To Write a Wrong

by Jen Turano

  Perkins frowned. “I do, but I’ll wait until I have the map in my hand before I give it to you. That might give you an added incentive to disclose the location of the map if Daphne’s wrong about where it’s hidden.” He turned from Mildred back to Daphne again. “As I was saying, I applied for the position of butler, and I was pleased I was offered the job.”

  “Seems a little too convenient that a butler position just happened to open up after you lost your position at that other house.”

  The tightening of Perkins’s jaw suggested he’d been responsible for the former butler’s unfortunate tumble down the stairs, but he didn’t admit his guilt. Instead, he moved to the clamshell chair Herman had abandoned and sat down. “Unfortunately, I discovered after I began working for Herman that he seemed oblivious to the copy of a map Uncle Clyde had suggested existed. He never spoke of the map, nor did a map to El Dorado ever show up in any of his books. I took it upon myself to begin exploring the secret passageways whenever I was able and was almost never caught doing that until recently, when I happened to stumble behind the wall of Herman’s bedchamber when I was searching about. He heard me, and I was reluctant to search the passageways again, even though I’d begun to hope he might be close to learning about the map because I overheard him speaking with Sheldon about El Dorado.”

  “That talk between Herman and Sheldon is why Perkins sent me a letter seeking my assistance,” Martha added. “Perkins and I share a close cousinly relationship, and we’d often discussed Uncle Clyde and his last adventure. Perkins told me that Mildred was determined to see Herman married to Finetta Shoenburger, which is why I decided to see if I could get close to her. I thought the stars were lined up exactly right when I learned her grandmother was seeking a paid companion.” Martha rolled her eyes. “I soon realized that the stars weren’t lined up properly at all because Finetta and Herman barely spoke to each other and certainly not about anything of consequence.” She nodded to Sheldon. “That’s when I set my sights on Sheldon.”

  “How fortunate for me,” Sheldon muttered.

  Martha smoothed a strand of hair back into place. “I didn’t want to toy with your affections, darling, but you were an easy mark. I’m fully aware that I’m an attractive lady who knows how to use my feminine allure, and you were only too keen to spend time in my company—well, until recently, that is.”

  Sheldon inclined his head. “My keenness to spend time with you was waning because you seemed to be constantly seeking out my company, inserting yourself into conversations I was holding with other people, and always wanting to be at my side, even when I told you I needed to work.”

  “You can’t honestly be surprised about that now that you’ve heard the reason behind my interest. Spending an inordinate amount of time in your company was the only way to find out what you knew about the map.”

  “But why try to kill Herman?” Daphne asked, looking to Perkins. “I must say you had me fooled, because I honestly believed your vehement denial when I questioned you about having murderous intentions toward him.”

  Perkins’s brows drew together. “I never had murderous intentions toward Herman.”

  “It wasn’t you and Martha who drilled holes in his boat or sabotaged the tips of the fencing rapiers?”

  “That wasn’t me,” Perkins said.

  Daphne turned to Martha, earning a shrug in return. “I see no reason to deny any of that.”

  “But why would you want to kill Herman?”

  “I never wanted to kill him.”

  “You just admitted you drilled holes in his rowboat.”

  “True, but . . . Herman wasn’t the target that day, dear Daphne. You were.”

  “Why would you want to kill me?”

  “I was convinced you had your eye on replacing Sheldon as Herman’s assistant. That would have deprived me of the access Sheldon had to those journals.”

  “But you could have killed Herman as well.”

  “Sheldon told me Herman’s a strong swimmer. I wasn’t worried he’d drown.” Martha released a grunt. “Who knew he’d be such a good swimmer that he’d also be able to save you, even when you were making it a habit to wear bustles that are completely ridiculous in size.”

