Maids of Misfortune: A Victorian San Francisco Mystery

by M. Louisa Locke

  Later Annie wondered why she did what she did next, since her actions weren't really rational. Remembering the key that hung on a hook next to the back door, she stuck her right arm through the barred window and reached for it. She knew her arm wouldn't reach; she'd tried it several times Monday morning, when she’d been locked out. But she was beginning to panic, afraid that if she didn't get into the house soon and get her purse, she'd miss the horse car. She couldn't stand to wait even an additional half an hour to get home. So she tried for the key once more, just the way one tries to open the stopper in a jar, or pulls at a stuck drawer, or reaches down behind a table to pick up a pin, just one more time, in case this is the magical time that will do it.

  And like magic, this time her efforts paid off, because this time Annie still had the buttonhook in her hand. As she reached through the window, she realized that not only did the extra six inches of reach this gave her make all the difference, but that the tiny hook on the end of the implement was perfect for snagging the key and bringing it back through the window. It took only a few tries, and then the key was safely in her hand, and she was opening the kitchen door in triumph. She left her carpetbag at the back door and ran through the kitchen and up the back stairs, taking them two at a time, very conscious of the precious seconds that were ticking by. When she opened the door to her attic room she froze. A bright oil lamp placed on the dresser clearly revealed Malcolm Samuels leaning over the bed with the contents of Annie's own purse strewn out on the quilt. Interrupted in his searching he looked up, and, when he saw it was her, he stood up and laughed.

  "Oh, it's little Lizzie. I thought you'd gone. I was just checking to make sure you hadn't pinched anything from the house. You know how untrustworthy housemaids can be. For example, I wonder where you got such a valuable piece? Did you steal it, or was it for services rendered from some former master?”

  When she saw her mother's locket in hands, Annie exploded. For a week she had put up with being bossed around by Miss Nancy, treated like an idiot child by Mrs. Voss, condescended to by Cartier, and this was the last straw--to have her keepsake from her mother pawed over by Samuels. So, brandishing the buttonhook she still had in her hand, she shouted, "Take your hands off my things and get out of my room. How dare you come creeping in here like a thief?”

  The effect this had on Samuels was startling. He threw down the locket, his eyes bulged, and his lips curled back in a snarl as he pointed at her and said, "Where did you get that?"

  Bewildered, Annie looked at the buttonhook in her hand. Then, with incredible clarity, she realized that it was Samuels who had gotten into and back out of the locked house the night Matthew died, with a buttonhook. Without a moment’s hesitation, she hurled her knowledge at him as if it were a weapon, saying, “So it was you!”

  Chapter Forty-one

  Before she had time to say another word, Samuels launched himself at her, snatching the buttonhook from her, hurling her on the bed. As she tried to force her way up to a sitting position, Samuels pressed her back, pinning her arms under her, covering her mouth with his hand. She continued to struggle against him until he flourished a jack knife in front of her eyes and then she felt the sharp prick of metal at her throat. Annie went still. Through the pounding in her head she began to make sense of what he was saying. His voice was low and menacing, but there was a still note of amusement that chilled her heart.

  "You've been a bad girl, Lizzie. Spying. Just like Nellie. Selling your little bits of information. You really should have come to me, not to that meddling lawyer. I know you've been spying for him. I talked to Nellie’s chum after Saturday's dance. Poor, poor Jack. He's all broken up by her death. He told me that a lawyer fellow, Dawson, had come sniffing around, with some mystery girl on his arm, described you to a tee. That must have been fun, little Lizzie, dancing with a gentleman."

  Annie struggled to breath, and Samuels took his hand from her mouth. Having no difficulty sounding frightened she squeaked out, "No, please, Mr. Samuels, you're wrong. I'm a good girl. I dunno what you are talking about. I don't know no lawyers. I was just protecting my stuff."

  Samuels slapped her hard across her mouth and then growled, "Stop your lying. I saw you in the garden with him late Wednesday night, practically sitting in his lap. I wonder what Mrs. Voss would say if she knew what you were doing late at night when a good girl should have been fast asleep. Did he buy you this locket? Was that your payment? I would have done better by you, if you had come to me. I can give a girl a real nice time. I'm no inexperienced boy like our Jeremy or Nate Dawson. Nellie had a good time before she got too greedy."

  Samuels laughed again, nastily. "Wouldn't our resident virgin, old prune-faced Nancy, have had a fit if she knew that up above her head I was having carnal relations with her maid. Lively little Nellie." Reaching over on the bed beside Annie, Samuels picked up the buttonhook and slipped it into his jacket pocket and said, "Yes, you were very clever to figure that out. Too clever. Nellie showed me that trick sometime ago, so I could sneak up here nights. She'd tell me what she'd picked up about my secretive partner with her prying and peeking, and I'd pleasure her in return."

  Annie despaired. He shouldn't be telling her all this, admitting that he knew how to get into the house, admitting a relationship with Nellie. He meant to murder her like he did Nellie. Somehow she had to get away from him.

  Without warning, Samuels heaved her up and back more fully on the bed. Before she could react to the knife's absence, it was back at her throat. But this time Samuels was lying on her with almost all of his full length, his voice husky, and his left hand pulling at the neck of her dress as he whispered, "You bitch, I'll get my satisfaction out of you now, for my troubles."

  Then without warning he was off of her, staring wildly over his shoulder. The sound that had startled him came again, and this time Annie recognized it. It was the buzzer that signaled that she was wanted for service in the kitchen. It buzzed one more time and stopped. Wong must have come to the kitchen and seen the back door open and her bag still there and wondered what was going on. Seeing the knife lax in Samuels' hand she twisted off the bed to her feet and lunged towards the door, starting to scream. She was swept up and back against Samuels as if she was a child. One of his arms was crushing her ribs, while the other was around her face. Annie thought she would suffocate. The rough wool of the coat sleeves not only filled her mouth but also pressed against her nose, so that the scent of cigar and cleaning fluid seared her lungs as she tried to suck in air. He was so strong. His fleshy respectability had fooled her. Even with her feet pushing off the floor and her hands clawing at his, she was held tight.

  Then the arm was gone from her face and she felt the knife back against her throat. He pulled her arms painfully behind her and held her tightly as she breathed in great gasping sobs. Samuels was saying something about having to postpone his enjoyment until he could get her out of the house and to a place of privacy. Annie's spirits lifted. He wasn't going to try and kill her here. If he tried to take her from the house, someone would see, stop him. He began to push her forward, out through the door from her attic room to the back stairs. With a lurch she stumbled down one or two steps until Samuels brought her up short. She felt a thin trickle of blood begin to run down her neck from where the knife had pricked her, but she felt no pain. Wong was standing unblinking on the landing below her.

  Samuels voice ground out slowly. "Just turn around, Wong. Leave this house and leave this city. Never come back and never mention what you've seen; or I swear I will tell everyone you killed your master and raped his servant and the world will be rid of one more dirty Chinaman."

  Wong looked for one eternal second at Annie and then he turned and silently slipped away. Annie could not even feel betrayed. She knew as well as he did what Samuels' threat meant. No one in the city would take Wong's word against a respected citizen like Samuels. Even if he were a witness to her murder, Wong wouldn't be able to testify in court. And if Samuels charged him wi
th rape, Wong's case wouldn't even make it to trial; he'd be lynched. Annie finally realized just how incredibly brave Wong had been to continue to serve in this household once Matthew had been murdered, how vulnerable he'd been, and how loyal he had been to the Matthew’s family by staying.

  The confrontation with Wong had evidently made Samuels change his strategy, because he began to drag her back up the stairs to her room. Her ankles kept banging against the stairs and the knife kept pricking her as her feet got tangled up with her long skirts. Once back on the landing, Samuels pushed her back into the room and onto the bed, this time face first. She landed with her own purse uncomfortably pressed into her chest. She felt him let her hands go, but his knee pressed into her back, making movement difficult, and her skirts kept her from effectively kicking backwards. She heard a tearing sound and then he wrenched her arms back again and she felt him wrap a cloth around her wrists and begin to pull them tightly together.

