Page 26 of Night Falls on Predicament Avenue
Effie had practically memorized the report. “They left out that Mr. Anderson’s assistant was with us.” She offered the peace offering in hopes it would be sufficient but knowing full well it wouldn’t be.
Katherine James pinched her lips together before responding with the bite of sarcasm. “Oh, that improves the situation tenfold. You were accompanied bytwomen—one supposedly married, and now what? Widowed? And the other one is unmarried. A much better circumstance, for certain.”
“Mr. Anderson’s assistant has to be over sixty years of age—”
“Euphemia.” Katherine sucked in a steadying breath and eyed her daughter. “Unchaperoned isunchaperoned—especially when the paper states it in ink for the entire community to ruminate on!”
“Mrs. James, I’m certain that once people understand the circumstances, they’ll be more than forgiving.” Bethany sighed wistfully.
Both Katherine and Effie turned their attention to Bethany, and it was Katherine who responded, “You and I know better, Bethany, but thank you for your good intentions.”
“Well, I had no intention of gossips spoiling Polly’s name and calling her a liar.” Effie defended her actions while understanding her mother’s concerns were well founded.
Katherine had the grace to grimace and soften her expression even as she stated the truth of the matter. “Polly is in no condition to defend her claims, that is true. But, Euphemia!” Katherine’s voice broke as she leveled a pained wince on her daughter. “Patrick Charlemagne—as well as other young men of upstanding quality—this changeseverythingfor your future circumstances.”
Effie didn’t dare look at Bethany now, knowing of her friend’s social interactions with Patrick Charlemagne. Effie was certain her chances with him were already out of the question, yet her mother wasn’t wrong when it came to the others. She tried not to think about the cost to herself as she attempted to protect Polly. “It’s 1901, Mother. This isn’t the days of Queen Elizabeth, along with the nonsense of falling into a man’s arms by accident, requiring marriage to salvage a woman’s good name.” Effie’s words fell flat even as she spoke them.
Katherine’s dark eyebrows lifted. “Perhaps not, but now you have attached a probablemurderto this outing, the questionable activity of this ... thisforeigner, and no one knows if his wife was the victim or not. He can’t assist in repairing the situation by offering marriage to you because we don’t know if he is still married, or if he’s widowed, or if he ever was married! Do you not see the awful rumors coming from this, Euphemia? You were sneaking around with a man at least ten years your senior, uncovering violence andblood, and now your name has been printed beside his for the community at large to gossip about. Whether this is the days of old or a new era with more freedoms for women, it is of no matter. You will be the center of every dinner table conversation for weeks until the murder is solved. My church ladies’ group will be tittering behind their hands!”
“I wasn’t sneaking around with him.” It was all Effie couldthink to say. Other than that, her mother was correct. She would indeed be the center of conversation, a nightmare in and of itself.
“It is probably best that we send you away for a time. If we can allow this brouhaha to fade, then perhaps it will be all right.”
“No!” A desperate look at Bethany assured Effie her outburst was founded. Bethany’s stricken expression mirrored her own. “I can’t leave Polly.”
Pain fluttered across Katherine’s face. She nodded. “I understand, but if you go to live with my sister in Chicago just until—”
“Then the rumors will be that Effie is with child!” Bethany interrupted, then covered her mouth with her hand in shame for stating it aloud.
“Oh, heavens.” Katherine’s fingertips pressed against her mouth. “You’re absolutely right.”
“Do my intentions and motivations mean nothing?” Frustrated, Effie found her throat tightening. “For the good of whoever was the victim of bloodshed? For Polly who doesn’t deserve to be talked about—not now, not when she—”
“It is the way of things.” Her father’s voice echoed as he pushed one of the pocket doors open and entered the sitting room. Carlton James was buttoned up in his tailored suit, his hat tucked under one arm. “I wish you had spoken to me first, Euphemia, before this situation exploded beyond my control.”
“There is nothing I did that...” Effie bit her tongue as another man strode into the room behind her father.
Mr. Lewis Anderson. The corners of his eyes were lined, and the deep-set eyes told her nothing at all about what he thought of the situation at hand. His hat was absent from his head, but his hair was neatly combed. He wore a gold pin on his silk tie, his suit coat also boasting a square of silk kerchief. But what made the man most striking was the aura that exuded from him. An aloof sort of confidence mingling with an unspoken emotion Effie could not decipher.
His eyes met hers, and Effie thought she saw an apology in them and perhaps something else as well. She averted her eyes. He was part of her problem, after all. Amarriedpart of her problem, which had made matters so much worse, more complicated.
Mr. Anderson cleared his throat. “I sincerely apologize for putting your daughter in a spot. I was unthoughtful, driven by my desire to uncover what had happened to my ... to Isabelle.”
“Your wife?” Katherine inserted, eyeing him with the shrewdness of a mother.
Mr. Anderson gave her an indecipherable look but said nothing further.
Carlton James tossed his hat onto a nearby chair and strode across the room to stare out the front window. Their yard stretched quite a distance before meeting up with the cobblestone street. A wrought-iron fence bordered the property. Yet it didn’t feel high enough now or secure at all. Effie could sense her father’s concern in the way he stood, his back to them, his coat shoved back with his hands resting at his hips.
“I am happy to give an interview to the press,” Mr. Anderson offered. “I will explain the circumstances that brought me to the old house and why I’d requested Miss James’s company.”
Carlton turned to face the Englishman. “And you truly think that will silence the tongues of a Midwestern Christian community? Have you ever attended an assembly of the Ladies’ Society of Benevolent Morality?”
“I didn’t realize such a group existed,” Mr. Anderson said.
“Oh, it certainly does!” Carlton James shot a look at Effie as though she should have foreseen her future.
Had the victim been lying in the house and still alive and in need of assistance, would she be under scrutiny for rushing inside with Mr. Anderson and Mr. Cropper simply for attempting to help?
