by Jen Turano
“We’ve been assigned rooms?” Gertrude asked. “I assumed we’d be returning to the ship at some point and sailing back to the city.”
Harrison took her hand and tucked it into the crook of his arm. “We’re here on holiday, Gertrude, for an unplanned number of days, courtesy of my mother, who is feeling beyond guilty about what she put you through and is attempting to make it up to you by providing you with a bit of a treat.”
“I can’t accept such generosity.”
Harrison smiled. “Did my mother not have you carted off to jail?”
“Well, yes, but that was understandable. I did have Margaret’s belongings in my possession.”
“Stop being contrary and simply enjoy my mother’s generosity. You’ll have to get used to it eventually, so there’s really no time like the present to accustom yourself to accepting gifts from my family.”
Before she could get a single protest out of her mouth, Harrison passed her off to Miss Henrietta. Saying something about going with Agent McParland to see if any leads surrounding the mystery had turned up, Harrison then quirked a brow at McParland when that man started grinning, the action having McParland turning somber in a split second right before he and Harrison strode away.
“I must say I’m looking forward to a swim in the sea,” Miss Henrietta said as she prodded Gertrude into motion, but not in the direction Harrison had just gone. “And not to fret, ladies, because I’ve arranged with the concierge of the hotel to have bathing costumes delivered for all of us, ones that should be waiting in our rooms by now. To save time, feel free to change into those costumes, but do put a change of clothing into a bag. This hotel has numerous bathing huts they make available to their guests, so we’ll take our swim, then enjoy what will most likely be a charming dinner served on the beach.”
Entering the hotel through a side door, Miss Mabel produced keys from her reticule, handed them all around, and once they located their assigned suites, the Huxley sisters reminded everyone not to dawdle, then told them they’d all meet down by the beach in the next fifteen minutes.
Following Temperance, who’d unlocked the door of the suite Gertrude would be sharing with her, Edwina, and Permilia, when she finally arrived, she found the traveling trunk her friends had packed for her stored in a corner, while the garments that had been inside those trunks were already hanging in a large wardrobe on the other side of the room.
Moving across the main sitting room, Gertrude’s gaze traveled over the plush furnishings done up in a frothy pink, the light from the small chandelier made of sparkling glass casting a welcoming glow throughout the room.
Opening the wardrobe door wide, she found all the garments Permilia had chosen for her hanging in a line, her friend obviously having decided Gertrude would keep all of them, and thinking her friend might have need of an entire wardrobe for a holiday that seemed to have no set end date.
Reaching out to touch the soft fabric of a blue walking dress, the dress Harrison had enjoyed so much, Gertrude felt tears spring to her eyes as she was suddenly overwhelmed by how many people truly did seem to care about her.
She’d felt so alone for so long that now, when faced with the idea she wasn’t, her heart was filled almost to bursting, and a sense of peace she’d not realized she’d been missing was simply becoming a part of her everyday life.
It was as if after finally realizing God didn’t hold her responsible for her mother’s death, she was now able to move on with her life—a life that God expected her to make extraordinary and had shown her how to go about doing exactly that.
“I found the bathing costumes!” Edwina called from another room in their suite.
Dashing away a tear that had slipped out of her eye, Gertrude lifted her head and found Temperance watching her closely, but then, instead of questioning her, Temperance simply took hold of her hand, quite like Gertrude imagined good friends had done for centuries, and without saying a word, pulled Gertrude with her into the room where Edwina was holding up a bathing costume.
“These are quite different from what I’m used to wearing when I swim,” Edwina said as she wrinkled her nose.
“What do you usually wear?” Gertrude asked.
“Lightweight trousers and shirts we steal from Harrison.”
“What does Harrison wear?” Gertrude asked.
Edwina grinned. “He’s quite scandalous. He cuts a good portion of the legs off his old trousers, leaving them all tattered and torn. He pairs those short trousers with shirts he cuts the sleeves from, which is why his arms are so dark, something that drives poor Asher mad.”
