The Kissing Bridge: Cassie's Story (Hearts of Hays Series #3)

by Barbara Goss

  Cassie sat back up, and rested her head on his shoulder and closed her eyes. “You have no idea how much I missed you.”

  They sat silently for several minutes, enjoying their closeness to each other.

  “So what’s next?” Silas asked.

  “I want another talk with Oliver,” she said.

  “Can it wait until I get out of here and can take you to his house?”

  “Of course.”

  “Good, because I don’t want you going to his house without me. I’m not certain I trust him,” He laughed.

  Chapter

  10

  Monday afternoon, Silas walked out of the jailhouse, looked up at the fall sunshine, and thanked God for his freedom. The sun beat down on his face and a cool breeze hugged him. He looked down at Cassie and said, “I’d forgotten how good it feels to be outside and free, something I’d always taken for granted. All my prayers have been answered.”

  She grasped his hand, “It must have been a terrible ordeal; I can’t even imagine not being free.” She gazed at the scene around her, a busy street with carriages, wagons speeding by, and people buzzing in and out of stores and other places of business. “Can we walk to Oliver’s house?”

  Silas nodded. “Elm Street isn’t far, and it’s a lovely day. I’ve been inside a building for months, and right now, I can’t get enough of the outdoors.”

  “He did invite us to stay with him, didn’t he? Cassie asked. Because Mary invited us to stay at her house as well.” Cassie slipped her hand through bend of his arm.

  “Yes, he did. But we can stay wherever you like.”

  “He’s your brother and the only family you have, so maybe we should see how he acts and then decide if we feel welcome or not.”

  Silas said, “Good idea.” They turned a corner and onto a street with homes that were close to the road. The homes were nothing like the houses on Edna’s street, but even though the homes were not as large or expensive, the neighborhood looked descent enough.

  “This is 21 Elm,” Silas said. He pointed to a small, faded gray home with black shutters.

  Silas knocked. “What should we do if he isn’t home?”

  “Sit on the steps and wait for him, I guess.” Cassie said. “But he knows you’re getting out today,”

  The door opened, and Oliver reached out and grabbed Silas into a bear hug and then invited them in. “Welcome home, brother.” And then he gave Cassie a quick hug. “Welcome to my future sister, if I’m reading my cards right.”

  “Your cards are accurate,” Silas said.

  “Have a seat. I put all your clothes in a spare bedroom.” He turned to Cassie, “Luckily I have another spare room, for you, Cassie…for as long as you two need them.” He smiled, “It actually will be pleasant having some company.”

  Cassie gazed around the small room, which was not elaborate and spotless like Edna’s, it was neat, and homey, and she felt comfortable. Cassie asked Oliver, “You never married?”

  “No, I don’t have a wife, but I do have someone applying for the position. You’ll meet her tonight. I’m not much of a cook, so she's coming over to do the honors. Her name's Elizabeth, but prefers to be called Beth.”

  “I can relate to that,” Cassie said. “I dislike being called Cassandra.”

  “Do you have luggage?” Oliver asked.

  “Yes, it’s still at Mary’s. Do you suppose we could get it before bedtime?” she asked.

  “Certainly. I’ll stop by and get it when I go to pick Beth up.”

  Cassie liked the tall woman with bright red hair and sparkling blue eyes immediately. Her smile brightened the whole room. She cooked a delicious meal of roast chicken with sweet potatoes and carrots. For dessert she served a delicious banana cream pudding.

  Over coffee in the dining room after dinner, Cassie asked, “May I ask a few questions about the murders, Oliver?”

  Oliver grimaced. “If you must.”

  “Whose baby was Belinda carrying?”

  “Definitely Joe’s. She confessed it to me the night she died.” He looked at Silas, “Yes, she told me while in my bed.”

  “Then what happened?” Cassie asked. “After she left your um… bed. What happened that night?”

  “She confessed her pregnancy, and at first tried to tell me Silas had fathered the baby, but I know Silas better than he thinks I do, and I knew it wasn’t true. I called her bluff and she folded, confessed to me it was Joe, in tears, I might add. Poor girl.”

