A Shelter of Hope

by Tracie Peterson

  Jeffery considered the situation and thought it would be very understandable if Simone just up and disappeared. A commotion rose up in the front room of the house, and with this commotion Jeffery had some hope that it might include Simone. Getting to his feet, he made his way to the front hall and found the housemother, a stately woman named Nellie, shaking her finger and issuing a warning to one of her girls.

  “You’ve been told about coming in late. You may well have folks nearby, but that’s no reason to ignore the rules.”

  “Sorry, but my ma just had another baby,” the girl declared.

  This seemed to soften Nellie. “Well, just this once, I suppose. But you’ll have to do double the work tomorrow.”

  “Oh, I promise.” The dark-haired girl started to go and then noticed Jeffery and Una.

  “Oh, Una, come with me upstairs. I want to tease Simone about her new friend.”

  Jeffery held his tongue while Una asked, “What new friend?”

  “The one I saw her spoonin’ with down by the river. I couldn’t get a good look at him, but he seemed a bit older than her. Nevertheless, they were mighty close when I spied them. He had his arms wrapped all around her.” The girl giggled at this, thinking it all very amusing.

  Una’s face maintained a look of confusion while Jeffery took over the conversation. “Had you seen the man before?” he asked.

  “Not with Simone. I think I saw him, if it was the same one,” the girl qualified, “last week at the dry goods, but he never comes in here.”

  “But you don’t know him as being someone from around Florence?”

  “Oh no. He isn’t from around here. I’ve lived here all my natural life and he ain’t—” she paused to correct herself, “isn’t from Florence.”

  Jeffery’s sense of urgency doubled. “What did the man look like? I mean, if he was the same one from the store and all.”

  “He’s about this tall,” the girl replied, using her hand to indicate the height. “He has a moustache and black hair that he parts in the middle like yours. Other than that, I didn’t notice much else about him.”

  “Was he my age?” Jeffery questioned, hardly imagining that the description she’d just given him was one of Zack Matthews. Nevertheless, he had to be sure.

  “Oh, mercy no. He was an older man.”

  Jeffery thought of the Wanted poster and of Simone’s father. The description didn’t fit him, either. Stumped as to who the man might be, Jeffery fell silent. Had Simone enlisted the help of someone else?

  “I want to see her room,” he told Nellie.

  “That’s hardly fitting with the rules,” the woman replied.

  “I know, but I have a feeling this might well be an exception to beat all others. I’m afraid Miss Du—Irving might well be in trouble.”

  “What do you mean?” the girl asked. “Isn’t Simone upstairs? Isn’t she here?”

  “No,” Jeffery replied, “and frankly we’re very worried about her. I need to see her room and determine if she’s taken anything with her.”

  “I suppose it won’t hurt just this once,” Nellie replied.

  With that, Nellie told a girl to run upstairs and issue an order for all the other Harvey Girls to remain in their rooms. The girl went quickly to the task while Una and Jeffery followed Nellie up the stairs at a slower pace.

  “I can’t imagine what you hope to find,” Nellie muttered.

  “I don’t know, either. But I’m hoping that maybe something will give me an idea of what she’s up to. I’ve got to talk to Simone. It’s absolutely critical. If I see her room, perhaps I can determine if all of her things are still there. Una, you would definitely know if something were missing, wouldn’t you?”

  “Ja, I’d know it, all right.”

  “Good. We’ll just give it a look over and see what’s what.”

  Nellie made sure that all was clear before allowing Jeffery onto the dormitory floor of the Harvey House. “It appears to be all right,” she said, motioning for Jeffery and adding, “Una, you might as well lead the way.”

  Una opened the room to them and stood back while Jeffery looked around for himself. “Does it appear in order?”

  Una went to the closet, counted Simone’s uniforms, and took stock of her other things. “She’s wearing her blue serge skirt and white blouse,” Una told them. She continued looking through Simone’s nightstand and dresser drawers, then turned to face Jeffery and Nellie. “Nothing is missing. She didn’t even take her coin purse.”

