Bloody Lessons: A Victorian San Francisco Mystery

by Locke, M. Louisa

  “Nate, why are you looking at me like that? I know I must look a fright. I tried to tidy up, but I am afraid that Kathleen is going to have to sweep extra carefully in my room after I undress tonight to get up all the sand. What did I say?” she added, and Nate began to choke on the sip of water he had been drinking.

  Lord, doesn’t she realize what the very idea of watching her undress for the night does to me? The waiter appeared, and Nate was saved from having to explain himself by the need to consult the menu and order tea and cakes enough to fortify them for the ride back. Then, when the waiter departed, he got right down to business.

  “You’ve finished reading through Russell’s letters? Did you learn anything that would prove or disprove Laura’s theory that he was somehow pressuring Miss Wilks into marriage?”

  “Well, there was nothing to suggest that he was anything other than what he appears to be, a man who fell violently, and unexpectedly, in love. The early notes are brave attempts to keep their relationship on a professional basis, full of scholarly quotations that he is asking her to translate. But his admiration for her shines through. Then something must have happened in late September because the next letter contains an open declaration of his feelings and his joy in discovering that they were reciprocated.”

  Nate said, “That sounds innocent enough. Anything else? Any mention of the notes we found?”

  “Throughout the first two weeks in October, you can see they are trying to be very discreet. While they must have seen each other daily at Clement Grammar, his letters mention how difficult it is for him to see her and not speak to her. There were some mentions of arranged meetings outside of school. Mostly, however, these letters are filled with poetry and declarations of his love. Then a letter the third week of October refers to some sort of crisis. He wrote several letters in a row that she evidently did not answer, and he begged her to let him come see her.”

  “That does sound a lot like he was pushing her to take a step she didn’t want to take. Has Laura read the letters yet?”

  “Yes, I handed them over to her Wednesday evening, and we talked about them last night when you couldn’t stop by. She plans on handing them back to Russell this week. I must say, Nate, I am beginning to resent Able Cranston and how much he is monopolizing your time!"

  Pleased that she missed him, Nate leaned over and took her hand, saying, “The Purdy trial isn’t the only thing that is keeping me busy. I also had several meetings with Emory this week, but let’s finish with Russell and his letters. What did Laura say after she read them?”

  “She reacted the way you might think, angry that he would put such emotional pressure on Hattie. But she did admit that he seemed sincere about his affection for her.”

  Nate held up his hand, and they were silent as the waiter poured their tea and offered them a plate piled high with tasty cakes and pastries. When the waiter left, Nate said tentatively, “Do you think that the crisis you mentioned was her discovery that she was…that she had discovered her condition and that is why she decided to resign at that time?”

  Annie shook her head. “Oh, I don’t think so. That series of letters came right after the crisis, in mid-October, and they had only declared their love for each other a few weeks earlier. There is no way she would know. Let’s just say it is much more likely that it was the first note, accusing her of immorality, that probably spurred the decision to resign. Someone must have seen them together.”

  “Does Russell mention the notes outright? Or speculate on who might have written them?” Nate asked, getting excited by the idea that there might be something in Russell’s letters that would help determine who had been making accusations about Mrs. Anderson.

  “No, never directly. He does mention that he will make sure that the Clement Grammar principal, DuBois, gives her a good recommendation, so it seems she was still planning on teaching elsewhere in the spring, another indication that pregnancy wasn’t motivating her at that point. Then the addresses on the envelopes change. Hattie had been living in a boarding house on Hyde, but in the middle of November, she moved to the Mission Street boarding house. Laura thought Hattie had to move because she didn’t have any income, but that wouldn’t explain why she moved before the term was over.” Annie stopped, waiting for the waiter to refill their teapot and leave.

  She continued. “I wondered if Hattie was worried that someone in her former boarding house was behind the letters. Or it could be that they decided it would be easier for the two of them to meet on the weekends if she moved south of Market, further away from work. Once she made the move, the letters are less frequent, but they sound happy as they start to plan the wedding.”

