Diana and the Three Behrs

by Fleeta Cunningham

  In muted voices, after the other residents of the boarding house slept, the sisters talked at length about the scheme and their part in it.

  “I don’t see that we have a choice, Di.” Pamina lounged on the sofa, loosened her kimono, and kicked off her slippers. “It’s not right that you have to go off to face the Behr when I’m the one that got you into this mess, but there it is.”

  “You’ll be making eyes at Trey and teasing my muzzy old owls while I’m doing it, too.”

  “I did get the best of the deal, Di, but can you think of a better way to handle it?”

  “No,” Diana admitted. “I’ve tried coming at it from every direction.” She paced the room, her pale slip a mere shimmer in the dark. “If it were anybody but Adler Behr.” She sat on the narrow window ledge, hoping to catch a flutter of breeze through the open casement. “I tell you, Pam, the man simply can’t see working with a woman. I pity his wife, or the girl he marries, if he hasn’t yet.”

  “He must have some redeeming qualities. Trey thinks of him like a brother. Your funny old owls won’t hear a word against him.”

  “I know.” She looked down at the shadowed scrap of flowerbed and tree below her window. “Because I can’t think of anything better, and I’d do most anything for the old dears, I’ve almost resigned myself to facing him and doing the advance preparation for the fellas. I keep telling myself dealing with a Behr is better than facing a Gunn.”

  Pamina stretched and rose with languid grace from the sofa. “One way to put it, I suppose.” She looked over Diana’s shoulder. “We’ve had a pretty good time in this room, haven’t we? We won’t be here more than a couple of nights, at most. Think they’ll miss us?”

  Diana shook her head. “I don’t suppose so. This room will have a new boarder before the week is out. All anyone will remember of us is that an old aunt suddenly felt lonely and invited two orphan nieces to come for a visit. If we’re really lucky and everybody believes El’s fairy tale, that is.”

  “Then we’d better get some sleep. Tomorrow, keeping up the act that it’s just a regular day, isn’t going to be easy. We have to lay out a convincing line when we get that letter.”

  “I don’t think I can sleep, Pam. The thought of dealing with Adler Behr on top of remembering what happened to Haver and Charlie is enough to give me nightmares.” Diana leaned back against the window. “It’s too hot to sleep anyway.”

  “Try. You’ve got to look like you’re just going off like any other morning. Not like you’ve been pacing the floor all night. Go to bed.”

  Diana shrugged and picked up a cotton wrapper from the bed. “The bathroom should be free now. I’ll go have a cool bath and wash my hair. That should help.”

  Pam giggled. “Wash what hair?” She hugged her sister. “Go on, have your bath. Think about how vampy you look. I’ll bet you’ll knock old Adler right out of his socks. He’ll be so smitten, he’ll be eating out of your hand an hour after you get there.”

  Chapter 8

  “Are you feeling any better about the situation, Diana?” Trey put a cup of coffee in front of her and drew a second chair up to her work table.

  “Not better, Trey, but more or less resigned. I suppose, if Dr. Elmsford explains things to your friend Behr, the man will be a little more receptive to the idea of working with me. Once we get started, perhaps I can carry on alone and not spend too much time with him.”

  “I don’t think you have anything to worry about. Adler’s a decent guy, and remember, he was the one who first suggested our group could learn a lot by coming down his way.”

  “Sure, but he didn’t plan to have to work with a woman to get them down there.”

  The arrival of Pearce with a dog-eared stack of pages put an end to the conversation. Diana was kept too busy helping the professors close up their work to have time to worry about her own assignment. The day slipped by, and almost before she realized it, her time with the seven scholars was coming to an end. Elmsford made a final visit as she was gathering up her hat and bag and a stack of worn notebooks.

  “I believe we’re still in the clear, Diana. I’ve checked with the daily newspapers and listened to the radio in the lounge. Speculation on the identity of the mysterious victim is still running wild, but so far no one has suggested the authorities have a theory. I suspect they may, but they don’t want to release the information too quickly. It might hinder the investigation somehow.”