  “That’s sad,” said Cassie.

  “She cried so hard. Then she told me how he’d been sneaking into her bedroom since she was fourteen. Fourteen! She had these bad dreams and that’s how it started. She’d cry out having a nightmare and he’d come in to soothe her, only each time he went further until…well, you know the rest.”

  “I wonder that she didn’t confide in her mother,” Cassie said.

  “I asked her that. She said she was afraid to tell her mother, because Joe told her if she did, it would ruin their marriage, and then she would end up without a home. He told her that her mother would then hate her for breaking up their marriage. After Belinda got pregnant, Joe got the idea to force Silas to marry her. That way she’d have his inheritance and the livery someday, and Joe would have a son-in-law who would work alongside him in the livery. Not to mention she’d also have a father for her baby, and Edna would never know what he’d done.”

  “How did Joe plan on explaining her pregnancy to Silas?” Cassie asked. “He’d know it wasn’t his if she were four months along.”

  “They had that covered too. Joe told her to give Silas a sad story of a rape that she was too afraid to report. Belinda said she feared Silas wouldn’t believe a tale like that, but Joe laughed and said, ‘By then who cares?’”

  Oliver continued, “About then I felt pretty upset. Joe messed up this poor girl pretty bad.” He looked at Silas, “I know I was a bad egg growing up, but even I could feel sympathy for this poor girl who’d been abused since childhood. I told her to stay at my house and that I’d be back to take care of her. I told her she had nothing to worry about. I stormed out, eager to find Joe, and I think I would probably have half-killed him with my fists if I’d found him, but neither Joe nor Edna were at home, so I searched a few of his favorite hangouts, and then went on home.”

  “If only…” murmured Silas.

  Oliver continued, “I returned, and Belinda wasn’t in my room where I’d left her and that’s when I went to Silas’s room, to see if she was there, and to tell him about Belinda and me, because I knew he didn’t love her, so why not let him off the hook and let the marriage be annulled. I had no idea he’d seen me with Belinda and had already left.

  “I opened the door to Silas’s room and that’s when I saw Belinda on his bed with a bullet through her head. I turned away from the sight, and there was Joe with a bullet hole in his chest. He was half inside the closet, which is why I missed seeing him right away. With Belinda dead and Silas gone…I felt sure that he had killed her, although it would have been totally out of character for him, yet stress does things to people. I then called the sheriff, and you know the rest.”

  Silas, felt angry. “Oliver, you said you knew me so well that you didn’t suspect that I’d gotten Belinda pregnant, but you didn’t know me well enough to know I’d never kill anyone?”

  Oliver smiled, gazing from Silas to Cassie and then admitted, “Because you were so naïve about sex and women back then. I knew you were a virgin and wouldn’t even know how to make serious sexual advances.”

  Silas felt himself blush, “How could you possibly know that?”

  “Brothers know these things, even when the brothers have nothing in common.”

  “How old were you when this happened, Silas?” Cassie asked.

  “Twenty-three,” he said, in almost a whisper. In a louder voice he said, “Oliver, there is a big difference between being naïve and knowing right from wrong, remember, I was the one who went to church every Sunday.
”

  “And I wasn’t,” he admitted. “Poor Belinda. She told me that when Joe had thought up the scheme to frame you, the original plan was to catch the two of you in the act. She said she tried everything, but you backed away from her advances like a cat cornered by a dog.” Oliver laughed.

  Silas sat fuming at his brother.

  Cassie said, “Silas and I are saving our lovemaking for the right time—our wedding night. That’s the only time it can be enjoyed without guilt, and we both agree on that. I can assure you it will be appreciated more knowing it is the right time and place.”

  “Oh, I agree!” Oliver said. “You see, Beth and I go to church now, too. She’s made a better man of me.” He patted her hand.

  Beth nodded with a blush. “We’re also waiting.”

  “So you didn’t play cards with Calvin that night?” Silas asked.

  Oliver shook his head. “No. But, my real alibi would never have been believed.”

