Uneasy Spirits: A Victorian San Francisco Mystery (46 page)

When the servant finally left the room on her errand, Annie rounded on Nate and exclaimed angrily, “How can you and your uncle live here? This is awful. I would be ashamed to charge anyone room and board for such dismal surroundings and service.”

Later, Annie admitted to herself that her anger really came from her mounting terror that Nate had been badly hurt. While he insisted that she take off her coat in order to check to make sure she hadn’t been cut, she knew he was the one who had suffered grievous harm. She could see a trickle of blood coming down his brow, a swollen bruise already appearing along his right cheekbone, and the handkerchief clutched in his left hand was bright red. When he reached up to pull the cord for the servant, he had winced and put his hand to his side, shoving aside his tailcoat. She’d had to swallow a small scream when she saw that there was fresh blood on his shirtfront.

In a mercifully short time, the medical student, a short stocky fellow with an enormous ginger handlebar mustache, came clattering into the room, satchel in hand. He took one look at Nate and said that they had best go to the kitchen, since this looked like it might be a messy business. That was where Mrs. Randall, the cook, and Mrs. McPherson, the boarding house owner, found them a few minutes later.

Annie wasn’t sure which woman was more outraged, but this was something she could handle while the medical student, Mitchell—she never did learn whether this was a first or last name—attended to Nate. Annie told the cook, using her mother-in-law’s most imperious voice, that she needed to get a basin and fill it with hot water. She then directed the maid, who had just straggled into the room, to get some of the clean kitchen rags. Finally, she announced that the two servants would then assist Mitchell in any way he required.

She then turned to Mrs. McPherson and thanked her profusely for offering to stay with her while Mitchell attended to Nate, saying, “I didn’t know what else to do. We were just leaving Nielson’s and looking for a hansom cab when this man accosted us, and Mr. Dawson bravely fought off the assailant. As you can see he was hurt, and I didn’t feel I could wait until we got to my home to attend to him, yet he was worried about my reputation if we came here. I assured him that no one would question
your
propriety, and that all would be quite right if I was under
your
protection. Therefore, I am quite in your debt. I couldn’t stand to leave until I know that Mr. Dawson’s injuries have been attended to, but with
your
presence here, no one would dare say a word. Thank you so much.”

Of course Mrs. McPherson hadn’t agreed to act as chaperone, but Annie had long ago discovered if you told someone how wonderfully they were behaving, they were usually too embarrassed to do anything else but comply with your wishes. Although she longed to go over and supervise Mitchell, she saw that the cook had stepped in and was holding the basin while Mitchell seemed to be cleaning the wound on Nate’s hand.

Instead, she asked if Mrs. McPherson could direct her to the facilities so she could clean herself up. Mrs. McPherson nodded graciously and announced that “the girl” would show her and then would make them both a nice cup of tea.

After washing her face with tepid water and re-pinning her hat in front of a dusty, smudged mirror, she returned to the kitchen to discover that Nate was now sitting shirtless while Mitchell was wrapping a piece of gauze around his palm. The cook and the servant were standing by looking quite appreciatively at Nate’s well-muscled torso, and Annie confessed to herself it was really quite an imposing sight. You wouldn’t think that a man as tall and lean as Nate would be so well proportioned. No wonder he had been able to pick up that wretched man and throw him down like he weighed nothing.

Mrs. McPherson moved in front of her, clearly taking her chaperone duties seriously, and directed her to a chair, where she would be sitting with her back to Nate and his ministering angels. Then, as the landlady poured out a cup of tea, she kindly told Annie that Mitchell had said that the wounds on Nate’s side and his hand were shallow, and that, although the side would need a few stitches, no important tendons or blood vessels had been damaged.

By the time Annie had finished her drink, Mitchell had completed his work, and Nate had come up behind her to thank Mrs. McPherson and to say that he would now be escorting Mrs. Fuller home. He put his right hand on Annie’s shoulder and squeezed hard, and she shut her mouth. Just this once she would take his lead, without arguing. The poor man certainly had had a difficult night. It was the least she could do.