  “As long as Tommy Gunn doesn’t learn there was a witness, we have a good chance of making your plan work.” She pulled her hat down over her short curls. “I have to thank you for going to all this trouble for Pam and me. I feel as if we disrupted your work. In spite of it, you’ve come up with the only way I can see for us to get away from this horrid affair. Thank you.”

  “No thanks necessary, Diana. You got into the situation because you were trying to help me with my inquiries. The least we can do is see you safely out of town.” He reached into the inside pocket of his jacket and took out an envelope. “Speaking of seeing you out of town, this will help you wind up your affairs here and get you through until we can meet again.”

  Diana folded the flap of the envelope back and was startled at the amount of money tucked inside. “Dr. Elmsford, this is too much. Honestly, I won’t need all this.” She tried to hand it back to him.

  He closed his hand over hers, firmly keeping the envelope in her hand. “You can’t be sure what you’ll need, not before you start out. Now listen. I have instructions. You and your sister should find the letter waiting for you when you get home tonight. You can talk about the situation in front of your fellow boarders, even solicit advice on what course of action you should take. Show some reluctance and let them gradually talk you into the trip. Then you might mention how convenient it is that your temporary assignment came to an end, and you’re free to accept your Aunt May’s invitation. You’ll have to make some show of persuading your sister to leave her employment, but your associates at your rooming house should support you. Then you’ll need to ask opinions about how soon you can leave. Let them convince you to make the journey immediately. Your sister will need to explain to her employers, and she’ll need to be credible there as well. She should establish the prospect of an inheritance, as well as make the need for a speedy departure part of her reason for the short notice. You are both to take the train to Dallas the day after tomorrow if at all possible. I don’t think we can push your exit beyond that in any safety. Trey and I, or perhaps Pearce, will meet you at the station. I believe the train comes in about dinner time. We’ll dine together, then you will catch the train for Pfeiffer. Miss Pamina will come with us to San Antonio. We will see you in about six or seven weeks.” He reached over to put a fatherly hand on her shoulder. “Above all, you must let your fellow boarders think they’ve convinced you to make the journey. Do not appear to agree too easily. It’s not desirable for them to think you had any intention of leaving here.”

  “I’ll keep everything you’ve told me in mind. I’ll miss all of you so much. Working with you and the others has been the most interesting time of my life. All of you are dear to me. Please tell the others how much I’ve enjoyed knowing them.”

  “I will, Diana. You’ll be hearing from us very soon.” He glanced at the clock chiming four. “I think you should go now. You’ll have some exciting news waiting for you and your sister. I’m certain your friends will be glad to offer their suggestions on how to proceed. Since you have more to carry than usual, I’ll ask Trey to drive you home. It’s much too warm out there in the street for you to try to manage everything and deal with a crowded streetcar too.”

  ****

  The evening played out as Dr. Elmsford intended. The mysterious letter was waiting when Diana came in. She picked it up, examined the weighty envelope without opening it, and carried it upstairs to her room. Leaving it on the bedside table, she followed her regular routine of trading her neat pumps for slippers before carefully hanging up her tailored skirt and
white dimity overblouse and tying her thin, cotton wrapper over her chemise and step-ins.

  The door opened behind her. “You’re home early? Get the professors all packed up and sent on their way?”

  “Yes, they’re gone, bickering and contradicting each other all the way. It felt good to see how much they appreciated me, even sent me home in their elegant car, but I think I’ll enjoy a rest. How was your day? Any big stories land in your lap?”

  Pamina hurried to shed her work clothes and get into her cooler kimono. “Nothing worth a front page headline.” She picked up the envelope from the bedside table. For the benefit of the girls on the other side of the thin wall between rooms she raised her voice. “What’s this?”

  “Oh, it was in our mail slot. I thought maybe you knew something about it.”

  “Well, let’s see what a lawyer wants with us. Probably he’s got the wrong name or something.” Hearing the sudden silence on the other side of the dividing wall, Pam winked as she slit the long envelope open. “Jeepers creepers! If this guy knows his onions, I sure hope he’s got the right people. Look at this, Di.”

