“If you’re wondering if he was with me, the answer is no. He pushed. I pushed back. He told me I was awful high-and-mighty for a common tart. I told him I wasn’t common, and he slapped me.”
Cade looked as if he could bite tenpenny nails in half.
“Then he called me some nasty names and told me just what he wanted to do to me. What he would do to me. Then he left. I was afraid to come home, because I thought he might still be out there somewhere waiting for me, so I stayed with Bonnie until almost daylight.”
“They were talking about not being certain you’d ante up for protection,” Cade told her, looking her square in the eye. “Davies said that if you didn’t pay, you wouldn’t participate. Wilkins said you would pay.”
Seeing the alarm in her eyes, Lilly reached out and covered Erin’s hand with hers. “Don’t worry about it. You’re not really going to open this place up, so it’s immaterial.”
“I don’t think Wilkins makes idle threats,” Cade told them. “Be careful, Erin.”
The gentle warning was not quite an olive branch—more like an olive leaf. At least it was a start.
Erin nodded.
“I’m glad you’re okay,” Lilly said gently.
To her surprise, Erin’s eyes filled with tears. “Yes. Me too. Mr. Paddock was right. That man is evil incarnate, and I will be careful, Cade, I promise.”
Sensing they were both anxious to get away from the personal, Lilly looked from one to the other. “We may not be any closer to finding Nora’s killer, but we’ve certainly stirred things up.”
“Aye,” Cade said. “That we have.”
“And whether he killed Nora or not, we know for a fact that Eli is in the thick of everything,” Erin said, regaining some of her composure. “While I was with Bonnie, I asked her if she knew about Velvet and the marshal’s planning to marry a few years back, and she was shocked. She said she’d see what she could find out.”
“Do you think you can trust her?”
The women looked at Cade as if he’d lost his mind.
“Why would you think we couldn’t?” Lilly asked. “She’s volunteered information to us since we got here. Why question her now?”
“Maybe it’s my natural distrust. I can’t help wondering why she’s helping us. What does she get out of it?”
“I think she has a good heart,” Lilly replied.
Cade rolled his eyes heavenward. “The harlot with the heart of gold?”
“Something like that.”
“Freedom.”
Both Cade and Lilly looked at Erin. “She’s helping us in hopes that when I open this place I’ll hire her. She gets freedom from Velvet and her abuse. I’d squeal on someone for a lot less.”
Cade nodded. “Fine then. That makes sense. It’s just that the corruption here is so deep and far-flung it’s hard to know whom to trust.”
“I agree,” Erin said. “But I do believe Bonnie. She wants out. Bad. She told me that she’s been hearing for years that Davies is partners with the evil twins.”
As unbelievable as it seemed, Cade smiled at her new name for the two madams. “Business partners?”
“Yes.”
“Well,” he said, after thinking on it for a moment, “if it’s true, we know why he looks the other way when they get into trouble. He’s protecting his investment.”
“Did Bonnie have any other bits of gossip to pass on?”
“A couple of things,” Erin said, nodding. “She told me that it’s rumored that Davies has strange sexual inclinations.”
Lilly and Cade looked at each other. Did those “strange inclinations” include children? Was the marshal’s involvement in the illegal activities deeper than they suspected?
“Do you think Bonnie would be more specific if you asked?”
“She might try to find out for us. All she said was that the times she’s been with him, he wanted the regular stuff. She did tell me that she’s almost certain Wilkins set up Nora’s rape. In fact, he was going from place to place talking to all those cowboys who had just got in off the trail.” Erin looked from her brother to Lilly. “So, what’s next?”
“We’re at a standstill,” Lilly said. “We have a lot of theories and many potentially guilty people. What we don’t have is proof, and it seems that everything we find out just muddies the waters more.”
“I think we need to take another hard look at everything,” Cade said. “Lilly, do you have something to write on?”
“Yes. I brought a small tablet.”
“Do you mind getting it? I think we should make a list of all the suspects and the information we have about them and see if we can make any connections.”