While Annie was thanking Mrs. McPherson and her servants for their support, a sharp exclamation from Nate caused her to turn around swiftly, and she saw him standing looking down at his hands, which held her coat. She said, “Nate, I mean, Mr. Dawson, what’s wrong?”

Nate looked up at her, shook his head, and said, “Excuse me, I need to run upstairs and change out of this shirt, I will be right down.” He then left the kitchen.

Annie laughed and said to Mrs. McPherson, “How like a man, he took my coat with him, will probably put it down somewhere, and we will be delayed looking all over for it. She then went over to shake Mitchell’s hand, saying in a low voice, “Thank you so much for everything you’ve done. He’s going to be all right, isn’t he? Will it hurt him to take me home?”

“
He won’t want to walk very far, but otherwise, he’ll be fine,” Mitchell replied. “I’ll check on him when he gets back. Mostly he’s going to be very sore in the morning.” With that Mitchell smiled, closed up his bag, and left.

Annie was forced to use the time waiting for Nate to continue to flatter his landlady, which required her to utter a series of whopping great lies; praising the good taste of the house’s decor and the efficiency of its servants. She was enormously relieved when Nate returned and they were able finally to leave.

As they stepped onto the sidewalk, she experienced an unexpected wave of fear. Clutching Nate’s arm, she said, “Oh, dear, you don’t think there is any chance that man is still around, do you?”

Nate put his arm around her and said, “No chance at all. You see, I broke his wrist. He won’t be doing anything until he gets it set. And he’ll no doubt have to report to whoever sent him after you. But we must talk, now, before we get in a cab. I need to know exactly what the man said, what he looked like, and we should consider whether or not to go to the police.”

“
No police. Can we even be sure he was after me specifically? It wasn’t just a robbery?”

“
That’s what I want to determine,” Nate said. “Look, if we go up Vallejo to the top of the hill, there is a bench that overlooks the Bay. We would be private. After our talk, we can walk back down to Columbus, where, at this time of night, there should be plenty of cabs. It’s only a quarter past nine, I could still have you home by ten-thirty.”

Annie agreed, but began to regret this decision when she saw how slowly he was walking up the steep hill, and how stiffly he was holding himself. As they reached the bench at top of the street, she barely registered that they had a view of the whole moonlit Bay from this vantage. Instead, she focused on the ragged sound of his breathing.

This was a bad idea. I should insist that he take me right home, so he can go to bed,
she thought. But she wasn’t ready to leave him. She was still too shaken. She couldn’t yet get the images out of her mind, Nate struggling to grab the knife and then being savagely kicked as he lay curled on the ground.
Whatever would I do if he’d been killed?

Annie moved in close and felt Nate’s arms encircle her, and she stood there, listening to the beatings of their hearts.

“
A Night Ambush: Murder of C.L. Peterson by Unknown Assassins: An Unknown Woman and a Half-emptied Revolver the Only Clues.”
—
San Francisco Chronicle
, 1879

The moon had climbed considerably higher by the time Annie stirred in Nate’s arms and said, “If you still want to ask me questions, you’d better start. If I am too late getting home, Beatrice is going to start worrying. Shall we sit down?”

What she really wanted to do was lift her head to be kissed, but that would make a declaration she wasn’t prepared to make, yet. The events of this evening had changed everything, and nothing. She did know that now was not the time to examine her emotions, or act on them.

Nate sighed and stepped back, leaving her chilled. He said, “Let’s sit here. Will you be warm enough?”

“
Yes, this is a wool coat, I’ll just button it up.” Annie walked around the bench to sit down. “That’s odd, one of the buttons is missing. I hadn’t noticed.”

“
That’s not all you didn’t notice.”

Nate’s voice sounded strange to Annie. Harsh, angry. She started to ask what he meant when he took her right hand and placed it over her heart. Shocked by the intimacy of this gesture, his hand, heavy and warm, pressing her hand against her left breast, Annie didn’t register at first what her fingers were encountering, until her index finger snagged on an opening in the material.

