City of Secrets

by Victoria Thompson

  If he really wanted to impress Elizabeth, he needed to get true justice for Priscilla and stop Peter and Daisy from ever harming anyone else again. He wasn’t sure he could actually do all that, but he was certainly going to try.

  * * *

  • • •

  THE NEXT MORNING, DAISY AND PETER MET FRANKLIN AND ROSS at Knight’s house. Daisy was annoyed that Franklin had once again worn a suit with a slightly less-than-conservative pattern. Was he serious about opening his business in an upper-class neighborhood? If so, then he’d have to learn how to dress so he wouldn’t draw attention to himself. Or else never show himself at all. She’d be sure to speak to him about it once the deal was made.

  Using the key Matthew had delivered to her last night, she opened the front door. The place smelled dusty and musty, the way empty houses always smelled, and it was bone-chillingly cold. They hadn’t used it since the last time they’d met Knight here for a session. He’d been such a fool, but she supposed sensible men didn’t allow themselves to be photographed in compromising positions.

  “What do you think?” Peter asked Franklin with the false heartiness he used when he was nervous.

  “The neighborhood is just what I was looking for. I’ve had great success in Chicago with my place in Hyde Park, although you do have to be careful with the neighbors.”

  “I’m sure you do,” Peter said, although he had no idea what it took to run a successful house.

  “What precautions do you take?” Daisy asked. “Besides the usual ones, I mean.”

  “You mean besides paying off the police and the politicians?” Franklin asked with a knowing grin. “We make sure no one gets in without a referral. That keeps out the riffraff, so the neighbors don’t have any reason for complaint.”

  “Do the neighbors know what’s going on?” Peter asked with a frown.

  “Some do. Most, I have learned, prefer not to notice, if you know what I mean. They refer to it as a gentleman’s club or some such.”

  “Nobody wants a whorehouse on their street,” Ross said, earning a chastening glare from Franklin. Ross merely shrugged, unrepentant.

  So much for chitchat. “Most of the furniture will have to be replaced, of course,” she said, leading the men into the front parlor. “It’s not nearly flashy enough.”

  “Just tell me what you want, and I’ll take care of ordering it,” Franklin said. “Brass beds, I assume?”

  “With feather mattresses,” Daisy confirmed. She led them through the rest of the house. Franklin occasionally pulled up the edge of one of the furniture covers to see what was underneath and frowned. None of the furniture seemed to meet with his approval.

  Upstairs they determined the bedrooms would need to be divided. She claimed the master bedroom with its adjoining bath for herself.

  “And what about you, Honesdale?” Franklin asked with a sly grin. “Will you live here, too?”

  “Hardly, although I’ll visit,” he added with a sly grin of his own.

  “Will you need any special equipment?” Franklin asked. “I have a man who makes mine for me. He can ship whatever you need.”

  “I already have what I’ll need to start,” she said.

  Franklin raised one eyebrow. “Do you keep it at the parsonage?”

  “Don’t be silly. The servants would see it. No, it’s in the attic for now.”

  “May I take a look?” Franklin asked. “Professional interest only,” he added.

  Peter took him and Ross up because Daisy didn’t want to hear what the men would have to say. Men could be so tiresome, thinking their crude observations could somehow stimulate her to bed them.

  She waited on the first floor for them, ready to leave now that the tour was over.

  “May I compliment you on your creativity, Mrs. Honesdale?” Franklin said as he came down the stairs to find her in the foyer. “I find myself more and more pleased that Ross here found the wrong Honesdales.”

  She smiled graciously. “Thank you, Mr. Franklin. It’s nice to see one’s work appreciated.”

  “I’m sure your clients will appreciate it, although I’m afraid we may have to increase the amount of money allotted to bribes once word gets out.”

  Daisy wasn’t worried. She’d make sure those bribes came out of Franklin’s share.