  Daphne caught Herman’s eye. “It’s amazing how many people have tried to kill me since I’ve become involved with the inquiry business. Nevertheless”—she returned her attention to Martha—“am I wrong in concluding that you were beginning to panic that your plan to find the map wasn’t going to succeed? Panic, from what I’ve seen in other cases, is a great motivator for murder, although murder is really not something you should have contemplated. Not that I want to point out the obvious, but it is one of the Ten Commandments. Taking a life simply because of the lure of undiscovered riches is unconscionable and has me wondering if you, as well as Perkins, might benefit from speaking with a man of the cloth. Reverend Patrick Danford of St. Luke’s Chapel is a lovely person, and you might really benefit from seeking his counsel, and—”

  “I don’t need a lecture about murder, nor will I be seeking out the counsel of any reverend,” Martha said, earning a grimace from Daphne in return.

  “I disagree. I believe you need both. You just admitted you wanted to kill me. And even though you claim you weren’t trying to kill Herman, you did tamper with the rapiers, which could have very easily seen him dead.”

  “He should have been wearing protective gear, which would have only resulted with damage to that gear—not to him.”

  “Then why tamper with the rapiers to begin with?”

  “I needed to shift attention to his writer friends.” Martha took a step closer to Daphne, which had Herman taking a step closer to Daphne as well. “After learning the coachman was really a Pinkerton, I was concerned, and after I realized it wasn’t a foregone conclusion that everyone believed Irwin was responsible for all the accidents that had taken place, I worried that attention could swing my way. Pinkertons are known to be relentless interrogators, and I needed to divert notice away from me. Herman’s writer friends seemed like the most likely people to attract a Pinkerton’s attention, what with all the jealousy and backstabbing they seem so keen to embrace.”

  Daphne turned to Herman. “Martin Corrigan was the one who was supposed to be paired against you.”

  “Until Jay took his place, and then Jay gave you the rapier.”

  “It was quite unexpected how that whole situation unraveled,” Martha said. “I wouldn’t have thought Charles Bonner had it in him to figure out Daphne’s true identity, and I certainly wasn’t expecting Daphne to admit she was an inquiry agent. Nevertheless, it worked to my advantage because the house party was disbanded, and we eventually were able to return here.”

  Daphne nodded. “I imagine you found it a great advantage to your plan when Herman and Cooper decided to travel to Boston. With them out of town, you were given an opportunity to search the house without interruption.”

  “We knew our time was limited,” Martha said. “Cooper, as well as other Pinkertons, were now on Herman’s case, so it was now or never.” She shot a look to Sheldon. “Unfortunately, we weren’t expecting Sheldon to return home today. It would have been difficult to explain what I was doing on the second floor of the house, which is why we waited until he moved to the library before we rendered him senseless.”

  Daphne sent Herman a bit of a wink. “I told you rendered senseless is a wonderful way to describe when someone is knocked unconscious. I bet you’re thankful you decided to keep the changes I made to your manuscript now.”

  He was hard-pressed not to laugh or kiss her right there in the midst of what was clearly an escalating situation, one that was brimming with danger.

  Before he could act on either of those urges, though, Daphne returned her attention to Martha. “I believe that answers all the questions I have. However, I do have to say that I’m amazed your actions have gone undetected for so long. Nicholas and Gabriella Quinn, two fellow inquiry agents, have often stated that i
n order for a plan to be successful, it has to be kept as simple as possible. The lengths the two of you went to in order to locate a map were convoluted to say the least.”

  “Convoluted or not, here we are,” Martha said. “And you did say that if I answered your questions, you’d give me the map.”

  “True, I did say that.” Daphne gave a wave of her hand toward the coffin Sheldon was sitting on. “I believe what you’re searching for is in there.”

  As Martha rushed for the coffin, having to wait for Sheldon to climb off it, Mildred settled a curious eye on Daphne. “How did you figure that out?”

  “You’ve been glancing at the coffin on and off ever since the topic of the map was broached. Herman mentioned that his mother tried to turn a coffin into a planter earlier, which means there had to have been some adjustments made to that coffin so that the roots of the plants wouldn’t rot from too much watering.” She smiled. “I learned that from the book on poisonous plants you thought I was reading so I could poison Herman. There’s a chapter about plant care at the back of the book.”

