Violet Vanquishes a Villain Read online

  She should feel like some wanton hussy, but as she looked over at Nate, who smiled warmly back at her, she had no regrets…no regrets at all.

  “Explain to me again why Violet hasn’t told Billy about her pregnancy?” Nate said after swallowing a long draught from the canteen.

  Annie felt a wave of guilt that the interlude in the glen had driven all thoughts about Violet and her problems from her mind. It seemed somehow unfair to be as gloriously happy as she was right now when Violet was so upset. But then perhaps the young woman was blowing everything out of proportion.

  “She appeared to feel that Billy would be worried about the timing. It is rather soon. She thinks she is over two months along, which means there won’t be but about sixteen months between little Frankie and this new baby.”

  “I don’t see why that is a problem…unless it’s hard on her health.”

  “I don’t think that is her main concern. Her reluctance to tell him seemed connected with the trouble between Billy and her brother over how little time Alec was spending working on the house in the past few weeks. She thinks that Billy will be even more upset about the delay in finishing the house when he discovers a new child is on the way.”

  “That is just foolish. Except for the kitchen, everything important is done. They could move in now if they needed to.”

  Annie nodded.

  “Look, I don’t want you to have to tell me something she said in confidence to you. And frankly, the less we get pulled into family matters the better,” he said. “But I know you. If there is a problem, you are going to try to solve it…so I’d better know the whole story.”

  Secrets between them had caused problems in the past, and she didn’t want him to think she was holding anything back. So she told him about Violet finding the mining stock certificates among Alec’s things, saying, “The main thing that has her worried is that her brother wanted her to ask Billy to pay him for the work he’s done. But according to their agreement, Billy wasn’t to pay him until the work is completed and after his fruit crops are sold. On Saturday, when she told Alec she wouldn’t ask Billy for an advance, he left the ranch and hasn’t been back to do any work since.”

  Nate didn’t say anything for a moment, then he said, “Billy’s generally a pretty complacent fellow. Doesn’t get riled easily. But you know as well as I do, any year a bumper crop can become a total loss with a change in the weather. Billy won’t know if all his work is going to pay off until the fruit is successfully sold. Until then…well, the request to pay Alec early wouldn’t be welcome—it probably isn’t even possible, without Billy having to borrow the money. But I don’t see Billy blaming Violet for her brother’s request…much less being angry to learn about the new baby.”

  “I agree with you,” Annie replied. “But it seems very important to her that Billy think well of her brother. And she is terrified Alec has done something really foolish.”

  “Like buy a bunch of worthless mining shares.”

  “She didn’t know about them until this morning. What she did know is that he’d been planning on going to the university at Berkeley, but now he says he’s given up that idea. Violet went into this whole story about how he’s always wanted to be an architect…but is afraid to tell his father. Evidently, Alec’s been secretly saving his money from his bank job to cover the tuition and room and board for his first term. Then the money for his work on the house would cover the second and third terms.”

  “Ah. So do you think the investment in the mining stocks was his attempt to increase his funds more quickly…but this turned out a bust? So now he can’t afford to go unless Billy pays him early?”

  Annie thought about how impatient Nate had been last fall when he felt his uncle, in whose law firm he was partner, wasn’t moving fast enough to increase the firm’s business. She said, “That’s what Violet thinks. But I am afraid it looks more serious than that.”

  Nate pulled his mare around, turning back on to the road, saying, “We need to get going. We don’t want to be coming down this road in the dark.” Once Annie caught up with him, he prompted her to continue, saying, “What do you mean by more serious?”

  “I added up what he would have had to pay for the stock certificates—based on my recollection of what they were selling for when they were first issued—and he must have paid nearly $1000 for them.”

  “Heavens above! That’s a fortune. And he’s only eighteen?”

  “Just turned eighteen…just a boy really. Now, I could be wrong about what the stock is worth. I would have to check my files back in San Francisco. But I did have a client who’d gotten all excited about this particular mining company in May, so I did some research on it. I could see a mile away it was just being puffed up to sell to greenhorns back east…and I dissuaded him from buying…and pointed out to him when it plummeted in value a few weeks later.”

  “Where would he get that kind of money?”

  She knew Nate had just been paid a three thousand dollar retainer for his last case—but most of that would get plowed back into the law firm to pay for overhead. No wonder he was surprised. She said, “Exactly what I wondered. And I can’t help but worry that whoever gave the money to him…might be pressuring him to repay that debt…with interest.”

  Chapter 4

  Wednesday evening, August 11, 1880

  San Jose

  “There you are, my big boy. Clean as a whistle. Time for you to go to your mother.” Abigail picked up her chortling grandson and gave him a soft kiss.

  Holding out her arms, Violet took her newly bathed and diapered son onto her lap and began to nurse, rocking slowly in the rocking chair in the boy’s room. He’d already had some cooked mush mixed with fresh milk, so this evening meal was primarily to soothe him asleep. She’d noticed that the amount of milk she was producing was decreasing daily. Mother Dawson hadn’t said anything about this beyond a comment that Francis seemed to need more solid food now that he was starting to crawl. But she’d been particularly kind the past few weeks, going out of her way to give Violet time to rest in the morning, which was why she suspected her mother-in-law knew she was with child again.

