The Case Book of Emily Lawrence

by KB Inglee

  “Who is Prudence Baker? Is she related to one of the business rivals?”

  “Prudence is the wife of the son of Mr. Baker’s brother. The brother is a farmer, prosperous, but not part of the business. Pru was a Prat before she married. The Prats have always worked for the Bakers in some way. Just like the Thaws have always been associated with the Lawrences.”

  “Who is Polly to marry?”

  “I’m not sure. She never sees him here. I can find out for you if you want.”

  “Later. Don’t go around asking questions. Leave that to me. People are used to me asking questions. The men think you know nothing about all this.”

  * * * *

  Lottie stood by Emily’s bed at first light on Monday.

  “Get up, Aunt Emily. You said you would look at my doll today.”

  “Lottie, the stores don’t open for hours yet. Come here.” She pulled the girl into bed beside her. “Now tell me why this doll is so special. You have plenty of dolls.”

  “Oh, Aunt Emily, she is so beautiful. She has French porcelain head and arms. And real hair, just the same color as mine.” She stroked her shining, dark brown locks. “She has an elegant blue silk gown with lace and ruffles, and the tiniest, sweetest smile.”

  “So why is this doll still in the store?”

  “Mama and Papa won’t buy her for me.” She sighed as though her heart would break. “They say I have to save up for her. She costs a dollar seventy five and I have ninety two cents. I’ve been saving practically forever.”

  “And are you going to ask me to give you the rest of the money?”

  “No,” said the girl sadly. “Mama and Papa said I wasn’t to do that, but that I might ask you if there was some chore I could do for you to earn the money.”

  “I can probably think of something.”

  “Aunt Emily, am I really your favorite niece?”

  “Who told you that?”

  Lottie looked embarrassed as she said, “I don’t know. I just thought it might be so.”

  “Lottie, have you ever thought of becoming a detective?”

  “No. You mean like you? Only boys do that, like Uncle Charles.”

  Emily laughed at the innocent contradiction.

  “I have been hired to do a job here in Rutland and I could use an assistant. You would have to do exactly what I say, and not tell anyone you are working for me. The job would pay seventy five cents.” It was not enough to buy the doll, but close enough so that the remaining few cents would come easily.

  “Are you trying to find out why Papa and Grandpapa are angry with each other? I’d like to help. Will it be dangerous?”

  So even the youngest child knew of the estrangement. Emily thought for a moment. “Not if you follow instructions carefully. I think you can, that’s why I want to hire you and not your brothers. First of all, I want to know how you found out that you are my favorite niece.”

  “I’ll show you.” Lottie took Emily’s hand and led her to the window, which she opened as wide as she could.

  “You must be very quiet,” she whispered to her aunt. “Be careful not to thump.”

  Lottie crawled out the window onto the roof, and Emily followed, feeling very conspicuous in her night gown. The maple tree in full foliage hid them from the road, and there didn’t seem to be anywhere else that they could be seen from, except for Lottie’s room, next to Emily’s.

  Polly and Flora were setting up breakfast on the porch.

  The two eavesdroppers could hear every word the maids were saying as they laid the table.

  “You can’t hear from inside. You have to be sitting in that very spot,” said Lottie when they were safely back inside.

  “Who else knows this?”

  “Willie and Chaz. Nobody else.”

  “Not your grandfather?” The porch had been added to the house just after the war, so Mr. Lawrence could not have used it as a listening spot as a child. William might know, if he had grown up in the house, or if Charles had shown him when they were children. Her husband had never mentioned it to her, but he must have known.

  “Good work, agent Thaw. Are there other places in the house where you can listen without being seen?”

  “If you lie on the floor in the parlor with your ear to the vent, you can hear what is being said in the dining room.”

  “How about your grandfather’s study?”

  “No. We have all tried and tried. Chaz particularly, he is always trying to listen to everybody. But no one can hear into Grampa’s study.”

  “Let’s get dressed and go take a look at that doll, shall we?”

  Lottie beamed.

  * * * *

  Lottie and Emily walked hand in hand to the store where her doll was waiting for her. Emily oohed and aahed over the beautiful object. It was a work of art rather than a toy. Mr. Martin handed the doll to Lottie, who took her with all the respect such an object deserved. Emily was impressed with the careful way Lottie held her beloved doll.

  Emily smiled. “Mr. Martin, I lost one of my gloves on the train. Could you show me a pair of inexpensive cotton gloves?”

  Mr. Martin glanced at Lottie and led Emily to another counter.

  As Emily tried on gloves, she asked, “How much is that doll?”

  “More than any little girl can pay. Her parents have already paid for it, but they asked me to hold it for her until they were ready to give it to her. She comes in once or twice a week to look at it and hold it. I understand they are making her save up for it.”

  “Yes, but she has just over half and is still a long way off. I will help out some, but I want to make sure she understands her parents’ lessons. I know too many girls who never learn it and drive their husbands into bankruptcy as a result.”

