Peccadillo at the Palace

by Kari Bovee

  “How are you holding up?” Frank asked, laying a hand on her thigh.

  “All right. I just want this performance over with so we can find Hulda.” Annie found it difficult to keep the emotion out of her voice.

  “The police are still looking for her. All is in hand, my dear. Just concentrate on your act. I’ll be watching from the box—for moral support.”

  “I know, Frank. Thank you.” Annie bent down and kissed him.

  “We’ll find her, Annie,” Miss Tessen said. “I have something for you, but I wasn’t sure if you wanted to see it before the performance.” Miss Tessen pulled a note from her pocket. “I found it early this morning— near Buck’s pen.”

  Annie took the note and read.

  The queen is expecting you. Perform your best and your sister will be returned. The apple tree never asks the beech how he shall grow; nor the lion, the horse, how he shall take his prey.

  Annie handed the note to Frank, tears starting to surface in her eyes. The niggling of a cramp fluttered across her belly.

  Frank looked up at her and gently took her arm.

  “Let’s take this person at face value. Perform for the queen, do your best. We will get her back, Annie.”

  Chapter Thirty-One

  Before the gates to the arena opened, Annie said a silent prayer that Hulda be returned to her in good health, both physically and mentally. She then prayed for a good performance.

  She took in a deep breath and let it out slowly. At the bottom of the breath, another cramp tightened in her belly. Annie breathed in again, willing away the pain until it subsided. She wished she would start menstruating soon, to be rid of these cramps. Frank would be disappointed, but they had plenty of time.

  The gates opened.

  “Okay, boy. Here we go.” Annie urged Buck forward.

  He picked up a canter on her cue, and they started their laps around the arena. When they passed by the queen’s box, Annie smiled at the queen, noting the four guards surrounding her, as well as several other people she assumed to be her servants. The colonel and Mr. Salisbury, and Emma and Frank were seated behind everyone else.

  Annie made eye contact with Frank, and he winked at her, giving her a silent nod of support.

  She pulled out her pistols and started through the course. Buck performed to perfection as they weaved in and out of the tripods, Annie smashing all the glass balls into a rainbow of brilliantly colored shards.

  She set her pistols back in their holsters as Buck careened around the corner. She pulled her rifle from the scabbard and peered through the site at her next target. She pulled the trigger, but nothing happened. She tried again at the next target, and nothing.

  Grabbing her reins, she pulled Buck to a stop.

  “Of all the times to have an equipment malfunction,” she said under her breath. She opened the bolt and found there were no cartridges in the rifle. “Damn it!” Quickly, she pulled some bullets from her gun belt and started to load them, embarrassment and humiliation slowing her movements. She couldn’t make her fingers work fast enough.

  Suddenly, a shot rang out in the air. Annie looked up to the queen’s box and saw one of the servants had fallen. The guards threw themselves on top of the queen. Annie looked around the arena but saw no sign of a shooter.

  “Annie, get down!” shouted Frank.

  Ignoring him, Annie finished loading her rifle and urged Buck to a canter, circling the arena, looking for the shooter. She hollered at the person working the gates to open them up and let her out.

  Speeding out of the arena, Annie stopped when she cleared the gates, trying to decide which way to go, but all was quiet outside of the Exhibition Hall. Bobby and Lillie stood waiting for their cue to go on. People strolled through the park casually, enjoying their morning.

  “What are you doing out here, Annie?” Bobby asked.

  “Someone shot at the queen,” she said, looking around. “Have you seen anyone with a gun?”

  Bobby and Lillie exchanged glances. “No. Nothing suspicious.”

  “Any sign of them?” The colonel, Mr. Salisbury, Frank, and Emma joined them.

  “Nothing. Damn it!” Annie couldn’t believe she’d failed again. She suddenly lost all hope that whoever had taken Hulda would return her as they had stated in the note.

  A cramp seized at her belly, and she crumpled over in the saddle.

  “Annie!” Frank came over to her.

  “I’m all right,” she said, holding up a hand. The pain faded away. “How is the queen? I saw someone go down.”

