“Well, Mark,” he started, pushing the dirt around with the toe of his boot, “I was wondering if maybe Louisa was here.”
Luc clenched his jaw tightly. So that was it, Mark thought. First Loo’s strange visit in the early morning and now Luc was here looking for her. That fellow from New York City might be around but there was definitely something going on between his sister and big Luc Almquist. He chuckled to himself. It was about time she found what she needed and he could not help but relish the fact that she had found it right here at home. Whatever they were up to, he could not think of a better man than Luc.
“She’s not here but it’s funny you should mention her.” Mark smiled, watching Luc’s reaction. It was apparent that he was quite uncomfortable.
“Oh? Why’s that?” Luc still avoided his gaze, preferring to watch his boot rearranging the dirt.
“She was here earlier, quite early in fact. Looking for you.”
“Me?” Luc forgot himself and turned to face Mark.
“Yep. She wanted to know if I knew where you were camped. I told her I had no idea. I think she went to the town hall in Billington to see if they knew where to find you.”
A wave of panic crossed Luc’s face and he swallowed hard. He coughed and cleared his throat.
“Ah. Well then, maybe I’ll see her in town.”
Mark smiled, watching him clench and unclench his jaw.
“Thanks, Mark,” he said and mounted his horse. Once he reached the road, Mark could hear Avalanche’s hooves thundering. He shook his head and chuckled.
Forty-Three
Louisa stared out the window at the landscape rolling by and bit her lip. The trip was taking forever and she couldn’t get to Blue Falls fast enough.
Louisa sat upright in her seat. She had to calm down and think clearly. Once she reached the county seat she would find out about Luc. The sound of Polly Polka’s voice in Billington still echoed in her head:
“There is no one named Luc Almquist working for the county out of our office.”
Louisa tried to tell herself that there had been some kind of mistake. The government made mistakes. It had to be difficult to keep so much information on so many people. In Blue Falls there would be a clerk who would tell her that, of course, Luc Almquist worked for them. In fact, he was one of their best cartographers. He was what he said he was and exactly who she imagined him to be.
Louisa sighed deeply. As much as she wanted that scenario to be the truth, she knew there was a possibility he was not who he said he was. In years past, his family may have come around at fairs and log rolling contests, but they lived miles away and who really knew him? The sinister image of the man in the black parka filled her mind and the voices of the men at the gazebo were still fresh in her memory. Could Luc be one of them, watching the house with them, working for them?
Nothing else had mattered when she was with him and the memory of his arms around her brought tears to her eyes. “I’m so much in love with him,” she admitted to herself and she choked back her feelings. Louisa pulled out her handkerchief and blew her nose quietly. She had looked into his warm, brown eyes and trusted him, knew him, loved him. Now she was not sure who he was. Instead of the loyal and wonderful man she believed in, he could be her worst enemy. Had she wanted to find love so badly she had been completely blind?
Louisa shook her head. She couldn’t sit trapped on the train with her emotions running wild anymore. She pulled her notebook from her pocket and decided to distract herself with her notes.
She wrote a short description of her pink slipper floating in Fisher Creek and how it had surfaced there after disappearing in the underground channel. Jude Thomas had to have known about the whirlpool because he knew exactly where to put the gazebo. There was no way for Louisa to be sure of exactly how he found it, but if she was going to write a chapter about Jude and the passageway she would have to imagine it as best she could.
In The Secret of Stavewood he could have found it as a child, perhaps falling or jumping into the swirling water of the Towhee River. He would have been swept underground in the strong current and emerged in the cavern, alongside Stavewood. From there the water would have pulled him along to the whirlpool where he’d have been sucked under the rock wall only to come up in Fisher Creek close to his aunt’s home. At some point he had the idea to turn it into a secret passageway into and out of Stavewood. It was a perfect way to escape after the train robberies. In the mind of a criminal and a man whose heart was filled with anger and hatred for her father, it was a very clever plan. It had worked beautifully for a long time.
Diabolical, Louisa thought. Luc and the men at the gazebo came back to her mind. Louisa laid her head back against the seat of the train and closed her eyes. In her emotional exhaustion she fell into a restless sleep.
When the train finally pulled into the station at Blue Falls she stopped at the ticket counter and got directions. She considered hiring a carriage to take her to the city offices but she felt agitated and restless, so she decided to walk as quickly as her legs would carry her. In the thoroughfare she dodged cars and carriages and men on horseback. The streets of Blue Falls were crowded and filled with every type of vehicle imaginable.
On the edge of a large landscaped lawn in the center of the city stood the county offices and the courthouse. Louisa hurried up the stone stairs.
Inside she found the main directory desk and ran up to it, waving at the receptionist.
“Excuse me,” she called. At first the woman ignored her, but then eventually turned to her.
“You need to go to the back of the line,” she said.
Louisa looked at the other side of the desk and saw a dozen people waiting dutifully. Her heart sank. She walked around and took her place in the ranks of people in line. She fidgeted impatiently for nearly a full hour in the echoing, marbled halls of the building.
