Shrouded In Thought (Gilded Age Mysteries Book 2)
Page 16
Delphine, somewhat mollified by the sight of her lady’s ravaged appearance, hinted that she might find something to her liking in the breakfast room. “Tu vois, cherie, it is just as I have said. You see what comes of staying up all night and sleeping jusqu’apres-midi. You see how you suffer for it, but I say no more.”
With Delphine’s eloquent silence reverberating in her ears, Evangeline went to restore her still-frayed nerves by partaking of some croissants and café au lait.
***
Serafina returned shortly before noon to find her hostess in the conservatory, inspecting a pot of lilies which had just begun to bloom. Several vats of coffee had artificially restored her characteristic esprit, and Evangeline was humming to herself as she tended the flowers.
“You do not go to church?” the medium asked in surprise.
Evangeline smiled ruefully. “Not since I was at school. Traditional religion and I don’t get on well. I confess I’m somewhat surprised that you attend, given the nature of your occupation. The church doesn’t exactly smile on such endeavors.”
The medium shrugged. “What the good priests think is not so important as what God thinks. I do not tell them what they do not need to know. On this day above all, I thought it would be a good day for praying.”
“To which I say a hearty ‘Amen.’ I would also add that today is a good day for a drive in the country. I guarantee it will banish that solemn look from your face.” Evangeline’s eyes held a twinkle. “I can have Jack bring the carriage round if you like. A drive through green fields might help clear the cobwebs out of both our heads.”
Serafina smiled broadly. It was the first sign of cheerfulness Evangeline had noticed since the tragedy the day before. Taking the smile as a sign of assent, the lady of the house decided the matter. “Yes, I think that would be just the thing.” She rang for the carriage, instructing Jack to put the top down on the barouche as the weather had continued fine.
***
Late that afternoon, in a more rested and sanguine frame of mind, the ladies returned from their outing. No sooner had Evangeline descended from the carriage than her brief good humor was extinguished by a most unexpected sight. A lanky, gray-haired man with a drooping mustache and a crumpled slouch hat stood on the sidewalk in front of her home. He appeared to be on his way to her front door, but when he saw the carriage round the corner, he stopped and waited for the occupants to alight.
“Afternoon, ladies.” The lanky man ambled over in their direction, hat in hand. His voice contained the faintest remnant of a southern drawl.
Evangeline watched nervously as Jack handed Serafina out of the carriage. The medium remained poised uncertainly on the bottom step.
“Why, Sheriff Weston, what brings you here? Any further news regarding the unfortunate events of yesterday?”
The sheriff scraped the toe of his boot self-consciously in the dirt of the driveway. “Uh, yes, ma’am. It so happens that’s why I’ve come.”
There was something in the sheriff’s manner that put Evangeline on her guard. “Would you like to come inside? May I offer you some refreshment while you give us your news?”
“That won’t be necessary, ma’am. Thank you all the same.” The man paused, clearly ill at ease. His lack of composure did nothing to alleviate Evangeline’s concern.
“What is it?” she asked tensely.
“I don’t rightly know how to say this, ma’am. Don’t rightly know how to go about it, either. This never has happened before.” Sheriff Weston sighed and looked up at the trees briefly for inspiration. “As you must know, Miss Evangeline, I’m new in these parts. I was a career military man. A cavalry officer out west. I know how to fight Indians and such.”
Evangeline looked skeptically at the sheriff, not quite sure what obscure line of reasoning he was following.
“But a man gets tired. He gets old and all he wants is some peace and quiet.” Sheriff Weston’s face held a woebegone expression. “So when the time came for me to quit that life, I was happy to collect my pension and bring the missus back east. Took this job in this quiet little town of Shore Cliff where nothing ever happens. Just to keep my hand in. Just to remind me I’m still alive, but...” He twirled his hat around contemplatively in his hands. “...nothing was ever supposed to happen here. I surely never wanted anything to happen, you see.”
“Ah, yes.” Evangeline sensed that he was leading up to an ominous disclosure.
