Violet Vanquishes a Villain Read online

  Annie sat in the dark on the front porch, waiting for her husband to escort her up to the house on the hill. The warmth of the day was bleeding off slowly, a crescent moon hanging over the line of mountains you could see across the valley to the west. Nate and his brother and father were in the barn discussing a stallion’s split hoof, and her mother-in-law had already retired. Violet was in the parlor reading a letter from her own mother that one of the ranch hands brought up to the house after dinner, having been to town this afternoon so he could pick up the mail.

  It had been another long but pleasant day. But she was seriously short of sleep. She and Nate didn’t get back to the ranch until about eleven-thirty last night…and then…you could say that the entertainment portion of the evening hadn’t ended with the theater. Annie smiled at the memories. But she’d forgotten how cocks crowed and milk cows started lowing as soon as the sun rose in the country—which was just after five.

  After breakfast—she’d paid very strict attention to how Nate liked his eggs and bacon so she could inform Beatrice––she and Nate’s mother went out to work in the garden again, before it got too hot, while Violet tended her son.

  It took all of Annie’s willpower not to mention how poorly Violet looked at breakfast—especially when she saw Abigail’s look of concern when the young woman took her barely touched plate to the sink. But she feared if Nate’s mother even alluded to Violet’s obvious morning sickness, Annie wouldn’t be able honor her promise not to share the young woman’s secret. What she had resolved was to take over as many of her sister-in-law’s chores as possible today to give her a bit of a break.

  Consequently, she’d spent most of this day helping Abigail. She did the dishes after each meal, helped her mother-in-law beat the carpets from the parlor, and mopped the kitchen floor. She’d even volunteered this afternoon to clean the kerosene lamps…a job she’d only done once before in her life and had hated. But at least it gave her an excuse to take a cold bath and change for dinner.

  Despite the fact that she had over-worked a whole new set of muscles, the time spent with Nate’s mother had been wonderful. They’d discussed literature—Abigail Dawson had attended one of the first Ladies Academies in Ohio before the war––and Laura’s printing job, and Annie talked about how excited her servants and good friends, Beatrice and Kathleen, were about getting Nate in their hands in order to “fatten him up” and refurbish his clothes. Abigail had laughed heartily at Annie’s retelling of the very negative things these two women had to say about the cook and laundress at Nate’s old boardinghouse.

  The porch screen door suddenly slammed open, interrupting these memories, and Violet came hurriedly out, throwing herself into the old wooden rocker, where she put her head in her hands.

  Annie, pretty sure the younger woman hadn’t noticed her, was debating how to make her presence known when she heard the distinct sound of sobs.

  Trying not to startle her, Annie scraped her chair as she got up and came across the porch, saying, “Oh my dear, whatever’s wrong? Have you gotten bad news? Are your parents all right?”

  Violet jerked back from Annie’s touch on her shoulder and made as if to rise. Then she thrust the sheets of paper that were crumpled in her hands and said, “Oh, you might as well read it. You know all about it anyway. And Billy and his family seem to think you can solve every problem.”

  Annie was taken aback by the anger in Violet’s voice, but she took the letter and went over to the parlor window where there was enough light shining out to read by.

  In bold black ink, Violet’s mother complained about Alec’s thoughtlessness in missing dinner the night before when his father had specifically sent a note to the bank requesting his presence. She seemed to think that he’d missed dinner because of the work he was doing at the Dawson ranch, writing that she thought that William was being completely selfish to expect Alec to put his duty to his brother-in-law above duty to his father. She complained that Alec had been neglecting her as well. That he hadn’t been by the house in town in a week. And that when she’d last seen him he seemed pale, which must mean that William was working him too hard.

  The next paragraph cataloged all the ways Alec’s decision to work for Violet and her husband was a bad idea. Clearly, Violet’s mother was mystified why her son would want to do any kind of manual labor…blaming Billy, Violet, and someone named Samuel for this odd behavior.

  Was Samuel the uncle who ran a construction company where Alec worked when he was younger?

