“Will do, ma’am.” And then he got his kiss. He gave Maddie Sue and Ronnie a kiss apiece, too.
Maddie Sue giggled. Ronnie rubbed on the whiskers of Cam’s face. He hadn’t shaved yet today.
Then just for his wife, he whispered, “I declare, I love you more every day we’re married.”
CHAPTER
17
It was a fine hair she was splitting.
A baby hair.
A baby hair from a nearly bald baby.
But split it she did. Penny was a woman who believed in the Bible, and “Thou shalt not steal” couldn’t be any clearer. And bear false witness? Well, what if someone caught them and asked what in the Sam Hill they were up to?
Of course, if someone caught them, what was the point of talking? Knowing all of that . . . she went right ahead and grasped that hair . . . or rather split it. She was bound and determined not to be left behind while John was out sneaking around.
After all the socializing at supper, it was already pretty late in the evening when they got back to their room. John wasted no time telling her to change into the split skirt she’d brought to help her be less noticeable. Penny figured she could run for it faster in the split skirt, too.
John stood outside for the outfit change, and when it was her turn and he took off his fancy suit, she turned her back. He didn’t want her out in the hall alone even though there was no fight going on at the moment. Then he’d made them wait for a couple of hours. When they finally left the boardinghouse, the saloons were still going strong in the seedy neighborhood.
Walking swiftly through the streets, Penny saw lights and heard tinny music from the saloons, accompanied by loud voices, outbreaks of laughter, and occasional shouting. They’d waited until it was so late that no one left in those establishments would have any interest in sobriety or work in the morning.
The neighborhood improved as they went along. The streets were silent, and the stores were all closed. John clasped her hand and pulled her along, intent on his goal. Suddenly, without her hearing anything, he stopped. She was being dragged just a bit, so she stumbled into him and noted his alert gaze well enough to keep quiet.
His gaze darted around, and she heard the scrape of a shoe on the paved streets. John’s eyes landed on a spot behind them. Penny tried to look at what he was studying, but she had no time. He plucked her right off the ground and carried her with complete silence past two closed businesses and up three stairsteps and dragged her into a corner of a barely recessed entrance.
She needed to check his shoes. Whatever he was wearing—they looked like regular boots—made no sound.
He pushed her into a shadowy corner of the entry and pressed his body up against hers. What was he thinking? She shoved at him to get out of the too-close quarters.
He hissed, “Shhh. Be still.”
The footsteps sounded closer now. Whoever it was had to see them there. The recess wasn’t that deep. The shadows not that dark. John’s eyes, mostly hidden by the night, were wide, and she could make out the whites.
And if they were noticed, there’d be no excuse for two people to be huddling here.
Or no, wait. There is one excuse.
She wrapped her arms around his neck. Yanked his head down and kissed him.
The ruse, the feigned kiss, lasted about two seconds. Oh, the kiss lasted longer—it was the ruse she forgot. His arms tightened around her waist, deepening the kiss, and Penny forgot about everything but how warm, how welcoming, and how fine this man was. This man . . . to whom she was most definitely married.
His arms pulled her closer, which shouldn’t be possible considering just how close she was. But it was as if he pulled her closer to his heart, to his very life. And she went willingly, intrigued and charmed by this strong man.
Footsteps scraped louder, enough to penetrate her extreme distraction.
She heard a quiet chuckle from the man as he paused just briefly, then moved on. He’d seen them. He’d accepted that two people might seek out a dark quiet place for nothing more dishonest than a stolen kiss.
Except no one had done much stealing here. “Thou shalt not steal” definitely didn’t apply because she’d certainly handed that kiss right over, and John had accepted it willingly.
The footsteps faded. Finally, John lifted his head, and she searched his eyes again. This time they burned.
He whispered, “I saw that man in the restaurant tonight. We weren’t introduced, but he was one of the few wearing Hessian boots. What was he doing out here this time of night?”
Penny realized that while she’d been pouring her heart into that kiss, he’d been checking around, looking, investigating. Checking boots for heaven’s sake!
The kiss, well, he’d certainly thrown himself into it, but maybe that was strictly an act. It hurt to think a man could act in such a false way. Before she could tell him that, and maybe punch him, he grabbed her wrist and towed her out of their little hideaway and headed right back toward his goal. The Gentleman’s Haberdashery. And his lawbreaking.
He reached the shop and headed down a walkway between two buildings. There were no windows on the walls that lined the passageway. John kept going to the back of the building, which opened into an alley. The back door was locked, as was the single window beside it.
It took a while, but John did find a window unlocked. It was on the second floor. They were entering, but no breaking had gone on. There was that baby hair again.
And they wouldn’t take anything. So, there’d be no stealing.
That didn’t stop Penny from praying for forgiveness and praying that they wouldn’t get caught. She didn’t hold out much hope for forgiveness from the Virginia City sheriff, but God was merciful. She’d find comfort in her spiritual redemption while the city did its worst.
She slipped in the window behind her sneak of a husband. Yep, sure as certain, he needed a new career. She was going to have to teach him the cattle business.
