As the big clock in the front hall struck one in the morning Louisa climbed the stairs to her room and snatched Luc’s telescope from the table. She rushed up to Talbot’s room, knocked on the door and called his name. There was no answer. She pulled open the doors to the turret and felt a rush of cool night air. She trained the telescope on the gazebo. The men were gone and the grounds were quiet. Louisa let out a sigh of relief and headed back to her room. At least for the moment everything was alright.
She paced nervously, trying to decide what to do and found the tiny carved carp in her pocket. Luc was strapping and strong and he knew everyone in the area and he could handle himself. He might also know the name Clayton. He could help her to keep her home and family safe. He had said thoughtful and reasonable things to her about her father and her brothers. Luc was the man she needed. Louisa hoped she had not turned him against her so badly that she could not ask for his help. She needed to find Luc.
Thirty-Nine
In the confines of the sewing room Louisa checked the clock. It was just after 2 a.m. and she’d have to wait until dawn before heading out to find Luc. There would be no sleep tonight.
“Where will I find him?” she asked herself. The last time she’d seen him was on the trail on her way back from the cottage. Maybe he had a campsite close to the spot where they had talked. She decided that’s where she would start looking as soon as it was light out.
She rolled a piece of paper into the typewriter and began to type everything she could recall about the conversation she had overheard underneath the gazebo. There were two men, one named Clayton and they were discussing diamonds that they apparently believed were hidden in the house at Stavewood. Jude Thomas had been mentioned as well. They knew there was a secret passage into the house but they didn’t know where. What else?
She checked the clock again, pulled the typed sheet from the roller and sat back in her chair rereading it. There were several pieces of the puzzle that fit together now and Louisa wrote as she started to make sense of it all.
It was no coincidence that the train robberies had happened so close to Stavewood. Jude and Diana would rob the baggage car and split up after riding away. Jude would carry the loot and that way no one would suspect Diana if they came across her.
Then he’d ride right to the Elgerson stables and leave his horse in one of the stalls. It made sense. Everyone would have been running all over the place in their haste to form a posse and ride out. There wouldn’t be many folks around and anyone who was still on the property wouldn’t pay much attention to a horse in the stable that they didn’t recognize. He would enter the passageway under the gazebo and make his way into the house.
While in the tunnel, he took the loot out of the bank bags and left the bags there. They might never have been found if she had not run across them. With the money stuffed in his jacket he’d get to the locked panel in the cellar.
Louisa sighed and checked the clock again. If she was right she didn’t like the next logical step. On her pad she wrote:
Corissa knew.
The panel was locked and only Corissa could open it from the inside. Corissa had the only key, so she had to have let him in after each robbery. Once inside, Jude stashed his stolen haul somewhere in the house.
Louisa stood up and walked to the window. She cautiously pulled the drape aside and peered out into the darkness. She saw no one at the gazebo or on the grounds at all. It was just after three now and she sat back down at the table with her notes in front of her.
She thought about Corissa signaling Jude with the lantern from the turret late at night. He was her secret lover, forbidden and yet compelling, the cure for her aching heart and broken dreams. She would have done anything for him. She had persuaded Timothy to build the gazebo in the spot Jude had wanted, close to the underground creek. He had to have had her help connecting the passage to the cellar as well. She thought she was in love with him and she couldn’t tell him “no”.
Then Louisa had a disturbing thought.
What if she had told him no? Suppose she wanted to end it with him as Birget had suspected? Jude Thomas would not have been happy about that. He was having success with his train robberies and he had Corissa’s affections at his beck and call. She would have had to use something against him and she had leverage because he needed her to unlock the passageway. Perhaps she had threatened to turn him in. But Jude was often more spiteful than practical.
Louisa put her fingers against her temples and shut her eyes. Her throat tightened and her eyes welled up. She had no proof but she felt it was very likely that Corissa’s death was no accident.
There was still an hour before the sun would start to lighten the sky and, though she was exhausted, Louisa was still awake, sifting through her notes. She went downstairs and made herself a cup of tea and buttered a slice of bread. Back in her room she sat back in her chair with her tea and thought about how her mother had suffered when she first arrived. Now she saw things in a new light.
It was common knowledge that Diana Weintraub had kidnapped Rebecca and left her for dead so that her daughter, Octavia, would have no competition for Timothy Elgerson’s attention. That had always seemed rather extreme to Louisa, but now there was more to the story. Now there were diamonds involved. Louisa had no idea how many or their worth or where they were now, but there was no doubt that Diana knew they were hidden somewhere in Stavewood. Octavia probably didn’t know, but, if she had been the one to live in the house as Timothy’s wife Diana would have been here at every opportunity looking for the gems. To Louisa’s way of thinking this was a much stronger motive for kidnapping and murder.
Although it was very disturbing it was all beginning to make sense.
Louisa checked the clock again, dimmed the lamp, and pushed aside the heavy drapes. She saw that the darkness had begun to give way to dawn and decided it was time to find Luc. Tucking the Old Maid into her waistband she hurried down the stairs and left a note on the kitchen table saying that she was taking Romeo and would return later. She saddled up the bay quickly and led him out into the yard. There was no one else in the soft light. She mounted Romeo and kicked him to a run.