  Mrs. Kemper then went on to instruct Violet to tell Alec that he must stop by his father’s cannery factory the next day––before he went into work at the bank. “Without Fail.”

  The rest of the letter was filled with minute instructions about the furnishings for Violet’s new house, including exactly what stores in San Francisco her daughter should order from and the repeated admonition that if Violet didn’t follow her mother’s advice the new house would be an embarrassment.

  Annie assumed that this was not the reason for Violet’s tears…although it did give her a little more insight into why Violet adored her mother-in-law so much.

  “Violet, can you tell me exactly what in this letter has upset you so much?” Annie pulled her chair over next to the rocker and waited while Violet finished wiping her tears.

  “Didn’t you read it? My mother hasn’t seen Alec in a week. Since he isn’t sleeping here…and it seems he isn’t staying with my parents…where is he staying?”

  “Does he normally stay at your parents when he isn’t at the ranch?”

  “Of course he does. Where else would he go? What if he’s gone missing?” Violet’s lower lip quivered.

  “Oh, I don’t think that’s what has happened. I am sure that your parents would have heard from his employer at the bank if he wasn’t showing up to work this week.”

  Violet snatched the pages of the letter out of Annie’s hand and shook them for emphasis. “If he was at the bank, he would have gotten the message from Father to come to dinner. And Alec would never directly disobey him that way.”

  “Maybe it was your father who leant him the money he used to buy the stocks and your brother is simply avoiding him.”

  Annie rather hoped this was the explanation, because it was far preferable to her fear that Violet’s brother was mixed up in something much more serious.

  Violet looked at her…with a spark of hope…then her face crumpled. “I told you, Father would never loan him money…for any purpose. That is why Alec accepted the job from Billy…because he knew the only way he was going to get the education he wanted was to make his own way.”

  “Well, he could still have just wanted to avoid questions from both you and your parents, so he might be staying at a hotel or have taken a room at a boarding house.”

  “But he hasn’t any money to pay for rooms somewhere else. He’s completely cleaned out his savings, and he won’t get paid his bank wages until tomorrow.”

  “How do you…?”

  “I found his bankbook…under his mattress. Over the past two months he’s taken out every penny he’d earned…and he stopped depositing his wages some time ago.”

  Violet began to smooth out the pages of the letter, not looking at Annie. “I can’t help but worry…what if he’s gotten into the clutches of some woman? You know, the kind who works at saloons and gambling dens and seduces men into a life of drinking and debauchery? You read about this sort of thing happening. Maybe that’s who he’s been spending his money on…and where he is staying.”

  Annie didn’t know what to say. While her own work with the Chinese Mission in San Francisco meant she knew that Violet’s fears weren’t entirely the product of too many gothic novels, she thought it unlikely that Alec’s erratic behavior and depleted bank balance was caused by a prostitute.

  “Oh Violet, that wouldn’t explain the stock certificates. I’ve been thinking…maybe the withdrawals are because he’s been slowly paying off a loan he got from someone. And he’s a
voiding you and your parents because he feels so foolish for having gotten into debt. Couldn’t he be staying with a friend? You mentioned someone he worked with at the bank?”

  “Oh, Geoffrey Bickers? Yes, I suppose that is possible. Alec did mention Geoffrey has his own rooms at the Gladstone Hotel. Although I don’t know how he can afford to do so on the salary they get paid at the bank. He is the owner’s nephew and head cashier, so I suppose he gets paid more. I do know Alec really looks up to him; although I think he’s a bad influence.” Violet frowned.

  “A bad influence in what way?”

  Annie felt rather devious pushing Violet for more information in this fashion. However, after what Tom Campion had said about Bickers, she rather thought he was a more likely threat to Alec than some prostitute.