  “It was one of her servants,” said Emma. “He’s going to be fine. He was hit in the shoulder. She’s been taken back to the palace, and the police have been alerted.”

  “This person, whoever he is, has Hulda,” Annie said. “We have to find them.”

  “The police are working on that,” said Frank.

  Annie, annoyed at his consistently trying to calm her, opened her mouth to yell at him.

  “But we can go look as well,” he said, stopping her. “You get Buck back to the corrals and get him settled. I’ll get a carriage. We can meet at the entrance to the Expo in thirty minutes.”

  Annie breathed out her anger. “Thank you, Frank.”

  Taking up her reins, she trotted Buck back to the corrals. Miss Tessen, filling up Buck’s water trough, put the bucket down and came to meet her. Annie noted Miss Tessen’s cheeks were flushed, and she seemed out of breath.

  “That was fast,” Miss Tessen said.

  “We didn’t finish. Someone shot at the queen.”

  “Oh. Is she all right?”

  “Yes. Can you see to Buck?”

  “Of course.” Miss Tessen took the reins from Annie and led Buck toward his pen.

  Annie took off her gun belt to reload the pistols. She walked over to the tent where the tack and weapons trunks were stored to look for more ammunition.

  Opening one trunk, she rummaged around. All she could find were pieces of scrap leather and tools for saddle making. She opened the trunk next to it, and saw what she needed. Boxes of bullets. She put one of her pistols down on the lid of one of the closed trunks and picked up one of the small boxes, about the size of her palm, by its lid. Not realizing it was slightly opened, it tipped it over, spilling the ammunition.

  “Drat,” she said, scrabbling around to gather the bullets with her fingers. She grabbed a few and loaded the chamber of the pistol she held in her hand. Putting the pistol in her dress pocket to free her hands, she moved another ammunition box out of the way to get to the bullets that had fallen between the cracks. Impatient to search for Hulda, she decided she didn’t have time to clean up the mess.

  She reached for another box of the same size and opened it. She sucked in a breath when she saw what lay within. A gold medal, strung through with a thin gold chain. She’d seen this before.

  “Mr. Patel,” she said, aloud.

  “Put it back,” she heard someone behind her say. She turned around to see Miss Tessen, pointing a pistol at her.

  “You stole this,” Annie said, holding up the necklace. “It belonged to Mr. Patel.”

  “Put it down, Annie.” Miss Tessen shifted from one foot to the other. Her eyes glowed with the madness Annie had witnessed when she first saw her on the ship.

  “I was due,” Miss Tessen said, her voice shaking. “He was there, at Cawnpore—they destroyed the village, burned it. They raped some of the women there. They threw us into a well! To starve, to die. My mother and brother were killed by those who tried to claw their way to the top, desperate to get out. I was knocked unconscious. Somehow, I survived. I was the only one! Now, I know I was spared to make them pay. Make them all pay. The queen most of all. Patel wore that damn medal as a trophy—like a badge of honor. Well, he paid. He will suffer in prison like my family and I suffered in that well, and then he will die a traitor’s death.”

  Knifelike pain shot through Annie’s abdomen. She doubled over.

  “Don’t you move!
What’s wrong with you?” Miss Tessen said, her eyes wide and wild.

  “My stomach is cramping. Just let me sit down.” Annie clutched her middle. Panic rose up inside. Something was terribly wrong. She broke out into a cold sweat, the pain almost unbearable.

  “And Dr. Adams?” Annie said, between breaths.

  “He served a purpose.”

  “You two were romantically linked?”

  Miss Tessen laughed, the sound like a high-pitched cackle. “So he thought.”

  “You used him.”

  “We met in New York. We bonded over our hatred of the queen. He told me he was boarding passage to England with the Wild West Show— would I like to come? Imagine my delight when I saw Mr. Bhakta and Mr. Patel—the dirty Indians—and the medal Patel so proudly wore.”

  “You intended to kill Mr. Patel, not Mr. Bhakta.” Annie felt the weight of her gun in her skirt pocket. Another zing of pain shot through her belly. She thought she felt a trickle down the inside of her thigh. She bit her lip, breathing low and slow to endure the pain.

