Sadie's Secret: 3 (The Secret Lives of Will Tucker) (56 page)

“I can see you’re surprised,” Aunt Pearl said. “But think, dear. Why do you believe Penn didn’t try to talk you out of that secretarial job with the Pinkertons?”

“Because he trusted Henry?”

Mama nodded. “Same reason he allowed you to go on those assignments. And no, I did
not
know you were anything other than a secretary. I plan to speak to Seamus about that. Eventually.”

A thought occurred. “But Henry was in charge of the Will Tucker case. Or, rather, I suppose it should have been the John Tucker case.”

At the mention of Jefferson’s brother’s name, the women in the room fell silent. Sadie had the strangest feeling they were keeping something from her.

Mama touched her hand, and Sadie turned her attention in that direction. “Who better to right the wrong and see that John was stopped than the man who knew his family well?”

“I don’t know,” she said. “It just seemed as though he was so impartial. As though Henry wanted him captured more than any of us.”

“He did,” Eliza Tucker said. “It was his belief, and ours, that should John be brought to justice, he might have time to consider the error of his ways. We had all hoped that once he was released, things would be different. That he would be different.”

Again Sadie felt as though she was the only person in the room who wasn’t in on a secret of some sort. What that secret might be, she couldn’t quite figure out. Nor did she want to ask. Not when a more important question loomed.

“You said there were four men in this partnership. Who was the fourth?”

Again the women shared a look. “Well,” Aunt Pearl said. “He was a clever boy, really. He had charm, money, and a head for business.”

“Another friend from Amherst?” Sadie guessed.

“No, dear.” Lizzie rose and joined Mama. “He was a cousin of mine. He had done quite well for himself in London and was using Harrison’s ships to transport cargo regularly. I will admit that his business kept the shipping company afloat in those early years.” She giggled. “Oh, my. No pun intended, you understand.”

Mama pressed her hand atop Lizzie’s. “It’s all right. We need a smile today.”

“Well, anyway, when he expressed an interest in adding to his business with a location in Louisiana, Harrison contacted Seamus.”

“Your daddy knew everyone back then.” She paused to smile. “Still does.”

“That’s the truth,” Lizzie continued. “Of course, he wanted Harrison to transport his goods, which meant he needed more vessels. That brought Penn in.”

“And the business expanded,” Sadie said. “But who was this man?”

Mama shifted to sit beside Sadie and then wrapped her arm around her. “Sergio Valletta.”

The breath went out of her again. “But he…”

“Was a crook.” Lizzie nodded. “Yes, we found that out. Penn and our husbands disbanded the company immediately and thought they were done with him.”

“Until Key West.” Aunt Pearl sighed. “There was money to be made in wrecking.”

“So I’ve heard,” Sadie said.

“Legal money,” Lizzie said. “Although legalities never stopped Sergio.”

“By then he’d run off with Caroline Trahan.” Mama looked aggrieved. “I warned her, but she always did have notions she was meant for more than she had. And we all wondered whether her husband died a natural death or Sergio helped him along.” She paused only a moment before drawing a deep breath and continuing. “The two of them set up housekeeping in Key West and Sergio, he made a point of seeing that Harrison’s ships were lured onto the reefs.”

“Lured?”

Aunt Pearl nodded. “False lights. He and his men knew when one of the ships was coming through the pass, and they would set up men in boats to look as if they were being warned off the reef but instead they would head them right onto it.”

“That’s terrible.”

“Oh, he got caught soon enough. Ran off to parts unknown, he did,” Lizzie said. “When Jefferson’s investigation uncovered his name, we all knew something had to be done.”

Mama leaned in. “And that’s when the three of them—Harrison, Penn, and your daddy—they all got together and went to Henry to hire the Pinkertons to find him. And to get Jefferson out of jail.”

“If only I had known sooner that Jefferson’s brother was…” Lizzie dabbed at her eyes with her handkerchief. “Well, that is all something to consider another day, isn’t it?”

Sadie was still puzzled about one thing. “But now Jefferson’s father is considering the purchase of a home in Key West. Why?”

Lizzie smiled. “So that we might have a home near our friends the Monroes and the Callums.”

“Oh.”

“You sound disappointed.”

Sadie shook her head. “Not at all. It’s just that I have no idea where Jefferson and I will live. We haven’t discussed it. Or anything else, really.”

“Are you having second thoughts, dear?” Mama asked. “You don’t have to go through with this today. Not if you need more time.”

The other two ladies nodded. Sadie offered each one a smile.

“No, I want very much to marry Jefferson. The rest of it…the details? They will take care of themselves, won’t they?”

“They always do,” Aunt Pearl said.

Someone knocked. “Is the bride ready yet?”

Daddy.

“Almost,” Mama called before returning her attention to Sadie. “Just one more thing, Sadie. Didn’t you ever wonder who hired you to solve that case?”

“I don’t suppose I thought of it. Henry only mentioned Mamie Astor. I guess I just assumed…”

“Hers was the first complaint he could connect to Sergio. Your father, Penn, and Harrison decided it was long past time that they do something about Sergio, so they went to Henry.”