  * * *

  • • •

  “HOW DID IT GO WITH DAISY WHEN YOU DROPPED OFF THE key?” Gideon asked Matthew Honesdale when he had been escorted into Gideon’s office. Even though it was Saturday, Matthew had been only too happy to hear what Gideon had to propose.

  “She was glad to get the key so quickly, and she wants me to sign over the mortgage as soon as I can.”

  “You won’t be able to see an attorney until Monday, but that should be soon enough.”

  “Can you do the transfer for us?”

  “They would probably be suspicious if I did. I’ll have one of my partners help you with it. Be sure to get the money in cash.”

  “That’s a lot of cash.”

  “Use a bodyguard. I’m guessing they keep the money in the parsonage, though. They wouldn’t want some banker asking awkward questions about where they got so much cash on a minister’s salary.”

  “I don’t suppose they would.” Honesdale stared at him across the expanse of his desk for a long moment. “All right, you’ve got a plan. Out with it.”

  “What makes you think I’ve got a plan?”

  “You’ve changed since yesterday. All that talk about not being able to tell me, that was guff. You didn’t know the plan then any more than I did, did you?”

  “I knew some of it.”

  Honesdale gave him a pitying look. “That Miss Miles is an interesting woman.”

  “She’s my fiancée.” It wasn’t a lie. Gideon still had every intention of marrying her. In the meantime, he didn’t want Matthew Honesdale getting any ideas about her.

  “You’re a lucky man, although she’ll lead you a merry chase, mark my words.” She already had, but he wasn’t going to admit it to Honesdale. “Now, tell me what the two of you have cooked up since yesterday.”

  “It will require your cooperation,” Gideon said, although the words wanted to stick in his throat. He hated everything about Matthew Honesdale, but in this case, he was the lesser of two evils. Gideon would have to dance with this devil if he hoped to defeat a worse one.

  “I already said I’ll help, and don’t forget I have good reason.”

  “And I can give you an even better one. We think Peter and Daisy have committed murder.”

  Now he had Honesdale’s complete attention. “Murder? Who did they kill? And don’t tell me Peter did it, because I’ll know you’re lying.”

  “He probably did do it, just because it would have been too difficult for a woman, but he had help.” Gideon quickly explained how DeForrest Jenks had died and what part Peter and Endicott Knight had played.

  Honesdale gave a low whistle. “Daisy came up with that plan. Peter could never have thought of something that complicated.”

  “Unfortunately, we can’t prove any of this unless one of them confesses, and that doesn’t seem very likely. But the reason I told you all this is because if you get involved, they may decide to kill you, too.”

  For some reason, this seemed to please him immensely. “You have indeed given me an even better reason to assist you in your endeavors, Mr. Bates. If I had a conscience, it would be completely salved now. Since I don’t, I have an excuse I can use if I ever need one.”

  Gideon wasn’t quite sure what to make of Matthew Honesdale’s exuberance, but he said, “As you know, Miss Miles and her agents have a plan to trick Reverend and Mrs. Honesdale into returning the money they took from you and Mrs. Knight. The real Mrs. Knight, that is, who—I assure you—is more than worthy of our efforts on her behalf.”

  “I don�
��t particularly care if she is or not, Bates, but go on.”

  “That plan will not punish them in any meaningful way, however, or ensure they won’t try to blackmail some other poor soul in the future.”

  “I always assume that anyone who did something worthy of being blackmailed for isn’t particularly deserving of my pity, but I am very interested in punishing Daisy and Peter, if only for the annoyance they have caused me.”

  “Then you should appreciate my plan.” Gideon outlined it for him.

  When he was finished, Honesdale sat back in his chair and smiled with satisfaction. “A good start, and it will totally humiliate them, but you’ve still left Peter and Daisy free to wreak whatever havoc their devious little minds can contrive in the future. If you’ll allow me, I’d like to make a suggestion that will completely satisfy me, and probably you as well. May I?”

  “Certainly,” Gideon said and leaned back in his own chair as Honesdale explained his suggestion.