  “They both needed to die. I wanted to send a message to Victoria.”

  “Where did you get the viper venom?” Annie’s head was swimming, and she blinked, trying to regain her equilibrium. The pain in her gut intensified.

  “Dr. Adams, of course. He had some in his medical stores. When it went missing, he claimed he’d never had it, or said it wasn’t enough to kill—at least that’s what he told you. He was worried he’d be accused of killing Mr. Bhakta—that it would come out that he himself had intended to kill the queen—but she was mine! I thought the tear catcher appropriate, given what I’d gone through.”

  “But Dr. Adams took the tear catcher from me. When he realized the liquid remnant was viper poison, he implicated Mr. Patel.”

  “Worked out well for me.” Miss Tessen smiled.

  “But that wasn’t proof. We didn’t have any kind of proof, until the fingerprints. And Mr. Patel’s fingerprints weren’t on that tear catcher. You let me accuse an innocent woman. A woman of delicate sensibilities,” Annie said, her fear turning to anger.

  “Delicate sensibilities? Crazy as a bed bug, more like.”

  “And the references to Blake?”

  Miss Tessen laughed again. “It was so much fun watching you and that prissy blue blood trying to figure it out. Mr. Blake knows all, Miss Oakley. Heaven and hell, good and evil. According to him, it’s all the same. One is necessary for the other to exist.”

  Annie took in gulps of air, trying to deal with the pain coursing through her stomach like a rusty dagger, and the trickle down her thigh turning into a gush of hot liquid. Her legs began to tremble and her vision blurred.

  “You made Frank sick,” she groaned. “You nearly killed him.”

  “I had to keep you distracted. You are determined, I must say. Downright bull-headed.” Miss Tessen shouted the last three words.

  “Where is Hulda?” Annie practically growled through gritted teeth, her stomach feeling as if it was being eaten from the inside out.

  “Oh, you’ll never find her,” said Miss Tessen, the gun shaking in her hand.

  “If you’ve harmed her, I’ll—”

  “You’ll what? Kill me? You see, I can’t let that happen. The queen is still alive. She hasn’t paid.”

  In a moment of clarity, Annie saw Miss Tessen’s finger pulling back on the trigger. Annie reached into her dress pocket, drew her gun and fired, hitting Miss Tessen in the shoulder. The woman fell backwards, the gun going off as she went down.

  Pain seared through Annie’s middle and she crumpled to the floor. Miss Tessen yowled in pain, rolling around on the ground. She tried to sit up, but couldn’t. She leveled the gun at Annie again.

  Light penetrated the tent as Frank came through the flap. He quickly assessed the situation and kicked the gun out of Miss Tessen’s hand. She yelped again in pain, writhing on the ground.

  “What happened here, Annie? Are you all right? I heard gunshots.” Frank knelt down next to her.

  “Don’t let her get away, Frank. She has Hulda somewhere. She’s the murderer, Frank. She did it all!”

  Frank pulled Miss Tessen to her feet and she hollered, trying to get out of his grasp. He pulled her arms behind her, and she howled, screaming like a lunatic.

  “What the hell?” Annie heard the colonel’s voice. Frank explained what had happened and handed Miss Tessen over to the colonel.

  “We have to find Hulda!” Annie yelled, no longer able to bear the pain in her stomach. She rolled up in a ball on the floor.

  “Annie, what’s the matter with you—?” said Frank, stroking her hair. “Oh, dear God. You’re bleeding.”

  “Where is Hulda?” the colonel shouted, shaking Miss Tessen by the arm.

  “Somewhere safe,” said Miss Tessen. “She doesn’t need to pay.”

  Annie suddenly remembered when she saw Miss Tessen head down the street and into a dwelling near Trafalgar square.

  “I know where she is, Frank. You have to take me there,” she said, the words coming out in gasps. Her vision was clouded, her head was on fire, and she fought to remain conscious.

  “You need a doctor, Annie.”

  “Hulda!” she screamed.

  “Where? Where is she? I will alert the police and we will find her,” Frank said, desperation reverberating in his words.