“Who chose me.”

“I must say your father and Penn weren’t keen on the idea,” Mama said. “But Henry asked for their trust. You were the one for the job, he said. And he was right.”

Sadie thought of Henry’s demand that she go home and make peace with her father before setting off on the Astor case. “He always is,” she said as she let out a long breath. “Does Jefferson know any of this?”

“I believe his father will tell him eventually,” Lizzie said. “He could be telling him now. I don’t know.”

Sadie nodded. “But one thing I don’t understand. Why didn’t any of you say something before now?”

Mama shook her head. “I think we all just hoped things would never come to this.”

Another knock. “Ladies, you’re going to have to let loose of the bride before the groom comes and kicks down the door. Apparently he’s had some recent experience utilizing that skill.”

Sadie rose and kissed her mother on the cheek and then embraced Lizzie Tucker and Aunt Pearl before opening the door. Daddy reached to link arms with her and then led her down the passageway and into the salon, where her groom waited.

Jefferson met her at the door and escorted her to stand in front of his father. “Sadie Callum, you bought me a watch once. Do you remember?”

She nodded. “I do, although I will say that it was worth much more than what I paid for it.”

He smiled. “Well, in any case, I don’t have a wedding ring ready, although once we send our families back where they belong and have ourselves a proper honeymoon, I intend to remedy that.”

“Can we just get to the marrying part?” Ethan called.

Harrison nodded. “Yes, we can. Are you two ready?”

“We’ve been ready for some time,” Jefferson told his father before reaching to embrace Sadie. “We’re us now.”

And then he kissed her.

Author’s Note

I
hope you enjoyed reading the story of lady Pinkerton Sadie Callum as much as I enjoyed writing about her. During the course of my research for the Secret Lives of Will Tucker series, I was surprised to learn that female agents had contributed much to the lore of the Pinkerton Agency. For example, thanks to the detective work of Agent Kate Warne and others, Abraham Lincoln survived an attempt on his life and arrived in Washington, DC, to safely be inaugurated as president. Now
that
is girl power!

While planning the background of Sadie Callum and Jefferson Tucker, much thought went into what their homes were to look like. In my opinion, you can tell much about a person—or in this case, a character—by examining the place where he or she was raised. I chose to use the stunning Oak Alley Plantation as a model for my privileged Louisiana girl, Sadie Callum. I took a few liberties with adding and subtracting outbuildings, but in general the Callum home almost exactly resembles the grand mansion still standing on the River Road in River Pointe, Louisiana. To learn more about Oak Alley Plantation, visit their website at
www.oakalleyplantation.com
.

Though Jefferson Tucker hails from London, his roots are planted firmly in the South, where his father saw to it that the Tucker twins were brought yearly to visit their grandparents in Mobile, Alabama. While in Mobile researching the three books in the Secret Lives of Will Tucker series, I was privileged to visit the Bragg-Mitchell Mansion, a lovely antebellum home maintained by the Mobile chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution. Surrounded by lush gardens and yet just minutes
away from downtown Mobile, this home is the perfect backdrop for Judge Tucker and his wife to welcome their expatriate son, his British wife, and the twin boys. For more information on the Bragg-Mitchell home, visit their website at
www.braggmitchellmansion.com
.

Research on the Astor family provided many interesting facts that have added depth to this novel. The ongoing war between the two Mrs. Astors (egged on by William Waldorf Astor) was fascinating, as was William Astor’s choice to move his family to England a short time later. The case of antiquities fraud that Sadie and Jefferson investigate is based on an actual case presented to Scotland Yard by the British Museum. Between 1886 and 1891, cuneiform tablets and other antiquities were disappearing from museum sites in Iraq and showing up in the shops of London dealers. I decided it would be interesting to explore the possibility that those stolen antiquities as well as other valuable pieces of art might also reach the United States.

And as an interesting aside, the visit that the couple pays to Key West on their journey to Newport is taken, in part, from a historical search for a buyer for businessman Asa Tift’s home on Whitehead Street. The home, completed in 1851 in the shadow of the Key West lighthouse, was built of white pine shipped down from Georgia and boasted the only basement in the city. Later it would claim the first private swimming pool, but at the time that Jefferson’s father goes to visit the property in consideration of purchasing it, the home had been sitting empty since Mr. Tift’s death the previous year. Eventually, the Tift heirs would find an owner, but not until 1903 when Pauline Hemmingway and her husband Ernest purchased the property.

Also, while writing the scene set out in the flats beyond Key West’s main harbor, I took liberties with the distance the mangroves are from shore. While Jefferson easily rowed the leaky rowboat out using only oars, it was a lengthy sail under wind power when I traveled there on a much larger sailboat. And while Sadie sees dozens of crabs skittering about, the truth of the matter is that the number was more like hundreds when I saw them. However, I found it difficult to write a romantic scene with that many crustaceans climbing overhead, and so the number was reduced.

As with any project, an author never writes a book alone. Thus, I must give credit to those who helped in this endeavor. Many thanks to: