The bag of money Fang-Hua had “contributed” had paid for the house, and he still had sufficient cash in reserve, more than enough to establish him in his new life. Peter Granger, his widowed sister, Alicia, and her son Michael would do well in New Orleans.
I don’t know why I didn’t come here sooner, Granger/Morgan mused. The hospitality of this town suits me.
He was already forming valuable friendships and connections—but not, this time, to embezzle from. No, here in New Orleans with the leg-up his cash assets afforded him, Peter Granger would build a perfectly respectable and permanent life. Here Joy Thoresen Michaels would not interfere; here the Pinkertons would never find him.
Granger had discreetly sought and found a man whose artistry for forged documents passed even his discerning eye. Granger had paid a small fortune for false birth certificates for himself, Alicia, and Michael, and a death certificate for his late “brother,” Alicia’s “husband” and Michael’s “father.”
As extra insurance, Granger had planned to eliminate the forger, but the man had not stayed in business this long without honing his own instincts. He had sent a messenger to Granger to deliver Granger’s finished birth certificate and this neatly penned message:
Send the remainder of the payment with this boy. He has no knowledge of our arrangement or where I am; I am watching him and will contact him for delivery when I know you are not following him. When I receive the money, I will be leaving town and will send your remaining documents to you by mail—once I am confident that you pose no threat to me and mine.
Granger had no choice but to do as the forger instructed, but he smiled thinking about it: The forger was as much a professional as he was. Granger could admire him for that.
His thoughts returned to Joy Michaels and the Pinkerton man, O’Dell. No, they will not find us here, he was certain.
And here, from a safe distance, he had smiled and gloated over the Denver and Seattle newspapers Alicia had purchased for him from a vendor in town. Even weeks and months later, the news was quite titillating.
Granger’s eyes glittered with satisfaction as he reread the articles in the Denver Post: No Progress in Kidnapping, but he laughed aloud each time he reexamined the article in the Seattle Daily Times: Chen Found Dead in Cell. Fang-Hua dead? Why, it was better than candy on Christmas!
He moved to his desk and, with a pair of sharp scissors, cut both articles from the papers he had carefully kept and read many times. He laid the clippings on the desk and removed a key from his pocket. He inserted the key in the bottom desk drawer and drew out a small book bound in wine-colored leather.
He had read every entry in the journal twice, some three times. He thought the book a unique perspective from which to view his enemies, Joy Michaels and Edmund O’Dell.
The friendship between Joy’s husband and O’Dell puzzled Granger. Their lives seemed incongruous . . . and yet the Michaels had named their son after the Pinkerton man. Edmund.
Granger shrugged his shoulders and slipped the clippings into the back of the book, between blank pages. Pages that will never be filled, he thought. He knew that by holding on to the book he was taking an unnecessary risk—it was, after all, the only physical evidence tying him to the murders in Denver and the kidnapping of the Michaels’ baby—but he had not yet let the book go.
He chewed his lip for a moment. I’ve derived all the pleasure I can from its pages, he admitted, but he was still loath to destroy it as his more practical side insisted he do.
A baby’s waking cries interrupted his deliberations. Granger smiled. The little tyke was growing on him, an unexpected benefit to his decision to punish Joy Michaels ad infinitum. The boy, at five months, was a happy thing, already attempting to crawl.
“Peter? Brother, I have my hands in bread dough. Would you mind getting Michael from his crib and bringing him to his highchair?”
“I will be right there.”
Agnes/Alicia was proving to be a better bargain than he had imagined: She was compliant, content to see to his and the child’s needs, and had fully embraced her new identity and station in life.
She was brighter than Granger had given her credit for, too. As Granger had begun redecorating the house, she had learned styles, fabrics, and color schemes, showing herself to be a quick study with passing taste.
Granger climbed the staircase to the nursery. He had allowed Alicia to plan its décor herself—pale blue walls with blue and yellow sprigged paper above the chair rail, a soft blue rug over parquet floors, fluffy curtains, and a walnut rocking chair to match the walnut crib.
He bent over the crib. Michael stopped crying and beamed at him, displaying four tiny teeth and Joy Michaels’ brilliant blue eyes.
Granger grinned back. “Hello, little man. Come to Uncle Peter.” He lifted the baby up in his arms.
~~**~~
Don’t miss the powerful conclusion of
A Prairie Heritage
Book 6:
Lost Are Found
November 2014
About the Author
Vikki Kestell has more than 20 years of career experience as a writing, instructional design, and communications professional in government, academia, semiconductor manufacturing, health care, and nonprofit organizations. She holds a Ph.D. in Organizational Learning and Instructional Technologies.
An accomplished speaker and teacher, Vikki belongs to Tramway Community Church in Albuquerque, New Mexico, where she teaches an evening Bible study for working women. She and her husband, Conrad Smith, make their home in Albuquerque.
