“Good day, Ladies. I have some good news for you, Mrs. Higgins. You are no longer a suspect in your husband’s murder.”
“Well, I am glad to hear you say that, but I should never have been considered a suspect in the first place,” she told him scathingly. Her nose pointed in the air, brushing imaginary specks from her sleeve, she wished she could swat this annoying detective Gant away as easily as a gnat. “Pray tell, what made you change your mind Detective Gant?”
“Some new information has come to light that helped our case. The crime scene also provided some evidence that clears you. Were you aware of a locked cabinet in your husband’s office?”
“No, I have never set foot in his office.”
“Oh, then that would mean you have no idea what might have been stored there?”
“That would be a correct assumption, Detective. If there is nothing more, I have an appointment, and I don’t want to be late.” Darcy cut off the conversation with the precision of a diamond cutter and marched away with chin high, shoulders back, and spine straight. Inside she was trembling like a scared little girl, but outside, she was the picture of an indignant, poised, lady of wealth and influence.
As Darcy and Eva entered the dark, musty office of Judson Parker, Attorney at Law, they blinked repeatedly until their eyes adjusted to the dim light of its drab interior after the extremely bright sunlight outside. Without windows, the office was hot and stuffy.
“We are here to see Mr. Parker. I am Mrs. Edgar Higgins, and I need to discuss my husband’s will.” Darcy informed the dowdy secretary in the outer office.
“Was he expecting you? Did you have an appointment?” The pencil thin, prune-faced, secretary, with tiny round spectacles perched on the end of her pointed nose asked them haughtily. Her voice had the effect of fingernails scraping across a chalkboard, and her condescending tone made Darcy want to slap her.
“No, but this is very urgent.”
“Take a seat and I will ask if he can see you,” the secretary told them in her high-pitched, nasal voice. She appeared to consider herself quite superior to the women who had just entered the office, gesturing with a flick of her wrist toward some uncomfortable wooden straight chairs across from her desk. Perhaps her association with a successful attorney had deluded her into thinking she shared in that status. Whatever delusion she was under, however, Darcy would love to set her straight.
The other woman exited through a door behind her, and they heard momentary muffled voices. She returned shortly and addressed the women.
“For future reference, Mr. Parker sees clients by appointment only, but he can give you five minutes and five minutes only before his next client arrives. Come this way.”
Darcy’s initial annoyance with the secretary was rapidly becoming intense dislike after her scolding. Any gown in Darcy’s wardrobe easily cost more than a year’s salary of the pursed-lipped, sourpuss who showed them into Mr. Parker’s inner sanctum with a condescending air.
“Ah, Mrs. Higgins. I was expecting to hear from you. I assume you are here concerning your late husband’s estate. I have his Last Will and Testament right here. It has some rather strange codicils in it that might shock you, I’m afraid. If you do not mind, since we are pressed for time, I would like to skip straight to the heart of the document. He has left two-thirds of his entire estate to you Mrs. Higgins, as his widow. That is an amount of roughly thirty thousand dollars, including the house and property where it sits.” Darcy thought she would faint at such monumental numbers. “To Eva James, his wife’s personal maid goes the amount of two thousand dollars, and the remainder to a girl named Felicia Howard, who resides at the Blue Garter brothel and is the mother of his bastard child whose name and whereabouts are not to be disclosed.” He paused to clear his throat in embarrassment. “I am sorry, Mrs. Higgins.”
“No need to be, Mr. Parker. I am not shocked or offended by anything my husband did with anyone else. Rather it was what he did with me that shocked and offended me a great deal.”
Her brazen comment made the venerable man in the expensive pin-stripe suit and horn-rimmed glasses flush bright red and begin a coughing, choking fit followed by much fidgeting and muttering. Darcy continued, ignoring the barrister’s flustered reaction.