“That’s an excellent idea,” she said. “I’ll run up and get it.”
“Bring Nora’s letter to you, too. Maybe we missed something important in it.”
Lilly found the tablet and rummaged around in her reticule for the letter Nora had sent her. She was almost to the stairs when she remembered that she had one of the letters Wilkins had sent to Nora when he was “courting” her by mail. If they were lucky, maybe there would be something useful in it.
Feeling hopeful, she placed the items on the table and sat, ready to take notes of their conversation. She drew a line down the middle of the paper and put Nora on one side and brides/children on the other. On each of four pages, she wrote the names of Davies, Wilkins, and Velvet and Rosalie.
In less than half an hour, they’d listed every bit of information they had on both topics and the four suspects. It helped to see everything in one place, but no one came up with any new theories.
“Let’s look at her letter,” Cade said. “Erin hasn’t heard what’s in it.”
Lilly handed the note to his sister, and when she finished reading it, she said, “I’m assuming Monty is the friend who helped her.”
Cade nodded. “He told Lilly that he’s the one who found the children when Wilkins had them moved, and he was the one who helped Nora get them out of town.”
“That makes sense,” Erin agreed.
Lilly read the missive aloud, and then they each looked it over carefully to see if anything stood out with closer scrutiny. Nothing new occurred to them, and she laid the correspondence aside.
“What’s the other letter?” Cade asked, indicating the envelope lying on the table.
“A letter Wilkins wrote when he was courting Nora,” Lilly said, removing it from the envelope.
“How on earth did you wind up with it?” Erin asked.
“Pure accident. The night we had dinner together, she was so excited about her new romance and going to Texas that she insisted on reading parts of his letters to me. She was in love with the idea of open spaces and cattle grazing and having her own home.
“She left the restaurant before I did, because her troupe was leaving the next morning on the first train out. I’d had such a lovely time that I decided to have another coffee and think about how wonderful it had been to see a familiar face.
“When I went to pay my bill, I heard a waiter hurrying after me. He was waving something in his hand. It was one of the letters. She must have dropped it as she was putting them in her reticule. I had no way to give it back, and for some reason I couldn’t bring myself to part with it.”
“Hopefully, there’s something useful in it,” Cade said.
Lilly unfolded the plain white paper and smoothed the pages flat. “Shall I read it aloud?”
“That’s fine.”
Lilly’s gaze dropped to the pages spread out before her. “‘Dear Nora,’” she read, “‘It was so good to get your letter. I can’t wait for you to . . .’”
Her voice trailed away, and she scanned the written pages.
“What’s the matter?” Cade asked.
Without answering, Lilly picked up the letter from Nora and looked from one to the other. She shook her head and then placed both letters on the table.
“Lilly . . . what is it?”
She lifted her stunned
gaze to his. “The writing is identical. These letters were written by the same person.”
CHAPTER 21
“The same person?” Cade scoffed. “That’s impossible. One is to Nora, the other is from her.”
She pushed the letters toward him. “Look for yourself.”
Cade examined the pages with care. Then he handed them to Erin and stood. “This calls for a stiff drink. Since that’s impossible, I need more coffee. Anyone else?”
Both Lilly and Erin held their cups aloft.
When he returned a few moments later carrying the blue spatterware pot, he said, “Erin? What do you think?”
“As impossible as it may be, it looks the same to me.”
The trio sat in silence, thinking about this new discovery.
“Just so I’m clear,” Cade’s sister said after a while, “are we thinking that Wilkins wrote the letters to Nora, as well as the one to Lilly, asking her for help to get away and catch the offenders?”
“That’s how it looks.”
“But that’s impossible, isn’t it?”
Lilly looked at Cade. “What do you think, McShane?”
“I’m not sure what I think,” he confessed. “Let’s say he is the culprit. Why would he write the letter we assumed was from Nora to you? Why ask that you come to Texas to help her?”
“Well,” Erin said after a few moments of hard thinking, “maybe Nora talked to him about Lilly, and he was hoping to get her out here, too.”