“Good afternoon, can I help you?” The receptionist looked up at the clock in the lobby past Louisa drearily.
“I’m trying to find some information about an agent, a cartographer actually, who’s been doing some surveying near Billington. It is imperative I find out about him,” Louisa blurted out.
“A cart…? What?”
“Cartographer. A map maker.”
“Try the Bureau of Land Management on the third floor.”
Louisa huffed. Instead of standing in line she would have been better off searching the building offices. She hurried for the stairs.
Forty-Four
Luc rode hard into Billington. Mark said Louisa had been by quite early but Luc expected the town offices had only been open a short while. If he was quick enough he could catch her before she got into town and could get her alone. However, he did not see her anywhere along the way.
He galloped up to the town building and contemplated how he would approach Louisa if she was inside. He jumped from the saddle and bounded up the town hall steps.
“Good morning!” Polly greeted him cheerfully and stood up from her chair, smoothing her hair. “How may I help you?”
“By any chance, was there a young woman in here asking about a cartographer this morning?”
“Why, yes. Yes, there was!” Her face beamed with recognition. “Let me guess. You are Mr. Almquist. Is that right?” She was sure he had to be the man the young woman had been looking for, and with good reason, Polly thought.
“Yes.” He eyed her suspiciously. “That would be me.”
“I knew it!” she nearly squealed. “She said you were tall, and yes you are! And handsome, that’s what she said!” It was clear Polly was delighted.
“She said that?” He looked her in the eye. “What else?”
“Well, let’s see.” Polly screwed up her face. “Oh yes, she wanted to find you. She asked where you were making your maps. That’s it.”
“Yes, and?”
“Well, Mr. Almquist,” she said, leaning into him to speak confidentially, “You apparently told her you were working for the city o
f Billington. But I don’t have any record of that. I sent her to Blue Falls.”
Luc’s shoulders stiffened. “When was she here? Exactly?”
“I’d say an hour ago, more or less.” She could see the young man was visibly angry.
Luc rode over to the train station and checked the schedule. If she had caught the train he had just missed her. Even worse, the train from Blue Falls would not return until the following morning. The man at the ticket window remembered Louisa clearly. She was gone.
Luc stood on the station platform looking down the tracks. He could ride to Blue Falls, but it would be almost a full day’s journey and she would arrive long before he got there. It would be hard on Avalanche and there would be nothing gained. Luc sat down on a bench and hung his head. All he could do was wait until she arrived in the morning and meet her then.
Forty-Five
Talbot Sunderland groaned and rolled over in the wide bed at the Billington Hotel. Although the room was not bright, what little light filtered in around the heavy velvet drapes seemed to burn into his eyelids. He pushed aside the coverlet and sat up on the edge of the bed wearing no more than his white knickers, holding his pounding head in his hands. He was slender and well-built, his legs long for a man of average height and he was routinely well groomed.
He sighed and looked around the room. He remembered checking into the room late the night before. He’d realized he had too much to drink and decided against driving back to the estate. The night had begun much earlier than usual and his aggravation with Louisa had only been an excuse to have a few more rounds than on most occasions.
“Louisa,” he whispered under his breath. On the nightstand sat the expensive ring he had acquired for her.
Talbot staggered from the bed to the bath and began his morning ritual.
Louisa Elgerson was certainly attractive, with her long legs and boyish figure. She turned heads everywhere they went. He could take her to the finest establishment or private party and she immediately became popular with everyone. But her charm was far more than just her looks. Now Talbot understood something about her he had not completely grasped before. Louisa certainly behaved as though she were finely bred and highly educated and had come from the very best of families but at heart she was a country girl. She had been educated by the finest tutors and moved comfortably in aristocratic circles, but underneath it all she was the daughter of a well-to-do frontier family. Louisa’s past wasn’t graced by polished marble halls. Talbot was discovering that Louisa did not want anyone in the city to see she was a country girl. But no matter how much she tried to convince herself, a part of her undeniably belonged in the North Country. Talbot grumbled. Now he understood why everyone found her so charming and quaint. “Quaint,” he thought. He had heard the word used many times to describe Louisa Elgerson, and he was certain she would hate hearing that.
Now he faced a dilemma. How would he get her to accept his proposal and finish her research? Everything depended on it. Everything. At first he was sure she had fallen head over heels in love with him, but he been cautious and careful not to pressure her. A woman her age was waiting for the right man and he wanted more than anything to be that man. He could become the fellow she trusted entirely with everything about herself. Those times when it was hard to be patient with her, he had not pushed her, even those times when he felt he was close to having her in the bed beside him, stretched out without a stitch of clothing. The thought made him fidget and he tried to focus on combing his hair.
After he arrived at Stavewood he felt more impatient than ever. He’d grown more insistent and attempted to get closer to her. Perhaps that was where he had gone wrong. Part of the problem was that big fellow, the one he had seen her with that first day.