“My major concern was what he intended to do with the house. I am sure there are other instructions regarding disposal of his business and other properties, the house in St. Simons and in South Carolina, none of which really concern me. I am content to be able to remain in my home, keep my servants, and have an adequate living allowance. I believe my inheritance will handle all of that quite nicely. I am sure Miss Howard earned every penny of what Edgar bequeathed her. I wish her and her bastard child well.”
The lawyer’s eyebrows cocked up high on his forehead, and his jaw slacked with disbelief at what his ears had heard her say.
“Ah-hem, yes, well, if you find yourself in need of help regarding legal or real estate matters in the future, please feel free to contact me again.”
“Thank you for your concern, but I don’t believe that will be necessary. If it does, Mr. Parker, I will be in touch. Thank you for seeing me.”
Once back on the street, Eva and Darcy grabbed each other’s hands and squealed with delight like two young schoolgirls. The old tomcat was gone! Darcy was a beautiful, rich bird, free of her gilded cage, never having to fear capture by her predator again. Both women were rich! They barely felt the brick pavement beneath their shoes as they headed happily home. The home that would now be their castle, rather than their prison.
I was worried I would be homeless, and now I am a wealthy widow!
A look of worry had replaced the sunshine of joy on Eva’s face. She told Darcy in a voice full of caution,
“You gotta be very careful now, mon cher. There will be many low down, dirty scoundrels thinks you a rich widow in need of a man, so beware my pet.”
Darcy nodded at Eva’s wise words of truth. Yes, I will have to be very discerning about who is sincere and who is only after my money, my body, or both!
“Yes, my dear Eva, you are right. I know I am a target for conniving men. I could end up worse off than I was with Edgar. At least he truly cared for me, in a sick and twisted way.” She sighed.
“That bastard does not deserve a second thought or kind word. I hope he gets what he deserves in the next life for what he did in this one.” Eva’s bitter words oozed with hatred.
Darcy was somewhat shocked at the vehemence Eva obviously felt for Edgar. Perhaps there was more between her and Edgar than Darcy realized.
Puzzled, she stopped and turned to face her dear friend. “Eva, is there something you have not told me about what happened between you and Edgar?”
“No, ma’am. Nothing. Enough talk of him. I am just glad he gone.”
Upon arriving home, the housekeeper Carrie handed Darcy several telegrams offering condolences in her recent loss. Most were from business associates of her late husband and the socially elite of the city making the appropriate gestures. Some were from strangers, men who offered services for legal, financial, and real estate matters along with their sympathy.
“See, vultures are circling already. I toll you. Beware, my sweet,” Eva warned again.
Darcy frowned. “We have funeral arrangements to make, and we must hurry. He has been dead for two days already. I have absolutely no idea how to proceed from here. I have no experience with such things. My Goodness! The police will let me go ahead with the burial even though there is a murder investigation going on, won’t they?”
Eva shrugged and began reading the telegrams Darcy handed her after she had finished with them.
Darcy called her household servants into the parlor to ask if any of them had experience with planning a funeral. All shook their heads. At her wit’s end, she was relieved when the doorbell rang, distracting her from her newest concern.
When Eva opened the door, Darcy was pleasantly surprised to see her sister-in-law, Mary Alice, who li
ved just four houses down the street from Darcy, but whom she had only met twice since coming to New Orleans. Mary Alice was the wife of Edgar’s brother Andrew, and here she was, bedecked in black, arriving as if by magic.
“Mary Alice, what a nice surprise. I didn’t expect to see you here,” Darcy greeted her cautiously.
“Darcy, I know, and I am so sorry. Edgar forbade me to visit you. I don’t know why he was so peculiar, but I swear I would have been here sooner and much more often if he had allowed it. After all, we are family, and family is what matters most.” Mary Alice’s warm smile and sincerity lowered Darcy’s defenses.
That was what Darcy had suspected, but she could never be sure until now. What a precious dear! Darcy dropped her icy attitude and embraced Mary Alice, then took her arm and guided her into the parlor. “I was wondering if there was anything I could do to help you. There is so much to tend to at a time like this.”
“Have you been through this kind of thing before?”
