by Lori Wick
“What has you so worried, McKay?” she asked quietly when she could speak.
“Duncan Phipps. He’s not a man to be trifled with, and he’s already seen you as Bryan Daniels.”
“You’re forgetting what I told you.”
“I know.” He sounded tired. “People don’t really look at you. I’m still not thrilled with the idea.”
They were silent for a time, and then Pup pulled from his embrace.
“If you didn’t know I was working on this case, McKay, how did you find out where I lived?”
“I’m rather ashamed to admit it, but there was a piece of paper on Nick’s desk that listed an address and your initials. I’ve never done that before—look on his desk, that is—but when I spotted the note, I couldn’t get it off my mind. I had just decided that I had no right trying to learn who was at the address when I turned and nearly ran into you. Are you angry?”
“No.” Her hushed voice told him she understood and was pleased. “I saw you the moment I started down the street. I didn’t have to be seen, McKay, but you do know how careful I have to be. I wouldn’t give up this time with you for anything, but I think I’d better head back now and not meet you again. I would feel just sick if I blew this for Nick.”
“I understand. Just tell me you’ll be careful.”
“I will.”
“I still have things I want to talk to you about.”
“We’ll do that, McKay, as soon as this is all over.”
He took her hand and walked her back to the tree. Neither one wanted to say goodbye, so after a moment of just looking through the darkness at each other, Pup abruptly turned and walked away. McKay followed at a distance, staying well back, but making sure she was safely inside.
It was a relief not to find anyone up at Mrs. Meyer’s. McKay took the stairs on quiet feet and was relieved to gain his room. He had so much on his mind, namely that just 24 hours ago he’d asked God to bring Pup back into his world. That thought alone led him to believe he would never sleep. Added to that was the concern he felt over Pup’s current job. But he hadn’t reckoned with how it would feel to see her again: It had done his heart a world of good. He slept almost as soon as he blew out the lantern.
35
She had been told to dust the front hall, but she wanted more. It was already Thursday morning. She’d been on the job for 24 hours and hadn’t gotten anywhere. The kitchen was all she’d seen. Gerard had been to check on her a few times, but after the first few hours he’d left her at the mercy of the cook. It hadn’t been too bad on Wednesday morning, but by Wednesday afternoon the woman had tried to work her into exhaustion.
Pup didn’t live at the Phipps mansion; the apartment Nick rented for her on Camden Street was a few blocks away. Walking to it made her all the more tired when she arrived home Wednesday night.
It had been her plan all day to check in with Nick that night, but by the time the day ended, she was too tired to do anything more than walk back to the apartment, remove her wig and dress, and fall into bed. She knew that if she didn’t go see Nick, he would come to her. With that thought, she drifted immediately off to sleep.
Back at work Thursday morning, a noise stopped her reverie and caused her to remember who she was: Inga the maid. She ran her cloth over the top and down the sides of a gilt-framed mirror, careful to concentrate lest she tip the whole thing off the wall. From there she moved to an entry table and a plant stand. She was just finishing when one of the numerous wooden doors that opened into the hallway squeaked. The door opened completely and a young man emerged. He walked past Pup without even looking in her direction and left the door wide open.
Pup took a swift glance around. She sidestepped carefully, dusting as she went, until she was almost opposite the portal. It was an office, and from what she could see, no one was inside. This was the first time Pup had even had a glimpse at the interior of any of these downstairs rooms. It didn’t take her more than an instant to see that this was the room she wanted, and she had to stop herself from doing a triumphant cheer. Her cloth going rapidly and her face intent, she dusted her way across the threshold. The room was empty. It was tempting to turn and close the door, but she refrained.
Cloth moving again, her hand dusted while her eyes moved. She didn’t want to be caught looking directly at the desk, so she polished a chair nearby, her arm moving so vigorously that it seemed she would put a hole in the leather. She didn’t stay at it long, however, since the top of the desk offered nothing.
Her eyes roamed again and found a series of filing cabinets in one corner. Again she was off, buffing and polishing as she went. She had just gotten close, her back to the door, when she heard voices and footsteps approaching. As two men entered the room, she recognized Duncan Phipps’ voice immediately. Remembering Bryan Daniels and her work at the First National, she had to force herself to act naturally.
“I want you to be in touch with Stuart.”
“What about Brinkman?” the other man asked.
“No. It’s Stuart who decided to do a little business on his own, and now the heat’s been turned up. Get word to Stuart. Tell him we need to have a little meeting next week,” Duncan’s voice was frosty. “Thanks to him everything has to be stopped until we can be certain they’re not suspicious of those—” he stopped abruptly. “Who is that?” he barked.
“Just a maid,” the other man said dismissively, “I’ll get rid of her.”
“You do that, Nelson.” His voice was cold.
Pup heard Duncan’s man approach, but by now she was on her hands and knees, her rag moving along the baseboards.
“You can do this room later,” Nelson spoke to her back.
Pup didn’t turn or acknowledge him in any way.
“Excuse me,” he tried again, his voice gaining an edge.