She threw in a prayer for patience for that, because she reckoned she was gonna need it.
“There’s no one here.” John spoke quietly, but it wasn’t a whisper.
“Did you think there would be?” That was an alarming notion she hadn’t considered.
“I wondered if the owner of the store might live above it. And it appears he does.”
“You mean you thought you might be crawling in a window to a bedroom with someone sleeping in it?”
“We are in a bedroom, but no one’s here. The owner could come back anytime. I doubt he’s downstairs because there were no lights on, and I doubt he usually stays out this late. I told you to be quiet. Why did you think I said that?”
Penny saw the neatly made bed, and her stomach swooped to think of the man coming home. It was very late. If he wasn’t here yet, maybe he wasn’t coming. “Just hurry up.”
They hurried past the bed, then descended the stairs. There were streetlights from outside that somewhat dispelled the murky darkness, and the front windows let in enough light that they managed to not fall tail over teakettle to the ground floor.
When they reached the bottom step, John paused for a moment to look back at her. “Why do you think that man was out at this hour of the night?”
“I have no idea.” Penny hadn’t thought much beyond being upset that John was so observant of their surroundings when she was wrapped up in their kiss.
“I suspect he was up to no good.”
John led her through rows of good-smelling clothes, clean fabric, and new leather. He walked behind a counter and into a back hallway. A door to his right was open, and Penny peeked around him to see a desk and some filing drawers.
“His office, and there are no windows in there. I can close the door and turn on a lantern, and no one’ll see it.” His eyes glowed with an unexpected excitement.
He was having fun. She’d married a man who liked just a lick of danger. She knew the type from her years in forts. There were soldiers who always wanted action. She’d
always thought those sorts were a nuisance.
“I just need a few minutes back here, to look through his account books. I should be able to find out quickly if he has orders for Hessian boots. Hopefully I can find someone’s name on the billing records. You check the back door and inspect the lock to see if we can go out that way and leave the door locked behind us. I’ve seen locks that, if you set them right, will swing shut behind you and lock up. Climbing to the second floor left us too exposed. I’d like to go out a different way if possible.”
Penny didn’t comment. Honestly, she was glad he’d given her a job. It made her feel less useless. Like maybe he’d needed her to come with him after all.
He went in the office and closed the door. She stood in the hall and looked at the door on the opposite side from the one John was in.
She wondered what was in it and reached for the knob, but her hand froze. The doorknob, only a few inches in front of her, sent a chill down her spine. After all they’d done, why hesitate about entering a room? But there was something that held her hand back as surely as if the door was a solid rock wall.
Determined to look, but in no rush, she turned away and remembered what John had asked of her. She moved on down the hall to the back door.
First, she quietly turned the knob, but they’d done that when they were trying to get in. She already knew it wouldn’t open. She couldn’t figure what to look for in a lock. You stuck the right key in the right door, you turned it, and the door opened.
What kind of door locked behind you without a key?
She looked around a little and found a key hanging from a nail right beside the door. Well, that’d lock it, but how would they leave it behind? There was a small window beside the door. It was locked, but she twisted the catch on it and slid the window up an inch. It slid up silently. Closing it again, she mulled over how to use that information. Could they climb out the window and reach back to lock the door? But that would still leave the window unlocked. She decided she’d just tell John what she’d found, and that’d be that.
She reached up to turn the window lock. Just as she finished, a light gleamed in the alley. She jerked back her arm and dropped to the floor, curling low to get her head beneath the window. Gasping, she fought to keep her breath silent as the light approached. She twisted to look up and saw the shadow of someone leaning close, looking through the door’s window.
Had the owner come back? Could he possibly walk past her in the dark without seeing her? Could he go straight up to bed—without checking the office?
Glancing down the hall toward the room where John worked, she saw the very faintest possible light coming from under the tightly closed door. The lantern he used was turned down low. She hadn’t even noticed the light until now, this frozen moment. Would the man looking through the window notice it?
She didn’t even breathe as she watched the knob slowly turn to the left, then the right. She braced herself, thinking frantically of what she would do when the door swung open. Then the light cast by the lantern shifted. She heard a tug on the window she’d just relocked.
Her heart pounded until she was afraid whoever it was might hear it even through the door.
Then she heard whistling. It was a tuneless noise. Footsteps crunched on the dirt and rubble in the alley. The lantern light faded along with the whistling.
It took her a moment for her panic to ease. It was just someone checking the windows. Probably a deputy doing rounds. There must be a patrol all night if he was checking alley doors and windows at this hour. And Penny and her lawless husband had to walk all the way back to their boardinghouse. They’d better be prepared to look and act innocent in case a deputy noticed them.
Penny looked down the short hall at that light again. The foot patrol hadn’t noticed. But did he come by very often? It made sense that in this more exclusive part of town the night watch would be more vigilant. Would he check again? Would that faint light be niggling in his mind? Would that light bring him back for a closer look?
She nearly collapsed when the man was finally far enough away she couldn’t hear him. Looking at the window, she realized she’d barely gotten it locked in time to prevent disaster. When she’d almost gathered herself enough to think logically again, the light beneath the door vanished, and John swung the door open.
