The Detective Bride

by Sylvia Damsell

  “That’s Blair.” Dan pointed.

  “And this is Susannah,” Becky added, taking Susannah’s hand.

  “Would you like Blair and Susannah to come with you?”

  “Susannah can.”

  If Mrs. Harrison had any thoughts about them not including Blair she did not show it by word or facial expression. Instead she led them from the room and they made their way down the corridor. She showed them the library, the dining room and a few other rooms, then aimed for a classroom.

  “I want to be with Larry and Tony,” Dan said.

  “They are in this class. When the lesson is over the teacher will introduce you to other children. Is that alright?” Mrs. Harrison looked at Susannah. “Could you stay in the class for a few minutes until they settle?”

  “Yes, of course.”

  “There’s another little girl who has just come to the school. I’ll introduce you to her after the lesson, Becky. Is that alright?”

  Neither of the children said anything and Mrs Harrison went ahead to speak to the teacher. She beckoned them in and the teacher directed them to two desks. Becky looked round the room and a little girl of her age leapt off her seat and raced towards her. The two girls put their arms round each other and held on tightly.

  “You know each other,” Mrs. Harrison said. “That’s good.”

  “Becky,” said the little girl.

  “Bertha,” Becky added.

  “Shall we put a desk near to Bertha’s?” Mrs. Harrison asked. She looked at the teacher, a young lady with dark hair which had a tint of auburn.

  “We’ll do that. Rodney and Brian. Will you bring the empty one from the back?”

  “I want to sit near Larry,” Dan said.

  A little boy stood up. “I’ll get a desk.”

  “Thank you, Larry. Dan, can you help him?”

  The children sat near their friends, obviously happy to remain, and Susannah felt more at ease.

  Dan looked at her. “You don’t have to stay,” he said.

  “We’ll come back for you when school comes out,” she replied.

  “They can stay for lunch,” Mrs. Harrison said. “Would you like to stay, Becky and Dan?”

  “We play afterwards,” Larry said.

  “I want to stay for lunch,” Becky said.

  “Me too,” Dan added.

  “In that case we’ll collect you when school comes out,” Susannah said.

  “Okay.”

  Mrs. Harrison turned to leave the room and Susannah followed her. “There are papers you’ll need to sign,” Mrs. Harrison said, walking back towards her office.

  “Yes, and we’ll pay for any books and food while we’re here. Where does Bertha come from?”

  “An orphanage in Los Angeles. She’s been adopted by a couple in the village, Colin and Priscilla. Quite a few people in Lower Pine have adopted children lately.”

  “From Los Angeles?”

  “Yes, also New York. The teacher you just saw, Mrs. Vivien Black, has parents in New York who are trustees at the orphanage there.”

  “Mr. and Mrs. Ballard,” Susannah said.

  “You’ve met them?”

  “Yes.”

  “And you’re adopting Dan and Becky.”

  “Blair has already adopted them but I think their mother is alive. I want to try to find her. We’re going to do our best to do so.”

  “That would be good.” Mrs. Harrison walked into the office. “When will you be marrying?”

  “We’ve decided to hold off from that for a while,” Susannah said. “We want to get to know each other better.”

  Blair looked at her sharply but made no comment. Really he couldn’t, she knew, and he deserved everything he got. The man was handsome but for her that was where his charm ended. If they could find the parents of the two children then maybe what he did was worth it. Only time would tell on that and now they had two assignments instead of one.

  “We need to see the Bletchleys,” she said when they left the school.

  He looked at her a bit blankly. “Who?”

  She sighed. “How ever did you become a detective? You just have no clue, do you? Colin and Priscilla Bletchley who adopted Bertha. We were talking about it in the office.”

  “Oh, them. We didn’t come for that reason.”

  “But you complicated what we did come for. How long have you been with the agency and what is your real name?”

  “What’s yours?”

