“So the fingerprints will prove that Jayce wasn’t the one on the train,” Leah stated, her voice sounding quite excited.
“That is my hope,” Helaina said honestly. “I’ve had a hard time convincing my brother to send a courier with the file, but I believe he is finally willing to do this.”
“You cannot just hold this man against his will in the meantime,” Carlson said. “You do realize I could have you before a judge on this matter.”
Helaina swallowed hard. This whole case had caused her nothing but problems from the beginning, and now it threatened to cause her grief with the law. The law that she so thoroughly respected. “I suppose I do, but I hope you will also see the problem in my turning Mr. Kincaid over to the police. If I do that, the Pinkerton men my brother sent here will simply take him into custody and put him on the first train back to the Capitol. He won’t have a chance to prove his case before they throw him into jail to await a trail. I had hoped to have the proof needed, by obtaining the print files, prior to acting further on this matter.”
“But why, Mrs. Beecham? If you had a job to do, why did you delay in doing it?”
“Yes, please tell us about that, Helaina,” Jacob said rather snidely. “You were trying to find ways to force Jayce back to Seattle from the first day we met you.”
She grew uncomfortable under his scrutiny. “It is true that I had a job to do. I thought the evidence against Jayce Kincaid was strong enough to prove his guilt. But that changed. Other things came to light . . . situations developed that I couldn’t just ignore.”
“For example?” Carlson asked.
Helaina thought back to all that had transpired and began to list off the events that gave her cause to doubt. “I suppose it all culminated for me when I read a letter to Jacob from the captain of the Homestead.” She glanced briefly at Jacob. “He mentioned how helpful Jayce had been on their short-lived expedition north. I knew Jayce was in Ketchikan with Leah. But, at the same time, here was a reputable man praising Mr. Kincaid’s help with the dogs in the Arctic. I knew something had to be wrong.”
“You must release this man until you have solid proof that allows you to arrest him. You cannot expect to keep him locked here in this hotel like some sort of animal.”
“But if I release him, he will probably escape,” Helaina replied. She was already convinced for herself that Jayce was innocent. But she had to, for the sake of Stanley’s reputation and her own, prove that the fingerprints were not a match. “If Jayce leaves before I can check his fingerprints against the recorded prints, I will face serious problems.”
“I won’t leave, Helaina. I want to be proven innocent. As much as you want to know the truth, I want it more,” Jayce said, his expression quite serious. “I have no reason to flee. I know what those prints will tell you.”
“I don’t know what should be done,” Helaina finally admitted. “The file won’t arrive by courier for a week or more.”
“I have a suggestion,” the redheaded man spoke up. He smiled at Helaina. “I’m Timothy Rogers, the private investigator who helped the Barringers—actually we’re family.” He turned and smiled at Leah. This caused her to nod.
“Anyway, I have a suggestion that might help all parties concerned. I can see that Mrs. Beecham has actually, out of the goodness of her heart, not imposed jail or the possibility of being sent east on Mr. Kincaid. She is trying to learn the truth in the hopes of knowing one way or the other if Jayce Kincaid was responsible for the deaths of other people. This is a critical issue. We cannot expect her to simply feel at ease in setting a possible killer free.”
“Granted, Mr. Rogers, but there are laws to abide by. The law makes it very clear how these things are to be handled,” Carlson said.
“And the law is the law,” Jacob muttered, staring at Helaina with an unyielding gaze.
“That aside,” Timothy continued, “I believe I have a solution. Since this should take no more than a week or two, I would like to offer my home. I have a large house with plenty of space for everyone. There is no Mrs. Rogers to be put off by my bringing home unplanned house guests, although my housekeeper might fret a bit.”
“That is a very generous offer, Mr. Rogers,” Helaina said. “But I’m not sure how that solves the situation.”