  Abruptly the voice of Mrs. Voss broke through the muttered curses Samuels had been whispering as he tied Annie's wrists. Annie heard her say, "Malcolm, whatever are you doing? Have you gone mad? Let her go this instant. How could you? In my house. This is my house, in case you have forgotten, and you will do as I say."

  "Like hell I will.” Samuels snarled, as he pulled Annie to her feet and placed the knife at her throat again.

  Samuels' breathing was ragged, but Annie could feel him trying to get control. He continued more quietly, but if anything more terrifyingly. "Really, Amelia my dear, I think that it is rather late in the day for you to try and act like the mistress of this house. Now what I want you to do is to go downstairs and get that skinny hag of a sister-in-law, and I am going to tell you all exactly what you are going to do. I promise, if you try anything, this girl will be dead and Jeremy will never see the light of day. Now go!"

  Half-dragging Annie and half-pushing Mrs. Voss, Samuels herded them down the stairs to the second floor. As they came out onto the landing they saw Miss Nancy standing in her doorway, her Bible clutched to her chest. As she saw Mrs. Voss and Samuels come out from the shadows she began to point her finger at them.

  "Adulterers. I knew it. Slinking around, in the cover of night. Oh, Matthew, I weep for...." Her harsh accusatory words stopped as she saw Annie being dragged along behind Samuels. Samuels ignored the older woman and continued unchecked down the corridor. When he got to the open door of Mrs. Voss’s sitting room he halted and motioned to her to go in before him. He then shifted so that Miss Nancy could see the knife he had again placed at Annie's throat, and he barked at her, "In with you too, or I'll kill you both, with pleasure."

  Irresolutely, Miss Nancy stood where she was until Annie whimpered when Samuels gave her arms another particularly painful twist. Then the older woman shuffled hastily into the sitting room, joining Mrs. Voss. Samuels yanked Annie into the room after him, and, after awkwardly kicking the door shut behind him, he continued with his orders.

  "Amelia, lock the door. I know you have a key, damn you. Then we can have our little talk uninterrupted."

  Mrs. Voss did as he asked, but as she locked the door she began to speak; Annie could hear the attempt to appear calm in her voice.

  "Malcolm, please be reasonable. I'm sure that whatever has happened we can.…"

  Before she could complete the sentence Samuels shouted, "Shut up and sit down over there with the hag! No, better yet, before you do, pour me a drink. And not another word from you. I'll do the talking."

  Amelia Voss went quickly to a cabinet in a corner and Annie saw her open the door and pull out a decanter and a glass and then fill the glass with what looked like whiskey. Oddly, Annie thought of Matthew pouring out a drink as he settled down for a quiet evening with his wife. The idea of this evil man partaking of anything that was Matthew's and thereby polluting it was almost more than she could bear. She could see that Mrs. Voss's cheeks were wet with tears as she held the glass out to Samuels, and Annie wondered if she were thinking the same thing. As Samuels gulped the drink down, Mrs. Voss went over and pulled her sister-in-law down beside her on to the sofa across the room.

  After draining the glass, Samuels put the glass on the table beside him and jerked Annie over to a chair across from the two other women. He pushed her down on to it, and, leaning over the back of the chair, he again placed the knife at her throat. Annie stared beseechingly at Mrs. Voss and Miss Nancy. From behind her, Samuels began to speak in an odd, matter-of-fact tone.

  "You see this is how it is going to be. Miss Nancy will go downstairs in just a minute and get a hansom. When it comes, I will take little Lizzie down to it and take her away. What happens to her then is really none of your concern.”

  When Miss Nancy began to protest, Amelia Voss put her arm around her and pulled her back, telling her to hush. Samuels laughed. "That's right, my dear. I knew you'd understand. Don't worry. You too will have a role to play. You see, Jeremy is in very real danger of hanging for the death of his father and Nellie. But I just might be able to get him off, if you cooperate with me. I am offering you a deal. Lizzie in exchange for Jeremy."

