Shrouded In Thought (Gilded Age Mysteries Book 2) (30 page)

Freddie shook the doctor’s hand energetically. “We both owe you a debt of gratitude for this. Thank you again, Doctor Doyle. Good-bye.”

“Good-bye Mr. Simpson.” For a few moments after Freddie’s rapid departure the doctor sat grinning to himself at the stir he had created. Then, coming back to the matter at hand, he sighed stoically and rang for his assistant. “You may tell Mrs. Fitzhugh that I’ll see her now.”

Chapter 28—The Antidote

Freddie lost no time in racing from Doctor Doyle’s office to his friend’s townhouse to tell her the good news. Once having heard it, Evangeline lost no time in dragging Freddie to the commuter railroad station to catch the next train for Shore Cliff. It was mid-afternoon when they disembarked and made straight for the sheriff’s office.

Opening the door precipitously, Evangeline rushed in and went directly to the jail cell where Serafina sat reading. A curtain was half-drawn across the bars to allow some measure of privacy to the inmate. “Great news, my dear! Wonderful news!”

Serafina stood up and came to the bars. “Yes? You have come to set me free. Is it not so?”

The sheriff looked up from his desk in mild surprise at the invasion. He stared at Freddie and Evangeline blankly.

The young man took it upon himself to explain. “We have evidence, sheriff. Evidence that will clear Miss Serafina.”

Weston continued to stare at Freddie. He had seen the tall young man in the village on any number of occasions, but had never been introduced to him. “Are you with Miss Evangeline here?”

“Oh, yes indeed. Simpson’s the name. Freddie Simpson. You may know my mother and sisters. They live in town.”

Recognition dawned. “Oh, is your mother the Mrs. Simpson over on
Genessee Avenue
? She called me in one time when she thought she heard a noise.”

“She’s always hearing noises.” Freddie’s tone was cynical.

“She was willing to swear it was an intruder come to rob her.”

Freddie sighed. “Sheriff, you’re still new to Shore Cliff, but you’ll discover from sad experience, as I have, that my mother makes a hobby of collecting unexplained noises. That’s the principal reason I moved to
Chicago
. I simply couldn’t stand the legion of imaginary sounds in the basement and the attic she demanded that I investigate on a daily basis.”

“Well, one time she just might be right.”

Muttering darkly, Freddie retorted, “You’ll see.”

At that moment, the conversation was interrupted by Evangeline jangling the key ring to Serafina’s cell. It had been hung on a hook outside the grate. “We have to get you out of there.” The lady lifted the keys and began to unlock the cage.

“Hold on there, Miss Evangeline, or I’ll have to arrest you for committing a jail break right under the nose of an officer of the law.”

“Oh, sheriff, don’t be silly.” Evangeline turned around to regard Weston in surprise. “I’ve merely deputized myself to perform this task while you were engaged in other matters.”

“Deputized, is it?” The sheriff grinned. “Now what makes you so sure I’d agree that it’s time to let a dangerous criminal like Miss Serafina loose on the honest citizens of Shore Cliff?”

Evangeline stood watching the sheriff’s grin widen. “Well, now you really are being silly. The idea of Serafina—” She stopped abruptly. “Freddie, show him the evidence.”

The young man readily produced Doyle’s statement regarding the poison packet as well as Cousin Bessie’s letter from Euphemia.

The sheriff sat down and took his reading glasses out of his desk. “I’d be obliged, Miss Evangeline, if you’d step away from the bars and put the keys down until I review this here new evidence. We have to do things proper and in order.”

“Very well, sheriff, if you insist.” Evangeline seated herself before Weston’s desk and dutifully placed the keys in front of him.

“That’s better.” The sheriff adjusted his spectacles. “Now let’s see what we’ve got here.”

Freddie and Evangeline waited silently, albeit restlessly, while Weston reviewed their documentation.

Still looking at the pages before him, he addressed the couple. “I received notice from the Chicago Police Department that a Mr. Martin Allworthy is wanted for questioning in connection with the death of a Mr. Desmond Bayne. Have you all heard that news, too?”

