“It says Southgate Road. Look.” He pointed at the paper and then at the road sign. “It’s that one over there.”
“But this can’t be right.”
“Let’s knock and at least ask after her.”
“Very well.” They climbed the three steps to the porch and rapped on the door of the tiny Cape Cod house. A baby cried, and then they heard a mother soothing the youngster before they heard the sound of footsteps. When the door opened, a woman at least ten years older than Hazel stood before them. She wore a faded dress with an apron tied around her waist. Stringy blonde hair hung loose over her shoulders, giving her an unkempt look.
“What do you want?” she asked, pulling the baby closer to her.
“We’re looking for Charlotte Lowell,” Gilbert said. “Do you know her?”
“I’m Charlotte.” Her eyes resembled those of a skittish rabbit darting this way and that, afraid. “What you want?”
Hazel looked harder at the woman and decided that at one time she may have been beautiful. Cleaned up and in different clothes, this woman could have owned an extensive collection of jewelry. But looking at her now in this humble setting, it was hard to fathom. This couldn’t be the Charlotte Lowell whose words had condemned her to five years behind iron gates. There must be another woman by that name.
“You are Charlotte?” Hazel said, trying not to gawk. “Charlotte Lowell?”
“It’s Carmichael now.”
Hazel turned to Gilbert, searching him for answers, but found only questions in his expression. He smiled at Charlotte and put out his hand. “We were hoping we could talk to you for a few minutes.”
“What about?” A barefoot toddler walked up and grabbed ahold of Charlotte’s skirts. “I’ve got a lot to do.”
“Do you know Patrick Harper?”
Charlotte took a step back, her face ashen. “Why?”
“We need your help,” Hazel said before bending down and saying hello to the little boy, who smiled shyly back at her.
“I can’t help you. I promised I wouldn’t.” Charlotte backed up farther. “I’m sorry. I’m respectable now. I don’t want nothing to do with no one from before.”
Gilbert put his hand on the door, preventing her from closing it. In a gentle voice, he said, “We aren’t going to get you into trouble, or let anything happen to you. This is about doing what’s right.”
“Nothing right about that man.”
“Patrick?” Hazel inched closer.
“He’s bad.” Tears welled in Charlotte’s eyes. “I don’t want to ever see him again.”
“Help us, then. And you’ll be safe from him.” Hazel tried to keep the desperation from her voice, but it was a hard battle. This woman could be the missing piece, the key to her freedom and so much more. “We want justice.”
Charlotte looked up and down the street, then motioned them inside. The home was sparse, boasting nothing more than a crooked print pinned to the wall for décor. A stool, two chairs, and a small table were the only furniture in the tiny front room. Charlotte invited them to take a seat, then she sat with the baby and the little boy on her lap. He put his dirty thumb in his mouth and nestled next to his mama.
“How do I know you don’t work for him?” She wrapped her arms protectively around her children. Motherly love did not require upholstered sofas or good lighting for it to grow. This woman in this humble abode loved her children and feared for them—it was evident. “I can’t do nothing that’s not safe.”
Charlotte Lowell had been just a name to Hazel up until this moment. Hazel turned to Gilbert for reassurance. Was it right to ask this of her? He reached for her hand and nodded.
“A long time ago, I was accused of stealing jewelry. Now we think that might have been part of an even bigger crime.” The toddler waved at Hazel, and she paused her story to wave back at him. “We think Patrick might have had something to do with it. If he’s still hurting people, we need to stop him. We know he helped you file the court case. Can you tell us anything?”
Charlotte leaned forward and in a hoarse voice said, “He used to visit the place I worked. I don’t do that work no more. He was mean, but sometimes he’d bring the girls presents if we did what he wanted. We took what he brought, but we weren’t trying to cause problems. We had so little. He didn’t really care about us, and we knew it. He’d hurt us or spoil us—whatever would get him what he wanted.”