“So it grieves me something fierce to have to tell you this, ma’am, but... but I’ve come to take somebody in for questioning.”
“Sheriff, what are you talking about?”
Jack edged forward protectively.
The sheriff glanced at him briefly, appraisingly. He shook his head. “Take it easy, friend, it’s not like that. It’s not Miss Evangeline I’m here for. I’ve come for the other lady.”
“What!” Evangeline gasped.
“It’s Miss Serafina there.” The sheriff motioned toward the medium, who was still standing on the lower step of the carriage. She appeared to be listing to one side, and Evangeline feared she might faint.
“Jack, help her down!” she commanded urgently. “What on earth can you mean by this, sheriff?”
The sheriff twirled his hat a few more times before continuing. “Well, Doctor Fowler finished his examination of Miz Allworthy, and it looks for certain that she was poisoned.”
“That’s hardly a surprise, sheriff, but what has that to do with Serafina?”
The rumpled gray man gazed stoically off in the direction of the town hall and jail. “Maybe Miss Serafina and I should talk about it down the street.”
“Would you have any objection to my tagging along?”
The sheriff hardly seemed the sort to stand on either ceremony or procedure. He casually shrugged his shoulders. “Whatever suits you. I don’t know what-all is the proper form in such matters, so we’ll just make it up as we go.” Sweeping his arm in the general direction of the municipal building, he said, “After you, ladies.”
The coachman seemed inclined to follow along, but Evangeline stopped him. “No, Jack. You stay here. I’m sure we can clear this matter up quickly but if not...” she paused a moment, “tell Serafina’s maid to pack an overnight bag for her mistress.”
Jack nodded grudgingly and headed toward the back door of the house. Evangeline, Serafina and Sheriff Weston made for the village jail.
The incongruity of their destination on a fair summer afternoon struck Evangeline full force. She smiled encouragement at Serafina while the sheriff remained stolidly uncommunicative until they had entered his small office. It looked like any other municipal bureau—wooden floor, wooden desk, wooden chairs, but the bulletin board displayed wanted posters, not memoranda. Evangeline noted to herself with a smile that none of those desperados would be likely to visit Shore Cliff at any time in their dark criminal careers, but the smile left her face when she happened to glance toward the back room. Instead of a door, it was separated from the front by iron bars.
“Things’ve reached a pretty pass now, ma’am.” The sheriff grimaced. “The mayor’s afraid of a crime wave and he’s forcing me to hire a deputy.”
“A deputy?” Evangeline repeated skeptically. “To do what?”
The sheriff indicated that the two ladies should be seated in front of his desk while he retreated behind it. “To guard dangerous criminals, I guess.” It was clear from his tone of voice that the sheriff did not share the mayor’s concern.
“About the only crime wave I’ve seen around here is when the college boys go over to the Reilly Club of an evening and get a brick in their hats. Most of the time I just round ‘em up to sleep it off here in the back room. That is, the ones that aren’t out tipping cows or trying to dive off the bluff for a late night swim.” The sheriff chuckled briefly at the thought of his usual ne’er-do-wells. “That’s about the limit of wrongdoing hereabouts, until now.” He cleared his throat self-consciously and looked at Serafina.
Evangeline rose to her feet in outrage. “What!”
“Take it easy, Miss Evangeline. Take it easy. If it comes to that, it’ll be for a court to decide.” He gestured for her to return to her chair.
“What basis do you have to suspect this lady?” Evangeline persisted, still standing.
The sheriff sighed and rummaged around on his desk to locate a specific piece of stained and crumpled paper on which he had taken some obscure notes. He pawed around in his desk drawer trying to find his reading spectacles. When he had perched these on his nose, adjusted them properly, and perused the unimpressive document before him, he began. “Well, certain evidence has been brought against her, and it’s my job to sort out what’s what.” He looked up mildly over his glasses. “Miss Evangeline, I’d be much obliged if you’d sit down, ma’am. You do give a body the jitters standing there looking like you’re fit to wake snakes.”