“Yes, sheriff.” The two detectives spoke in unison and then both of them began to talk at once, explaining the circumstances of Bayne’s death and how it was related to Euphemia’s.

“Whoa! The pair of you!” The sheriff put up a cautionary hand. “I think I’ve heard enough. Especially after that last telegram Miss Evangeline sent me on Saturday explaining how things stood.” He looked from one to the other and chuckled. “Miss Evangeline, I hereby deputize you to take that set of keys and release the prisoner.”

Evangeline sprang out of her chair, snatched up the keys and freed Serafina in the time it took Sheriff Weston to blink twice.

The medium hugged her rescuer. “You see, it is as I told you before. You would find a way out.”

Evangeline laughed. “There were moments when I wasn’t sure this story was going to have a happy ending. Believe me!”

The two ladies walked back toward the sheriff’s desk.

“I’m so relieved we didn’t have to go to
Waukegan
to fetch her back from the county jail.”

Weston’s eyes held a twinkle of mischief. “Well, ma’am, only suspects who’ve been officially charged go to county jail for an arraignment hearing.”

“But... what...” Evangeline stammered in shock. “Sheriff, you mean to tell me you held her here for a week without charging her with anything?”

Weston looked innocently at the ceiling. “I had to wait for the official lab report on that poison packet, ma’am. You know a judge would want to see that evidence.”

“But... but... Doctor Doyle was able to tell Freddie what the results were. The report must have been finished sometime last week. How is it that you didn’t know?”

Weston ignored Evangeline’s shocked reaction. “Funny thing about that report. It kept getting lost in the mail. Kept getting sent back to the lab marked ‘Return to Sender. Address Unknown.’ Makes a body have some second thoughts about the United States Post Office, I can tell you.”

Evangeline caught the gleam in the sheriff’s eye and answered it with a smile of her own. “Why, sheriff, you amaze me!”

“Ma’am?” Weston asked innocently. “Afraid I don’t know what you mean. Just doing my job. Like I told you before, a body doesn’t live as long as I’ve done without learning something about human nature along the way. Though I will say I was starting to sweat bullets right around the end of the week. Wasn’t sure how much longer I could hold Miss Serafina here without doing some serious explaining to the mayor.
 
Lucky for me you sent that telegram telling me what you found out.”

“And lucky for all of us Mr. Allworthy so obligingly pushed Mr. Bayne off that catwalk.”

“Well, I have to say, that was the icing on the cake, in a manner of speaking.”

“Since there’s no release paperwork to fill out for a prisoner who was never charged with anything in the first place, I suppose Serafina’s free to go. Is that right, sheriff?”

Weston nodded in agreement.

Evangeline turned to Freddie. “Will you please escort Serafina back to my house? I’ll be along in a minute.”

“But, Engie,” Freddie whispered, “Delphine will be there.”

“And?” his friend asked dispassionately.

“What if she won’t let me in?”

“Freddie, don’t be ridiculous. Serafina will be with you. Delphine would never assault you in front of a witness. Besides, you can tell her that I’m on my way. She’ll have to let you in then.”

“Maybe, maybe not.” The young man’s tone was grim as he went off to help the medium collect her things and carry them out the door.

When the two had left, Evangeline leaned back against the door jamb, arms crossed and regarded the sheriff silently for several moments.

“Ma’am? Is there something else I can help you with?”

Evangeline tapped her chin. “Sheriff, I was just thinking. Your methods of performing your duties might be considered somewhat irregular by the sort of people who like to go by the book. Not that I’m complaining, you understand. Far from it. I’m very grateful. But, by taking it upon yourself to slow the wheels of due process, some people in this town might accuse you of... of... How should I put this? I suppose the vulgar might call it dispensing vigilante justice.”

Sheriff Weston sat back in his chair, lacing his fingers behind his head. He looked at his visitor for a moment, gathering his thoughts before speaking. “Well, ma’am, I suppose there’s some truth in that. There’s folks in this town that might make that accusation if the facts of this case ever came to their notice. But I don’t think anybody who was here today would be likely to tell them, do you?”

“No, sheriff, I don’t.” Evangeline stood with her hand on the doorknob, ready to depart.