“I’m sorry, Charlotte.” Hazel meant it. She had shared close living quarters with women much like Charlotte at the reformatory, desperation driving their everyday choices. They’d lived miserable lives, selling their bodies in order to eat. It was a wretched life that most were anxious to leave behind. “No one should have treated you like that.”
“We was used to being roughed up, but he was worse than most. But then one day he told me he’d give me more money than I’d ever had if I’d get all dressed up and go tell a judge that my jewelry was stolen. He made me practice what to say, and then I did it. I said my words and signed my name. I didn’t mean to hurt nobody.” She began rocking. “I wanted to get out. I’d see the respectable women, and I wanted what they had.”
“I don’t blame you.” Hazel’s heart ached for this woman and her life’s journey. She knew what it was like to yearn for an existence that felt out of reach. “Did he say why he needed you to pretend?”
“He said he was trying to lock up someone that was getting in the way of business.” Charlotte’s eyes kept darting to the door. “He told me I could never tell nobody. He’d kill me if he knew you was here. He said some folks were easier to lock up and others were easier to bury.” She stood up and paced the floor with the baby in her arms and the little boy clinging to her leg. “I shouldn’t have told you. I shouldn’t have told nobody. I wasn’t thinking straight.” She shook all over, so violently that Hazel feared her baby would fall from her arms. “You come in here dressed up all pretty, being all nice, and I . . . I don’t know what I’ve done.”
Hazel went to Charlotte and put her hand on her arm. “We’ll do all we can to protect you, and together we can stop him.” Her resolve deepened as she spoke. She silently vowed to stand up for justice, to see this through to the end so she could walk free and Nathaniel’s death could mean something and this scared mother could have peace. “Tell us everything you can. I know you’re scared to trust us, but I promise you that we don’t want any harm to come to you. We can stop this together, and you’ll never have to be afraid of Patrick again. Can you tell me what business he was in?”
“You’ll stop him?”
“We’ll do all we can.” Gilbert nodded, adding his own resolve to her words.
“Opium. He’d bring some to the girls sometimes. And he was always meeting people selling it. Men would talk at our place and forget we was there, but just ’cause we weren’t decent don’t mean we wasn’t smart. His opium goes all over the city.” Charlotte ran her hand over the baby’s back. “I’m so nervous. I ain’t been this scared in a long time.”
“Have you seen him since?” Gilbert pressed on. “Help us and we’ll leave.”
“I took the money he gave me and left. I got new clothes and a little room and started working a respectable job, and then I met Lewis. He’s a good man. Not like the ones that came in with Patrick.”
“He sounds like a fine husband,” Hazel said.
“I went back to see if I could get one of the other girls out. Patrick was there and he cornered me, slapped my face, and reminded me to keep my mouth shut. That was three years ago, but I saw one of the other girls not long ago and she said he still comes around.”
“If we found a judge we trusted and would keep your identity private, would you tell your story again?” Gilbert asked. “It could keep people safe and prove people’s innocence.”
“I don’t . . . I don’t know. He’d kill me if he found out. And what about my babies?” She kissed the baby’s head and looked at her toddler son. He babbled up at her.
“You
don’t have to do it.” Hazel met Charlotte’s eye. “Will you think about it?”
“Well—”
“We have to be brave. For the sake of anyone who might get hurt, for your babies, will you try?” Hazel whispered. There wasn’t room or time for them to be faint of heart.
“I’ve never been very brave.” Gilbert’s gentle voice was warm and vulnerable. “I’ve been afraid more times than I care to admit, but life requires courage at times. Like when a man or a woman looks around, sees injustice, and decides to rise up and answer the call. This is one of those times. Be brave, please.”
Charlotte stared at her children, her eyes glistening when she finally looked up. “Find your judge and, well, I might. I never liked Patrick. I always hated knowing there were still girls back there suffering ’cause of him.”
Hazel exhaled. “Thank you, Charlotte.”