“
My goodness, my coat seems to have a tear in it! Must have happened when that man first grabbed me. I wonder if the Miss Moffets will be able to repair it?”

Nate had removed his hand from hers as soon as she began to speak, so she was able to pull the coat material out to look more closely at it.

“
It’s not a tear,” he said sharply. “I had a good look at it when I went up to change. It is a slit, from your assailant’s knife. I think it must have caught on your button, which probably deflected it, otherwise you might have been severely wounded, even killed.”

Annie sat down heavily on the bench, stunned, “You don’t think it was just a random robbery, do you?”

Nate sat down beside her. “No I don’t. Did he say anything about taking your purse?”

“
No, he didn’t. He just said my name.” Her heart rate accelerated. “Oh, he knew who I was! I had forgotten that.” Annie paused, trying to recreate those first moments when the man had appeared at her side and grabbed her, his hand over her mouth, her feet scrabbling to get some purchase, her arms pinned to her side.

Nate said, “Annie, I think we have to consider the possibility that this was a deliberate attempt on your life.”

Annie burst out, “I just have difficulty believing that! Maybe it was another attempt to frighten me off.”

Nate shook his head sharply. “Look, I could buy that the notes, the push off of the horse car, maybe even the barrels were all designed just to frighten you, scare you away from the Frampton séances. But tonight was different. Someone arranged that you be in that place at that time, so he could stab you.”

“
A trap, you said that earlier,” Annie said, her words no more than a whisper.

“
A trap, because I didn’t send the telegram, someone else did, obviously someone who knew that a message that mentioned the Framptons would get you out at this time of night. I guess by picking a restaurant near my home they hoped to convince you it was legitimate. But why were you going up Vallejo?”

“
Oh, I forgot to tell you. When I got to Nielson’s, a young boy ran up and asked my name, and then he said you wanted me to come to the boarding house. He gave me a piece of paper with your house number written on it. Then he ran off.”

“
So all your attacker had to do was wait in the alley for you to pass by.”

Annie thought about this and said, “It makes sense that the Framptons, or someone working with them, would use a telegram from you to lure me, since they know we are working together. But what if you had been visiting me this evening, as was planned? How did they know you weren’t at my place?”

“
Because the man who assaulted you followed me tonight,” Nate said, sounding surprised at his own conclusion. “It seems obvious to me now. You see, when I left home tonight I noticed this fellow loitering on the steps that lead down to Kearny. I would swear he was the same man as the one in the alley. If he followed me, he would have seen me enter Franklin’s Steak House. I was attending a Republican Party dinner. All he would have had to do, once he saw me go into the restaurant, is continue down two blocks to the Western Union office and send the message.”

Annie frowned, trying to picture the sequence of events. “But it all seems so risky. I might have not been home, or I might have refused to respond to the telegram, or decided to take Kathleen with me,” she said.

Nate shifted on the bench, as if in pain, then he said angrily, “Don’t you see? If you didn’t come, there was nothing lost. He would have simply tried something else another time; and, if you had brought Kathleen, I don’t suppose someone who was intent on murdering you would quibble at killing your maid.”

The image of Kathleen’s lifeless body, imposed on the real memory of a battered Nate sprawled on the ground in the alley, shattered Annie’s delicately constructed calm, and she began to tremble.

Nate gathered her in his arms, saying, “Annie, love, it’s all right; he didn’t succeed, you’re safe.”

“
Because you were there to save me,” Annie whispered into his shoulder. “If you hadn’t come, I would be
dead
.”

“
But I did come,” Nate replied and pulled her closer.

Some time passed, and Annie’s breathing gradually slowed. She then remembered the question that had been nagging at her, and she pulled back from his arms and said, “But why
did
you come? You said you arrived at my house right after I left, which is why you knew where to look for me. But why were you there?”