Unseemly Ambition (12 page)

Concordia had never been so happy to
see anyone in her life.

“
That’s all for today,”
Concordia called to the girls, as she rushed to embrace her
friend.

“
Penelope!” Concordia
cried. “I’m ever so glad to see you. Surprised, too. When I didn’t
receive a reply, I worried I’d missed you.”

Miss Hamilton smiled. “It’s good to be
back here again, even if the circumstances are distressing.” She
looked closely at Concordia. “Quite distressing.”

Conocordia swallowed. “Yes, we’re
worried about Eli.”

Miss Hamilton took Concordia’s arm.
“Why don’t we have a cup of tea and talk about it? I’ve already
spoken with Miss Pomeroy. She’s given me guest quarters at DeLacey
House.”

Concordia stopped.
Drat,
she’d forgotten to
ask Miss Pomeroy’s permission to invite a guest. “Does she know
that I asked you to come?”

Miss Hamilton smiled. “You
must know I would be more circumspect than
that
. I am merely visiting a niece who
has just had a baby, but it turns out they don’t have enough room
for me. There didn’t seem to be a problem with me staying here.”
She glanced at Concordia. “What is it that worries you?”

“
Dean Maynard has
been—difficult,” Concordia said, wincing. “All of this business
with Florence and Eli, and Sophia’s wedding before that, has taken
me away from campus a few too many times for his liking. He’s been
pressuring Miss Pomeroy to enforce strict rules for the staff.
Especially me. But that isn’t the worst of it.”

She told Miss Hamilton about the
gossip Maynard had heard regarding her “lady sleuthing.”

Miss Hamilton snorted. “It’s fortunate
that he never learned about the time you prowled Founder’s Hall at
one o’clock in the morning in your night dress.”

Concordia blushed.

“
So Maynard suspects you
are once again engaged in detecting?” Miss Hamilton
asked.

Concordia nodded. “That’s why it’s
imperative he not know who you really are and why you’re
here.”

They had reached the door of DeLacey
House, set along a deep, flagstone porch that later in the spring
would sport well-worn rocking chairs and planters of bright
geraniums. Miss Hamilton reached for her guest key, but
hesitated.

“
Concordia,” she said
softly, “you
are
involved in this, you know. I’m going to need your help if we
are to succeed. And yes, it requires detecting. The choice is
ultimately yours to make.”

Concordia met her steady
gaze. She hadn’t wanted to admit that she was involved, yet again.
When a lady engaged in such inquiries, it was deemed
unseemly
or, as Lieutenant
Capshaw termed it,
meddling
. Yet forces beyond her
control seemed to carry her repeatedly to this juncture.

As Miss Hamilton was making
plain, she
did
have
a choice: bystander, or participant?

Concordia gave a small smile. “Count
me in.”

The guest rooms weren’t as large as
those Miss Hamilton occupied in the days when she was lady
principal, of course, but they were nonetheless quite comfortable.
Two cozy upholstered chairs flanked a hearth, where a fire had
already been lit, more to dispel the damp than for warmth. Soon
they were ensconced in front of a tray laden with fragrant tea and
muffins.

Concordia felt herself relax in a way
that she had not in the past few weeks. Miss Hamilton would solve
the mystery and dispel the cloud that seemed to hang over them all.
Concordia had every confidence of that. After all, the lady had
once discovered an embezzler in their midst and solved multiple
murders that had plagued the school, had she not? Concordia hoped
that Capshaw was coming around to Miss Hamilton’s involvement in
the case.

As if reading her mind, Penelope said,
“I’ve already sent word to the lieutenant. He and Sophia will be
joining us soon. In the meantime, I want you to catch me up on what
you know.”

Concordia fished in her pocket for
Florence’s letter, which she’d taken to carrying around and
re-reading for a clue she might have missed. “I found this in my
stack of mail last week. I’ve already shown it to the lieutenant.
She wrote it the day before she died.”