They asked for the name of the brothel in hopes that Patrick still frequented the place. Then they promised again to keep her name safe, knowing they were either one step closer to their goal or one step closer to trouble.
CHAPTER
NINETEEN
When they were all back together that evening, Duncan gave the group some direction. “Judge Lawson thinks if we can assemble a little more evidence, the case could move forward. He also suggested we send word warning Hazel’s family and asking for their discretion. If the captain of the boat does decipher who you are, then they should be on the lookout.”
“My parents.” Hazel’s heart lurched. “I can’t go back there, not yet.”
“One of us could go, or you could write a letter.” Duncan’s serious demeanor took on a gentle softness. “The judge is supportive, and Charlotte’s possible willingness to speak to him will make a big difference in the jewelry side of the case, and even with the opium. What we need is more information on Nathaniel’s death.”
“Charlotte will testify that Patrick was dealing in opium. But that doesn’t prove that it’s connected to the Sally Belle.” Gilbert ran a hand across his jaw. “We could try to watch the boats and catch them carrying the opium off and see if the captain and Patrick ever cross paths.”
“I wonder if Nathaniel’s parents even know opium is being shipped on their boat. If the captain’s using the boats to deliver opium without their knowing, then that’s a crime, is it not?” Hazel asked, struggling to focus on the case when her heart kept going back to her parents and the siblings she’d not seen in years.
Duncan scratched his forehead. “Patrick might have middlemen who perform the transactions. I’d say it’s possible to corner them, but it won’t be easy. And there’s a good chance we’d miss seeing them handing off the opium altogether.”
“We know Patrick goes to the brothel. We might be able to catch him there,” Hazel said. “But what would we do if we did discover him? We’re hardly lawmen.”
“I remember there being a list of trusted officers among Nathaniel’s notes. We could try to contact them.” Duncan put the folder on the table. “It’s old information though.”
Eddie grunted, scoffed, and gave them all a haughty look as though he were far superior to the others. “You’re going about it wrong. Hazel has to go to Nathaniel’s parents. It’s smarter than us trying to corner people. They have resources we don’t have.”
“What?” She looked at him in disbelief.
“Get Hugo Williams involved, quietly at first so no one suspects anything. If he orders a search of his boat, no one will have to sneak around. It legitimizes our efforts. He has every right to search his own ship. We don’t. Besides, he has more money, influence, and power than all of us combined, and he has a motive. His son was lost because of this. If we want to end this, we need his help.”
Gilbert put a hand on Hazel’s. “What do you think?”
“I think he’s right. I don’t want to go, but with Hugo’s help, we could have solid proof.” Hazel bit her bottom lip. She’d dreamed of seeing the Williamses again one day, but not like this, begging for their aid. “It won’t be easy. I feel shaky all over just thinking about it.”
“You don’t have to,” Gilbert said. “We can find another way.”
“She has to go,” Eddie said. “You know you have to, Hazel. Your mission to set it all right will never be complete if you don’t make amends with them, and this is how you can do it. Prove to them that you’re innocent, and let them help avenge their son’s death.”
“I’ll go.” She met Eddie’s eyes. “You’re right. So many things are beyond my ability to make restitution for, but I can offer Nathaniel’s family the pieces of information we have. I’ll go tomorrow.”
“I’ll tell you what else I learned today.” Eddie seemed to enjoy holding everyone in suspense. A wicked gleam sparkled in his eyes, leaving Hazel unsettled. No matter her guilt, she’d never enjoyed being laughed at, and his eyes were full of cruel humor.
“Tell us,” Hazel said.
“I went to see Arnold Prewitt. A friend from my days in Buffalo. Hazel, I’m sure you remember him.”
She ducked her head, once again wishing she could flee her past. With Eddie around to pick at the scab, it’d never heal.
“What does this have to do with anything?” Gilbert’s tone was defensive.
“He said Hazel’s sister Mathilda is sick.” Eddie sat with a cruel smirk across his face. “I think it’s serious. From what he said, she’s near death.”