  But why was Annie so sure my indisposition was morning sickness? I should have told her I’d eaten something that made me unwell.

  Even worse, Violet couldn’t believe she’d gone on to spill out all that stuff about Alec’s university plans and the fight she’d had with him over asking Billy for money. Most of all, she regretted passing on the gossip she’d heard on Sunday from an old school friend, who’d pulled her aside after church to tell her that there were rumors that Alec had been seen frequenting the Golden Belle, a local saloon. Violet had assured her friend that the rumors were untrue…that her brother didn’t even drink. But to Annie, she’d confessed her fear that he’d gotten in with a group of fast young men led by Geoffrey, his employer’s nephew who worked with him at the bank.

  What she’d discovered when she did a second, more thorough search of his room seemed to confirm that there was a connection between his recent erratic behavior and the rumors. She’d waited until Annie and Nathaniel had gone off on their excursion to Mt. Hamilton yesterday to do the search, and she almost immediately found his bank book tucked under his mattress.

  She’d found the pattern of deposits and withdrawals in the bank book highly disturbing. Initially, there were steady weekly deposits that added up to nearly $400 by May…more than enough to pay for his first term at the University of California. Then in June, he began to note a few small withdrawals—too small to account for buying the stock certificates––if Annie was correct about their value. Which Violet doubted. $1000 was simply too large a sum to even consider possible. However, after the bank book registered two unusually large deposits on consecutive Mondays––which didn’t match the amounts or timing of the deposits of his weekly bank wages––he stopped depositing anything in his account at all. Instead, there were a steadily increasing number of withdrawals. Until last week, when his a
ccount balance hit nearly zero. So unless he was moving his money to a different bank, all his savings for the university were now gone.

  No wonder he told me he’d decided not to go. Oh Alec, what trouble have you gotten yourself into?

  Every explanation she came up with on her own seemed more awful than the next, and since he hadn’t been back to the ranch, she couldn’t ask him to tell her what had happened to his savings. To add to her anxiety, she began to worry that Annie would tell Nathaniel about the stocks and Alec’s request for an advance.

  She’d kept looking for a chance to get Annie alone today, to plead with her not to say anything. But Annie seemed determined to spend every moment with Mother Dawson, until this evening when she and Nate went off to town to dinner and the theater. And last night, Violet thought her brother-in-law looked at her funny when Billy asked her at dinner if she’d seen Alec. She was sure this meant Annie had told Nathaniel everything during their trip to Mt. Hamilton…and what if he then told Billy? How could I have been so indiscreet?

  Francis made a complaining noise, and Violet realized she’d been rocking in the chair too rapidly, upsetting him, so she slowed down and patted his back soothingly. Looking back at the sequence of events yesterday morning, she decided Annie had unfairly taken advantage of her when she was feeling so vulnerable. Picking up the stock certificates and reading them without permission, pressing Violet to tell her what was wrong. Just the kind of pushy, meddlesome behavior Violet expected from a woman who actually bragged about investigating murders.

  Yet it’d been such a relief to finally admit her fears to someone…and Annie had been unexpectedly kind and motherly.

  “Mother Dawson, is Annie’s mother still alive? I guess I assumed she wasn’t…or that she must live back east. Isn’t that where Annie lived until recently? New York City?”

  Her mother-in-law, who’d been cleaning up the bath and putting things away in the nursery, paused and wiped her hands on her apron. “Nate told me last fall that her mother passed away when she was quite young. I believe they lived in Los Angeles but that her father took her to New York soon afterwards. I gather she and her father were quite close. But he died some time ago, not long before her first husband’s death. For one so young, she’s weathered a good number of losses.”

  “And she doesn’t have any brothers or sisters?” Violet thought about how barren her life would have been growing up without Alec…her father completely occupied with his work, her mother engaged in the never-ending round of social visiting and shopping.

  “Not any immediate family. There was an aunt and uncle, the ones that willed her the house in San Francisco, but she’d not seen them since her mother died. And I gather she is estranged from her first husband’s family.”

  Abigail then went back to her tidying, saying over her shoulder, “She told me this morning how much she’s come to love Laura as the sister she’s never had. And I know from Laura’s letters that the feeling is mutual.”

  “But doesn’t it worry you? That Annie might not be the best influence on her? Not provide the kind of moral guidance a young girl needs living away from home? I mean, you just said Annie hasn’t had a mother or any woman to guide her for most of her life. Wouldn’t Laura be better off here, with her own mother? I could be as good a friend and sister to Laura as Annie.”

  “Yes, my dear, I am sure you would be. But I am afraid that Laura is a lot more like her older brother…than she is like Billy…or you or I for that matter. The daily routine of ranch work always bored her. Even as a little girl. I’d send her out to collect eggs and feed the hens and find her an hour later, curled up in the barn reading a book…her chores completely forgotten.”

  Violet’s heart swelled with pride hearing Mother Dawson say how alike they were. She certainly tried to be like her mother-in-law in every way. Billy has no idea how grateful I am to his mother. I just wish he didn’t put so much stock in my parents’ opinions. Then he wouldn’t have felt the need to start building us a separate house—to satisfy my mother, or plant crops that haven’t yet proven to do well in this climate—to please my father.