“I’m sure the sight of your brother in short trousers and exposing his arms would drive society ladies mad as well,” Temperance said with a grin of her own. “But since Gertrude is now turning bright pink, allow me to change the subject to another dashing young gentleman—Agent McParland.”
“Since I’m sure I’m going to marry that man someday, Temperance, you’re going to have to start referring to him as Samuel.”
Temperance and Gertrude exchanged looks before Gertrude stepped forward. “I don’t mean to be so forward, Edwina, but don’t you think your family might caution you against rushing into a marriage with a man you just met?”
“Oh, I won’t marry for at least a year, if not longer,” Edwina said, shaking out the bathing costume before she kicked off her shoes. “I’m in no rush to get married so the idea of a long courtship, if Samuel actually holds me in affection, is very appealing to me.”
“That will allow Harrison to sleep better at night,” Gertrude said.
Edwina nodded. “Indeed it will. As you’ve seen, he can be annoyingly overprotective at times, but I really wouldn’t want it any other way, although . . .” Her eyes widened. “Don’t tell him I said that. He’ll be impossible to live with if he knows my sisters and I appreciate him.”
“Mum’s the word.”
After that, the conversation turned to bathing costumes, Miss Snook’s school, how large bustles really were expected to get, and all the other nonsensical subjects friends enjoyed chatting about. Before too long, they were dressed in their bathing costumes—long pants that were slim at the ankle and wide everywhere else, stockings, shoes, and shirts they agreed might be called smocks, which were not as uncomfortable as expected due to the scooped neckline and generous cut of the fabric.
Grinning as they twirled around for each other, proclaiming themselves looking very sharp indeed, they threw on the cloaks the hotel had provided for them, then headed out. Walking down the hallway, they soon reached the door that led outside and moved through it, the warm breeze still drifting the heat of a summer day over them.
“There’s the veranda that leads into the ballroom where Permilia and Asher’s celebration was held,” Edwina said with a nod, right before she stopped in her tracks and tilted her head.
“Is it my imagination, or does it seem as if someone’s lurking at the very edge of that veranda, and . . .” She turned to Gertrude with eyes that were now incredibly wide. “One of you needs to go and find Harrison and Samuel.”
“Why?” Gertrude asked slowly.
“Because whoever I just saw climbed over the railing of that veranda. I’m going to hazard a guess and say it’s our thief because that’s suspicious behavior, no doubt about it.”
Without saying another word, or listening to the protest Temperance immediately began voicing, Edwina bolted forward, leaving Gertrude and Temperance behind.
“I’ll go help Edwina, you go find help,” Gertrude said before she dashed after Edwina. Sprinting toward the ocean, she felt her pulse hammering through her veins, and even though a sliver of fear was creeping up her spine, she’d never felt more gloriously alive in her entire life.
Chapter
Twenty-Seven
Shrugging out of the cape she’d thrown over her bathing costume, Gertrude dropped it to the sandy ground and raced on, using the distant sound of yelling to guide her way.
Reaching the be
ach, she tumbled to the ground when she tripped over two ladies who were now engaged in what seemed to be a bout of wrestling—one of those ladies none other than Edwina.
“Have you gone mad? Let go of me this instant!” the woman Edwina was wrestling yelled, but before Edwina could respond, the woman rolled on top of Edwina, slapped her soundly across the face, then sprang to her feet. Letting out a bit of a growl when Gertrude rose from the sand, she then charged directly at Gertrude, knocked her to the ground again, then turned on her heel and raced off down the beach.
Indignation had Gertrude up and chasing after the woman, although what she’d actually do if she caught up with an obvious member of the criminal sort, she couldn’t hazard a guess.
Trying to keep an eye on the woman, who was putting more and more distance between them, Gertrude drew in a much-needed gasp of air right as someone ran up beside her and then passed her.