Pup kept on with her work a moment longer, until she pretended to glance to the side and notice the man.
“What are you doing?” He was downright testy now.
Pup scrambled to her feet. “Inga,” she told him proudly. “Yah, Inga cleans.”
“What?” He was so surprised by her voice that he faltered.
“You need coffee. I bring for you,” she offered, a huge smile lighting her face, nodding all the while.
“No!” He snapped out of his momentary trance. “We don’t need things dusted right now. You can leave.”
Pup’s face showed nothing but confusion as she tried to continue her stall, but Nelson had had enough. With a hand on her upper arm, he saw her firmly to the door.
“Get out,” his voice was now low and furious. He was dressed in a well-cut suit, but Pup felt he could be a dangerous man if provoked. He put her in the hallway none-too-gently and closed the portal with a slam.
Once outside, she thought of the way Duncan Phipps’ head had been bent over some papers. He’d never even looked up. She was thankful for that, but under her feeling of gratitude was a niggling of discomfort. The man named Nelson had been positively flabbergasted when she spoke to him. She had slipped past Gerard on Wednesday when he’d hired her for the job, but in truth Pup thought her accent a bit weak. However, Nelson was the most recent of at least 15 people who worked in this mansion, and he found her believable as Inga the maid.
Wasn’t that what she wanted? After all she was an undercover agent. Pup’s heart was thoughtful as she finished in the hallway. What would Christ have to say about her duplicity? Would He excuse the subterfuge because it was all done in the line of duty? For the first time Pup honestly had to tell herself no.
She had told McKay she couldn’t see him again, but right now she was desperate to talk to him. Should she continue in this job? That was the question she would ask him. For the moment she kept dusting and worked hard the whole day, but only because she didn’t know what else to do.
It was almost dark by the time Pup arrived home that night, and fuzzy as her mind felt, she was not at all surprised to find Nick sitting in her apartment.
; “Were you seen?” she asked the man.
He smiled. “I may not be as good as you are, Pup, but I do know what I’m doing.”
Pup’s smile was self-disparaging. “Don’t mind me. I’m tired.”
“Hard work?”
“Awful,” she admitted. “I’ve never cleaned like that in my life.” She studied her hands. “My fingers are ruined.”
“What are the stains from?”
“Peeling potatoes.”
As she’d known he would, Nick chuckled.
“You’d better stop that or I’m not going to tell you anything,” she threatened good-naturedly. She had dropped into the room’s only chair and pulled off her wig.
Seeing her fatigue, Nick was suddenly serious. “What have you found?”
“A room. The only problem is getting into it. I was inside, but Duncan and another man named Nelson came in and interrupted.”
“Nelson Case,” Nick said almost absently. “Were you recognized?”
“No, Duncan didn’t even look at me.”
“Good. What did the room have?”
Tired as she was, Pup smiled. “Files. Drawers and drawers of files, and there’s more. I heard Phipps tell Nelson that Stuart decided to do some business on his own. He wants Nelson to meet with him next week.”
“We’ve got to move fast. If Duncan gets to Stuart before we do, it could blow our case apart. Can you get into that room?”
“I’m going to try.”
“Is it dangerous?”
“The job? Not at this point. Right now I’m just a maid. I don’t think anyone gives me a second glance.”
“Good. You know I want you to penetrate that room, but not if it puts you at risk.”
“All right.”
“I’ll let you get some rest now. I want to talk to you again tomorrow night,” he said.
Pup nodded and stood when he did.
“When are you off ?”
“I don’t know. I’m afraid to ask. Hopefully this weekend sometime.”
“Well, come to the house if you can. Camie’s been asking about you.”
“Tell her I’m exhausted. On second thought, tell Miranda and then thank her. I had no idea what it took to clean these huge homes.”
Nick smiled and moved to the door. Pup locked it behind him. She knew she should eat something but was too tired to care. She went to bed hungry but woke early. Once up, she made a large breakfast for herself and spent some time reading her Bible. The question about her job still lingered in her mind, but she knew Nick would never understand if she walked out on the case right now. She simply couldn’t do it to him when they were this close to cracking it.
It was time to go. She climbed into her maid’s uniform and adjusted her wig, making sure all was in place. Usually, just donning the costume was enough to get her going, but this time she didn’t drop into the role of Inga until she was at the kitchen door of the mansion. She had too many other things on her mind.
“Hello,” McKay spoke kindly and removed his hat. “I’m McKay Harrington with the U.S. Treasury Department. Are you Mr. Robinson?”
“Yes. Come in,” the older gentleman bid him.
“Thank you.” McKay turned to him the moment he was inside. “I’m sorry to bother you on a Saturday morning. Did you receive my letter, Mr. Robinson?”
“Yes. Earlier this week. I can’t think what the treasury could want with me, but I got your letter.”
“The business dealings of a certain banker have come under suspicion, Mr. Robinson. The investigation isn’t directed toward customers like yourself but toward the banker. I’m afraid that some mining stocks have been sold illegally. Have you purchased some mine stocks recently, Mr. Robinson?”