  Jeffery walked over to the desk and picked up the Bible. “Is this yours?”

  “No, it’s hers. This is the first time I’ve ever seen it out,” Una replied.

  Jeffery leafed through the pages, and when a piece of paper fell to the floor, he quickly retrieved it. It was the telegram he’d sent to her stating that he’d be arriving that day. Perhaps she’d panicked and run away from him. It was a nagging thought, and even though her things were in place around them, Jeffery couldn’t help but fear that his words and actions of the past might have something to do with the present.

  “I suppose the only thing to do is to wait for curfew and see if she makes it. She had the full day off from work and might just have decided to spend it out away from here. If not, then I don’t know what to suggest,” Nellie told Jeffery.

  “But I thought the curfew was some time ago,” Jeffery replied. “I mean, I overheard you with that girl downstairs.”

  “No, no,” Nellie said, shaking her head. “She was late to work on her shift. I had allowed her to go home between shifts because her work was caught up and I knew her ma was in a family way. Curfew is in two hours.”

  “I suppose we have no other choice but to wait,” Jeffery replied in complete frustration. He replaced the telegram in the Bible and placed both back on the desk. “I’ll be in the downstairs parlor.”

  The women nodded and followed him back downstairs. Una went back to work, and Nellie promised to let him know the minute she saw anything of Simone. But two hours later, the circumstance was still the same and no one had seen anything of Simone Dumas.

  Jeffery had spent his idle time in prayer and worry. He tried to give the situation over to God as he had heard a good Christian should do. But he seemed equally inclined to take it back as soon as his “Amen” faded and the fears and concerns crept back into his thoughts.

  “I’m going to the police,” he told the women. Getting to his feet, he realized it was the only choice he had. Going to the police would be exposing Simone to the law, but she might be in danger elsewhere and by keeping silent about her existence in Florence, Jeffery might well be signing her death sentence elsewhere.

  “If she shows up, I’ll send word to your hotel room,” Nellie promised. Una followed him to the door. “I’ll be praying,” she told him.

  “I would appreciate that,” he replied. “I think it may well be our only hope.”

  After getting quick instructions as to where he would find the local law, Jeffery immediately headed there. He knew Una desired to be reassured that Simone would be found safe and sound, but he couldn’t give her that reassurance. In fact, he wanted that same optimism for himself but knew it wasn’t to be.

  Rounding the corner, his mind steeped in thoughts of Simone, Jeffery failed to see the other person before he slammed into him.

  “I’m so sorry,” he muttered, then glanced up to see the man’s face in the moonlight.

  “Matthews? What are you doing here?”

  “Hello, O’Donnell. I figured a change of scenery might be nice, so I took the train to Florence. What business do you have here?”

  “Look, I don’t have time for this.”

  “Why not?” Matthews asked, crossing his arms against his chest. “You seem to have time enough to sit around this place all day.”

  Jeffery tried to shrug nonchalantly. “I work for Fred Harvey. I have business all along the line.” He frantically tried to think how he might now approach the police without fully exposing S
imone’s situation. He had hoped only to report her as a missing employee, but with Matthews in town, there would be no other choice but to come clean on the identity of the woman he was seeking.

  Matthews seemed to tire of the game. “I know she’s here,” he said flatly. “I’ve already talked to the local police officer, and he knows all about her, too.”

  Jeffery felt his throat grow tight. “Well, that’s where you’re wrong.”

  “Don’t lie to me,” Matthews said indignantly. “I know you’ve lied all along to me, and while I ought to take some real offense to it, I’m inclined to believe you have a personal affection for this woman. For that reason I’ll let the lies from the past slip, but no more. I’m here to take her in and question her about the murder.”

  “She isn’t here,” Jeffery declared. And it was then that he realized that perhaps Matthews would be a better ally than adversary. “She’s missing. I came into Florence earlier, as you probably already know. I’ve waited all day for her, but she never came back. I just went through her room, but nothing’s missing. Her roommate tells me she took out this morning but never said much about her plans.”