  When he was finished, Gideon was smiling just as broadly as Honesdale.

  * * *

  • • •

  “I HOPE YOU AREN’T INSULTED WHEN I SAY I DON’T COMPLETELY trust you, Mrs. Honesdale,” Franklin said. They’d returned to the parsonage after touring Knight’s house, and they had enjoyed lunch before sending the servants out so they could complete their negotiations. Now they were seated in the parlor.

  “And we do not completely trust you, either, Mr. Franklin,” Daisy said. “We are, after all, still strangers to each other.”

  “And yet we will be partners, so how will we manage to do business together?”

  Daisy smiled sweetly. “Very carefully.”

  “Exactly, which is why I have come up with a plan for combining our financial contributions and ensuring that neither of us can cheat the other.”

  Daisy exchanged a glance with Peter, who seemed as intrigued as she. “Do tell us, Mr. Franklin.”

  “I have rented a safe-deposit box at the Safe Deposit Company of New York. I chose that company because it is the oldest one in the city and you know it is reliable.”

  Daisy nodded, although she had never heard of the company. She had little use for such a thing as a safe-deposit box.

  Peter said, “My father uses them.” As if that were important.

  “Good. I propose that we each put our fifty-thousand-dollar contribution into the safe-deposit box. Each time we have an expense, we will both go to the box and withdraw the necessary amount to pay that expense. That way we will both know only that amount is being withdrawn.”

  “But what is to stop you . . . or me for that matter . . . from going to the box alone and withdrawing all the cash?” Daisy asked.

  Franklin smiled his charming smile. “I’m crushed that you would suspect me of such a thing, Mrs. Honesdale,” he chided with amusement, “but I was also going to propose that we give the key to a third party, someone we can both trust, and who has been instructed not to give access to the box unless both parties are present.”

  “Where on earth would we find such a trustworthy person?” she asked.

  Franklin shrugged. “I am new to the city, so I thought perhaps you could suggest someone. It would have to be someone so painfully honest and incorruptible that he would never dream of violating his instructions.” He turned to Peter. “You’re a minister. Surely, you know such an individual.”

  Peter’s forehead wrinkled with the effort, but after a moment, he brightened. “Gideon Bates.”

  Daisy inwardly cringed.

  “Who is this Bates?” Franklin asked.

  “He’s an attorney,” Peter said.

  Franklin frowned. “In my experience, attorneys are not particularly trustworthy.”

  “This one is,” Peter assured him. “He’s from one of the old Knickerbocker families, and he’s the biggest Goody-Two-shoes you’d ever want to meet.”

  “What kind of attorney is he?”

  “Estates, mostly. People have to trust you when you do that work, and they all rave about how Gideon always makes sure their interests are protected.”

  “Mrs. Honesdale, what do you think?” Franklin asked.

  How nice to be asked her opinion. “He is certainly painfully honest—disgustingly so, in fact—but won’t he also be suspicious? He’ll at least wonder what we’re doing.”

  “What if he does?” Franklin said. “And quite frankly, everyone will know soon enough. Meanwhile, he must maintain our confidentiality, but actually, we won’t have to tell him anything at all. He’ll have no idea what we’re putting into the box or taking out, and we’ll pay him a handsome fee for his trouble. I’ve found that usually satisfies even the most curious.”

  “And you’re willing to accept our choice of . . . ? What shall we call him?” Daisy asked.

  “Holder of the key? I’ll have to meet him, of course, but if I’m impressed, then yes, he can hold the key to the box.”

  “How soon can you have your half of the money ready?” Daisy asked, already planning how she would outsmart Gideon Bates.

  “I transferred some of my funds to a bank here in the city. I can withdraw the fifty thousand on Monday and meet you at the Safe Deposit Company. Will you be able to access your funds by then as well?”

  “Oh yes,” Daisy said, thinking of the safe in Peter’s study, where they kept the cash. “Monday will be just fine.”

