“Your honeymoon?” Mr. Collins looked bewildered. “That will make things more awkward, won’t it?”
“In some ways, but not entirely,” Lucy said. “Um, you see, we actually are on our honeymoon. We were married the other day.”
“I beg your pardon?” Mr. Collins looked back and forth between them. “Lucy, I had no idea you were courting.”
“It took me by surprise too,” she replied. “When I arrived at the agency to apply, I was told that in order to create a safe environment for the female agents, they would be asked to marry their trainers—to avoid awkward situations and so forth. We can have our marriages annulled at the end of the case.”
“But that doesn’t make any sense,” Mr. Collins said. “Are you only planning to go on one case? Are you going to keep getting married and keep getting annulments every time you get a new client?”
Lucy hadn’t thought about that. In fact, she hadn’t thought about much beyond simply getting Mrs. Collins home. Did she want to stay on as an agent? She didn’t think she had enough information to make such a decision. After all, they’d only just arrived in town, and they hadn’t questioned a single suspect yet. “I don’t know,” she answered truthfully. “There’s a lot I’ll need to think about once we’ve found your wife.”
“I’m quite surprised at you, Lucy. You’re not generally one to be so spontaneous, and marriage isn’t a decision to be made lightly. What did your father say?”
Her heart clenched. “I haven’t told him yet.”
“What?” Mr. Collins sat upright. “You haven’t told him? Good heavens, young lady. I can’t understand any of this. You’ve married yourself off to someone you hardly know, you’re planning to get an annulment, and you haven’t even consulted with your father?” He shook his head. “I’m flabbergasted. I honestly am.”
“I’m flabbergasted too, actually. This was all very sudden, and very impetuous. But please try to understand, Mr. Collins. Mrs. Collins is very dear to me, and I would do anything I could to try to help her. Anything.” Mr. Collins was having the exact reaction she feared from her father, and her chest felt hollow. Of course she’d acted foolishly—no one was saying any different. In fact, the Pinkertons themselves knew this was unusual. But sometimes people had to do foolish things to bring about the greater good.
“Promise me you’ll write to him soon. Today,” Mr. Collins emphasized. “Your father is my dearest friend, and I can’t abide the thought of his daughter undertaking such a dangerous task without him knowing about it.”
“I promise, I’ll write him today,” Lucy said. She’d been planning to contact him soon anyway—this wouldn’t be a hard promise to keep.
Mr. Collins passed a hand over his face. “This has been a very difficult interview. I believe I’d like to lie down for a little while, unless you have something else to ask me.”
“I’m sure we will tomorrow, but we’re done for today,” Jed replied, coming to his feet. “I’m sorry this has been so hard, Mr. Collins. You’ve been very helpful.”
The man nodded. “Thank you for coming. I’m grateful for your help, and I know you’ll do everything you can to find my wife.”
“You can count on it, and if I start to flag, Lucy will spur me on again.” Jed shook Mr. Collins’ hand, then stepped over to the door.
Mr. Collins placed a hand on Lucy’s shoulder. “Please be careful,” he said. “I appreciate the sacrifices you’re making on Delphine’s behalf, but some sacrifices shouldn’t be considered.”
“I’ll be very careful. You have my word.” Lucy leaned in and kissed his cheek. “We’ll meet you out front at eleven, all right?”
“We’ll be across the street until we see you exit the hotel, and then we’ll follow you,” Jed clarified, and Lucy nodded. That was a good idea. She hoped she’d be able to remember all the tips and tricks she was picking up—it would seem that being an agent had a lot to do with nuances.
Chapter Ten
Everything Mr. Collins said made Jed even more sure that Mrs. Collins had been lured in by opium sellers, and he’d continue to believe that until he found evidence otherwise. Their best bet would be to follow Mr. Collins the next day and see where he led them, so Jed and Lucy decided to return to their hotel, talk about what they’d learned, and get a good night’s sleep.
“You seemed amused when I asked Mr. Collins about a possible love interest,” Jed said once they reached their room. He loosened his tie as he spoke, more than ready to relax.
“It’s just . . .” Lucy shook her head, a smile on her face. “Delphine Collins really is the most wonderful woman alive, but she’s not exactly what I’d consider the type to run away with another man. She’s a bit on the portly side.”
“Oh? Why would that keep her from having a love interest?”
“Because I’m not sure she’d attract that kind of attention from another man.” Lucy removed her coat and hung it on the hook behind the door.
“She might not catch someone’s eye with her looks, but she might with her money,” Jed pointed out. “There are any number of scalawags out there who would prey upon her sensibilities and then take her for everything she has.”
Lucy’s hand went to her mouth. “I didn’t think about that. I was just thinking about how unlikely it would be for her to find a new romance at this stage of her life. Still, I can’t imagine her giving another man a second look, no matter how charming. She’s very devoted to her husband.”
“That’s good to know.” Jed sat down on the chair in the corner and loosened his shoes. “So . . .” He wasn’t sure how to ask his next question. It was definitely more personal, and not about Mrs. Collins at all.
“Hmm?”
“Mr. Collins and your father are business partners.”