  They sat quietly for several moments before Oliver said, “So, detective Cassandra, who is the murderer or murderers?”

  “I don’t know who killed Belinda, but I still think Edna killed her husband. She knew he’d been intimate with her daughter, and maybe she even knew about the pregnancy.”

  “Then who killed Belinda?”

  Silas and Cassie shrugged.

  Silas added, “And why were there two different guns?”

  The next morning they all woke to a banging on Oliver’s front door. Cassie lay in bed, listening to the male voices growing louder. Curiosity drew her from her bed. She put on her robe, and went into the living room where Oliver and Silas were talking with the sheriff and all three of them looked upset.

  “What’s going on?” Cassie asked, pulling her blue robe tighter around her.

  Oliver walked the sheriff to the door and Silas led Cassie to the overstuffed sofa.

  “Edna Roger’s killed herself last night,” Silas said, sadly.

  “No!”

  “Yes, and she left a suicide note that has us all shocked.”

  Oliver came back into the room and sat down in the armchair. “She confessed to killing Joe.”

  Silas said, “Joe killed Belinda.”

  “Joe?” she cried. “But why?”

  Silas turned to Oliver. “He must have followed Belinda to our house and at some point, to my room. He must have discovered you’d been sleeping with her and that she’d told you about his intimacy with her. How he knew, we’ll never know—maybe she told him, or he just assumed, and came right out and asked her. I’m not sure we’ll ever know the fine details, like how they both got into my room. Maybe they thought I was in there and were going to confront me about everything.

  “Edna was following Joe, as she’d been suspicious of him for some time. She claims she was searching the house looking for him. When she heard the shot, she ran to the bedroom and found Joe with the smoking gun in his hand and Belinda, dead.”

  Oliver finished the story saying, “She’d brought a gun with her because she’d planned on killing Joe. She claims she wasn’t sure if she’d have the courage to go through with it, but when she saw that he’d killed Belinda, she shot him dead without hesitation.”

  “No wonder Edna was an emotional wreck,” Cassie said.

  “But,” Silas added, “she was a decent woman and she didn’t want me to be punished for something she knew I hadn’t done. She hired the attorney to get me off the hook. I guess she had trouble living with her guilt and grief. And me being charged for something that she knew I didn’t do, added to her guilt.”

  “After three and a half years the case is finally solved,” Cassie said. “Now we can go home, Silas.”

  Chapter 11

  “Home?” Oliver asked. “We hoped you’d stay a while. I’d like to get reacquainted with my brother, now that we’ve grown up.” He winked at Silas.

  “I want nothing more than to get back to Hays and marry the love of my life,” Silas said. “Although, it has been interesting seeing you again.” He turned to Beth. “You’ve done a great job making a better man of him—I actually might start liking him.”

  They all laughed.

  Beth cleared the breakfast dishes and coffee cups.

  “Let me help with those, Beth,” Cassie offered. They disappeared into the kitchen.

  “Thanks for embarrassing me in front of Cassie,” Silas said with just a touch of anger. “Now, she knows I’m a virgin.”

  “She’ll think more of you then,” Oliver said. “In this case, you were the smart one.”

  “Are you planning to leave by coach or train?” Oliver asked. “Do you need money?”

  “I haven’t planned that far ahead. The sheriff returned all the money I was carrying when he arrested me, so I’m fine, but I’m not sure what became of my horse. Cassie came by coach, so she doesn’t have a horse either. Maybe a train would be the best and fastest way back to Hays.”

  “Cassie tells me you have your own livery?”

  “Yes, how about you, what do you do?”

  “Well, I gambled almost half my inheritance away. Then I met Beth, and she dragged me to church, and stopped my drinking and gambling by loving me, believing in me, and introducing me to God. I hope to marry her soon. As far as working goes, I don’t have a steady job yet, but I help out here and there doing odd jobs.” He shrugged. “That’s why I haven’t taken Beth to the altar yet. I really need a steady job before I can take on that responsibility.”