  “Let’s go and see Zedekiah and Elise so we can tell them the marriage is off, and you need to send a telegram to your fake preacher. I need to find somewhere to live with the children and after that we’ll get down to discussing the case we came here for.”

  “I have the two children,” Blair said.

  “Not anymore you don’t. We’re going to tell Zedekiah, Elise and anyone else who’s interested that you adopted the children but that we’ve discovered they probably still have a mother.”

  He frowned. “That will blow our cover.”

  “No, it won’t. It has nothing to do with our initial assignment. I will tell everyone that I’ve met someone else I want to marry but that I felt I should come in view of the children.”

  A picture of Noah rose to her mind but she pushed it to the back. She certainly hadn’t fallen in love with him though she felt sure he had considerably more sense than Blair.

  “You might fall in love with me,” Blair said. “Most ladies do.”

  Susannah giggled. “Well, obviously I’m not most ladies and I would keep an eye on that head of yours or you might lose it. It’s getting so big you’ll never get through doors.”

  “Very funny.” Blair flicked the reins and the horses trotted forward. “Does this person you’ve fallen in love with know what you’re really like?”

  “I doubt it because he’s fictitious.” Susannah looked round as they drove out of the village. “This really is a beautiful county, isn’t it? What’s it like in Los Angeles?”

  “Okay. The countryside is quite pretty but Los Angeles is bigger than Lone, Lower or Middle Pine.”

  “I would expect it to be but it isn’t as big as New York.”

  “Do you like New York?” he asked.

  “It’s my home but for some people it’s not so good. I’m fortunate in that I have loving parents who gave me everything I needed during my childhood.”

  “Then why are you a detective? Ladies aren’t so good at solving mysteries.”

  “And so speaks a man who has no idea what ladies can do. I’m the second lady detective to be employed and I intend to fight for the rights of women, which includes that. There is a lady surgeon in Lower Pine. The Ballards told me about her.”

  “Who are the Ballards?”

  “It doesn’t matter.” He really didn’t have the capability to retain, listen or think things through so it was no use explaining because probably by tomorrow he would have forgotten.

  “You think I’m stupid, don’t you?” he said.

  She had a sudden pang of conscience. She did but it wasn’t a nice thing to think. “I think you’re not cut out to be a detective, that’s all.”

  “Why?”

  “You just aren’t. What else do you like doing?”

  “Painting and making sculptures.”

  She looked at him with interest. “That’s clever. Michael Black, the Ballards’ son-in-law, is a painter. We should go and see them. We need to get to know everyone, anyway, because we have to get to the bottom of this business concerning the seminary and university.”

  “We’re working for the person who is sueing them,” Blair said.

  “And have to obtain proof of their claim so they can get their money. The only way we can get that is to snoop around, and the way we snoop around is to ask the right questions, which involves getting to know people.”

  She paused as she looked round at the pretty bushes nearby. Rhododendrons, she knew, and they would be lovely in midsummer. Unfortunately she wouldn’t be here the
n. Bringing her attention back to Blair she looked at him for a few moments.

  He really was good looking and obviously knew it. Was he as dense as he appeared to be? “Would you do me a favour?” she asked.

  “What’s that?”

  “Let me ask questions.”

  “Why not me?”

  “Because, like I said, you’re not good detective material. There is one thing you could do.”

  “What’s that?”

  “Teach how to make sculptures. That way we’ll get to know more people. You could run classes in your house and maybe we could get the school to let you teach the children. What kind of things do you make?”

  “Anything that is required. Animals. People. Birds. I’ll need to buy materials for doing it because I left mine at home. I should have brought them because I really do like doing it.”

  His expression was more animated than she had seen so far and it made her feel a bit emotional. Had he somehow been forced into being a detective or did he do it because he really liked doing it? Maybe he was putting on a front.

  “Have you met our client yet?” she asked.

  “No. We’re to meet in Independence in a couple of days’ time.”

  “I’ll go with you.”