  Matthews eyed him suspiciously for a moment. “This is the truth?”

  “I swear it before God,” Jeffery replied. “I was just on my way to the police when I ran into you.”

  “Come on, then,” Matthews nodded with his head. “It’s this way.”

  Jeffery followed in silence. He prayed that he’d done the right thing in telling Matthews about Simone. Zack already knew of her presence in Florence, but Jeffery could have kept him from realizing her disappearance. Or he could have even used her disappearance against him by saying that she had run again and was by now countless miles away.

  They reached the office and found it dark. Jeffery tried the door, which opened easily enough, but found the interior devoid of life. “Now what?” he questioned.

  “He’s probably just making his rounds. I say we light the lamp and wait for his return.”

  Jeffery nodded and allowed Zack to do the work. They’d no sooner closed the door, however, when it opened and a balding man appeared. “Hello. I’m Brother Carlyle,” the man introduced himself. “I don’t believe I know either one of you gentlemen. Are you new to Florence?”

  “Just here on business,” Jeffery answered.

  “Me too,” Zack replied.

  “Well, it’s good to have you both. If you are both still here on Sunday, I’d like to invite you to join me in God’s house.”

  “Thanks, but I’ll probably be on my way by then,” Jeffery said rather indifferently.

  “Mac doesn’t appear to be in,” the preacher stated, glancing around. “Did he ask you to wait here for him?”

  “No, we figured he was making rounds,” Zack answered for them.

  “Is there something you were needing?”

  “I came to see if Miss Dumas was here.”

  At this, both Zack and Jeffery were on their feet. “What do you know about Miss Dumas?” they questioned in unison.

  Brother Carlyle took a step back. “Whoa, now, I seem to have stirred a bit of excitement.”

  “Simone is missing,” Jeffery replied, eager for information. “When did you see her last?”

  “Better yet,” Zack interjected, “what makes you think she’d be here?”

  “Well, it seems there was a matter she hoped to clear up with the law,” Carlyle replied. “I really can’t say much more than that.”

  “We know all about it,” Jeffery said, anxious not to let Zack have the upper hand. “She’s wanted for questioning in a murder.”

  “I’m here looking for her,” Zack replied.

  “She came to talk with me this morning. Well, it was closer to noon, I suppose. But we talked at some length. You do know that she was only defending herself, don’t you?” he addressed this question to Zack.

  “What do you mean?”

  “I mean, the dead man tried to take liberties with her.”

  “He meant to rape her,” Jeffery added more strongly.

  Zack seemed to consider the words for a moment. “So she killed him defending her honor, is that it?”

  “She never meant to kill him,” Jeffery shot back. “She only picked up a pitcher and hit him over the head, hoping to knock him out. Nothing more.”

  “That’s right. That’s exactly what she told me. Said she didn’t want to hang for a crime she never meant to commit. She only wanted to keep her purity. She hit him and ran.”

  “That doesn’t match up to what I found,” Zack replied. “There were broken pieces of a pitcher, but Garvey Davis was bludgeoned to death with something more than a pitcher.”

  Jeffery got excited at this bit of news. “Then don’t you see? She couldn’t have killed him. Someone else came in and did the deed.”

  “I don’t see it that way at all,” Zack replied. “I hear you saying that she confessed to having hit the man, but that she didn’t mean to kill him.”

  “But Simone has told both this man and myself the same story,” Jeffery interjected. “Look, she willingly admitted to hitting him over the head, but then she ran away. She thinks she killed him with a single blow, and according to this man, she intended to come clean about it.”

  “That’s right,” Brother Carlyle agreed. “It wasn’t that she didn’t feel responsible for having killed the man. She wasn’t trying to say her blow to the head hadn’t caused his death.”

  Realization dawned in Zack’s eyes. “I see your point. She wasn’t defending herself of not having killed him, she was merely stating how she did it and why.”

  “That’s right, and if she didn’t hit him more than once with a cheap pitcher, she probably wasn’t responsible for his death,” Jeffery added.