  “He’s filled Alec’s head with all sorts of impossible schemes. My little brother has always been a bit of a dreamer—one of the reasons he and my father don’t get along. But I thought with my guidance…and Billy’s example of what hard work and planning can achieve…that he was finally growing up a bit. Then Geoffrey moved into town this spring…”

  Violet proceeded to tell Annie all about Geoffrey Bickers. How this winter his mother, newly widowed, had come to live with Mr. Eagan, the owner of the San Jose National Bank. Then, a few months later, how Geoffrey arrived in town—supposedly from several years spent abroad studying––and how his uncle made him head cashier.

  “Alec started going on and on about him. ‘Bickers is a man of the world.’ ‘Bickers knows how to dress.’ ‘Bickers knows all these famous people in Europe who depended on him for financial guidance.’”

  Annie thought Violet sounded jealous…understandable if she’d been used to being the most important person in her younger brother’s world.

  Violet continued, saying, less heatedly, “Of course, Alec has always wanted to go abroad. He says that to be a first-rate architect, you must study in Paris. So he was very excited to meet someone like Geoffrey who’d actually been to France.”

  Annie kept to herself the information that Geoffrey had arrived in San Jose from the gambling dens of Denver, not Paris, and said, “Exactly how did all this make Bickers a bad influence?”

  “Well…Alec started emulating him. Ever since he determined to go to the university and then on to some architecture program in Boston, he was very careful with his money. He knew he couldn’t count on anything from Father, so he’d have to pay his own way. But Geoffrey got him to start going to some expensive tailor, buying silk vests, telling him that if he looked like a country bumpkin no one would take him seriously. It didn’t help that this is just the sort of thing that my mother is always saying.”

  “What does your mother think of Alec’s friendship with Geoffrey Bickers?” Annie remembered Tom Campion saying Bickers flirted with all the wealthy mothers in town.

  “Oh, she loves him. The last two times Billy and I went to dinner at my parents’ house, he was there, telling my mother that her taste is ‘exquisite,’ that she would shine in any Parisian salon. Which she loved hearing. She has never forgiven my father for settling here in San Jose, which she considers a terrible back-water.”

  “Do you think it’s possible that Geoffrey might have been the one who encouraged Alec to buy the mining stocks, since you mentioned he bragged about giving financial advice to people?”

  Violet sat up and cocked her head. “My brother once mentioned that if Father would just loan him three thousand dollars, he’d go abroad and study at some fancy architecture school in Paris. He told me he was sure he would be able to pay him back with all the wealthy clients he’d be able to get. Of course that would never happen. But what if…”

  “What if Geoffrey Bickers convinced him that investing in that mining stock was the way to make the money he needed to realize his dream?” Annie finished her sentence.

  “Yes…but wherever would he get the money to buy the stocks? Could Geoffrey have given it to him?”

  Annie said, “I suppose that’s possible.”

  And if he did, where did Geoffrey Bickers get his hands on that much money…and why would he loan it to Alec Kemper?

  Chapter 6

  Very early Friday morning, August 13, 1880

  San Jose

  Nate bolted upright in bed, the remnants of the familiar dream sending his heart racing. He could still hear Annie’s screams as he failed to save her…from fire…an assailant’s knife…the fists of the faceless man who was her first husband…

  “Please don’t tell me it’s morning yet,” Annie grumbled and pulled the quilt over her head.

  Annie! For the first time since he’d started to have these dreams, he’d awakened with the real Annie by his side. The nightmare melted away, replaced by fierce desire. He started to slide back under the quilt, his hand reaching out to stroke the curves that were becoming so familiar.

  A sudden pounding on the bedroom door froze him, and he heard his sister-in-law’s voice ring out, “Please, help me!”

  Annie sat up, clutching her nightgown. “Nate, whatever…is that Violet?”

  He was already out of bed and pulling on his robe. After making sure the belt was pulled tight, he opened the door to find Violet standing there, wearing a plain, long-flannel robe. Her hair was plaited in a neat braid, but her face was distorted with terror.

  “What is it? My parents? Billy? Fire?” Nate tried to damp down his rising panic.