“And another thing, Miss Evangeline.” The sheriff smiled broadly. “If there’s such a thing as vigilante justice going on in this town, and I don’t say there is, mind you, but if there was, I can think of at least one other person who might be dishing it out right alongside me. Don’t it seem that way to you, ma’am?”

Evangeline opened the door to let herself out. Affecting a slight drawl, she said over her shoulder, “Yes, sheriff, I reckon so.”

***

When Evangeline got back home, she found Serafina seated in the front parlor with Delphine hovering over her, a cup of tea in hand. Freddie was still standing in the foyer doing a slow burn.

“She won’t let me go in there.” He spoke through gritted teeth. “She said I might upset the young lady. Engie, one of these days, I swear...”

Evangeline patted him on the shoulder. “Don’t fret. I’ll protect you.”

The lady of the house walked over to the open door of the parlor. “Delphine, you must let Monsieur Freddie in here. He is my guest.”

The housekeeper looked up from her ministrations in disgust. “What stories has le jeune monsieur been telling you? He may go where he likes. Ça ne me fait rien! As you can see, I have other concerns.”

Evangeline shot a significant look in Freddie’s direction and gestured him toward the parlor. “It’s safe now. You may enter.”

Freddie sniffed once in irritation and proceeded to throw himself on the loveseat, glaring wordlessly at Delphine while she fussed over Serafina.

Evangeline was about to follow him into the room when an orange ball of fur came hurtling down the stairs and did its best to attach itself to Evangeline’s ankle. “Ah, Monsieur Beauvoir! Mon petit cher!” she cried, scooping up the cat. “How I have missed you!”

Her tone of voice when addressing the cat never failed to disgust Freddie. “I’ve never seen you fuss over a human the way you do over that beast! I can be gone for two months and the only greeting I’ll get from you on my return is ‘Oh, there you are Freddie.’”

“It’s because he doesn’t have a talent for making irritating observations, as you so often do.” She seated herself in an armchair, the cat purring contentedly in her lap.

Delphine turned to regard the tabby a moment. “Voila, now he comes to life. When you are gone, cherie, all he will do is sleep.”

“Mais, il mange aussi, n’est-ce pas?” Evangeline sounded alarmed.

“Oui, il mange bien. That he does also. Eat and sleep. Sleep and eat. That is all. I tell him to run and go catch the fat little mice in the basement. He looks at me. C’est tout! He goes back to sleep.”

Addressing the cat, Evangeline was all seriousness. “I won’t be gone much longer. Just be patient. I’ll be coming home very soon now.” The cat meowed a soft acknowledgement, then transferred his attention to Serafina.

“Ah, he remembers me.” The medium laughed as the cat walked over to stand by her chair, inviting her to stroke his head.

“But of course,” Evangeline assented. “They never forget.”

“Just like elephants,” Freddie observed.

Evangeline gave him a pained look and turned back to Serafina. “My dear, you really do need to get some rest. I’d like to stay and see you comfortably settled, but I’m afraid I have to go back to the city. There are still matters I need to wrap up there.”

Serafina continued to stroke the cat’s fur. “I would also like to go back to the city.”

“You would?” Freddie sounded shocked. “After what you’ve
 
been through?”

“It is better if I do not stay in Shore Cliff.” She took a small sip of tea. “There are too many bad things here to remember. And my guides, they will not return until I am far from here.”

“Of course, my dear, of course.” Evangeline hastened to reassure her. “Whatever you wish. My carriage is at your disposal. Where would you like us to take you?”

“I think perhaps I will go to the Templar House.”

“You’d really rather stay at a hotel at a time like this?” Freddie asked in surprise.

“Si, it is better for me. I can be alone to think and to rest.”

“I quite agree with her, Freddie.” Evangeline turned to face her friend. “Sometimes the anonymity of a hotel is just the thing. All that hustle and bustle but none of it having to do with you. It’s really the best place to be alone.” She transferred her attention back to Serafina. “Would you like to stay the night here or collect your things and move on?”

The medium hesitated for a moment. “If it does not cause a great difficulty for you, today would be better.”