Hazel pushed back from the table, stood, and marched over to Eddie. In a flash, she slapped him across the face. Her hand stung with the contact, but she did not wince. “How dare you treat such news as though it was an exciting surprise. My sister is an angel. She’s done nothing to you. And I’ve done nothing to you in years. Will you never even look at me long enough to realize I’m not the girl I was before? And to think I allowed myself to believe you were not the same boy. You are still just as spiteful as ever.”
Gilbert reached for her hand, but she brushed it away and left.
“What will you do?” Ina asked when she entered the rented room where Hazel lay curled on her side, still in her day dress. “Will you go to them? To your family?”
“I can’t.” She reached for the handkerchief she had beside her and blew her nose. “I promised I wouldn’t. But I don’t know what to do. When I think of Mathilda, I burst into tears. She’s not like me. She’s wholesome and good.”
“You’re good too.” Ina sat beside her and put a hand on her shoulder. “All of this will be over soon. Then you can go home and live there if you wish.”
“What if I’m too late and something terrible happens to her? A world without Mathilda would break my heart. I can’t lose her.” Hazel wiped her nose again. “Will I have to live out all my days wishing things had been different?”
Ina rubbed her shoulder. “No. I think you’ll always remember where you came from and what you’ve been through, but someday it’ll be just a memory like all the others. It’ll be a bump in the road but one you were carried over by the Good Master. I believe he refines us in our times of trial, even when we bring them on ourselves, if we let him.”
“I pray for it daily. I keep hoping that when this is over, I’ll stop hating myself so much.”
“What we’re doing is important and it’s right, but I think the forgiveness is there already. Look at your life, Hazel. You’ve changed. You care about the patients at the dental office and worry over your friend’s happiness, and here you are crying over your sister’s well-being. Forgive yourself,” Ina soothed. “Take the forgiveness that is yours. Take it even if a judge never declares you cleared.”
The idea of letting go, of putting her guilt aside and accepting the past for what it was, resonated with her, but the tears and sorrow made thinking a challenge. Here in Buffalo, with Nathaniel’s journal tucked in her pack, Eddie’s callous demeanor, and so many reminders of her prior life all around her, she found it difficult to make sense of anything.
When Hazel’s tears subsided to sniffles, Ina
said, “I can feel the pieces coming together already. Soon the men who killed Nathaniel will be behind bars, and it will clear your name. We’ll get you home to see Mathilda. And until then, you can take solace in the fact that Eddie has a very red handprint across his face.”
Hazel covered her face with her hands. “My hand stung so badly.”
“But didn’t it feel good? He had it coming to him, and you let him have it.”
“It felt very good.” She groaned. “It felt great and terrible all at the same time.”
“I want your help, and I want your company,” Gilbert said to Eddie. Being firm with his brother had never been a strength of his, but being soft with him would not do—not now. “I missed you when you left. Nothing seemed right without my big brother around.”
“But you won’t put up with me mistreating Hazel,” Eddie finished for him. “I don’t understand what you see in her. You could have your choice of women, especially now that you know how to talk to them.”
“This has nothing to do with me attaching myself to a woman. It has to do with the fact that Hazel is a person and you trample all over her. You spout off your long-held grievances, but what about how you’re treating her now? From what I’ve been told, she has every reason to detest you.” Gilbert’s voice was quiet but firm. “You wronged her greatly.”
“She told you I was there?”
Gilbert nodded. “She did, and she told me she doesn’t hate you for it. She asked me not to mention it, but you need to see this clearly. Think of the grudge she could hold. Because of that marriage, she spent five years in prison for a crime she didn’t commit. And because of that sentence, she came home to no one. Her own family was shamed and asked her to wait to return home. Parents should not have to pick between their children, but hers did. Despite it all, she forgives you. And maybe if you could forgive her, she’d be able to forgive herself.” He pushed himself forcefully away from the table. “I wish you’d try to see the good in her.”
A Lady in Attendance Page 18