  “No, no.” Violet pulled at his arm, dragging him down the hallway. “It’s Alec…he’s done something dreadful.”

  In a moment, they were at the door to the small bedroom with the camp bed. It was still dark out, but the room was brightly illuminated by an oil lamp on a table by the window and a lantern sitting on the floor by the door. Alec Kemper sat on the bed with his head in his hands.

  Violet went over and shook his shoulder roughly, saying, “Tell me how much you took.”

  He looked up at her vaguely and then made a weak grab at the small brown bottle she held in her hand, causing her to step back quickly.

  “Violet, what’s happened?” Annie appeared next to Nate and then moved quickly into the room. “What do you have there?”

  She reached out and took the bottle from Violet, who then went back to her brother, taking his head in her hands and forcing him to look at her as she fussed over him.

  “Annie, can you tell what it is? Laudanum?” Nate peered over her shoulder as she held the bottle under the lamp on the table to see the writing on the side.

  “Yes, and there isn’t much left. Oh Nate, if he took any more than two or three drops, it could kill him.”

  Nate went over to his sister-in-law and said urgently, “Tell us what you saw. Did he drink from the bottle?”

  “He was standing with it in his hand when I got here. I don’t know if he’d already swallowed anything. I screamed and he dropped the bottle, so I picked it up and ran to get you.”

  “Was the stopper in when you picked it up?”

  “Yes…yes, it was!”

  Annie said, “Do you know where he might have gotten it?”

  Violet examined the bottle. “I think it’s Mother’s. A doctor prescribed it a couple of years ago for her nerves.”

  Nate leaned over and hauled Alec up to a standing position. Like his sister, Alec was a short blond with vivid blue eyes. However, unlike his sister, his hair was unkempt and his eyes bloodshot and unfocused. He was not much more than 5’10” and slender, although Nate could feel muscles in his upper arms that testified to the manual labor he’d been doing on the house. He also smelled very strongly of whiskey.

  “Tell me. Did you take anything from the bottle?” Nate barked, giving the young man a shake.

  “No, no. Was gonna end it all…do the right thing.”

  Alec’s head then flopped forward and Nate let him slide back down to the bed. “I think he’s just very drunk…but we need to keep him awake and conscious just in case. I sat in on a laudanum poisoning trial, and my
memory is the main danger is respiratory distress.”

  Annie touched Violet on the shoulder. “Please get the pitcher of water and a cloth and towel from the bathroom. Cold water should help. Then we need to get him up and walking.”

  As soon as she left, Annie lifted up the lantern to see the room better. “If he really intended to kill himself, he will have written…wait…there’s something!” She grabbed several pieces of paper with ink-blotched writing from the table and started to read them.

  When Violet came back in the room, Nate held Alec upright as she sponged water on her brother’s face. When he batted her hands away with irritation, she said loudly, “Nathaniel, let him go.” Then she poured half the pitcher of water over her brother’s head as Nate leaped back, barely escaping the deluge.

  “What in tarnation?” Alec sputtered and sat up straighter.

  “I’ll pour the rest of it on you if you don’t answer me right this minute. Did you take any of Mother’s drops?”

  Wiping the water out of his eyes, he growled, “No, ‘cause you grabbed the bottle. Vi, you shouldn’t a done that…my life’s finished anyway.”

  Violet sat down and hugged him, and he began to cry.

  Annie came over to Nate. Pointing to the sheaf of papers in her hand, she said quietly, “Our suspicions were correct. Geoffrey Bickers is behind it all. What a villain he is. He’s ruined the poor boy.”

  Violet gently lowered the “poor boy,” who seemed to have passed out, to lie on the bed. She said sharply, “Is it a suicide note? What did he say?”

  Annie handed the letter over to Nate. “Geoffrey Bickers convinced your brother that if he bought the mining stock, he could triple his investment and fund a trip abroad to study. But that isn’t the worst of it. Bickers loaned your brother a thousand dollars to do so, but recently he started pressuring your brother to pay him back the loan—even though the stocks were worthless.”