  Mr. Martin laughed as he wrapped up the gloves Emily had chosen.

  On the way back to the house, Emily asked, “All right, my little assistant, what do you know about the new maid?”

  “Polly has a beau. He comes to see her all the time.”

  “At your house? Your mother said he never comes to the house.”

  “Polly is very careful that Mama doesn’t see, but she doesn’t care about us. There are private places where Mama doesn’t go.”

  “And where might they be?”

  “There is a cave in the lilac bushes by the back porch. The wood shed is private, except for Chaz and Willie who use it now and then. I saw Polly and her beau together on the roof, just where I showed you this morning. They were kissing. They thought I was asleep.”

  “What do you know about her young man? You seem to know quite a lot more than your mother about any of this.”

  “He is Mr. Baker’s driver,” said Lottie.

  Emily raised an eyebrow. “Well, well.”

  * * * *

  Just before dinner that evening, Emily approached her father-in-law in his study.

  “Papa, I should have asked you to put this in your safe on Saturday when I came. I have been very foolish to wait.” Emily handed him the box that contained the brooch Charles had given her on their wedding day. It had once belonged to his mother.

  “Of course,” said the old man, opening the box to look at the piece. “I gave this to her as a wedding present. I sent it to Charles to give to you.”

  “Yes, my mother pinned it on my wedding dress. I cherish it. I wouldn’t want anything to happen to it.”

  Mr. Lawrence went to the safe, spun the dial, and began to turn it carefully. She could hear him whisper each number to himself as the dial brought it into line. He probably didn’t even know he was doing it. The door swung open and he set the little box down inside and slammed the door shut.

  “Mr. Lawrence.” He gazed at her quizzically. She never called him that. “Do you know that you just said the combination as you opened the safe?”

 
; “I never,” he said indignantly.

  She repeated the combination. “Eight, fifteen, fifty. It is Charles’s birthday, isn’t it?” Papa Lawrence had memorialized his only son by using his birth date as his most secret defense against prying. Tears stung her eyes; the man had been abandoned by both wife and son within a few months of each other, yet he still loved them both.

  He stared at her astonished, and sat down heavily.

  “Oh, my,” was all he could say.

  * * * *

  When everyone was seated at the dinner table Monday evening and grace had been said, Emily stood up.

  “I have something to say to everyone. This is a formal report from Lawrence Research. If you want, I will give the family a written copy later. Rachel, would you ask Polly to come in, please?”

  She sat down again. Rachel rang the bell and sent for Polly.

  When everyone was gathered in the dining room, Emily began. “Three of you tried to hire me to find out how information had passed from Lawrence Enterprises to Baker and Son. I have found out. No one in this family deliberately passed on information. Your trust in each other has not been compromised. Polly, would you care to speak in your own defense?”

  Polly, eyes wide, simply shook her head.

  Emily went on to explain how the information had reached the Bakers, and how the leak could be stopped. Polly nodded when Emily asked if she had a beau, and again to signify that the beau was Mr. Baker’s driver.

  “You two were in the habit of finding a private place to be alone on the porch roof, and overheard by chance a business deal being toasted by Mr. Lawrence and Mr. Thaw.”

  “No one could know that. No one could see. You weren’t even here then. We went out through the window of the room you are sleeping in,” whispered Polly.

  “And did you hear Mr. Lawrence give the combination to the safe?” asked Emily. Polly nodded again.

  “Did you ever open the safe yourself?”

  “Oh, no, ma’am. I would never do that!”

  “But you might pass on the combination?” asked William leaning forward, his eyes blazing.

  She nodded, her lips quivering.

  “Wait in the kitchen while we decide what to do,” Rachel said.

  “Well, son,” said Mr. Lawrence. “I guess I owe you an apology. I never truly believed you were at fault.”

  William looked at his father-in-law with a wry twist of his lips.

  “He didn’t,” said Emily. “Papa Lawrence hired me to prove you didn’t do it.”

  “And I hired you to prove he didn’t do it.” William shook his head.

  “Who was the third person?” asked Papa Lawrence.

  “I was,” Rachel said. “I have to live in this house with the two of you.”

  Both men looked astonished.

  Emily smiled. “If you wish to have private conversations in this house, I suggest you ask your children how to go about it. Papa Lawrence, you must change the combination and never open your safe if there is another person in the room, since you will probably not be able to break yourself of the habit of whispering to yourself as you open it.”

  “What do we owe you?” asked Mr. Lawrence, not at all averse to discussing money at the dinner table.

  “Well, since three of you hired me, I think each of you should pay me twenty five cents. That would make my total fee seventy five cents, the amount it cost me to run the investigation.”

  Papa Lawrence took three quarters out of his pocket and passed them down the table to her.

  Emily took the money and handed it to Lottie. “This is for my able assistant and favorite niece. I could not have done it without her.”

  William and Charles stared open mouthed at their little sister, and even her parents and grandfather looked stunned at the announcement.

  “Eight more cents and I will have my doll,” proclaimed Lottie proudly.