To keep abreast of new book releases, visit her website, http://www.vikkikestell.com/, or find her on Facebook, http://www.facebook.com/TheWritingOfVikkiKestell. Enjoy all the books of A Prairie Heritage as they become available:
Read all the books of A Prairie Heritage as they become available:
Book 1: A Rose Blooms Twice
Book 2: Joy on This Mountain
Book 3: The Captive Within
Book 4: Wild Heart on the Prairie
Book 5: Stolen
Book 6: Lost Are Found, November 2014
~~**~~
A Rose Blooms Twice
A Prairie Heritage, Book 1
by Vikki Kestell
Also Available in Print Format
Rose Brownlee has suffered more loss than most people can endure. Now she must find a way to move on with her life. Will she bow to conventional wisdom or will she, like Abraham, choose to follow where God leads her . . . even to a country she does not know?
Set in the American prairie of the late 1800s, this story of loss, disillusionment, rebirth, and love will inspire, challenge, and encourage you.
Read Wild Heart on the Prairie, the prequel and companion to A Rose Blooms Twice, and the exciting sequel to A Rose Blooms Twice, Joy on This Mountain.
Visit Vikki’s website, www.vikkikestell.com or find her on Facebook.
Joy on This Mountain
A Prairie Heritage, Book 2
by Vikki Kestell
Also Available in Print Format
Finalist in the 2014 Selah Christian Book Awards for Historical Fiction!
The little town of Corinth, Colorado, lies in the gateway to the majestic Rocky Mountains just west of Denver . . . just far enough from the city to avoid close scrutiny, but close enough to be accessible. Few know of the wickedness hidden in the small town, so picturesquely set in the foothills of the mighty mountains.
Joy on This Mountain is the eagerly awaited sequel to A Rose Blooms Twice. The legacy of Jan and Rose has far-reaching and unexpected consequences.
A Prairie Heritage, Book 2. Spoiler alert! You may not want to read this book until you have read its prequel, A Rose Blooms Twice.
Visit Vikki’s website, www.vikkikestell.com or find her on Facebook.
The Captive Within
A Prairie Heritage, Book 3
by Vikki Kestell
Also Available in Print Format
The Captive Withi
n opens the day after Joy on This Mountain ends. The two infamous houses of Corinth, Colorado, are closed and the young women who had been imprisoned there have been released. Soon after, Rose and Joy leave Corinth to establish a home and a haven for “their” girls in Denver.
Before long, Rose and Joy face a heartrending challenge: What does it take to unlock and free the soul of a defiled woman? And as they wrestle for a foothold in Denver, Rose discovers that the long-abandoned house given to them hides a dark secret of its own.
The Captive Within is Book 3 in the series, A Prairie Heritage. Read the beginning of this saga, A Rose Blooms Twice, and its moving sequel, Joy on This Mountain. The saga continues in Book 5, Stolen, June 2014.
Visit Vikki’s website, www.vikkikestell.com or find her on Facebook.
Wild Heart on the Prairie
A Prairie Heritage, Book 4
by Vikki Kestell
Also Available in Print Format
Jan Thoresen and his brother Karl have left their native land of Norway to bring their families to America—the land of freedom and hope. Like thousands of others, Jan and his wife Elli long for the opportunity of a better life and a future for their children.
After braving an ocean crossing and the arduous journey west, they encounter a land so vast and wide that it defies mastery. Jan finds that his struggles are not only with the land, but with a restless and unmanageable heart. Will Jan find a way to overcome this wild land or will the prairie master him?
Wild Heart on the Prairie, while designated Book 4 in the series, A Prairie Heritage, is chronologically the prequel and companion to Book 1, A Rose Blooms Twice.
Read the beginning of this beautiful saga, A Rose Blooms Twice, its exciting sequel, Joy on This Mountain, followed by the third book in the series, The Captive Within.
Visit Vikki’s website, www.vikkikestell.com or find her on Facebook.
Stolen
A Prairie Heritage, Book 5
by Vikki Kestell
Denver, 1910: Stolen continues to chronicle the lives of Rose Thoresen, her daughter, Joy Thoresen Michaels, and those who live at Palmer House—a most extraordinary refuge for young women rescued from prostitution. The opening of Stolen finds young Mei-Xing safely returned to her friends and family at Palmer House. However, after six harrowing months of captivity, Mei-Xing stuns those who love her when she returns to Palmer House with child.
If Su-Chong’s mother, Fang-Hua Chen, discovers that her son, now dead, has left behind a child, will she allow Mei-Xing to keep him—or will she set in motion plans to steal him away? Will O’Dell, Martha Palmer, Minister Liáng, and others concerned for the safety of Mei-Xing and her child be forced to face off with those who would see Mei-Xing and the work of Palmer House destroyed?
Look for Book 6, the conclusion of this inspiring saga,
Lost Are Found, November 2014!
Stolen (A Prairie Heritage, Book 5) Page 29