Miss Hamilton read it through with
great interest. “So, there had been an attempt on her life before.
And she knew who was behind it. How exasperating that she didn’t
name them here.”

“
She was a very cautious
woman. I doubt she trusted me with that information. However, her
postscript points to some sort of clue in what she gave Eli,”
Concordia said. “It was a pocket watch, as I remember.”

“
Did you get a good look at
it?”

Concordia shook her head. “I didn’t
pay much attention. It seemed to be an ordinary watch. Not unusual
at all.”

“
And I assume the watch is
with Eli? It wasn’t found in his belongings at the settlement
house?”

“
You’ll have to ask Sophia.
She planned to search his belongings herself,” Concordia
said.

“
You said in your letter
that the Capshaws wish to adopt the boy, correct?” Miss Hamilton
asked.

“
Yes, they were waiting
until they returned from their honeymoon.”

“
But it was at the wedding
that Florence turned up?”

Concordia nodded. “Although she didn’t
come forward and claim she was Eli’s mother until after they’d left
on their trip.”

“
I see.” Miss Hamilton
tapped a lip thoughtfully. “What were your impressions of the
woman?” She sat back and took a sip of her tea.

“
Deeply suspicious,
unwilling to volunteer any more information than necessary,”
Concordia began, thinking back to her only encounter. “Awkward with
Eli, but that’s understandable given the circumstances. She seemed
under great tension. Well-spoken, though plainly dressed. That part
was a surprise to me, until I read her letter. Based on Eli’s own
account of his childhood, I assumed the mother was a servant who’d
gotten herself in trouble.”

“
Women of all stations can
get into trouble,” Penelope Hamilton pointed out.

Concordia nodded ruefully. “Yes, I can
see that.”

“
In your letter,” Miss
Hamilton said, “you recounted finding Florence dead in her room at
the boarding house.”

Concordia took a deep breath. “She’d
been...strangled. The Capshaws and I went over there to try talking
Florence out of taking Eli.”

“
And you said the boy’s cat
bolted out of the room when you opened the door?”

“
That’s what has me
worried. Eli adores the animal. He rarely goes anywhere without it.
I cannot imagine him willingly leaving it behind.”

“
And no one has seen
anything of the boy since?” Miss Hamilton asked.

Concordia shook her head
mutely.

Miss Hamilton gave her a keen glance.
“You are very fond of this child.”

Concordia sipped her tea to fight down
the lump in her throat. “It’s so absurd, I know. Children usually
scare the tar out of me. I simply don’t understand them. But Eli
and I...well, you know what we had been through together, last
year. I’d written to you about all that.”

Miss Hamilton nodded. “That’s a
powerful bonding experience. He sounds like an extraordinary
child.”

“
He is.”

Concordia kept her gaze at her lap,
trying not to cry. She’d tolerate a litter of raggedy cats just to
see Eli again.

“
Setting aside the presence
of the cat, is there any chance that Eli could have left
voluntarily?” Miss Hamilton asked.

Concordia thought about that.
“Perhaps,” she conceded, “but to be gone this long, without any
word...I’m just so worried that he’s—”

There was a knock at the door, and
Sophia and Capshaw came in. Once additional chairs were brought in
and more tea sent for, the four of them sat facing each
other.

“
So, Lieutenant, it’s nice
to see you again,” Miss Hamilton commented. “Allow me to express my
best wishes on the occasion of your marriage.”

She got wan smiles in
return.

“
Tell me how I can help,”
Miss Hamilton went on. “I am at your disposal, and not due back for
some time.”

Capshaw’s face contorted into what
passed for a grateful look, although Concordia knew he struggled
with a bit of wounded pride. Years ago when they first worked
together on a case, Capshaw had been the official arm of the police
force, with Miss Hamilton dependent upon what he decided to share
with her. Now the power balance had shifted, with Penelope doing
the favors.