“Oh, yes. I am sorry to say I have. My father and mother are both deceased, and I remember my grandfather’s funeral very well. What can I do to help you? I am sure you are feeling overwhelmed and under these circumstances, it must be even harder for you.”
Oh, yes, the murder. Darcy was so overjoyed that Edgar was gone, and she was financially secure for life, that she had almost forgotten about how he had died.
“Oh, yes, I am. I would be very grateful for any help you could give. I have no idea where to begin or what I need to do, but we need to hurry to get Edgar buried since dead bodies do not fare well in the summer heat of Louisiana. Thank you so much for offering to help me.” She squeezed her sister-in-law’s hands firmly in gratitude.
“Of course, Darcy dear, I am more than happy to be of help. Now let’s begin with selecting a funeral home to handle the interment and provide the funeral carriage. We will need pallbearers, flowers, a date, time, location, and a cemetery. He was not a church going man so perhaps we should just go with a graveside service. Now, let’s get a piece of paper and start planning.”
Mary Alice was truly a lifesaver that day, essentially taking over handling all the funeral arrangements with Darcy’s complete approval. Like a guardian angel, Mary Alice had appeared when Darcy needed saving in the worst way.
“Mary Alice, although I am sure your good manners would prohibit you from doing this, I beg you to tell me what people have been saying about me all these years. I don’t know if they think I am a slut, or a concubine, or a poor defenseless victim, or what. I don’t know how to act when I am out in public ’cause I don’t know what preconceived ideas people have about who I really am and what really went on in here. I need to know, and I don’t know another soul that would tell me. Please? As a favor to me?”
Mary Alice hesitated, drew in a deep breath, and shrugged. “Well, since you put it that way, I understand how it would be important to know. There has been much speculation about why Edgar kept his beautiful, young wife hidden away in his opulent mansion. Many speculated he was insanely jealous and did not want any men to see you for fear they might steal you away. Others thought perhaps you were mentally ill, and he kept you away from view so no one would find out. Some thought he literally held you against your will as a prisoner and concubine, and that no actual marriage had taken place. No one knew the truth, and there were as many theories to the odd behavior of this household as there are gossips in the town.” Mary Alice blushed at having to tell her beloved sister-in-law such ugly gossip.
Hanging her head, she continued. “His frequent trips to the sporting houses were no secret either, which baffled everyone since he had such a ravishing beauty at home. It was a very peculiar situation to say the least, and the one thing everyone could agree on was that Edgar was a very peculiar man.” She laughed timidly. “I promise you I would never have repeated these tall tales if you had not begged me to do so. I don’t know what went on behind closed doors, and I do not want to know anything except that you are a precious young woman who deserves a much better life and can hopefully have it now.” She gave Darcy’s hands a squeeze and a peck on each cheek as affirmation to what she had said.
Hours later, Mary Alice indicated her need to leave. Darkness was descending upon the city, and the street lamps were being lit. She must get home for dinner but promised to return the next day and as often as Darcy needed her in the future.
Taking her sister-in-law’s hands, Darcy grasped them reassuringly. “Mary Alice, I can’t tell you what it means to me that you have come to my rescue, and most of all become my friend. I have felt so alone and lost. How can I ever thank you enough?”
“You can thank me by not being a stranger at our house anymore and having an open door policy to your own. Your friendship is all the repayment I want or need. I was happy to do it, and remember, I am here for you and would have been years ago if I could have.”
Darcy gave her newfound friend and “sister” a hug and a peck on each cheek as she bid her adieu. She waved from the front door as Mary Alice strode down the walk to her own home down the block. Previously, it might as well have been a journey of a thousand miles, so great was the distance Edgar had placed between Darcy, his family, and the rest of the world.
“Wasn’t that a wonderful surprise, Eva? I am so grateful for her opportune arrival. I didn’t know about any of the stuff we needed to do. It was nice to know I have one friend in the world.”
Eva remained silent and did not look at Darcy, keeping her head bent and eyes averted.