  “You may well be right, O’Donnell.”

  “I know I am. I’ve never believed her capable of this murder, not even for a minute. Better you look up that father of hers. In fact, I’m afraid we might well be dealing with him now.”

  “Why do you say that?” Zack asked, eyeing Jeffery suspiciously.

  “Because one of the Harvey Girls saw Simone down by the river with an older man. He didn’t fit the description on your sketch, but that doesn’t mean anything. A man on the run would try to alter his appearance.”

  “Why do you think it’s Dumas?”

  “I don’t know. I just fear that it is. You have no idea what that man has done to her.”

  “I can vouch for that,” Carlyle said in an almost angry tone. “She told me of his cruelty to her.”

  “I believe you both. After all, he sold her to Garvey Davis to be a wife. That much I learned from the folks who lived in the area. Any man who would treat his own flesh and blood like that doesn’t rate very high in my book.”

  “If it is Dumas,” Jeffery said, unable to hide his fear, “there’s no telling what he’ll do to her.”

  “Then we have to find them,” Zack answered flatly. “The sooner, the better.”

  THIRTY-ONE

  JEFFERY FELT ENORMOUSLY frustrated by the time the city police officer returned. Mac, as Brother Carlyle continued to call him, suggested they wait until first light to pursue clues as to what had happened to Simone. Jeffery, on the other hand, wanted to head out, even though he knew himself to be incapable of tracking and even less knowledgeable about the land around him. To his surprise, Zack Matthews agreed on the wait, and it wasn’t until morning, when Mac rallied them and four other townsmen, that Jeffery fully saw the wisdom in the wait.

  “Matthews here will head up the group going west along the river. I’ll take the rest of you to the east with me. We need to look for tracks that might indicate a direction taken. We also want to note whether there has been any scuffle. Look for blood, bits of cloth, anything that might let you know which way they went.”

  Jeffery felt his stomach tighten at the thought of Simone being hurt or bleeding. He wanted to scream that they were wasting time, but no one else—not even Matthe
ws—seemed overly excited about the wait.

  “Matthews, O’Donnell, I’ve secured a couple of horses for you to ride,” the officer told them, “but I think the first part of our work will be on foot.”

  Matthews nodded, so Jeffery felt the need to join in. He didn’t want Matthews taking the upper hand. The man was already intimidating him something fierce. Jeffery reminded himself that he’d spent his life in the city, whereas Matthews was clearly country reared. Not only that, but Matthews’ background was working as a lawman. He knew what to look for and what to do. That was why Jeffery decided then and there that he would stick with Matthews like a bee to honey. And it wasn’t just Matthews’ knowledge that made up Jeffery’s mind for him. Matthews was determined to find Simone. She’d already caused him to travel thousands of miles, and it was certain he wouldn’t stop at this minor inconvenience.

  And while Jeffery wasn’t nearly as worried as he had been that Matthews might try to string Simone up to the nearest tree, he worried that if Matthews found her he’d merely load her up and take her away without giving Jeffery a chance to speak his heart.

  And his heart was very full.

  Just thinking of all the things he wanted to say to Simone put Jeffery at a disadvantage. His mind wasn’t on the details of what they would find on the ground around the Cottonwood, his mind was on Simone and how he had fallen in love with her. He wanted to make her understand that he didn’t care what had happened in the past. He wanted her to understand that he believed in her story—believed in her. He wanted to tell her about God and how trusting in Him had given Jeffery new hope for his future … their future. So much needed saying, and Jeffery felt a heartache in knowing that he might never get the chance.

  “You two go with Matthews,” Mac commanded, “and you two come with me. O’Donnell, you—” “I’m going with Matthews,” Jeffery interjected without waiting for any instructions.

  Mac nodded. “We’d best get to work, then.”

  And work it was. Harder than Jeffery had ever imagined. It wasn’t physically demanding, but it was painstakingly slow, and it irritated Jeffery in the worst way.