  “What about the children?”

  “If I wasn’t here you’d be responsible for them and they wouldn’t even be at school. What would you have done about that?”

  “I was thinking of hiring a nanny.”

  “Which would have confused them even more. Telegraph our client and say we’ll meet him on Saturday, then we can take the children.”

  “We can’t have them listening to our conversation,” Blair said.

  “They won’t because you will take them with you to buy your sculpting materials and I will see the client.”

  “I should be there.”

  “I can manage. It would be nice if you involved the children with your sculpting. It’s good to start that kind of thing when you’re young. Is that when you started?”

  “My father is a businessman. He isn’t interested in that kind of thing.”

  Susannah looked at Blair thoughtfully. “He owns the detective agency in Los Angeles, doesn’t he?”

  “Why would you say that?”

  “He does and he wants you to follow in his footsteps. You do not have to do what your father wants.”

  “I want it too,” Blair said.

  “Maybe.” She looked at the house ahead of them as they drove through a wide gate. “Zedekiah and Elise’s house?”

  “An excellent deduction.” He grinned as she glanced at him. “Isn’t that what you do, make deductions?”

  “Very funny.”

  “Hello, Blair.” A dark haired young lady emerged from the house carrying a baby in her arms. “It’s nice to see you.”

  “Thank you.” Blair leapt from the coach and put his hand up to Susannah. “This is Miss Susannah Smythe.”

  “Your future wife. I’m pleased to meet you, Susannah.”

  Susannah took her outstretched hand. “Not quite,” she said.

  “Oh?”

  “I fell in love with someone else before coming here.”

  “That’s a shame for the children.”

  “We don’t think they’re orphans so they probably won’t be Blair’s, anyway. We think their mother is alive and are going to do everything to find her.”

  “Then you must tell us how we can help.” Elise turned as the tallest man Susannah had ever seen, who was even talker than Noah, walked through the door behind her. He had to bend his head to get through it and he was totally gorgeous, Susannah thought. He was better looking than Blair and that was saying something. Maybe not better looking than Noah though.

  “Darling, Susannah and Blair.”

  “So I see.” Zedekiah held out his hand to Susannah. “Welcome to Lower Pine.”

  “Thank you.”

  Susannah bent towards the child. “Hello.” She dug into her bag and took out a little doll she had purchased in the mercantile for Becky. She would get another one and couldn’t resist giving it to the baby. “Do you like dolls?”

  The infant took it and bounced again. Elise shut the door behind them and put her on the floor. “That’s very kind of you,” she said to Susannah.

  “I still have an army of dolls at home,” Susannah said. “They’re in a cupboard but maybe one day they’ll be useful.”

  “I’m sure they will. What would you like to drink? Tea? Coffee? Milk? Chocolate?”

  “Milk would be nice.”

  “Coffee,” Blair added as Elise looked at him.

  “No children?” Zedekiah asked.

  “They started at school. They know children there so are happy.”

  “That’s good. It could be a bit daunting otherwise.”

  “Dan had met Larry at the mercantile the day we arrived and then there was a little girl who the Bletchleys adopted who was in the same orphanage as them.”

  “Bertha,” said Elise.

  “Yes. They were so happy to see each other. They need school really or else they would get very bored.”

  “Yes, they do.”

  “Blair likes making sculptures,” Susannah said.

  Blair frowned. “That’s not very interesting.”

  “It is,” Zedekiah said. “What do you like to sculpt?”

  “Anything and everything. I did think of taking it up seriously but decided not to. Instead I decided to become a ......” Blair frowned as Susannah pushed against him. “Rancher,” he finished.

  “You could do both. Michael and Colin are very artistic and quite a few men whittle away at small sculptures though not as a full time occupation. Michael and Colin mostly paint or do murals.”