  Mrs. Voss began to speak again, but Samuels waved her silent. "Tut, tut. Remember what I said. No interrupting. You want to know how little Lizzie here can set Jeremy free? Well, I'll tell you. I just thought of it. I was just going to let him hang, but Lizzie here has given me an even better plan. You see, before Lizzie leaves with me, she is going to write a letter."

  Samuels suddenly grabbed Annie by her hair and pulled her head back so she was forced to look up at him, "You aren't illiterate, are you? No, of course not, not a fine girl like you. Well, as I was saying, Lizzie will write a letter, two letters in fact. The first will simply say that she and Nellie and a boy friend of theirs conspired to kill Matthew Voss and steal his money, but that when Nellie got greedy, the boy friend killed her. It will also say that she planted the evidence the police found in Jeremy's room. And then little Lizzie will simply disappear. When the police find the letter, they’ll let Jeremy go free. Now, that young lawyer Dawson might object. He'll say that poor Lizzie is innocent. Turns out our little Lizzie has been spying for him. But I think you'll be able to convince the police he is mistaken, and I don't think anyone will take him very seriously. They will think he's been made a fool of by another pretty face. And she does have such a pretty face, doesn't she?"

  Samuels at this point ran the knife down Annie's cheek, and she closed her eyes, trying desperately to think. Samuels was offering the two women Jeremy's freedom in exchange for her own life. What else could they do but go along? But should she? Would writing the letters for him buy her more time, or sign her own death warrant?

  Samuels went on, sounding more and more satisfied with himself. "Now, you ask me, what is the other letter for? Well, in that letter Lizzie here will say that the boy friend was your darling son Jeremy. She can write how first he seduced poor Nellie, and then he killed her. But we won't show that letter to the police, shall we? I'll just keep it as a sort of insurance policy, to make certain that once Jeremy is free that you, Amelia, will marry me, and that Miss Nancy and Jeremy will do the sensible thing and turn over their shares of the family firm to me. As a wedding present! Won't that just be grand? Then Jeremy can go off and starve as an artist in Paris, Miss Nancy here can go off to that Old Ladies home she's so fond of talking about, and you and I, Amelia, will live happily ever after."

  Amelia Voss just looked at him and said softly, "Why, Malcolm? Why did you kill Matthew?"

  Samuels let out a sharp bark of laughter. "Why? Because I needed money and I took a little extra from the business. Matthew would have found out if he lived, and you know Matthew, he wouldn’t have let it go. Did you think it was for your sake, my sweet? Well I'm sorry to disappoint you. I'll admit that I hoped I could convince you to marry me willingly once he was gone, but that was only to get at the rest of the money and because unwilling women are such a bore. But I misjudged you. I thought you'd be glad for a warm bed after all t
hose years with that cold son of a bitch you married. But clearly I'm too much of a man for you. That's all right. Mother's love will do nicely to keep you in line, keep both of you in line."

  Annie watched the deepening horror in the two woman's eyes as they saw the cunning in Samuels' words. Miss Nancy appeared to wilt as he spoke, her fingers plucking at the Bible in her lap, her eyes widening in shock. The truth was turning out to be far worse than her bitter imaginings. Amelia Voss looked less shocked, and Annie wondered how much of the truth she had already guessed. As for herself, Annie felt unnaturally calm. Her heart had slowed, her breathing had returned to normal, and while she was still afraid, she was not terrified in the way she had been earlier. She could think and plan. She would write the letters, but she would do it slowly. Time was on her side. The longer it took, the greater chance that someone would come to the house; something would save her.

  Samuels' voice shifted unexpectedly, revealing a note of haste it had not held before. It seemed his thoughts had followed a parallel path. Grabbing Annie by the shoulder, he pulled her up and began to push her towards the small writing desk by the window. As he did, he spoke roughly to the two other women. "That's enough talk. Let's get a move on. Amelia, get me paper and a pen, and then, while Lizzie here writes, you sit still and behave. Don't you even think about crossing me! I can kill her in an instant, and I'd say the old lady did it to keep her from implicating Jeremy. Then she'll hang alongside Jeremy. Or, we can do it my way, and you'll get your lives and your precious Jeremy's freedom. Either way I win, so don't push me."