Riding hard, she cut across the lawns of the estate and took the road towards Billington for a short distance before riding into the woodland. She knew every turn of Fisher Creek and she ran Romeo along the banks peering into the forest looking for Luc or his campsite. If she were camping in this area she’d have picked a spot along the creek. She directed Romeo into the water intending to cross at a place she knew to be shallow, below a natural dam of fallen trees and twisted roots. She looked up and down the stream for Luc and stopped suddenly.
There, tangled in the twisted collection of branches and roots, was her pink slipper. She stood up in the stirrups and looked back in the direction of Stavewood. The water that ran underground from the Towhee River had found its way back to the surface here in Fisher Creek. She was not very far away from where it had gone underground at the whirlpool. Had Jude used this as part of his plan too? From this location he could have gotten to Diana’s ranch in a few minutes, even on foot.
She rode along the bank until she reached the spot where she had seen Luc last and called his name. Louisa paced along the backwoods path and called again.
“He could be anywhere. He could be up at the cabin, at Stavewood, anywhere.” Suddenly she felt foolish. If someone other than Luc heard her, like the men she had heard the night before, it might not go well.
“Where are you?” she said to herself. Louisa cursed herself and all of the things she had said to Luc. She could see how wrong she had been. Now she wished the dragon would awaken.
“Maybe Mark knows where he is,” she said aloud. She was on his property and Mark would know if Luc was camping on his land. Louisa kicked Romeo to a fast run.
Forty
In the misty, morning light Louisa could make out a warm glow in Mark and Colleen’s kitchen. It was early, and her visit would be a surprise
but she did not want to panic her brother or his wife. The man in the black poncho had promised to kill anyone who knew about the diamonds so the less Mark and Colleen knew, the better. She decided on a plan.
Louisa slipped from Romeo’s back and stepped onto the porch. She tapped on the door quietly and Colleen opened it a crack, peering out cautiously.
“Saints in heaven, Loo! What are you doing out here so early?”
Louisa tried to appear casual. “I’m going fishing,” she announced. She stepped inside and looked around the comfortable kitchen. “I was wondering if you or Mark happen to know where Luc Almquist is camped out. He mentioned he would be out fishing this morning and I’m trying to find him.”
“No, Louisa. Sorry but I don’t know where he is.” Colleen looked at her sister-in-law puzzled.
“Morning.” Mark emerged from the hall, pulling his suspenders over his shirt. “Loo?”
“She’s looking for Luc,” Colleen mumbled. She filled a mug with steaming coffee and handed it to her husband. She moved silently, in bare feet, along the wooden floor, the hem of her long flannel nightgown pooling around her feet.
“Luc? Now?” Mark scratched his head and rubbed one eye sleepily. He peered at Louisa curiously.
“I was looking for him,” Louisa said. “To maybe go fishing with him.”
Mark chuckled low in the softly lit room. “Loo, I have no clue where he is. I’m sure you’ve seen much more of him than we have lately.”
Louisa watched her brother take a deep drink from his mug and held her breath. She saw the resemblance she could never have seen before. Corissa was there, all over him. She looked away suddenly.
“What are you up to?” Mark peered at her suspiciously.
“I’m just trying to find Luc is all.”
“I honestly have no idea, Loo.” Mark said. “I think he’s making maps for the Land Preservation folks. They would know where he’s surveying. They have an office in Billington at the town hall. He might even be staying in town.” Mark opened a cupboard and pulled out the watch Talbot had given her. “Here,” he said, as he handed it to her. “Good as new.”
“Thanks.” Louisa kissed her brother’s cheek lightly and Colleen’s as well and let herself out of the kitchen. She’d worry later about what they thought she was doing.
“Fishing,” Colleen said under her breath. “I’m thinking she’s interested in much more than fishing.”
Mark scratched his head and nodded.
Louisa rode hard into Billington. The offices should be open soon, she thought, and the quicker she found Luc Almquist, the better.
Forty-One
The hinged brass bell rang cheerfully as Louisa pushed open the door to the town hall offices in Billington. The office was brightly lit with wide windows and notices pinned to the walls.
“Good morning!” A plump woman in a brilliant lavender dress greeted Louisa eagerly. After two cups of coffee in the local diner while she waited for them to open, Louisa was even more on edge.
“I’m trying to find a government employee. A cartographer.”
“Are you looking for someone to map out your property?”
“No I’m looking for a man who is currently surveying in the area. Luc Almquist. I need to find him.”
“Almquist? Let me see. Could you have a seat?”
Louisa turned and found a row of stiff wooden chairs. She sat nervously on the edge of one in the center of the row.
The woman went to the back of the room and began opening drawers and riffling through files. She closed the first drawer and opened another and another.
“Almquist?” the woman asked as she strolled back to the front desk. “Avery Almquist?”
“No, Luc. Luc Almquist,” Louisa said. “Not Avery.”
“Ah,” the woman laughed. “That explains it.”
“Excuse me?”
“Mister Avery Almquist is recently deceased.”
“Oh,” Louisa said. “No, Luc Almquist. He’s been surveying out by my family’s property, Stavewood.”