  “Still no mention at any time that they have to get married?”

  “No, if Biddy’s mother hadn’t told me about the miscarriage, I would never have guessed her condition from the letters. I think it is possible that Russell didn’t know. I suppose it is even possible that Hattie herself didn’t know.”

  “Heavens above, how awful,” Nate said. Then he noticed the tears welling up in Annie’s eyes. It seemed every time the circumstances of Hattie’s death came up, Annie was overcome with grief. There had to be more to it than she was admitting. Why couldn’t she trust him enough to tell him what was wrong?

  Before he could say anything, she took a sharp breath and said, “I wish we could ask Russell directly, but if there is the slightest chance he was behind the notes or behind the attack on Laura or at all implicated in Hattie’s fall, I don’t think we can risk it.”

  “Did Laura say anything more about her other candidate for the attack, Seth Timmons, that fellow who tracked her down at Woodward Gardens?”

  Annie sat up straighter, her eyes brightening the way they did when she was excited, and she said, “You won’t believe this. She has completely exonerated him, at least in her own mind. She found some letters of his to Hattie, and it turns out Timmons was visiting her at Hattie’s request. I do think Laura was rather put out by this, but it convinced her that he didn’t have some awful obsession with her and that he couldn’t have been the man who attacked her.”

  “Wait, what about the fact that he knew where she was living? And followed her to the Gardens?” Nate exclaimed.

  “Well, she says that after having read the letters, it makes perfect sense that Hattie would have given him Laura’s address as soon as she learned he was moving up to San Francisco. Timmons told Laura that it was Hattie who told him about the job he got, just as she did for Laura. I wonder if Hattie wasn’t a bit of a match-maker…”

  Nate held up his hand to stop her and said, “Timmons told her? She’s seen him since Sunday?”

  “Yes, she wrote him after reading the letters. She told me she wanted to quiz him about what Hattie wrote to him about Russell and her decision to quit teaching. In response, he showed up at Clement Grammar on Wednesday after school was out. Laura says he said Hattie didn’t mention the anonymous notes or say anything that indicated she was being pressured into marrying Russell.”

  Nate felt a surge of anger and said, “Annie, she told him about the notes! We can’t have that information bandied about. Who knows who he might tell? Damn it, Annie, how could she be so foolhardy?” He took a deep breath and muttered an apology for having sworn. Thank goodness, Annie never seemed to get upset when he forgot to mind his tongue in front of her.

  Annie patted his hand and said, “Calm down, Nate. If it is any consolation, she seemed ashamed that she had written him without checking with us first. I gather she didn’t expect him to show up that way, either, but she felt she needed to tell him about the notes in order to justify all her questions. I did warn her that she needs to be more circumspect in the future. Made me feel quite ancient, advising her to be more careful.”

  She smiled at him, and he felt the anger drain away.

  She continued. “She assures me that she didn’t give him any details. In any event, between the letters and her conversation, she seems very confident that Seth
Timmons wasn’t the one who attacked her. Something about the philosopher Comte, which I confess didn’t make much sense to me.”

  “So do you agree with her?” Nate asked. “Do you think we can rule Timmons out as her attacker?”

  “I don’t think we can rule anyone out, and I do think it might be a good idea for you to go talk to him yourself. You know, I have felt from the beginning that her former student, Buck, the one who was harassing her, is a more likely candidate for the attacker. Evidently, that was Timmons’ reaction, and now she is all in a dither about him going after Buck. She is worried he will get in trouble with the law or at the very least lose his job.”

  “What!”

  “Yes, she asked me if you would be able to represent Timmons if he thrashed Buck again and Buck or his father pressed charges. She said she didn’t know if it would be considered a ‘conflict of interest.’”

  Nate stared at her, hoping to discover she was teasing him. But when she shrugged and smiled, he knew she wasn’t. Sighing, he shook his head and said, “Do you think we can send her back home to the ranch? When I promised Mother and Father we would look after her, I never, ever, imagined what that would entail.”

