her early thirties whose reputation for skill and compassion had made her the unofficial physician for much of the Quarter's working population. She carried herself with the quiet confidence of someone who had earned her position through competence rather than connections, her medical bag and practical clothing marking her as a professional despite the prejudices that might greet an Asian woman doctor in other circles.

"Step back, please," Dr. Tran said, her voice calm but commanding as she knelt beside Tommy. Her hands moved over the boy's injuries with practiced efficiency, checking for signs of internal damage while examining the obviously broken leg. "How long has he been unconscious?"

"Comes and goes," Murphy replied. "Been talking some, but not making much sense. Fever from the shock, I'd guess."

Dr. Tran's dark eyes flicked up to meet Mimi's, and something in her expression suggested recognition. They had encountered each other before, though briefly, Dr. Tran had treated victims in a case Mimi had worked the previous year, and both women had been impressed by the other's professionalism.

"Help me get him to my clinic," Dr. Tran said. "I'll need to set that leg properly, and he should be somewhere clean and quiet while he recovers."

As they carefully lifted Tommy into Dr. Tran's medical carriage, the boy's eyes fluttered open, unfocused and bright with pain. His lips moved, forming words that came out in a fevered whisper.

"The man in the walls," he mumbled, his voice barely audible above the street noise. "He knows... knows where the gold sleeps behind the bricks..."

Murphy frowned. "Poor lad's delirious."

But Dr. Tran's expression grew thoughtful as she arranged blankets around Tommy's small form. "Perhaps. But I've found that children in shock often speak truths that adults miss. Their minds haven't yet learned to dismiss what seems impossible."

________________________________________

What did Tommy really see? Who is "the man in the walls"?

Stay tuned for Part 2 of The Chimney Sweep's Tale as Tommy Calhoun reveals what he really witnessed in the walls of the Beaumont mansion, and why someone tried to kill him for it.

Follow all of Mimi Delboise's adventures over at The Elephant Island Chronicles and on Medium