“Hm,” Cade said. “An interesting concept.”
Lilly’s thoughts were running rampant; she was replaying old questions, thinking about conversations, considering everything in a new light. Something important was just beyond reach.
“If that’s the case, he knew somehow that she worked for the Pinkertons,” Cade ventured, “because the letters were sent there.”
“True, but if they talked about Lilly, Nora probably told him her friend was a Pinkerton,” Erin offered.
“Yes,” Cade agreed, “but why risk bringing the most powerful law enforcement agency in the country down on your head? It doesn’t make sense.”
“Excellent point,” Erin said. “I’m all out of theories. So, if Wilkins didn’t write the letter, who did? It’s someone who knows how to write well.”
“Monty.”
It was the first time Lilly had spoken in several seconds, and the conviction in her voice couldn’t be ignored.
“What?” Cade and Erin said together.
“Monty wrote both letters.”
“But he’s . . . slow to say the least,” Erin said.
“Is he? Or is he a better actor than anyone thinks?”
Cade regarded her with a thoughtful expression. “Go on. Back up your theory.”
“All right. I’ll try.” Lilly turned to Erin. “Do you remember when we spoke with Mr. Paddock about a sign, and he suggested Monty?”
Her eyes brightened. “Yes.”
“Mr. Paddock said that Monty could copy any script and showed us an advertisement he’d been working on. Something about it nagged at me, but I didn’t know what it was until today. Subconsciously, my brain connected it with Nora’s letter, but I didn’t know then where I’d seen the writing before. And now, we see that the letter we assumed she’d written to me was written by the same person who wrote Wilkins’s letters to her.”
Confusion was written all over Cade’s face. “Are you saying that Monty—not Wilkins—is behind the mail-order bride scheme?”
Lilly laughed. “I don’t know what I’m saying, but my gut says the same person wrote both of those letters. And I think both of you think the same thing. I believe that person is Monty.”
Erin nodded. “If he’s acting, he’s very good. And why pretend to be mentally lacking if you aren’t?”
“I haven’t a clue,” Lilly said.
Cade rubbed his palms together. “Okay, ladies, let’s look at this from a different angle. What if Monty wrote the letters for someone else, someone who couldn’t write, maybe? Like Rosalie or Velvet or even Wilkins.”
“Oh, I like that!” Lilly said with a wide smile. “Wilkins is crafty enough to put the plan together, but he doesn’t have what it takes to execute it.”
“Exactly. So, he gets Monty to write the letters for him. Let’s suppose that Monty doesn’t understand what he’s doing. He writes what Wilkins tells him to, picks up a little money, and all is well. Until Nora. She’s different. Maybe she helped open Monty’s eyes to what Wilkins was doing.”
“That makes sense,” Lilly said. “We know she spent a lot of time trying to be a good influence. . . .”
“Which got her fired and beaten and raped,” Cade reminded them.
Lilly began to understand where he was headed with his theory. She nodded in sudden understanding. “And she nearly died from it all.”
“And she reached out for help from her sickbed, so to speak.”
Erin caught up admirably fast. “But she was in such bad shape that she couldn’t write, so she had Monty write what she told him.” Erin rounded out the speculation for them. She looked very proud of herself.
Cade and Lilly looked at each other and smiled. Finally, something was beginning to make sense.
“I suppose the next thing we do is try to find Monty and see if we’re right,” Lilly said.
“That might be easier said than done.”
Just then, a timid knock sounded at the kitchen door. Cade jumped up to answer it. When he came back, Monty trailed behind him.
He looked troubled, nervous.
“I thought you might like to know they found that girl that went missing.”
“Thank God!” Lilly breathed.
“She’s in real bad shape, though.” He swallowed hard. “Reminded me of Nora after she got so beat up.”
“You’ve seen the girl?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Was she able to say who it was, or describe the man?” Cade asked.