  Annie just laughed at him.

  Chapter Twenty-two

  Tuesday evening, January 27, 1880

  "Thomas H. Reynolds had examined a note-book which contained the acknowledged handwriting of defendant, and after comparisons with the anonymous letters, concludes form his experience as an expert that the chirography of the note-book and letters was identically the same."––San Francisco Chronicle, 1879

  Annie had been to Nate’s law offices on Sansome Street in the financial district once before, and that had been the day after she met him for the first time. Sitting in the dark in the hansom cab that took her swiftly up Market, she remembered how confused she’d felt on that visit. Grieving over the death of Matthew Voss, frightened for her economic future, and puzzled by the strange attraction she’d felt for this young man who could be so infuriating and so kind in the time it took for her heart to beat.

  Tonight, she was confused again but not about her feelings for Nate Dawson. She was confused because of the letter he’d sent her asking her to come to his office this evening to attend a meeting with Mr. Emory and Mrs. Anderson. This was odd enough, since she had no idea what explanation he would give these two people for her presence at the meeting. Even more puzzling, however, was his request that she come to the meeting early because he had something of a "delicate nature" he wanted to ask her. As she’d read the letter, she’d gotten the absurd notion that he was planning on renewing his marriage proposal. Then she’d immediately thought, At a business meeting? Surely not. But she couldn’t get the idea out of her mind.

  The cab slowed to a stop, and Annie handed the fare to the cabbie through the hatch before alighting. Kathleen had wanted to accompany her. But it was Tuesday, ironing day, and even with the help of the washerwoman and the part-time maid, Tilly, Annie knew that Kathleen would be completely done in by the evening. She had insisted she was perfectly safe taking a cab by herself. She even kept her irritation to herself when her motherly boarder, Mrs. Stein, tut-tutted about how unsafe the streets could be at night. She recognized this was the price she was paying for having frightened them all when she went off on her own a few months earlier. And there was Nate, as promised, waiting outside the building to escort her up to the second-story offices. She would have to be sure to report his gallantry to her friends when she got back home.

  As they climbed the stairs, Nate told her that the new Superintendent of Schools had gotten another anonymous letter, again accusing the vice principal of Girls' High, Thomas Hoffmann, of colluding with Emory to hire Mrs. Anderson. However, this time the letter went on to suggest that Hoffmann was guilty of having "immoral relations" with a student.

  Annie said that she thought this certainly suggested that the anonymous notes to Hattie were part of a broader smear campaign, and she asked if Nate had told Emory about the notes they had found among Hattie’s correspondence.

  “I told him I had evidence that another teacher had been targeted but that I couldn’t reveal the details. Emory reiterated that he hasn’t gotten anything directly, but I did want to ask Mrs. Anderson tonight, see how she reacts.”

  Annie paused as they reached the second floor landing and said, “Nate, we need to see the letter that was sent to the Superintendent of Schools, see if it bears any resemblance to the hand-writing of the notes sent to Hattie. What do you know about this Vice Principal?”

  “Only that Emory says Hoffmann is well-respected, and he’s held the position at Girls' High under Swett for five years.”

  They were now at the law offices, and Annie pointed to the name of the firm in the center of the door. “Oh look, Hobbes, Cranston, and Dawson. I don’t remember you having your name up here when I came the first time. I guess your Uncle Frank has actually started to treat you as an equal partner.”

  Nate chuckled, and as he unlocked the door he said, “I wouldn’t go that far.” The reception room was as tiny as she remembered but neater. According to Nate, the business that Cranston brought into the firm meant they now had enough income for an additional clerk. They also had expanded into the adjoining offices, which provided rooms for the clerks and Cranston, while Nate inherited the deceased partner’s office for himself.

  As he turned up the gaslights, he mumbled something about leaving the outer door open for the others. She sighed. Once again he is trying to protect my reputation. Maybe it would have been easier to just bring Kathleen with me. Nate brought out extra chairs and put them around the table on one side of the room. Obviously, they were not going to go into his office. She was rather disappointed, having hoped to see what it looked like.