“
Tell me more about your
investigation, before the chief took you off the case,” Miss
Hamilton said. “Perhaps there is some information you had uncovered
which was making someone nervous.”

Capshaw cleared his throat. “After
examining the scene, talking with the coroner, and interviewing
witnesses, we had very little to go on. Miss Willoughby had no
visitors that day except Eli. But then he left around one
o’clock—the maid saw him on his way out. No one saw Eli
return.”

“
And how long had Florence
Willoughby been dead before you found her—at three in the
afternoon, I believe?” Miss Hamilton asked.

Capshaw nodded. “Close to that time.”
He explained the locked door, the repeated knocks, the maid who was
sure Florence hadn’t gone out. The discovery of Rose.

“
I see. Did you establish
who in the household had last seen Florence alive, and
when?”

“
It was mid-morning. The
maid said Florence came to the kitchen for a headache powder, and
said she was going to lie down,” Capshaw said.

“
And Eli was her only
visitor?” Miss Hamilton asked.

“
As far as anyone knows,
but I had been looking into the possibility of a stranger slipping
in unnoticed. It’s possible—the back kitchen door isn’t locked
during the day. But there are so many people bustling around the
kitchen that it doesn’t seem feasible.”

Miss Hamilton tapped her chin
thoughtfully. “I know what you mean: butcher’s boy, vegetable
seller, milk man, cook, servants...not to mention the boarders who
might stop in to make special requests. But, no matter how
difficult to accomplish, we know that she had to have been killed
between one o’clock and, say, a quarter to three.”

“
Exactly. There’s a fire
escape in back of the building, but that would be a bold move in
broad daylight. None of the neighbors saw anyone on it.”

“
And we’re assuming that
Eli’s disappearance is connected to his mother’s death?”

Capshaw shrugged. “It’s the only
explanation that makes sense.”

“
I understand from
Concordia that the boy has gone off on his own before,” Miss
Hamilton said.

“
That was early on,” Sophia
said, “when he first came to us. He wasn’t accustomed to anything
but the vagrant life. But then he began to follow the routine, and
seemed happy here. We spoke to Eli about adopting him after our
marriage, and he was most eager for that. There would have been no
reason for him to simply vanish like this.”

“
And certainly not without
his cat,” Concordia pointed out.

Miss Hamilton was quiet for a few
minutes, twirling her pencil in her hand, notepad in her lap.
“Suppose he left voluntarily, but because he was afraid,” she
said.

“
Afraid because he
witnessed the murder? Or because his mother was dead?” Capshaw
shook his head. “He would have come to us for help, not run
away.”

“
But he’s just a child,”
Concordia said. “Children don’t always think things through very
clearly.”

“
The murderer could have
taken him,” Sophia said, her voice barely above a hoarse
whisper.

Miss Hamilton frowned. “For what
purpose? Because he was a witness? If so, why not just kill him,
too? I doubt a man who murders a defenseless woman would scruple to
kill a child.”

Sophia blanched. Concordia reached
over and patted her hand reassuringly as she shot Miss Hamilton a
warning look. The woman had a habit of blunt speaking that could be
disconcerting, to say the least.

“
I’m sorry,” Miss Hamilton
said with a shrug. “Our best chance of finding the boy is to face
facts squarely.”

“
The killer might have
taken Eli for some other purpose. Information, perhaps,” Capshaw
said. “The murderer could have been after something Florence knew
or possessed. He may not have known that Eli’s acquaintance with
her was recent.”

“
I’d like to see what
you’ve uncovered, if you would, before you were taken off the
case,” Miss Hamilton said. “Especially what you’ve learned about
the victim.”

“
Of course. I’ve made you a
copy of my notes.” Capshaw passed her a sheaf of papers.

Everyone was quiet as Miss Hamilton
skimmed the pages. She raised an eyebrow. “I had no idea the
Willoughby family was so prominent. Interesting,” she murmured. “Is
it fair to say that you believe the family pressured your superior
to take you off the case?”