  Violet looked over at Abigail and said, “I know I’m not clever like Laura…but why can’t she just be content with teaching? Why spend all the time going to the Normal School to get a teaching certificate…to throw it all away to work at some dirty printing job? I know she wrote that this new job will make it easier to attend the university…but why is that so important? What will another degree get her?”

  Violet stopped, seeing the frown on her mother-in-law’s face. “I’m sorry…it’s not my place to judge. But you said, yourself, it didn’t make sense.”

  Violet concentrated on shifting Francis from one breast to the other…a nightly ritual he always protested.

  “Violet, you should never question your own intelligence. Your talents and interests just lay in other directions.” Abigail touched Violet lightly on the shoulder as she leaned over and stroked her grandson’s head, causing him to suck more strongly. “I had a very good talk with Annie this morning while we worked in the garden…about Laura. She helped me understand some of the difficulties Laura encountered teaching last fall and the role the tragic death of her friend has had on her plans for the future. I came away very much reassured…both that Laura is making sensible choices…and that Annie and Nate are looking after her best interests.”

  “If you are sure. I mean, I am pleased Annie has been able to put your mind at rest. But I won’t stop hoping, for her own sake, if not yours, that Laura finds a nice young man soon and settles down. Preferably near San Jose.”

  Violet saw Mother Dawson smile at her words, and her heart eased.

  Tom and Estelle Campion, who Annie and Nate joined for dinner at the Music Hall Chop House in downtown San Jose, looked to be in their early forties. Before joining his Uncle Frank’s law firm, Nate had worked one summer in Campion’s San Jose law office, and Annie knew Nate was curious about Campion’s recent decision to become San Jose’s district attorney. Therefore, she’d been very amenable when he asked if it would be all right to accept their invitation to dinner and the theater.

  After spending most of the day helping Nate’s mother with gardening and taking care of little Frankie, Annie looked forward to an evening away from the ranch and a chance to escape the problem that Violet’s confidences presented her. Nate had been correct; Annie wasn’t good at ignoring someone else’s difficulties. Particularly when the difficulties touched such a raw personal nerve. Her deceased husband’s slide into financial ruin, which had left her destitute, was caused by a fatal mixture of alcohol, gambling, and a gullibility that made him the easy mark of every confidence man who wanted to unload worthless stocks. It was one of the reasons she was so committed to building a career where she could use her business acumen to help other men and their families avoid similarly disastrous fates––whether as Madam Sibyl or as plain old Mrs. Annie Dawson.

  But Alec wasn’t her client. And even if he were, there wasn’t much she could do about the worthless stocks…except honor her promise to Violet not to tell Billy anything about them. She had strenuously advised Violet to tell Billy herself what her suspicions were. But there wasn’t anything she could do if her sister-in-law insisted in keeping all her fears bottled up…and Nate was firm that neither one of them should break Violet’s confidences.

  Last evening, as they made their way home from their excursion to Mt. Hamilton, he’d said, “Billy wouldn’t thank either of us for meddling in what he would see as his private affairs. In fact, he would hate that Violet had confided in you. My mother, he might just tolerate…but anyone else? No. He’d feel humiliated. We just have to stay mum––about the pregnancy and her brother’s difficulties––for the next three days, and then we will be on our way home and none of it will be our problem.”

  Annie wasn’t sure she agreed with him, but she was happy to let the whole thing go for this evening.

  As she and Nate followed the Campion
s into the restaurant dining room, she congratulated herself for deciding to wear her wedding dress for the occasion. Given the obvious expense and style of Estelle Campion’s lovely gown, the one other summer-weight dress Annie had brought would have left her feeling seriously underdressed. And then Estelle might have felt uncomfortable, as if she were showing off. Men were so lucky. Beyond deciding which vest to wear with their black evening coats, they didn’t have to worry about the delicate matter of how their apparel might be interpreted by someone else.

  After only a few minutes in conversation with Mrs. Campion, Annie felt more and more at ease. Estelle moved quickly into topics much more interesting than the bland personal details that usually constituted the main subjects of conversation with a new female acquaintance. Soon the two of them were having a lively discussion about Clara Foltz, the first woman lawyer in the state who had once lived in San Jose, the question of whether the recent decision of the San Francisco School Board to cut wages for elementary teachers was going to make it easier for rural schools in the rest of the state to attract better-trained teachers, and whether the National Woman Suffrage Association or the American Woman Suffrage Association had the better strategy for achieving votes for women. Violet would have been appalled!

  However, when Annie heard Thomas Campion mention the Golden Belle, the saloon Violet’s brother was rumored to frequent, she couldn’t help but turn her attention to the men’s conversation. Without thinking, she interrupted Campion, asking if San Jose had any trouble with local saloon owners running corrupt games of chance.

  Seeing Nate’s frown, she quickly added, “I asked because I’d been reading in the Chronicle that San Francisco Chief of Police Crowley started a major campaign to shut down crooked gambling dens this spring, and I wondered if you all had similar problems here.”