Evangeline allowed herself a momentary smile at the mental image. “Very well, sheriff. I shall conduct myself in a more seemly manner.” She reclaimed her seat. “Now what’s this all about?”
Scanning the paper before him once more, the sheriff continued. “Well, it’s like we thought. Doctor Fowler finished his autopsy and found cyanide poisoning to be the cause of Miz Allworthy’s death.”
“At least now we know the nature of the poison.”
“He did some tests on the liquor that was left, too. Seems the poison was only in the one glass. Not the one by Miss Serafina’s plate and not in the flagon either.”
“Well, that tips the scales a bit in Roland’s direction. Martin couldn’t have known who would drink from—” Evangeline caught herself in mid-sentence.
“What was that, ma’am?” The sheriff looked up briefly from his paper.
“Oh, nothing, nothing. Just rambling. Please continue.”
“Well, there’s that, and then there’s the information I got from Mr. Allworthy this morning.”
Evangeline hesitated to breathe. “And what did he have to say?”
The sheriff took off his glasses and looked at the two women. “He said a few things that are kind of worrysome to figure out.” He paused and, with great deliberation, opened his desk drawer again and drew out two letters. Weston pushed the two pieces of paper forward on the desk.
“I’m not asking you ladies to read any of this, but does it look like these two letters were written by the same hand?”
Warily, Evangeline and Serafina scrutinized the documents. The stationery was scented and of good quality bond paper. The handwriting was neat with a few embellishments here and there that suggested a feminine author.
“They would appear to be,” Evangeline said cautiously. “The same color ink, the same scent, same paper. The shape of the characters appears similar.”
“That’s what troubles me, ma’am,” sighed the sheriff. “One is a note from Miz Allworthy to her husband. The other is supposed to be from Miz Allworthy to that whadda-ye-call-it metaphorical society.”
“You mean the Chicago Metaphysical Society?”
“Yup, that’s the one. The letter hints that Miss Serafina here is a fraud.” The sheriff uttered these words very softly.
“Let me see that again.” Evangeline whisked the paper off the desk and looked it over carefully. “This is unbelievable!” she gasped.
Serafina took the letter and studied the wording as well. “It is from Madame Euphemia to my friend Theophilus. She says my powers are not what she expected. She is disappointed and thinks I could be a confidence trickster. She warns him not to recommend me to any of her friends. She says if she could find proof she would expose me as a fraud. It is dated the morning of the day she died. This is... is... impossible!” She let the letter slip nervelessly through her fingers, and it fluttered back down onto the desk.
The sheriff had been studying her face as she read. His own expression was unreadable.
“Surely you don’t believe this, sheriff,” Evangeline exclaimed. “It must be a forgery! And this supposed evidence coming from Martin, of all people!”
“I wish I could go along with you on that, ma’am. But there’s other things as well. You see, I went back to the house and I searched Miss Serafina’s room.”
“She hasn’t been back there since the murder was committed.”
“Yes, I know that, ma’am. All the more reason to check and see if there was anything left behind.”
Dreading the response to her next question, Evangeline asked, “And was there?”
The sheriff continued to stare intently at Serafina. “Tucked under the mattress, I found a packet of powder. Do you use medicinal powders, Miss Serafina?”
The medium looked confused. “No, I do not. I have no packets of headache powders. No powders of any kind except for face powder, and that I keep in a little china box. I do not know what this could be.”
“Well, ma’am, I sent it on to Doctor Fowler to see if he could maybe help me figure out what it might be. But if I was to hazard a guess...”
Evangeline completed his thought. “You’d guess that the packet contains cyanide powder. Wouldn’t you, sheriff?”
“Yes, ma’am, that’d be the most likely answer.”
Evangeline sat very still, too much in shock to be outraged.
Serafina observed softly, “It is as I said, sheriff. I am suspected of killing Madame Euphemia.”