  Diana looked, then read the pages that followed. Finally, they opened the chaste dove gray envelope and read “Aunt May’s” plea to forgive her for the wrong she’d done their late mother and come to see her “before it’s too late to mend a foolish quarrel.”

  From that point on, the evening went as Elmsford had envisioned. The sisters shared their news with two other girls, who lived in the room next to them. By the time the household sat down for dinner, everyone knew that the Woods sisters had been touched by good fortune. Bent on convincing the girls to take advantage of the situation, each of the boarders put forth an argument for accepting the invitation as soon as possible. Diana, without a job since her professors moved on, was easily “convinced,” but Pamina made a strong show of being unwilling to give up her position on the newspaper. At last, however, the group wore her down.

  “Well, Di, since you’re set on going, I can’t very well let you go off by yourself, halfway across the country, to see some long-lost relative we’ve never heard of. I’ll see if the newspaper will let me leave for a family emergency. No telling what kind of trouble you’d get into if you went by yourself.”

  “Pam! That’s good of you. I’d be scared to death to head out to Colorado all alone. But think what an adventure we’re going to have. I’ll bet it’s a lot cooler up there in the mountains.” Diana let a wistful note come into her voice. “Do you think the paper will let you go soon? I’d hate for something to happen to Aunt May before we got to see her. The attorney says there might be some other benefit to going to see her right away. Some financial benefits. I wouldn’t mind that.”

  Again Pamina seemed reluctant. “I don’t know how soon I can go, Di. I’ll have to talk to the editor and see.”

  “But Aunt May is elderly, and the attorney says she’s not in good health. We need to leave right away, maybe tomorrow even.”

  Pamina shook her head. “Not tomorrow, not that quickly. I’ll have to get the advice column written for the next issue before I can even think about asking to leave. Finishing it up won’t take me long. It almost writes itself. I'll go in early tomorrow and get right on it. Then, as soon as it’s ready, I’ll speak to my editor. If he’s agreeable, we might be able to take the train the day after.” She looked around the table. “Does anyone have a railroad schedule? I guess we need to see what train we’d take to get to Denver and when it would be going.”

  Someone had a timetable, and with the assistance of the other women who lived in the house, Pamina and Diana were advised that they would need to take the train to Dallas, then after a two-hour wait, they would be able to board a connecting train that would deliver them to the mysterious Aunt May in Denver.

  “While I’m at the newspaper arranging things, you, little sister, will have to take on all the packing and finishing things up here; we can leave day after tomorrow. I hate to burden you with all the last-minute details, but that’s the only way we’re going to make that next train.”

  “I don’t mind at all, Pam. I’m excited to learn we still have some family somewhere. After all this time of there being just the two of us, isn’t it fun to learn we have some relatives, or at least one? Somebody who can tell us about where we came from and who we’re kin to?”

  “I just hope you’re still this excited after we meet our long-lost Aunt May.” Pam grinned. “Remember, there may be a reason we’ve never heard about this part of the family. They may not be the kind you brag about.”

  “Oh, Pam, don’t be such a killjoy. This is an adventure. You’ll see.”

  Congratulating themselves for a scene well played, Diana and Pam took leave of their fellow residents and headed upstairs to bed, managing to keep giggles silent until they were safely inside their room with the door closed.

  ****

  Though Diana listened to radio news bulletins throughout the day and Pamina paid careful attention to every hint of breaking events in the newsroom, neither of them heard anything about the victim of the sensational murder being identified. Diana packed their few belongings and took care of business with their landlady. Pamina was able to leave the newspaper without too many regrets. She still vowed she would one day be a real reporter, turning in front page stories and maybe even be credited with a by-line. In a small, private corner of her heart, she hoped one day to write the story she was now living, but for the moment she’d settle for getting herself and her sister out of the city unscathed and have the chance to see more of Trey, of course. The prize in all this upheaval was the promise of hours in his company. She spared a fleeting hope that Diana’s exile to the rural life and her association with Adler Behr would prove to be less calamitous than Di imagined.