“Yes, I have.” His voice had dropped a notch.
McKay’s look of compassion was very real. “I’m afraid you might be one of the customers who have been duped. I’d like to ask you some questions.”
McKay had been doing this for years and knew exactly how to gain information. He had the bedside manner of a doctor, and by truthfully telling the man that he might have been cheated and that someone else was under investigation, he not only gained the man’s interest but put him at ease concerning his own involvement. As he expected, Mr. Robinson asked him to sit down and then to wait while he asked his wife to join them.
Pup was not able to gain entry to the room again until Saturday morning. She had met briefly with Nick the night before but had nothing new to report. This morning the whole mansion was on the quiet side. She’d been told to dust the library, which happened to be right next to the room where she sought entrance. It was easy enough to flip the door lock on the room with the files, hoping that if she were caught, Gerard would fall for her act of not understanding which room she was to dust.
As it was, she saw no one. But that didn’t make the search as successful as she’d hoped. The files held nothing. She had to rifle through them swiftly but knew enough to realize there was nothing to interest Nick. She closed the drawers softly, when in fact she was tempted to slam them.
In order to maintain her cover, Pup had to put some time into actually dusting the library, and she had already taken more time with the files than planned. She was moving from the room, reminding herself to lock the door behind her, when she spotted a panel. Experience told her it was a hidden doorway. She had no choice but to let it go. Frustrated and none too happy to have run out of time, she went back to the library and dusted swiftly throughout the room. She was just finishing when Gerard checked on her.
“What day were you given off this week, Inga?” he asked with genuine concern.
She momentarily wondered whether she looked as flushed and harried as she felt, but for Gerard she tried to look as vague as usual. He tried again.
“What day did you have free time?”
“Free? You wish Inga to work for no payment?”
“No, no.” As usual his voice went up. “You came to work Tuesday.” He had his hand up, counting on his fingers.
“Yah.”
“And then you worked Wednesday and Thursday. Is that right?”
“Yah, das right.”
“How about yesterday? Did you work Friday?”
“Yah. Inga work Friday.”
“Take tomorrow off.”
She frowned at him.
“Don’t come to work tomorrow. Come Monday.”
She managed to maintain her act long enough to show comprehension and then feigned delight over a day off. She kept the smile on her face until he turned away. He told her to go to the kitchen and help the cook. Pup had no choice but to obey.
It wasn’t potatoes this time, for which she was thankful, but neither was it work in the hallway where she needed to be. She should have been thrilled with a day off, but all she could see was the camouflaged panel in the wall of the room.
“I have everything I need,” McKay told Carlyle. “The Robinsons have dealt with Duncan, as well as Richard Stuart whom Duncan recommended to them. The mine stocks are for the William Tell in Silver Plume.”
“Excellent.” Carlyle’s praise was sincere. “Head to Longmont in the morning, or tonight if you can get a train. Just be there by tomorrow night. Lie low for the first few days, but keep an eye on things. Adams is already there and has reported that Stuart got word from Denver. However, Stuart hasn’t made a move to leave the city. See to it that he doesn’t. If he does, cuff him and bring him to Denver—Stuart and anyone else you think may be involved.”
“Yes, sir.” McKay stood up to leave, but Carlyle’s voice stopped him.
“We’ll wrap this up this time, McKay; I can feel it in my bones. And when we do, you’ll have those two weeks you wanted.”
“Thanks, Carlyle. I’ll count on that and keep you posted.”
The men parted then, both eager to close this case, but for entirely different reasons. Carlyle had never seen Nick so anxious, and working with the man, along with keeping his guard up with Paine, was coming to be
something of a strain. McKay’s impetus was the two weeks Carlyle promised him, not just because he needed the rest, but because he planned to spend every moment with Pup Jennings.
36
The downstairs was completely lit up, telling Pup that the Wallaces probably had company. She let herself quietly in the back door and stood still in the empty kitchen. She had taken the time to put her dark wig back on but had only thrown a sweater over her uniform. She had also put her Bible and a few personal effects in her bag before leaving the apartment. Fatigue threatened to overwhelm her. The letdown over not getting back into Duncan’s office had abated; she needed the day off tomorrow.
“I didn’t hear you,” Miranda said, suddenly coming through the door.
“I just got here.”
“You look all in.”
“I am. I have the day off tomorrow. Nick told me to come if I had the chance.”
“And a good thing you did. Have you eaten?”
“No, I’m too hot and tired.”
“Well, you get on up those back stairs and I’ll come and fix you a bath.”
“Aren’t you needed down here?”
“Dinner is over, and I just took the coffee in. I’ll check with the Missus, but she’ll tell me to take care of you just like she always does.”
Pup would have thanked her, but she was too tired to speak. She made for the back staircase, and just 20 minutes later sank down into a warm tub of water. It would have been lovely to soak for a time, but she knew she would fall asleep in the bath if she did.
“I’m going down to get you something to eat,” Miranda told her as Pup climbed from the tub. “You get ready for bed, and I’ll be right back.”