“That’s right. They went to college together, and as my father’s company grew, he wanted another set of eyes on everything, so he got in touch with Mr. Collins.”
“And it’s been a successful company?”
“Yes, very much so. You saw Mr. Collins’ rooms at the hotel—that’s the standard he’s used to.”
Was Lucy purposely misunderstanding his real question, or was he being too vague? He decided he should just plunge in and ask. “So, is your father as wealthy as Mr. Collins?”
“Yes. In fact, I’d say even more so because Father doesn’t have a Mrs. Collins to spend all his money.”
“You’re not a big spender?”
“No, not at all. I get the things I need, and that’s about it. I’d rather tuck it away against a rainy day.” She looked at him with a glint in her eye. “Are you trying to figure out if you’ve married into money?”
Jed raised both hands. “I was curious about your finances, yes, but I realize I’m not tying into one penny of it. Once this case is over, you’ll want to cut me loose, and that’s a wound I shall have to bear.”
Lucy ignored his melodrama and sat on the edge of the bed. “Have you thought about it? What we’ll do after this case, I mean? What if I decide to remain an agent—that means we have to stay married if we’re to continue working together, but don’t we have to get an annulment by a certain date? It’s all so confusing.”
“I didn’t think that far in advance either. I was concentrating solely on this case.” Jed tucked his shoes under the chair. “So, do you think you’ll want to stay on as an agent? What do you think so far?”
“I think it’s exciting, but it’s also making me nervous. What if we can’t find Mrs. Collins? When I first heard about her disappearance, I felt horrible about it, but there was nothing I could do. Now there is something I can do, but what if I fail? I can’t fail—I just can’t—but I’m so worried that I will.”
Jed crossed the room and put his hand on her shoulder much as Mr. Collins had done. “We’re a team, remember? And we’ll get this figured out. I don’t like failing, so I do it as little as possible.”
“Oh?” She looked up at him with red-rimmed eyes that were somehow also filled with
mirth. “Is that so?”
“That’s definitely so. You remember my broken arm? That’s right—I had a broken arm, and I still managed to crack that case. All right, I had help and stuff, but in the end, it’s my name on that report.”
“Very impressive. Did you give your broken arm any of the credit?”
“No, I was an attention hog and took all the credit for myself.” Jed walked over to the small desk in the corner of the room. “I need to send a note around to local law enforcement and let them know we’re here. Do you want to work on that letter to your father, too?”
She sighed. “I suppose I should just get it over with now, but I definitely don’t want to.”
“Will he be angry?”
“He’ll be angry. And he’ll wonder why he wasn’t invited.” Lucy shook her head. “That’s just how my father is—even though he wouldn’t have approved of the marriage, he’d still want to be there to give me away. He was prepared for me to be gone for a while and to do some traveling, but definitely not for me to end up with a husband.” She paused. “And what about your family?”
“My father is dead. My mother would probably want to bake you a pie and give us one of her pieced quilts. My brother would tease me from here until next Christmas and back again.”
“Are you planning to tell them?”
“Oh, eventually. Since it’s just part of the job, I don’t think there’s a real sense of urgency.”
“Why are the rules of society so different for men than they are for women? For you, it’s just another day on the job. For me, it’s life-altering. Does that seem fair?”
Jed set down his pen and turned to face her. “No, it doesn’t seem fair at all. But I’ll tell you one thing, Lucy Haskell Green. Regardless of how this case turns out, the day I met you was life-altering for me. I won’t be the same person ever again.”
Her mouth opened and then closed again. “I feel the same way,” she said after a long moment of obviously searching for the right words.
“Good. Can’t have just one of us feeling altered, can we?” He was aware that his stomach had started to flutter for some strange reason. Time to finish his letter and get back to work.
***
Lucy took over the desk once Jed was done with it and began to write to her father. She seemed stuck at the beginning, though—the words just wouldn’t come. How did she tell him what she’d done? This was much harder than confessing to breaking a vase when she was eleven.
Finally, she picked up the pen and forced out each word. If she kept delaying, she’d miss that day’s post, and then she’d have to gather up the courage again, and it would be so much better just to get it over with.
Dear Father,
I arrived at the agency on time and met with the other applicants. They all seem like bright, brave girls, and I’m honored to be counted as one of them. I was immediately put on the Collins case, and I’m here in San Francisco now. We met with Mr. Collins this afternoon and gathered what information we could from him, and we’ll begin investigating in earnest tomorrow morning.
There was one stipulation to the job that I wasn’t expecting. Each female agent was required to marry their male trainer, as they’d be spending quite a lot of time together and in somewhat close quarters. My assigned agent was a young man I’d met before, and I’d already felt somewhat interested in him. Because of that, I went ahead and married him. It’s an arrangement of convenience only, and can be annulled at the close of the case.
I promise to stay in touch and will let you know how things go. Take care.
It was such a short note to convey such an important message, but she knew that going on and on about it wouldn’t soften the blow. He’d be concerned about her future, of course—she was concerned about it too. But those worries had to be pushed to the side for now. She had to concentrate on other things.
She looked over at Jed, who had stretched out on the bed and was reading the newspaper. He had an intense expression on his face. “Anything interesting?” she asked.