“Oh my,” the woman said. “Stavewood. I was there once years ago, for a fundraiser. Beautiful. I suspect it’s still the same.”
“Yes, it’s very nice,” Louisa said. She was growing more impatient with every minute.
“I don’t believe we’ve met. Polly Polka is my name.”
“Louisa Elgerson,” Louisa said curtly.
“Is it important you find this mapmaker?”
“You bet,” Louisa said. “Luc, Luc Almquist.”
“Oh, yes.” Polly toddled back to the files and began searching again. She nodded several times and hummed as though confused. Louisa grew more agitated by the second. “Here it is!” Polly strolled to the desk.
She set a file down in front of her and pulled over a rolling stool. She sat down slowly.
“Do you know where he is?” Louisa blurted out.
“Well.” Polly laid the file out on the counter, opened it thoughtfully, and began turning the loose pages inside one at a time. “Let’s see. Luc… Almquist…no…no…”
Louisa imagined taking the file from the woman violently and rushing through the contents herself. The folder was filled with sheets of paper and Polly turned each one and perused it thoughtfully. After several minutes she closed the file, looked up to Louisa and smiled.
“Well?” Louisa asked impatiently.
“There is no one named Luc Almquist working for the county out of our office.”
“There must be,” Louisa said.
“No Luc Almquist,” Polly assured her.
“Could there be some mistake?” Louisa felt her stomach churning.
“If he works for the county they would have his information in the office at Blue Falls. He would be on our roster though if he was working in this area. It’s possible he’s surveying in a different county but to be sure you’d have to check with them in Blue Falls at the county seat office.”
“County seat?” Louisa was frantic. “You have no idea where he is now? He’s tall, very attractive. Quite tanned, golden hair. It falls across his forehead, here, like this.” Louisa swept her fingertip across her brow. “He’s big. Broad shoulders and chest and tall, did I say he was tall? He’s unusually good looking, you would certainly remember him.” Her words poured out in a rush. “Luc, Luc Almquist.”
“Oh, he sounds very nice, Miss Elgerson, but I’m sorry I can’t help you. He’s not working here in the Billington area.”
Louisa clenched her fists at her sides. Why didn’t they know Luc? Was it a clerical error, or could it be that Luc really wasn’t working for the Land Preservation Department? Her heart skipped a beat at the thought. If he wasn’t making maps for the county then what was he doing? She thought of the two men arguing at the gazebo. They were watching the house. Now she had to know for sure who Luc was and what he was doing around Stavewood.
“Can you send a telegram to Blue Falls and ask them?” she asked Polly.
“I’m sorry, Miss Elgerson. You’d have to do that personally. There would be a small fee required,” she said sweetly.
Louisa retrieved Romeo and rode quickly to the town stables. She would have to leave him there and catch the next train. Louisa rubbed her temples. Things had stopped making sense again.
Forty-Two
Luc Almquist sat upon Avalanche at the end of the road that led to Stavewood. It was early morning, not long after dawn. He checked the mills and saw that the flashy red roadster was not in the lot. Then he rode around and checked the stables. Romeo was not there. With both the car and the horse gone it was unlikely that Louisa and Talbot were together. That was to his advantage, he thought. He needed to find Louisa alone. She was out already on an early morning ride, but where?
He rode along Billington Pike looking for her on the main pathways. He galloped into the woodland, checking every trail where they had been together but found no sign of her. He grew impatient and rode out to Fawn Lake but was not surprised to find that she was
not there either. He cut through the woodland towards Billington and the cottage. Maybe she had ridden out to see Katie and the baby.
He dismounted and strode up onto the wooden porch. James and Katie had taken Fiona home and the cottage was closed and vacant. He looked up at the facade. The tiny chalet was painted a cheerful, butter yellow and adorned with white gingerbread trim at the peak where the porch posts met the roof. It didn’t surprise him that the cottage had become so popular with the local women as the place to have their first babies. But however charming the place was, it didn’t matter to him. Louisa was not there. He needed to find her quickly and with no one else around. He held the reins of his stallion and looked down the road.
“She’s got to be somewhere, ‘Lanch,” he said to the horse. He threw his leg over the saddle and started towards the Elgerson Ranch as the late morning sun rose over the trees.
He slowed his horse to a trot at the great archway that guarded the entrance to the ranch and rode up the pathway towards the corrals. He saw Mark there in his familiar, tan colored hat, and he rode up casually.
“Morning!” Mark Elgerson tilted his head back as he saw Luc approach. Luc dismounted and greeted Mark with a handshake.
“That’s a fine fellow there,” Luc said, pointing to a young pony in the open corral.
“Just getting up on his feet,” Mark said, smiling proudly. “Avalanche looks good.”
“How’s Katie and the baby?” Luc looked off across the enclosure.
“Great. We got them moved into their new place last night.” Mark noticed that Luc held his hand in a tight fist as he rested his arm on the corral fence. He was certain that he had not come out to discuss babies and young horses. “What can I do for ya?” He tried to look Luc in the eye but Luc avoided his gaze.
The Secret of Stavewood (Stavewood Saga Book 4) Page 14