  “We should go and see them,” Susannah said, looking at Blair. She turned back to the couple as they stood in the kitchen where Elise was mixing the drinks and Zedekiah was cutting a cake into slices. “I understand you’re building a seminary, university and hospital near here.”

  “The hospital is growing. It started with two wards but now has four,” Zedekiah said. “The university and seminary building has ground to a standstill for the moment.”

  “Oh? Why is that?”

  “Something to do with land rights. We’re hoping it will be sorted soon.”

  “Was the land bought specifically for the purpose of building the seminary and university?”

  “Yes. There are just some finer points to deal with.”

  Which Zedekiah was obviously not going to share, Susannah felt, and she mustn’t pursue the conversation at this moment. “It’s a lovely part of the country,” she said.

  “It is,” Elise replied. “I come from New York so I appreciate it a lot. Whereabouts did you live exactly?”

  The conversation moved to many subjects and Susannah found she was enjoying getting to know new people. She had many acquaintances in New York but there was a friendliness which she felt was more than she had experienced there, a friendliness she had seen also in Joel and the landlady at the boarding house, as well as at the school. They spent an hour with the couple and when they left Susannah suggested they visit Colin and Priscilla though she wanted first to check at the school that the children were alright.

  They were, Mrs. Harrison told them, and it was good they showed such an interest in their welfare. If there was anything she could do to help locate their mother would they tell her?

  “Would you know of anywhere I could rent?” Susannah asked. “We feel it’s best for me to have the children but I don’t want us to be in a boarding house even though it’s very nice there.”

  “Bruce and Hazel Long have a house on their property,” Mrs. Harrison said. “The couple who were staying there have now finished building a place of their own so it’s empty, as far as I know. Have you met them, Mr. Wilde?” Blair shook his head. “I could give you directions to their property, if you like.”

  “That would be good,” Susannah said and they were soon on
their way to the ranch, which Mrs. Harrison said was about two miles distant.

  “I can manage the children,” Blair said, frowning at Susannah as they rode out of the town. “They’re actually my children because I adopted them.”

  “I think they would be happier with me,” Susannah replied.

  “Why?”

  “Because you obviously have done little to endear yourself to them and I rather suspect you’ve been impatient with them. You don’t try to do things to occupy them and you didn’t think of getting them into school. You are also willing just to hand them back to the orphanage.”

  “Their mother is alive.”

  “But you didn’t know that. I don’t think you set out to be cruel but you didn’t think things through. Maybe we could ask the children who they would like to be with.”

  “We could do that.” There was silence for a few minutes as they kept driving and as Susannah looked with appreciation at the scenery. “What are we going to find out in Independence?” Blair continued.

  “We’re going to interview Larson Miles and see why he thinks he has a claim on the land where the university and seminary are being built. I also want to look at the land and at any documentation connected with it. There must be documents of purchase.”

  “People aren’t just going to let you look at documents,” Blair said. “And you have to remember at all times that our client is the one sueing. We are not on the side of the people here.”

  “We will look into everything from every aspect. Does Larson Miles have a lawyer?”

  “There are two lawyers here, Mr. Gregory Perkins and Mr. Jude Lancaster, his associate who is not a qualified lawyer yet but is going to attend the university to take a law degree. His wife is a surgeon at the hospital. I’m not sure if they are Miles’ lawyers.”

  “I want to meet Dr. Lancaster,” Susannah said. “She and I have something in common.”

  “What’s that?”

  “We’re among the first women to follow a male dominated career. I’m not half as clever as her, of course, but I really do want to meet her.”

  “The ranch is ahead,” Blair said.

  “Good. The house is big, isn’t it?”

  “He must be well off.”

  Blair pulled in the reins as they reached a huge gate. The house beyond was sizeable and if there was another house on the property this man must be wealthy. But he showed no signs of opulence as he walked towards the gate to open it. Pretty tall though not as tall as Zedekiah or Noah, dark haired and wearing blue jeans. He looked just the way Susannah felt a cowboy would look.