“Eva? Is something wrong?”
“Well, looks like you and Miss Mary Alice will be best of friends, and you won’t need Eva around no more,” she answered with a pout.
“Eva, that could not be farther from the truth,” Darcy scolded. “Nothing will ever hamper our friendship. How many times do I have to tell you that? Now stop being silly. Let’s go have some dinner.”
Chapter Four
After the furor of the funeral, the visitation with essentially total strangers, receiving enough food to feed an army, and appearing to be the heartbroken, grieving widow, everything was suddenly very quiet and…very lonely. Again, she was at a dead end. Where do I go from here? What do I do now?
The murder investigation had stalled, and she seriously doubted they would ever find the perpetrator, not that she cared one way or the other, unless it put her in harm’s way, too. Edgar’s two partners were continuing the business and had offered to buy her out. She readily agreed to sell since she had no business sense and wanted nothing to do with what was part of Edgar’s daily life. She wished to rid herself of everything associated with him, except for his money and their home, of course.
Thinking back over the past several months, Darcy recalled that Edgar had unexplainably been coming home later and later after work, sometimes missing dinner completely. At other times, he would come home and mysteriously leave again without giving Darcy a reason. He would come back very late at night and slip into his room quietly, not coming to her door at all. She presumed he had been to a brothel for some added variety in his sexual encounters, which was a relief to her. Being as inescapably bound to him as if physically chained, she accepted all of his behaviors, no matter how bizarre or inexplicable they may be, just as she had accepted so much else over the past half-dozen years.
His preoccupations of late did make her slightly curious, since he paid very little attention to either her or Eva. She recalled how he had come to her one night and to her utter amazement, instead of his usual sexual antics said he needed to talk.
“Darcy, I think you have proven your trustworthiness, and I think I will allow you to leave the house, chaperoned, of course. You can take Eva, too, if you want.”
Darcy could not believe her ears. It was like Christmas, her birthday, and every other holiday rolled into one. This was fantastic news. Darcy barely gave a passing thought as to why Edgar had granted her this miraculous privilege. She was too elated about her newfound freedom to care. Edgar wa
s not about to consider anyone entirely trustworthy, so Sylvester would shadow them wherever they went, but the girls didn’t care. They had nothing to hide. With Sylvester present any thought of escape was inconceivable, and the girls knew he would give an accurate recounting of every word and action to Edgar.
The ultimate shock came when Edgar purchased her passage for a trip to Memphis and back. Eva chose not to go, but Darcy was ecstatic. It was unbelievable he was going to indulge her with such a treat after seven years of bondage. She had wondered what had come over Edgar. It was perhaps too evil to hope, but she wondered if he had some terminal illness and having only a short time to live was being especially solicitous at the close of his life.
Along with his abrupt change in behavior, she had noticed that although he was only forty-five, Edgar was aging rapidly. Always fidgety, his nervousness became much more pronounced. His dark hair had streaks of silver at the temples, sooty circles resided beneath his eyes, and his expansive girth was even diminishing gradually. Darcy was too thrilled with her permission to leave the house, and especially her trip up-river, to give these changes much consideration, however. A loud knock at the door interrupted her reverie and jolted her back to the present.
“Hello. Judson Parker here to see Mrs. Higgins, please,” the man at the door told Eva when she answered his knock. Two weeks had passed since the funeral.
“Come in Mr. Parker and have a seat in the parlor. I will let the Missus know you are here. Your hat?”
He handed her his bowler and stepped into the room off the entryway.
“Mr. Parker.” Darcy held out her hand to him as she swept into the room all rustling satin, chiffon and lace.
“Mrs. Higgins, again my condolences for your loss. It is still such a shock. Are the police any closer to catching his killer?”
“No, they aren’t, but thank you for your kind concern. How may I help you today?”
“Well, your late husband’s partners are ready to go forward with the purchase of the business and need you to come to my office and sign papers. Would tomorrow morning be suitable? Say, about ten o’clock?”
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