  Mildred blinked, but before she could say anything more, Martha was pulling out a false bottom from the coffin, brandishing a map a second later. She then pulled out Sarah’s journals, sticking them in the pillowcase she’d used as a disguise before putting the map in there as well. She sent Perkins a nod, and they began backing out of the room.

  “You forgot to unlock me,” Mildred said.

  “I’m afraid it won’t be possible for us to unlock you,” Martha said, grabbing hold of Perkins’s arm as he took a step toward Mildred. “We need time to get away, and keeping you shackled should aid with that. I’m also going to lock all of you in here after we leave. I’m sure someone will find you in the not-too-distant but hopefully distant-enough future.”

  With that, she dashed out of the room, Perkins backing out of it after her. A second after that, the door shut, followed by the distinctive sound of a lock clicking into place.

  CHAPTER

  Twenty-Nine

  “Dare I hope someone on your staff besides Perkins knows how to access the dungeon or, better yet, will realize we’re down here?” Daphne asked, kneeling beside Mildred to give the lock another try, although she was beginning to believe picking locks was not going to be her forte.

  Herman shot a look to Sheldon. “This could be a problem because I don’t think anyone on staff knows how to access the dungeon, although I did give Cooper a tour of the house before we went off to Boston.”

  “Then let us hope that Cooper realizes you’ve disappeared. But instead of waiting for that, I could start banging on the walls with one of those odd-looking spears,” Sheldon said, gesturing to a few spears leaning against the wall.

  Daphne shook her head. “Absolutely not. Those look like they’re important artifacts. It would be historically irresponsible to bang them against a wall. I say we listen for people moving around upstairs and then shoot off one of our pistols. That’ll bring people running to investigate.”

  “As well as having all of us rendered deaf,” Mildred said. “Pistols are incredibly loud, my dear Daphne, something you might want to take into consideration before you decide to fire one off in here.”

  “I thought you weren’t going to use my given name if I couldn’t get you unlocked.”

  “I’m feeling magnanimous at the moment.”

  Daphne winced. “Is there a specific reason for that? I would think, given our current circumstances, that you’d be feeling some effects from your nerves.”

  “I’ve decided that I’ve allowed my nerves to rule my life for far too long. I’m now trusting God to help me keep my nerves in check, which seems to be going incredibly well for me, and is certainly something I should have handed off to Him years ago.” Mildred turned to Herman. “I’m also feeling magnanimous in general these days because I took your advice and spoke with James, or rather, Dr. Gibbons.”

  “What did you say to him?”

  “I apologized and told him that it had been wrong of me to abuse our long-standing friendship simply because I was in a foul temper.” Her lips quirked into a grin. “He assured me that he’s put my ill-temper behind him and is willing to pick up our friendship where we left off. With that said, though, he no longer wants to be my physician because he fears he may have coddled me too much in the past due to the fondness he feels for me.”

  “Fondness of the romantic type?” Daphne asked.

  “I’m afraid your talent for puzzling out mysteries has failed you in this regard, dear, because we’re simply friends.”

  “I bet you’re relieved about that,” Daphne said, grinning at Herman, her grin fading when someone began jiggling the lock on the other side of the dungeon door.

  A mere thirty seconds later, the door opened and Gabriella Quinn rushed into the room. Her gaze immediately settled on Daphne.

  “Thank goodness you’re all right,” Gabriella said, striding forward and pulling Daphne to her feet before giving her a hug. “Cooper and Eunice became worried when you and Herman didn’t return within an hour, and so we came to check on you.” Gabriella released Daphne and eyed the ball-and-chain attached to Mildred’s ankle, then smiled and nodded to all the broken pins littering the floor. “I take it your lock-picking skills haven’t improved?”

  “I think I’ll stick to writing,” Daphne said before she introduced Mildred, Herman, and Sheldon to Gabriella, who immediately set to work on the lock that was keeping Mildred chained to the chair.

  Fifteen seconds later, Mildred was free, and everyone was moving out of the dungeon.

  “How did you know where to find us?” Daphne asked as they began climbing the narrow staircase.