  “But what about Gideon? He’ll have to be there, too, won’t he?” Peter said.

  “Yes, he will,” Daisy said. “You will see him tomorrow at church. Ask him then.”

  “Shall we say one o’clock on Monday, then? Unless Mr. Bates has a conflict?” Franklin asked.

  * * *

  • • •

  “I’M EXPECTING A VISITOR LATER THIS AFTERNOON,” GIDEON TOLD his mother when they had retired to the parlor after Sunday dinner.

  “Not Elizabeth, I assume,” she said. She still blamed him because Elizabeth hadn’t been at church that morning.

  He tried a smile, although he suspected it didn’t make him look especially happy. “I don’t expect we’ll see Elizabeth for a while yet.”

  “Really, Gideon, all you have to do is apologize to her.”

  “If you believe that, you don’t know Elizabeth at all, Mother.”

  “It would at least be a start.”

  “Don’t worry. I’m . . . Well, I have a plan for winning her back.”

  “Winning? Is that what you think it will take? And if you win, does that mean she loses?”

  “Maybe that was a poor choice of words.”

  “I hope so. Now, tell me about your plan.”

  Before he could figure out how to refuse to explain, they heard the doorbell ring. Gideon managed not to sigh in relief even while his pulse soared. He’d been hoping for this.

  “Is that your visitor?” she asked.

  “I don’t think so. He wasn’t coming until later.” No, this would be a much more welcome guest.

  They waited for the maid, who stepped in to announce that Mr. Miles had come to call. This was not the Miles Gideon had been hoping to see. They both rose to greet him, although Gideon’s mother was much happier to see him than Gideon was.

  “Mr. Miles, what a pleasant surprise,” she said, offering her hand.

  To Gideon’s dismay, he kissed it. “You are looking very well, Mrs. Bates. What a lovely gown.”

  “Thank you, Mr. Miles.” Dear heaven, was she blushing?

  Gideon stepped forward and offered his own hand, so Miles had to release his mother’s. “To what do we owe this honor?” he asked grimly as Miles shook his hand.

  Miles seemed not to notice Gideon’s lack of enthusiasm. “I need to speak with you on a small matter, Gideon. Lizzie said she had promised to keep you informed.”

  “And she sent you in her stead?” he asked, tryin
g not to show his crushing disappointment.

  “Oh no, not at all,” he assured Gideon heartily. “I am the one who needs your assistance, so it was easier for me to come in person to explain.”

  Gideon didn’t believe him for a moment, but he said, “All right. Won’t you have a seat?”

  “And I’ll leave you gentlemen to your business,” Mrs. Bates said.

  “This won’t take long,” Miles said, bestowing upon her his most charming smile. “Then perhaps you’ll rejoin us.”

  This seemed to please his mother far more than Gideon thought appropriate. Gideon pretended not to notice, though, and saw Miles settled and served him a drink. He even took one for himself, figuring he would need it to deal with whatever Miles wanted.

  “You said you need my assistance,” Gideon prompted when they were both seated again.

  “Yes. Lizzie said you know the plan.”

  “She explained it to me, yes, and this morning at church Reverend Honesdale asked me to meet him at the Safe Deposit Company tomorrow at one o’clock. I’m assuming this has something to do with your plan.”

  “Yes, it does. We have convinced the Honesdales to place their share of the, uh, investment in a safe-deposit box along with my share. We will withdraw funds from it jointly as our expenses arise.”

  That didn’t sound like a very good plan. “What’s to stop Daisy and Peter from just taking all the money out and disappearing?”

  “If they did, they’d just be stealing their own money.”

  “But you said you were putting your own share in as well.”

  “Oh no. We’re just using boodle.”

  “Boodle?”

  “That’s what we call it. We use stacks of paper cut in the size of a greenback. Then we put a real twenty-dollar bill on the top and bottom and band them the way banks do.”