  “Why don’t you come back to Hays with us and you can work in my livery? In fact, when I marry Cassie we’ll inherit two hundred acres from her mother. You could run my livery while I raise cattle.”

  Oliver was quiet as he seemed to be considering the idea. “I don’t know the first thing about running a livery.”

  “I’d train you and work with you until you feel comfortable running it. Who knows? Maybe one day you could buy me out!” Silas said.

  “I’ve never lived anywhere but Kansas City, but I’ll think about it and talk with Beth.”

  For Cassie, the trip back to Hays was more enjoyable than the ride to Kansas City, and it took only a day, much to her delight. She couldn’t wait to get home, but Oliver and Beth having decided to go with them, had no idea what to expect when they arrived in Hays, having never been there before.

  They stepped off the train platform and Silas led them to his livery down the street from the train depot. There, he got a carriage and drove them home in style. He told Oliver he’d show him around the livery once they were settled.

  Cassie watched Meg run out of the house, and wave excitedly at them, when the buggy carrying the two couples rumbled toward the house. Cassie had telegraphed her from Kansas City to let her know that they were on their way home, and bringing guests.

  With the introductions completed, Meg showed Beth to Jesse’s old room, and Oliver planned to stay at Silas’s house in town.

  Cassie could see that Meg was in her glory. She had her daughter and Silas home, and two guests to fuss over. Meg quickly got out her pots and pans and came up with a delicious dinner of beef stew and dumplings. Cassie knew, that nothing made Meg happier than having a family around the table enjoying her cooking. After dinner, they all went into the living room and Silas made a fire in the fireplace.

  Having heard the news that Silas and Cassie were home, Jesse and Laura stopped by with baby Maggie, Nellie, and Jake. It always warmed Cassie to see how happy her mother was when her grandchildren came for a visit.

  Silas sat on the sofa with his arm around Cassie, while Oliver and Beth sat on the other side of the sofa holding hands. Jesse sat in the armchair and Laura was upstairs, feeding the baby. They enjoyed casual conversation with the warm fire crackling and warming the whole room. Cassie could see how happy her mother was to have two happy couples cuddling on her sofa. Meg gave them a motherly sigh and fond smile, then headed upstairs to see her grandchildren.

  When Jesse began relaying the story of Alexander Carter to Sil
as, Cassie felt a lump grow in her throat. She hadn’t told Silas about him yet. She tried to signal Jesse, but he was too involved in his story to pay attention. He continued the story animatedly while Cassie nervously tried to think of some way to stop him.

  “Then,” Jesse said, “we discovered the man found on the road was no other than the real Alexander Carter.”

  Cassie jumped up. “Would anyone like a cup of tea or coffee?”

  To Cassie’s dismay everyone refused.

  Jesse went on with the story saying, “Then, they found the man who imprisoned and fed the real Carter, but the other one, the one I really wanted, the impostor, was still on the loose. I cannot believe our Cassie actually allowed that oily snake to court her.”

  Cassie saw Silas stiffen. He swung around to look at Cassie who was now standing in the doorway. Unable to meet his gaze, she looked down at her feet.

  “That’s enough, Jesse,” she said softly.

  “But I didn’t get to the best part.”

  “Please, Jesse,” Cassie begged. “It’s getting late. Shouldn’t Jake and Maggie be in bed?”

  “She’s right,” Laura said, having come down the stairs carrying Maggie in her arms. Meg stood behind her holding Jake’s hand.

  “Well,” Jesse said to Silas. “They got the impostor, Uriah, and when I went to identify him, I punched him smack in the face.”

  “Why? Because he pretended to be the minister, or because he’d courted Cassie?” Silas asked. He threw Cassie an fuming look.

  “Because he…”

  “Enough, Jesse!” Laura and Cassie said in unison.

  “No,” Silas said, “finish the story. I’d like to hear it.” He gave Cassie another look that told her how distraught he felt.

  “That’s the end, I’m afraid,” Jesse said, finally taking the hint. He stood and prepared to leave.

  Silas stood and faced Jesse. “Because he what?” Silas demanded.

  Laura, Meg, and Cassie glared at Jesse.