  “Bit of lucky timing,” Gabriella said. “Eunice, Cooper, Nicholas, Ann, and I had just arrived here when the front door burst open and a lady and gentleman rushed through it. Cooper didn’t hesitate to jump out of the carriage, with Nicholas right behind him, because any time rushing out of a house is involved, it normally suggests something suspicious is at hand. Perkins and Martha, or at least I think that’s what Cooper called them, tried to flee, but it didn’t take long to capture them, and it really didn’t take Cooper long to get Perkins to tell us where you were, not when he disarmed Perkins in about a second and was threatening the man with his own pistol. Cooper gave me a rough idea of where to find the dungeon, and here I am.”

  Stepping with Gabriella into the main hallway of Herman’s home a few minutes later, Daphne followed Herman, who was holding Mildred’s hand, out of the house, where they found Nicholas, Gabriella’s husband, along with Eunice, sitting on the front porch. The map and Sarah’s journals sat on the step beside them.

  “Where are Cooper and Ann?” Daphne asked.

  “No need to worry about them,” Nicholas said, getting to his feet and walking directly for Daphne. “After Perkins disclosed all, including Martha’s attempts to murder you and Herman Henderson, they decided to take them straight to the nearest jail, where I’m sure Cooper will see them arrested and put behind bars, at least for now.” He pulled Daphne into a hug, giving her a good squeeze. “Nice to see you survived a stint in a dungeon without suffering another swoon.”

  She grinned. “You’ll be pleased to learn I’ve only swooned a few times since you and Gabriella have been gone—once when I was set upon by wolfhounds, and again when I stabbed Herman with a rapier.”

  “You stabbed a client?”

  She gave an airy wave of her hand. “Completely unintentional. Allow me to introduce you to Herman.”

  Taking a second to perform introductions, and then another few minutes to catch Nicholas, Gabriella, and Eunice up on what else had happened, Daphne finished with, “So it appears we can now close Herman’s case and call it a success, since he’s still alive.”

  “A feather in our caps for certain,” Eunice said, lifting up her veils before settling a smile on Daphne. “I’ll place it alongside the other feather in our cap that we received just yesterday, when
I was told the moment I walked into the boardinghouse that Irwin Rosenwald has been caught.”

  “How?” Daphne asked.

  “The foolish man actually tried to kidnap Finetta, believing that if she was discovered alone with him, she’d have to marry him and thus give him access to that lovely fortune of hers.”

  “Why do men believe it’s their right to force women into such situations?” Daphne asked. “Do they not realize that they’re hardly setting themselves up for a happy future by trying to marry women who will certainly never feel anything but loathing toward them?”

  Eunice frowned. “I don’t think that particular type of gentleman actually has the ability to think past his own wants, Daphne, allowing their manly egos to get in the way of rational thought. However, in Finetta’s case, Mr. Andrew Ware rushed to her rescue. Irwin was then arrested for attempted kidnapping, and from what Ann told me, Andrew and Finetta are even now planning their wedding. Her grandmother, who’d apparently been reluctant to accept Mr. Ware as a suitor for her granddaughter, is now giving her full blessing to the union.”

  “How delightful for Andrew,” Herman said, exchanging a smile with Daphne before she blinked.

  “Good heavens, we have delightful news for Sheldon as well.” She motioned Sheldon over, her smile turning into a grin after she told him the good news about his book.

  She rummaged around in her bag and pulled out Jack’s calling card, handing it to a very delighted yet slightly stunned-looking Sheldon. “My brothers are expecting you to contact them so that they can make certain you are getting the best contract possible.”

  “And to think I loathed the sight of you at first,” Sheldon said, surprising Daphne when he pulled her into a hug and gave her a hefty squeeze.

  “You can’t be blamed for that, Sheldon,” Daphne said after he released her. “I was posing as Herman’s secretary, and you had to take that as a threat to your position. However, I have a feeling Herman is going to be in need of a new assistant soon because I’m convinced you’re going to be a very successful and in-demand author.”