“My thought, Mrs. Beecham, is that with everyone under the same roof, all parties may find the situation more agreeable. Mr. Kincaid will feel less like a prisoner. He has given his word that he has no plans to flee and desires the same thing you do. The Barringers are obviously interested in helping see Mr. Kincaid set free, so they are not planning to go until this thing is settled. And for you, the benefit would not only be peace of mind, but less strain on your budget. This hotel is quite expensive and my house is free.”
“What say you, Mr. Kincaid? Would this meet with your approval?” Carlson asked.
“I would be willing to stay with Mr. Rogers. I’m even willing, for the sake of giving Mrs. Beecham peace of mind, to remain on the grounds until the proof is delivered and I am absolved of these charges. It would be my act of good faith, in return for hers.”
Helaina knew they were all waiting for her to answer. “I suppose,” she said after giving it only a moment of thought, “that this would be a better solution.”
“Very well,” Magnus Carlson said, getting to his feet. “Let us move our affairs to Mr. Rogers’ house.”
Helaina saw the others nod in agreement. All seemed pleased with the outcome—except Jacob. He continued to look at her as though she had been responsible for killing the agents herself. His contempt was evident, and for reasons that completely eluded Helaina, it very nearly broke her heart.
————
“But I think she’s genuinely sorry for the things she’s done,” Leah protested.
Jacob had refused to hear a single argument in favor of Helaina. “I don’t care how sorry she is—look at how she’s treated everyone. Look at what she’s done to cause problems for you and Jayce. Doesn’t that bother you in the least?”
Leah looked at him and nodded. “It bothered me at first. You know how I worried about what she was up to—only I figured it to be some romantic notion. It never even occurred to me that she could be some kind of bounty hunter. But, Jacob, you can’t just hold a grudge against her. It will hurt you more than it will her.”
Jacob crossed his arms and shook his head. “I don’t want to deal with her at all—ever again. Let her get her proof and then get out of our lives.”
“But she needs your forgiveness.”
He jumped up from the chair at this. “Hmph. She’s never done anything to deserve it.”
Leah laughed. “Jacob Barringer, listen to yourself. Since when do we offer forgiveness because someone deserves it?”
Jacob remembered the conversation he’d had with Helaina where he’d told her no one deserved forgiveness. He was trying to teach her about mercy, and now that she’d actually practiced a little of it, he was willing to condemn her without hearing another word.
“Just go talk to her,” Leah said, coming to his side. “You more than anyone knows what it is to be shown mercy. Helaina merely wanted to capture the man who so brutally wounded her brother. She had the evidence and word of the Pinkertons, and she was doing an honorable job. We cannot hold that against her.”
Jacob knew Leah was right, but it was hard to admit it. “I suppose I can hear her out, but I have no desire to be her friend.”
“I don’t see any reason why you have to be her friend,” Leah countered. “But you have the power to give her peace of mind, to show her real mercy . . . the very thing you’ve desired for her to learn.”
He felt a sense of calm wash over himself as he made up his mind to seek Helaina out. “I’ll talk to her. I can’t promise anything more.”
“Then I’ll pray for you, Jacob.” Leah reached out and touched her brother’s face. “Just as you prayed for me.”
Deciding it was best to get the matter over with, Jaco
b headed to the door. “You’d better pray hard, then. I have a feeling I’m going to need extra help with this one.”
————
Helaina sat reading quietly in the front parlor when she heard someone clear his throat from the doorway. Looking up, she saw Jacob. Her heart picked up pace a bit as she closed her book. “Yes?”
He seemed uneasy. “I came here to . . . well . . . I want to be fair and hear you out.”
Helaina felt hope surge within. “Truly?”
He walked into the room in a rather aloof manner. “I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t intend to hear what you have to say.”
She’d tried so hard to talk to him prior to this that for a moment Helaina thought she might be dreaming. She suddenly felt very guarded. “I suppose you should sit down. Confession sometimes takes a while,” she said with the slightest hint of a smile.
