Zig Zag Woman
by Roberta Tracy
The last thing LAPD Detectives McManus and Tyson expect to find behind Pantages Theatre is a body rolled up in a blanket.
The last thing Margaret Morehouse, one of the city's first policewoman with arrest powers, expects to do is join the investigation. When a deadly explosion at the L. A. Times derails their efforts, Margaret finds herself at a crossroads and strikes out on her own, a path leading to delusion and self-discovery on a vaudeville stage. Her husband's nephew Leland further complicates the situation by sharing a ransom note and confiding his failure to report his wife's disappearance the Dominguez Air Meet.
A brief stint as a magician's assistant takes Margaret to Chicago, where she almost signs on as a zig zag girl, the term used for ladies performing in the "cutting-a-woman-in-two" illusion. Instead, Margaret returns to the tumultuous world of early twentieth century Los Angeles. Reunited with McManus and Tyson, she confronts prejudices and societal norms in efforts to identify a body, clear Leland's name, and topple the stranglehold one powerful, amoral person has over many lives. Their efforts lead to dead ends and misconceptions before truth comes to light. Love is rekindled and danger uncovered in unlikely places. Margaret goes from Zig Zag Girl to Zig Zag Woman, no longer cut in two but headed on a clearer path.
Tyson was forced to wear the wig, black veil, and amethyst skirt that night because they wouldn’t look good on his partner. McManus was the handsomer of the two, but no disguise could conceal those broad shoulders, wide enough to carry a steamer trunk, and belly paunched by schooners of beer.
They'd been ordered to stroll arm in arm along the streets of Boyle Heights, Tyson in taffeta and McManus in tweed. Once accosted, they were to capture the Rapist, although how they were to bind and haul him off to jail with only a single trolley running late at night was beyond anyone's understanding.
With Margaret and McManus standing by, Mary Ellen Tyson assembled an outfit from a trunkful of clothing once worn by her deceased grandmother. Her husband would have preferred wearing long johns in public, but, as they all kept reminding him, time was of the essence.
Roberta Tracy
Early experience as a staff greeting card writer introduced Roberta Tracy to witty people who shared the writer’s dream. Marriage, motherhood, and career intervened, but she maintained that creative desire. A degree in nonprofit management led her to work situations where newsletters, grant proposals, and business correspondence took
precedence.
Still, she wrote poetry, some of which won prizes and publication, and children’s books set in worldwide locations. Recently, she co-authored Come Dream With Me, a part travelogue, part hippie nostalgia work of creative nonfiction, detailing the adventures of colleague Inese Civkulis.
No matter what writing projects unfold in the future, she'll never find enough words to thank family and friends for their inspiration and
encouragement.
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