Talbot scrubbed his shaving brush violently into the soap, working up a thick lather as he thought about Luc Almquist. The man was as big as an oak tree. Why would a woman who had put so much energy into proving she was completely refined be interested in a man like that? It made no sense.
“I am the one!” Talbot said to his reflection in the looking glass. “She’s in love with me and I simply must not be daunted by her rebuttal. I’m going back and this time I will not tread lightly. It’s time Louisa Elgerson realizes I am completely serious.”
He brushed his suit carefully and knotted his tie in a neat bow. He collected his driving gloves and bowler. After a strong cup of coffee he would return to Stavewood a more determined man. He pulled the watch from his pocket and checked the time. It was far later in the day than he imagined.
“No matter,” he said to himself. “I know what I have to do.”
Forty-Six
Louisa stood before a heavy, wooden door with a large window of frosted glass bearing the words Minnesota Bureau of Land Management. She turned the knob and stepped inside where she saw several long lines of people waiting to be helped by clerks behind a counter. The room was stuffy and cluttered, the walls covered with racks of pamphlets and printed forms. Above each clerk’s window was a large, lettered sign. She read them all: Forestry Management. Water Conservation. National Park Information. None of them said anything about cartographers or land preservation. Louisa chose the shortest line.
“Hello,” said a short bespectacled man, with a smooth shiny pate in an oversized suit and navy blue bow tie. “How may I help you?”
“I’m trying to get information on one of your land preservation agents. A cartographer who has been working on my family’s property.”
The agent looked at her with a blank expression. “And where is your property?”
“Right outside of Billington. He’s been surveying there.”
“Do you know his name?” The agent picked up his pencil.
“Luc Almquist.”
“And what is it you need to know?”
“I would like you to verify that he is working for the agency and any other information you can give me about him.”
“Let me see what I can do.” He stood up and walked over to another clerk. Then another. Louisa thought she’d faint. Then he returned and sat in his chair.
He pulled open a long filing drawer and began to sift through the folders inside. He took a file from the drawer, walked over to another desk and handed it to a secretary in the back of the room. Louisa watched as the woman went through the file, typing occasionally on a blank sheet of paper. Once she had finished she handed the sheet to the bespectacled little man.
He returned, sat down and looked up at Louisa. “Currently we have twelve surveyors working in this county. This is a list of all of them and none of them are in the Billington area. What did you say this mapmaker’s name was?”
“Luc Almquist,” she said, her voice wavering. The clerk held his spectacles against his nose as he scanned the names on his list.
“There is no Luc Almquist working for the county in land management or the Department of Land Preservation.”
“That’s impossible,” Louisa said. She was stunned.
“I’m afraid it is, Miss. There is no Luc Almquist working for this office, period. Good day.” He turned his attention to the man in line behind her.
Louisa stumbled out of the office and sat down on a hard wooden bench in the marbled hallway.
Luc had lied to her. He had randomly appeared everywhere but he wasn’t mapping. What was he doing? Watching her? Watching her family? Watching Stavewood?
Louisa tried to recall the men’s voices at the gazebo. She had only been able to see one of them from the knees down from the trap door beneath the floor. Was he the other man? Was he Clayton? She buried her head in her hands and tried to make sense of all of it.
She had trusted him. She had fallen in love with him and now she realized she didn’t know him at all.
She looked up and saw that the clock on the wall read four forty-eight. The day was slipping away and she had to get home and tell everyone the truth about Luc Almquist. There was a dragon at Stavewood but it was not benevolent. And it may
have been sleeping, but Louisa had awakened it.
“I’m sorry, Miss,” the ticket agent at the station insisted. “You cannot get a train into Billington until nine tomorrow morning. I’m very sorry.”
Louisa was stranded in Blue Falls. The telegraph office was still open so she decided to send a message home, but what would she say? There was too much to try to explain and she didn’t want to panic anyone. She decided on a short note to keep the family from worrying about her. She scribbled the words quickly onto the paper:
Detained in Blue Falls. Will return tomorrow.
Louisa.
She handed the form to the telegraph agent, paid the fee and left. There was nothing more she could do.
Forty-Seven
Talbot pulled the sports car into the lot behind Stavewood at the mills, took his satchel from the boot and closed it with a loud thump. The messenger from the telegraph office passed him coming up the path from the house and nodded to him. Talbot walked up the lane going over all the things he planned to tell Louisa to make her reconsider his proposal. He was certain he could resolve everything between them. He walked around to the front door of the estate, tapped the knocker several times and waited.
Timothy pulled open the door and looked perplexed. “Talbot? You’re not with Loo?”
“No, sir,” he responded, as Timothy stepped aside and let him into the house.
“I thought you two were together. Do you know why she would be in Blue Falls?”
“She’s not here?”
“No.” Timothy led Talbot up the hall. “She sent a telegram saying that she was detained in Blue Falls. Is she researching her book there? It’s odd she didn’t tell anyone.”
The Secret of Stavewood (Stavewood Saga Book 4) Page 15