  “We actually made it.” Diana looked around at the busy depot, praying she wouldn’t see a certain tall, thin man with a moustache accompanied by a shorter man who looked like an angry elf. “So far, anyway.”

  Pamina put out a hand to halt her sister’s darting glance. “They aren’t here, Di. No one is looking for us. At least, not yet. We’re just going to get on the train, sit back and enjoy the ride, and meet a couple of charming men for dinner. That’s all there is to it.”

  “I’m trying to believe you. Really, I am. But the longer we’re in Fort Worth, the bigger chance of someone deciding they need to find us and keep us here.”

  “That’s our train. It’s just pulling in. Come along.”

  To Diana, the time between the arrival of the train and the time they were settled in their seats seemed interminable. Every second was at least ten minutes long. The coach was nearly full, and the crowd didn’t lessen the heat. Even the thin summer frocks the girls wore fell limp and creased by the time the wheels began to turn.

  “See, you worried yourself to a frazzle for no reason.” Pamina tilted her head toward their fellow passengers opening newspapers and leaning back, getting comfortable for the journey. “No one here is taking any notice of us at all.” She dropped her voice to little more than a whisper. “If anyone begins a conversation, remember we’re on our way to visit family in Colorado. That’s all we tell anybody.”

  “Pam, I know that.” Diana took one last look around. “I think you’re right. No one’s paying any attention to us at all. I don’t see a single face that looks familiar. I guess we can call our adventure a success, the first step safely reached.”

  “I’m going to enjoy it if I can.” Pam passed her a book, and then they noticed the conductor entering the car with a stack of newspapers. “Look, he has the Telegram. I’ll get us a paper. I didn’t get a chance to pick up the late edition, with all our dashing to get everything done before we left.”

  “I do believe you have printer’s ink instead of blood in your veins.” Diana sighed. “Go ahead, get a paper. I know you can’t get along without your evening dose of crime, gossip, and glamour.”

  Pam squeezed past two traveling salesmen taking over the
aisle, reached the conductor, and secured the afternoon paper. As soon as she sat down, she unfolded the paper to the front page.

  “Oh, rhatz, Di! We left at just the last possible minute. Look.” She pointed to the heavy black headline: MURDER VICTIM IDENTIFIED AS SHELDON HAVER!!

  Chapter 9

  As the train chugged along the rails, Diana was still staring blindly at her book, her head spinning at how close their timing had been. By the next morning, early afternoon at the latest, someone at the newspaper might well connect the small item in the gossip column to Pamina’s talk with the woman who wrote it. Someone would likely be wondering why Pam was asking about Haver’s private life. Had she seen him at Tommy Gunn’s? What had she seen at that not-so-private club? Worst question of all, who had she seen with the son of the city’s most famous crusading preacher? Those were the questions the police would ask, the questions Pam Woods didn’t dare answer.

  “Di, it will be all right. You’ll see. Trey and the professors brought us this far. Don’t worry.”

  “It could all go horribly wrong, Pam. You know it could.” Diana reached across to fold the paper in her sister’s lap. She didn’t think she could bear to look at the glaring headline any longer. “I know you’re trying to act confident and serene so I won’t keep thinking about what could happen. Nevertheless, I’m going to be out there alone, in a town where nobody knows me, no one but Adler Behr, and I can’t expect much help from him. Not with the way he feels about working with women. I hope I can get through the days and do what Dr. Elmsford asked me to do, but I’m scared. No matter how brave you act, I know you are too.” She stared out the window at the sun-scorched landscape. “At least you’ll be surrounded by those dear old owls, cranky though they sometimes are. They’ll never let anything happen to you.”

  “Well, I think I’d rather trust Trey to act fast and think straight as I would twittery old Withers.”

  “You’d trust Trey regardless.” Diana caught the faint flush in her sister’s cheeks. “You’re in love with him, aren’t you? I thought at first it was just another flirtation, but, Pam, it’s the real thing for you this time. You’re in love and goofy with it.”