Jacob did as she suggested, sitting on the edge of the green brocade chair opposite her. “I’m sitting.”
She nodded. “Well, you know from our conversation at the hotel that I came into this case at the request of my brother. It seemed every time one of the Pinkerton men got close to Kincaid, he either ran or hurt someone. It was decided that Kincaid would never suspect a woman. I was encouraged to use whatever means necessary to get Jayce into a position where agents could come in and arrest him and take him into custody.
“There were eyewitness accounts and descriptions of the man who was a thief and a murderer. The proof seemed very solid, Jacob, or my brother would never have sent me.”
“But the proof was wrong. There were other issues to consider.”
“Yes, issues that no one had any idea existed. Who would ever suspect an identical twin?” she asked. “There was no information or background on who this man really was or where he was from. When I heard Jayce’s story on the way to Seattle, everything finally made sense. You see, I had written to the exploration association in Vancouver, and they had confirmed Jayce’s employment during the same time he was supposedly committing crimes on the east coast. It didn’t make sense at the time, so I continued to dig.
“When I read the letter from Captain Latimore—the one I opened in your absence . . .”
“How could I forget?” His tone was still very guarded and edged with anger.
“As I said, when I read the captain’s praises for Jayce Kincaid’s help with the dogs, nothing made sense. I knew he wasn’t on that expedition—well, at first I thought he might have figured out who I was and that he had given me the slip. But when I knew for a fact that Jayce was with Leah in Ketchikan, it changed everything. I knew that he couldn’t be two places at the same time. I even wrote to my brother to suggest that something was wrong and that perhaps we needed to look into whether or not Jayce had a family member who was using his name—taking his identity.”
“So why did you take Jayce from Sitka? If you were confident that you had the wrong man, why bring him here?”
She frowned. How could she hope to make him understand her turmoil? She wanted only to see justice served and Stanley’s reputation restored. She wanted a killer behind bars, but she also wanted to make certain the man she put there was truly the right one.
“I know you have no reason to believe me. I did lie to you before, and for that I am sorry and hope you . . . well . . . that you . . . might . . . forgive me,” Helaina stammered. She hurried on. “But I also need for you to understand that my brother was firm on what I was to do. He wanted Jayce brought to Seattle, and I didn’t want to let him down. He’s all I have left.”
“Why didn’t you just tell us that? Why all the sneaking around and secrecy?”
“Because Jayce is your friend. You wouldn’t have believed me,” Helaina said, getting rather angry. “I did my job, and at first I really didn’t care what anyone else thought.”
“At first?”
Helaina nodded and tried to restrain her emotions. “I honestly didn’t care about your feelings or anyone else’s when I first came to Nome. I was already unhappy because I’d lost the opportunity to capture Jayce in Seattle. But now . . . now I see how this wild chase has come about solely to teach me several things.”
“What sort of things?”
She tried to figure out how best to word it. The last thing she needed was for Jacob to believe she was merely trying to sell him a bill of goods. She wanted—needed—him to believe her.
“You started talking about your faith, about your trust in God. You started telling me—showing me—about mercy and compassion. These were things I definitely didn’t understand. I’m not sure I understand them even now. After all, the balance seems at odds to me. I’m breaking the law and disappointing my brother by not just taking Jayce to the Pinkerton agents and turning him over. I deserve to face the consequences for my actions, but at the same time, I want to make certain Jayce is really the guilty party before sending him off to my brother. I suppose you would say that is mercy. For me, however, it’s this battle of duties and beliefs that I’ve never had to face before now.”
Jacob seemed to relax and his expression softened. “Sometimes it’s hard to understand how the balance works. Everyone struggles.”
“Even you?” she asked with a bit of an awkward laugh. “You seem to have it all under control.”
“I’m struggling now,” Jacob said softly. “I’m fighting my own war right this minute—with you.”
She cocked her head to the side. “How so?”