He glanced up. “Another missing person—a Mr. Vern Benedict. His circumstances sound fairly similar to Mrs. Collins’.” He put down the paper and sat up. “It’s so frustrating, Lucy. The police feel helpless to do much about the situation because it’s so deeply rooted, so in the end, very little gets done. These places are like anthills—they look ordinary from the outside, but then you go in the back room and it’s like entering a tunnel. Nothing is what it seems, no one is who they seem, and you can get pulled in farther and farther until extricating yourself seems impossible.”
He was speaking from personal experience—Lucy was sure of it. “Who did you lose?” she asked quietly.
“My father. But not to opium. He was a drinker, and it was drink that took him to the grave.” He looked at the wall, not at her. “I remember one night when I was about ten. He came home drunk, and my mother asked him about money for food. He slapped her so hard that she went flying across the room and landed against the opposite wall. She had a welt on her face for days. He was a mean, mean man when he was drunk.”
Lucy cringed to think of what that family had been through. “Was he kind at other times?”
“He tried, but in the end, drinking was all that mattered to him. My mother sat me down the day after he died and made me promise that I would never drink. I’d already decided that for myself, but vowing it to her gave it a whole new meaning. And I will never, ever hit my wife—or any other woman. It’s the mark of a coward, and no man worth being called a man would ever do it.” He cleared his throat and turned to face her. “And there you have it. The story behind why Jed doesn’t drink.”
“It’s a very compelling reason, but I wish you hadn’t gone through that experience. And your poor mother—where is she now?”
“Still running our small farm in Colorado about fifty miles outside Denver. She’s at peace now, puttering in her garden and putting up jam. For quite a long time, she’d startle at noises, and she hated thunderstorms. All that was left over from my father.”
“And what about you?” Lucy realized she had no right to be asking about Jed’s personal feelings, but her curiosity wouldn’t be quiet. “Have you found peace?”
“I’m the most peaceful when I’m doing what I can to make the world a better place. I can’t change what my father did to my mother, but I can protect other innocent people. I can find those who need finding.”
Lucy smiled gently, understanding everything he meant to say. He truly meant it when he said he wasn’t going to give up on this case. Almost without realizing what she was doing, she stood up and crossed the room, then placed her hand on his shoulder. “You’re quite a man,” she told him, looking into his eyes. “Thank you for sharing that with me. I know it wasn’t easy.”
He met her gaze, and she felt as though the room shifted. There was something crackling between them, something alive and potent, and it held her there as though she were frozen. For a long minute, they just breathed, and then he blinked. “Is your letter ready?” he asked, his voice a little hoarse.
“Yes.”
“I’ll take it down to the front desk with mine.”
“Thank you.”
She stepped back, the spell broken, but the feelings remaining, and watched him pull on his shoes. Her heart was pounding, and she wondered what had just happened. It was like some sort of magnetic field had been created between them, something that sizzled like a flash of lightning and created fire and ashes and heat.
When Jed left the room, Lucy sank onto the edge of the bed and tried to sort through her tangled thoughts. She was falling for Jed—there was no question about that. He was everything she’d ever wanted, plus a lot of things she hadn’t even realized she wanted. His level of integrity, his sense of humor, his stability—all of it attracted her like she’d never been attracted before. And when he grinned, it lit up his whole face, and she could stare at him for hours. There was layer upon layer of goodness and steadiness to the man, but
he was far from boring. He caught her off guard with his jokes and his banter, and she found herself wanting to spend every minute just talking to him to see what he’d say next.
She closed her eyes and tried to gather herself. All right—she was falling for him. But that didn’t mean she could become distracted. She needed to hold up her end of this partnership and not let him down in any way. They could figure out the relationship later. For now, she’d better lock her emotions away and concentrate. Otherwise, she’d get carried away in his eyes and be the most worthless Pinkerton agent who had ever lived.
Chapter Eleven
Jed steeled himself before returning to the room. He hadn’t meant to show so much vulnerability, but there was something about Lucy that made him want to open up and share the parts of his soul that he kept locked away. Under ordinary circumstances, that would be a good thing, but in this line of work, it was crucial that he maintain some objectivity, and that’s why he needed to segment his emotions from his logic. Having everything all jumbled up could prove dangerous to himself and to his partner, not to mention Mrs. Collins. He and Lucy might have shared a special moment, but it was time to get back to work.
He entered the room and found Lucy sitting at the desk, writing.
“The letters have been posted,” he said. “And I took the liberty of asking for dinner to be brought up. I don’t know about you, but I’m too tired to go anywhere tonight.”
“I appreciate that. Seeing Mr. Collins and hearing his story was quite exhausting.” Lucy motioned toward her sheet of paper. “I’ve been writing down everything we know, as well as some of the questions that came to mind. You were taking notes, but this is for my own mental organization.”
He nodded. That was smart.
“Mr. Collins didn’t say anything to us about contacting the police, although he did mention it in his letter to my father. Should we ask him about it again?”
“Perhaps later,” Jed replied. “I’d like to meet with the police myself, and have requested a clandestine meeting. Once we hear their thoughts, we can talk to Mr. Collins about it directly.”
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