“I’ve got the names, Penny. Where are you?”
“I’m crouched in a corner, near to having a heart attack.” In the silence of the hall, her hissed reply echoed like a shout. John rushed to her side as she stood.
Hearing about the night watch, he flinched. “Close call.”
Then he studied the door and window. “We can get out this way, but we’d better make it quick.”
“Wait, I meant to take a look behind that closed door opposite the room you were in.”
“Why?” John asked, looking back over his shoulder.
“I’m not sure, something about it—” Penny realized she’d edged so close to John that his arm went around her. “Maybe I’m just nervous because of the night watchman. But . . . the door bothered me before that. I almost went in and decided instead to get on with checking this back door, but now I think we’d better at least glance inside—just because it’s troubling me so much.”
John looked down the hall, then nodded. “Let’s go.”
He moved toward the door, and Penny stayed in the circle of his arm. He got to the door, reached for the knob, and stopped.
He closed his hand and rubbed the fingers together. Then gave her a reluctant glance. “Wait for me by the back door.”
His tone, the way he hesitated, everything about the flare of concern in his eyes—concern for her—sharpened her already razor-sharp attention.
“What’s the matter?”
John gently rested his palm on her shoulder. “I’m afraid we’re going to find a dead body behind this door. What you were reacting to is the smell of death.”
And now that he said it, she realized that she did smell something. Blood and . . . something more.
“I’d spare you what you’d see behind this door, Penny.”
The kindness in his voice was a new tone. It was the nicest thing he’d done so far in their short marriage. And she was tempted, so badly tempted, to let him take charge.
“It’s going to be one of those things you’ll live with. There’s no forgetting it.”
Nodding, Penny said, “I know you’re right. But I know I need to stay with you right now. We are working on this investigation together, and I need to be a witness to as much as I can. It may help us get this solved more quickly.” She didn’t tell him that she had a little problem with the sight of blood. She’d just look quickly and leave before she fainted.
John held her gaze for a long moment. Then he said, “Let’s go.”
He reached again for the knob, and this time he twisted it and slowly pushed the door open.
They saw a single window. Moonlight streamed in to show a curtain hanging askew from one corner. On the floor, a dead man gripped the drape. He must’ve clung to it while he fell. He lay facedown on the floor in a white shirt. Penny stifled a gasp at the bloodstain high on his back. The blood was still wet and sticky. It looked ebony rather than crimson in the moonlight.
The smell grew stronger, and Penny took one long look, then turned her back and stayed at the door while John went to the man and crouched beside him.
Penny wasn’t sure what all John was looking for. Penny didn’t bother to chastise him or even ask what he was doing. She was too busy trying to keep down the rich meal she’d eaten earlier.
Then John was up and moving. “We need to get away from here. But first . . .”
He stepped into the office and came back out just as quickly, sliding a small book into his coat pocket. He caught Penny’s hand and hurried them to the back door. She was still too befuddled from shock to move under her own power. He slid the window open, took the key, pushed her ahead of him out the door, and stepped outside.
John gave her a bewildered look. “No, of course I’m not going to do such a thing. He’d probably arrest us for murder.” He locked up, reached through the window to hang up the key, and pulled the window closed. He thrust a small metal object with a hook on the end through the tight space between the upper and lower window, and fiddled with it for a few seconds, then Penny heard the faint metallic slide of the window being latched.
“Let’s go.” He tucked his little tool into a leather pouch he’d produced from his pocket, and asked, “Which way did the deputy go?”
Penny pointed. He took her arm and got her moving in the opposite direction. They’d walked nearly two blocks before Penny said, “You need to find another line of work.”
CHAPTER
18
“You sound nervous. I never took you for a woman with faint spirits.”
Penny slugged him on the shoulder.
“Ouch.” John rubbed the injured spot. “You really need to learn to pull your punches.”
He was ready to dodge, or she’d’ve landed a second punch. Instead, she marched on past him. “Don’t you want to know whose house we’re going to break into next?” he asked after her.
“What?” She whirled to face him. Her hands were definitely curled into fists.
“The files were empty. Nothing about purchases to specific men, and they were a mess, so I think the killer had already gone through them and taken out his name. But I found a record book tucked away.” He patted his pocket.
“With comments from the bootmaker about his best clients and their preferences. I looked long enough to find four men who’ve ordered Hessian boots in the last year. I quit looking at that point so we could get going, but Hessians weren’t a very common item, thank heavens. I wrote down the names. Once I’ve double-checked, we’ll have our suspects, Penny. We’re on the way to catching the kidnappers. And I suspect one of these four men is going to be who we saw on the street tonight. I suspect he’s the one who killed that man at the haberdashery. I hope the things I found in the victim’s pocket will give us the poor man’s name, but I suspect he’s the shopkeeper. I didn’t get the murderer tonight, but I saw his face. And his name will be one of the men on our list.” He waved the book in the air. “We have what we need to close in on him now.”
The Unexpected Champion Page 13