  She broke the silence, saying, “How did Emory find out about this newest letter?”

  “He’s pretty friendly with one of the Republican board members, and Vanderling, that’s the friend’s name, was able to persuade Superintendent Taylor to hand the letter over to him for investigation. I am hoping Emory will be able to bring it with him, and that’s why I asked you to bring Hattie’s notes with you. But before they get here, I have to ask a favor of you, and you must promise me you will say no if you don’t want to do this. I don’t want you to feel any pressure to agree at all.”

  Annie’s heart began to beat faster, and she could feel her cheeks get hot.

  Nate continued, “Turns out my uncle took it upon himself to tell Emory about the work you did investigating Voss’s death and the Framptons. As a result, Emory asked me to invite you to this meeting so he could ask you to help us in trying to figure out who is behind these anonymous accusations. He has some scheme he wants to lay out for you tonight, but I didn’t want you to feel ambushed when he asks. I am really sorry, Annie. I tried to explain to Uncle Frank how unhappy you would be to know he had spoken to Emory without asking your permission.”

  Later, Annie would have to examine more closely her sharp disappointment that the proposition of a delicate nature was not a proposal of marriage. But right now, her overwhelming emotion was glee that she was going to get a chance to work on another investigation with Nate. She didn’t want to appear too eager, however, or Nate might rescind the offer, so she kept her voice as moderated as possible when she responded, saying, “I am sure your uncle meant well, and I am honored by the faith he has in me. Of course I would like to help out in any way I can, although I reserve judgment until I have heard exactly what Emory’s ‘scheme’ is. But thank you, Nate, for giving me a chance to think about it all ahead of time. And, by the noise I am hearing, I think that the rest of the members of this meeting have arrived.”

  Annie couldn’t help but notice the look on Nate’s face, like she had turned into a coiled rattlesnake, and she thought, Oh, how well he knows me. I suspect he will rue the day he asked me to get formally involved in this little enterprise.

  *****

  “It was actuall
y Tom Hoffmann’s idea,” Irving Emory said. “Naturally, when I told him about the letters and the accusations against him, he was very concerned. I assumed that this was all part of a political attack against me, but now, with both Dottie Anderson and Tom Hoffmann being implicated, it looks more like the source of the trouble might be found at Girls' High itself. We were trying to figure out how Dawson here could come to the school and nose around without causing too much suspicion. Hoffmann mentioned it was too bad that Dawson couldn’t pretend to be a teacher when it occurred to me that, if Frank Hobbes is correct, Mrs. Fuller would be perfect for the job.”

  When Nate had introduced Emory to Annie, she wasn’t surprised to see an older, well-tailored, well-barbered man of wealth who’d probably moved with ease from running his business to running the city. The fact that he owned the City of Hills Distillery would have helped because saloon keepers tended to run the ward elections for both parties.

  Emory continued. “So, young lady, do you by any chance know the basics of bookkeeping?”

  Annie, taken aback by the question, was curious about how much Frank Hobbes had shared about her history, including her unorthodox education in the fine points of finance and her current work as Madam Sibyl. She said, “Actually, I’m very familiar. My father used Mayhew’s Practical Book of Book-Keeping to instruct me, and, while I have never run a large company, I do use the double entry system for keeping track of my boarding house business.”

  Mr. Emory beamed at her, saying, “Splendid! Splendid! Deerhurst, one of the new board members, has a ‘bee in his bonnet’ about the need for all young men and women to be instructed in the basics of accounting. As a result, Tom had already volunteered to include a series of lessons on the subject as part of his math classes, and I do believe he is using Mayhew’s text. The principal, Swett, is going out of town for several weeks, and Tom will taking over some of Swett’s senior classes in philosophy, so he was already looking for someone to substitute in some of his math classes. You can be that substitute, and while you are there, you can do a little detecting for us without anyone being the wiser.”