  “A street off Trafalgar Square, kitty-corner from the monument. About . . . halfway . . . down. . . .”

  The sound of something tinkling against metal woke her. She could sense movement around her, but struggled to open her eyes. Bright light flooded her senses, and she felt someone take hold of her wrist. She thought she heard a bird singing, but it didn’t make sense to her. Her wrist was released.

  “Her pulse is normal. She’s doing well,” the voice was soft and melodious—comforting.

  She felt warmth cover her hand, and then it lifted and pressed against something prickly. She opened her eyes to see Frank, holding her hand against his lips, his whiskers tickling her fingers. His eyes widened when she blinked.

  “Hello, my lovely,” he whispered, lowering her hand.

  Annie blinked again and took in her surroundings. The light was so bright it was hard for her to keep her eyes open, but she did anyway. An open window behind Frank let in a cool breeze, and Annie could see a small bird in the tree, singing to her.

  “Where am I?”

  “The London Hospital.” Frank smoothed her hair from her face. “You are going to be fine.”

  Annie’s abdomen felt swollen and sore. She remembered the searing pain she’d endured.

  “I was pregnant. I lost the baby.”

  Frank nodded, his eyes welling with tears. Her heart caved in on itself. She’d so hoped he’d tell her she was mistaken, that the baby would be all right.

  “I’m so sorry, Frank. It was my fault. I didn’t want it. That’s why I lost it.” How could she have been so selfish? What kind of a person was she?

  “That makes no sense, Annie.”

  She remembered thinking herself incapable of raising a child, because of how she handled Hulda. Bits of memory resurfaced, and she remembered facing down Miss Tessen and shooting her in the shoulder.

  “Hulda!” she said, trying to sit up, but feeling a spike of pain in her belly.

  “Don’t, Annie. Hulda is fine. She was exactly where you said she’d be. We had some help locating the building.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Madame Mattei, from the ship. Turns out she is an Irish sympathizer and wanted to lend her support to the cause. She recognized Miss Tessen from the ship, and saw her turn down the street.”

  “But Hulda is all right? Is she here?”

  “She’s right outside the door. With Emma. Would you like to see her?”

  “Please, Frank. Yes.”

  “The doctor said you can have visitors for only a few minutes. He’s coming back around to speak with us.” Frank went to the door and motioned fo
r them to come in. Hulda rushed to the bed and leaned down to kiss Annie.

  “I’m so sorry I’ve caused so much trouble, Annie. I’ve been terrible and I apologize. You can send me home if you’d like—but I really want to be here, with you.”

  “Come here, you silly monkey.” Annie wrapped her arms around Hulda, not minding that lifting her arms caused her some pain. “You are staying with me—but only if you want to.”

  “I do, Annie. Really, I do.” Hulda stepped away to let Emma approach the bed.

  “You’re so brave and so clever, Annie. I admire your strength so much.” Emma’s eyes glistened with moisture. She took hold of Annie’s hand. “And I’m very sorry about—your loss,” she whispered.

  Annie, unable to hold back her tears anymore, let them flow down her cheeks. She rested her cheek against the back of Emma’s hand.

  “I think that’s all for now,” said Frank. “Annie needs to rest.” He ushered the two of them out of the room, and took up his seat next to Annie once again. He reached into his pocket, pulled out a handkerchief and handed it to her, letting her cry until she had no more tears left.

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  Annie sat with her eyes closed, luxuriating in the feeling of the sun bathing her face with warmth. A blanket draped across her knees staved off the chill of the morning. She breathed in the fragrance of the blooming trees, the aroma intensifying with the ebb and flow of the sea air.

  The sun drenched her in light, and her thoughts, like leaves, drifted by on the river of consciousness. She wanted to stay in this place of momentary peace—free from the sorrow that had pressed in on her heart for the last month. Could this moment of unencumbered bliss be a sign that she had passed through her darkest heartbreak—the child that would never be?

  While she recovered at the London Hospital, the doctor had broken the news she would never bear children. A weak cervix and the massive hemorrhaging she’d endured had rendered her barren. How could she have taken for granted the gift of bringing life into the world?