“Well, the facts surely don’t go in your favor, I’m sorry to say. If you knew about this letter that Miz Allworthy was going to send, then there’s your motive. If the packet does contain poison, why that’s the means, and you were the only one in the room with Miz Allworthy when she died. That’s the opportunity.”
Evangeline broke in. “But, sheriff, is it at all likely that Mrs. Allworthy would have been calmly sipping tea with a woman she considered a charlatan?”
Weston, unruffled by the distress his words had caused, merely rubbed his chin. “It’s like Miz Allworthy said in the letter. She just had her suspicions. Didn’t have any proof so maybe she just wanted to part company with Miss Serafina on good terms. To get her out of the house before blowing the whole thing sky high.”
“It’s a plausible theory, but I fear not a just one.” Evangeline’s tone was bitter.
“I’m not saying I’m convinced of anything one way or another, Miss Evangeline. I just wanted you to see how things stand with all this new evidence Mr. Allworthy so kindly brought to my attention.”
Evangeline shot a quick glance in the sheriff’s direction to see if she could detect in his expression a trace of the sarcasm his words suggested. His face was still a mild-mannered mask.
“He’s done a proper job of it, hasn’t he,” Evangeline muttered under her breath.
“Who’s that, ma’am?”
“Never mind, sheriff. I was just thinking out loud again.”
Weston gave her a long, appraising look with eyes that were remarkably keen in a face so tired. “So you see how it is, ma’am.”
“Yes, sheriff, I do indeed see how it is.”
“I’m afraid Miss Serafina will have to bide here for a bit until we find out what was in the packet.”
Evangeline looked in dismay at the back room with its iron bars. “But, sheriff, this is no place for a lady. The lack of privacy...”
The sheriff stood up and smiled reassuringly. “Don’t you worry, Miss Evangeline. I’ve asked Miz Weston to help me out with this... uh... situation. She’ll be coming by soon. We’ll hang a curtain in front of the cell and she’ll be here to keep Miss Serafina company. For common decency’s sake.”
“Thank you, sheriff. That was most thoughtful of you.”
Rummaging through his desk drawer once more, the sheriff reached in and found a large rusty key which he used to unlock the cell and deposit his unfortunate guest inside.
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Serafina walked meekly behind the metal grille, a wan birdlike creature dwarfed by her surroundings. She looked around plaintively. “Such heavy walls and big iron bars. All to keep little me inside.”
Evangeline reached through the grate and touched her hand. “I’ll send your maid Fannie round with more clothes for you. This could take a while to sort out. Do you have a lawyer?”
Serafina appeared puzzled. “Why should I need a lawyer? I have done nothing.”
“My dear, innocence is the poorest shield of all under circumstances such as these. I’m sure I can get Freddie’s uncle to help. And in the meantime, I’ll move heaven and earth to get you out of here.”
“You see, it is as I told you in my dream.” Serafina smiled weakly. “You will find a way out.”
Evangeline looked askance at the medium. “I hope your confidence in me isn’t misplaced.”
The sheriff put a friendly hand on Evangeline’s arm to escort her out. “I truly wish you luck, ma’am. A body doesn’t live as many years as I’ve done without learning a few things about human nature along the way.” He let Evangeline infer what his own suspicions were in the silence that followed as they walked out the door.
The sheriff stood outside with her for a few moments, looking speculatively off in the direction of the lakefront. “Don’t know what I’ll do with the boys from the Reilly Club if they decide to cut up rough tonight. Probably have to handcuff ‘em to a lamp post and let ‘em sleep it off under the stars.”
“I’m sure the night air will exert a most salubrious effect in awakening their moral character.” Evangeline turned to walk off down the darkening street. “Good night to you, sheriff. And thank you,” she added softly.
***
Upon returning home, she went directly in search of Jack. She found him in the coach house polishing the brass carriage lanterns.
“Everything all right, Miss Engie?” His question sounded almost too casual.
“No, Jack. Far from it. I’ll have to curtail my duties at Mast House and Pullman. A more pressing matter requires my immediate attention. I’d like you to take the early train back to the city tomorrow.”