“Stay there!” Harrison yelled over his shoulder as he continued to run, followed a few paces later by Agent McParland.
Knowing there was little point in continuing on with the chase since Harrison and Agent McParland were far faster than she was, and because she was now experiencing a most painful stitch in her side, Gertrude slowed to a walk, but didn’t stay put. Moving after the gentlemen, she was soon joined by Edwina, who was bristling with temper and shrugging out of the cape she was still wearing.
“She hit me,” Edwina said.
“I saw that.”
“She knocked you down.”
“I felt that.”
Edwina flashed a grin. “How extraordinary, though, that we may have found the culprit behind the thefts, which will clear your name once and for all, as well as Mrs. Davenport’s.”
“We don’t know this woman is the thief, Edwina. She might simply be fleeing because she thinks you and I are madwomen for chasing after her.”
“I saw her climb over the railing on the veranda.”
“Suspicious behavior to be certain, but it’s not proof she’s a criminal.”
“Why would she hit me then?”
“I might be going out on a limb with this one, but if she isn’t a criminal, she might have hit you because you tackled her.”
Edwina rolled her eyes. “You might have a point, but I’ve always wondered if that tackling business Harrison taught me years ago would work in a tricky situation, and . . . it did.”
“Harrison taught you how to tackle?”
“He wanted to ensure his sisters could at least have a chance if we were ever attacked.” She smiled. “I can’t tell you how many times he’s ended up with black eyes when he gave us lessons, but he believed it wouldn’t benefit us if we didn’t fight as hard as we could, even if he was the one who bore the brunt of our efforts.”
Gertrude returned the smile. “He’s a very protective sort, isn’t he?”
“He is, and he’s one of those men who doesn’t draw attention to his protective attitude. It’s just who he is.”
“He’s like one of those heroes in a novel come to life,” Gertrude said, earning an arch of a brow from Edwina she didn’t understand. However, before she could ask, fresh yells erupted in the distance.
Without needing to say a single word, Gertrude and Edwina increased their pace, Gertrude’s pace coming to a rather abrupt halt when a large, very male form stepped directly into her path. Looking up, she found Harrison standing in front of her.
“Didn’t I suggest you stay put?” he asked.
Gertrude wrinkled her nose. “Where’s the fun in that?”
For a second, Harrison simply considered her, and then he grinned. “Where indeed?”
The very sight of that grin caused her soul to sing.
He was such an easy gentleman to be around, even with his being so devastatingly handsome. But more importantly, he seemed to understand her in a way no one had ever understood before, and . . . she felt safe with him. When he reached out and took hold of her hand, not to kiss but to simply hold, she felt not only safe but cherished.
She’d never expected to find a gentleman who’d cherish her, protect her, and allow her to embrace an extraordinary life instead of a merely ordinary one.
While she wasn’t certain just yet he returned the very great esteem she held for him, she was beginning to embrace the idea that maybe, just maybe, Reverend Perry had the right of matters and that God was far more present in a person’s life than was known. Maybe He’d been responsible for bringing Harrison into her life, having known she needed a gentleman of the most chivalrous sort.
With that thought taking a firm hold, Gertrude felt a glimmer of hope run through her that perhaps her life was—
“Is something wrong, Gertie?” Harrison asked, his question bringing her directly back to the situation at hand, although his use of the name Gertie was making her heart race just a touch.
“I’m fine. Simply trying to recover my breath. Those pesky stitches do have a way of making themselves known whenever I seem to travel at a pace faster than a plod.”
“Shall I carry you to make certain you don’t suffer additional stitches?”
While the mere thought of being swept up into his arms again was enough to make her sigh, although silently, Gertrude forced herself to shake her head. “Thank you, but no. Since I don’t believe I’ll be expected to dash off after another . . .” Her eyes widened. “Goodness, I’ve forgotten about the woman I was chasing. Did she get away?”
Harrison tucked her hand into the crook of his arm, a gesture she was beginning to expect of him, and pulled her forward, not in the direction of the Manhattan Beach Hotel, but in the direction the suspicious woman had fled.