“I know you want my forgiveness, but frankly, Helaina, I don’t want to give it. I don’t want to extend mercy to you. Why? Because you have hurt me—hurt my friends and loved ones. However, I know what the Bible says about forgiveness and about my part in practicing such a thing. And even though you don’t believe in following the Bible’s teachings, I do. Therefore the responsibility comes back on my shoulders.”
“I’m not saying that you don’t have a right to be angry, Jacob. Because I truly believe you are entitled to that. I did lie. It was wrong, and yet I justified it as being necessary because of my job. Just know that my intention was not to hurt you.”
“But whether that was your intention or not—it happened nevertheless.”
“I know.” She looked away, feeling so uncertain of what she was about to say. “You’ve taught me to look at life differently, Jacob. I still don’t know what to believe or not believe about God, but on the issue of mercy, I have to admit to having a new perspective. I know you cannot begin to appreciate the ramifications of this, but it has changed my entire life. A few months back I would never have questioned Jayce’s guilt. In fact, his innocence or guilt would simply have been the responsibility of someone else—not me. And if that truth wasn’t proven, I was still able to distance myself and not care whether the outcome was good or bad. I had done my job. Now, however, I find myself questioning everything. I tell myself, despite the complications, I cannot send an innocent man to his death. I know that no one else cares to learn the truth in this matter as much as I do—they are angry at what they believe has been done to men of their own fellowship.” She looked past Jacob, no longer seeing him. “Months ago, I wouldn’t have defied my brother and the agency, and I certainly wouldn’t have cared if you gave me your forgiveness.” She paused and drew a deep breath before adding, “But I care now.”
For several moments neither one said another word, then Jacob surprised her by getting to his feet. “This isn’t easy for me, but at least I think I can understand this all a little better than before. I’ve treated you badly, even knowing that I was wrong for doing so. I guess what I’m trying to say is that I forgive you.” He frowned and looked away. He seemed to wrestle with his own emotions, something Helaina thought quite unusual. Finally he added, “I hope you’ll forgive me as well.”
Helaina had not expected this or the sudden release of desire—need—from within her heart. Tears came to her eyes. She didn’t understand what was happening to her, but the relief was so great that she couldn’t do anything for a
moment. He had asked for her forgiveness, when all the while she had been desperate for his.
“I forgive you,” she whispered, hardly able to make the words form. She bowed her head and struggled to regain her composure. When she finally looked up, Jacob had already moved to the door. He watched her with a strange but guarded look on his face.
“Thank you,” he said, then abruptly left the room.
Helaina buried her face in her hands and sobbed. I don’t understand any of this. What is happening to me . . . and why should his opinion matter so much?
Chapter Twenty-eight
The city is quite intimidating,” Helaina said as Leah accompanied her on a shopping trip. “It’s the noise you usually have to get used to.”
“And all the people. There are people everywhere.” Leah looked at the swarming mass of humankind and shook her head. How could so many people live together in one place? The noise was oppressive. There didn’t seem to be a single moment of silence.
“It does take a certain kind of person to endure it,” Helaina replied. “But don’t you find the choices to be far superior here?”
Leah considered this for a moment. “The numerous choices are almost as bad as getting used to the numerous people. I’ve lived a much simpler life in Alaska. Still, it’s been a very good life.” She pulled her woolen cape closer as raindrops began to fall. “I suppose I could say that I would rather not have the extra choices.”
“But why? Wasn’t it quite the adventure yesterday as we searched for new clothes? You look quite handsome in that afternoon suit.”
“But Jacob and I have never spent our money foolishly. This outfit will only serve its purpose down here. And if we have our way about it, we won’t stay here any longer once Jayce is cleared of your charges and set free.”
Helaina grimaced. “They aren’t my charges, and I’m sorry you and your brother equate them as such.”
Leah heard the regret in her voice and took compassion on the woman. “I’m sorry; I meant nothing by that.”
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