“She was trying to tell the marshal what he looked like, and they wanted to see if I could draw a picture of him, but Doc had given her so much morphine she didn’t make no sense at all. I don’t expect she’s long fer this world, poor thing.”
“Sit down, Monty,” Cade said. “We’d like to ask you a couple of questions.”
His forehead puckered into a frown, and he looked from one to the other. “Am I in trouble?”
Lilly reached out and touched his arm. “No, Monty. We only want to ask you some things about when Nora was hurt . . . before she died.”
“Oh. Okay, then.” He took a seat next to Lilly.
“After those men did those things to her, and you were helping her get better, did she ask you to write a letter for her?”
“Sure did,” he said, nodding. “She wanted me to write a letter to you.” Pride shone in his eyes. “They’d broke her writin’ hand, and she wanted to let you know she was hurt and all, so I wrote it and even took it to the mail.”
“I thought you told me you couldn’t read, Monty,” Lilly said. “And to my knowledge, if you can’t read, you can’t write.”
“No, ma’am,” he said. “I never did say I couldn’t read. I said I had no use fer it. That’s ’cause I don’t do it very good. I can draw, though, and I can write better’n most people in town. It’s just a talent I got,” he told them proudly.
“Yes,” Lilly said. “It is definitely a talent.”
“What about Wilkins?” Cade asked. “Can he write?”
“Eli?” Monty laughed. “He don’t read nor write a lick, but I’m the one who’s ‘slow.’ ”
“Did you ever write any letters for him?” Cade asked.
“All the time,” Monty confessed. “Every time he gets a letter back from one of those gals he writes to, he pays me to write an answer. I make out pretty good from that.”
“He’s still doing it?” Erin asked.
“Yes, sir. I wrote a letter to an Emily a couple of weeks ago.”
“Swine,” Erin m
uttered beneath her breath.
Lilly arched an eyebrow at her. “Does this mean you won’t be having lunch with Mr. Wilkins anymore?”
“It does. It also means that I’m rethinking another offer that was made to me recently, if it’s still open.”
“A new lover?” Cade quipped, even though Lilly’s eyes were shooting daggers at him.
“In a manner of speaking.”
“So,” Lilly asked, looking from Erin to Cade. “What are our plans for today?”
“I’m staying close to home,” Erin said. “And then, whenever I do go out, I’m going to avail myself of my brother’s bodyguard abilities.”
“I think that’s an excellent idea,” Lilly told her. “Monty? Will you be okay for a few more days?”
“I’m real careful, Miss Lilly. I’ll be fine, but I’d best be goin’ now.”
* * *
That afternoon, Lilly decided to pay a return visit to the newspaper office and see if Mr. Paddock had any further information about the marshal and Velvet planning to marry at some time in the past. Erin stayed at the saloon. Between Paddock’s warning, what she’d been told about Wilkins’s threat, and her own altercation with him the night before she was properly frightened.
When Lilly arrived, the newspaper editor was bringing a roll of newsprint from a back room to the press.
“Hello, Miss Long,” he said, wiping his hands on his ink-stained apron and then extending one in greeting. “It’s good to see you again.”
“Thank you, Mr. Paddock.”
“What can I do for you?”
“As you know, Miss O’Toole is planning to reopen The Thirsty Traveler, but she is a peace-loving woman and is accustomed to running an honest establishment.”
Seeing his skepticism, she smiled. “I know that’s a hard concept to believe in this neighborhood. She has genuine concerns.”
Paddock nodded.
“It seems that every day we’re here, she hears of some new criminal enterprise, or of other heinous happenings.”
“It’s true that there is always something afoot.”
“Well, Miss O’Toole finds it quite disturbing.” Lilly pasted a look of horror on her face. “Just this morning she was told that the marshal has business dealings with at least two of the madams in town, and that they get preferential treatment. She has also heard that he once had a very serious relationship with Velvet Hook and that they had once planned to marry. I’m sure you understand that she’s afraid of getting treated unfairly by Marshal Davies, if all these things are true.”
Murder Will Speak Page 18