It didn’t take them long to run across that woman, who was now sitting in the sand, her hands secured behind her back while Agent McParland stood in front of her, his notebook at the ready, and Edwina gesturing wildly with her hands as she apparently explained what had happened.
“. . . snuck down off the railing, then took off like a flash when she realized I was on to her, aiding my suspicions that I might have uncovered the culprit behind the Manhattan Beach Hotel thefts.”
Agent McParland sent Harrison the smallest of smiles before he returned his attention to his notes, mumbling something about “who would have thought this would happen” under his breath as the woman sitting on the ground scowled.
“You recognize her, don’t you, Gertrude?” Edwina asked, drawing Gertrude’s attention.
“I can’t say that I do, although I haven’t had time to give her a proper look, not even when she was inches away from me when she knocked me to the ground.”
“She knocked you over?” Harrison asked.
Gertrude pressed her lips together and nodded, stepping closer to where the woman was sitting, stopping though when the woman let out another growl.
“I’ll have to teach you how to defend yourself,” Harrison said as he joined her.
Not allowing herself to turn into a mass of blubbering jelly over that ridiculously sweet offer, she turned her gaze on the woman again, studying a face that was looking downright menacing. Blinking, she leaned forward.
“On my word, you’re the lady from the veranda who was wearing the tiara that supposedly went missing—and who threw suspicion on my good name and that of Mrs. Davenport’s.”
“She was wearing a dark wig that night,” Edwina pointed out. “You’ll notice she’s not wearing one tonight, although I do wonder how it came to be she picked you and Mrs. Davenport to take the fall for her apparent misdeeds.”
Agent McParland stepped forward. “How wonderfully observant you are, Edwina. I thought this woman looked familiar, and now, yes, you’re exactly right. She is the woman who first reported a theft from that night, claiming someone had stolen her valuable tiara. And—” he narrowed his eyes on the woman in question—“she must have been wearing a wig to disguise herself.” He jotted down a note and then returned his gaze to the woman. “You’re evidently not new to the confidence artist business s
ince it was somewhat brilliant to claim you’d been a victim of theft when you apparently were the thief. I am curious, though, as to how you decided to cast suspicion on Mrs. Davenport and Miss Cadwalader.”
The woman, unsurprisingly, remained silent.
“It’ll go easier for you if you’ll only confess to your crimes,” Agent McParland continued.
Getrude’s lips twitched when the memory sprang to mind of hearing almost those exact same words when she’d been questioned about her own misdeeds. She cleared her throat. “Not that I want to be the voice of doubt, but having recently been wrongly accused of theft myself, I would like to ask if there’s any evidence to prove this woman is a thief, because running away from a hotel is hardly substantial proof.”
Edwina held up a bag Gertrude hadn’t noticed. “I pulled this off her when we were engaged in our little brawl, and as you’ll see, it’s filled with loot.” Pulling open the drawstring, Edwina pulled out a diamond brooch and pearl necklace, then rattled the bag. “There’s a small fortune in this bag alone, and who knows what she’s stashed away elsewhere.”
Talking the pearl necklace Edwina handed her, Gertrude frowned and caught the woman’s eye. “Could it be possible that you eavesdropped on the conversation I was having with my friend that evening on the veranda—the one where I might have mentioned I was concerned about Mrs. Davenport slipping away because I’d learned there were Pinkerton detectives roaming around the grounds that evening?”
The woman shrugged. “You weren’t exactly being quiet, and considering it was a most enlightening conversation, I couldn’t have been expected to ignore it. Everything would have worked out perfectly if you’d actually been arrested and jailed, and if I wouldn’t have made the very great mistake of returning to the scene of the crime. I thought the coast would be clear for one more little foray into, well, mischief, if you will, since it was so easy the first time around. Unfortunately, I was mistaken, and barely got anything at all because . . .”