Violet Vanquishes a Villain Read online

  Glancing up from the ink-blotted scrawl, Nate said, “I’m not sure why that makes Bickers a villain, Annie. More like a fool to loan that much money.”

  “Read the rest of the note. I think Bickers knew the stock was worthless. I’ve read about such frauds. Men like Bickers work in partnership with corrupt brokers. The brokers buy the stock after it’s lost its value, paying virtually nothing for it. Then they resell the certificates at an inflated price to gullible men like Alec. Probably in this case, the broker took his cut and handed the rest of the money directly back to Bickers. This means when your brother finally pays Bickers back, plus interest, he will have almost doubled his initial investment in the scheme. Confidence men can turn a small investment into a huge profit by loaning the money out over and over.”

  Nate looked over at Violet and said, “Do you know how much money your brother had in savings and how much money Billy owes him for the work on the house?”

  “He’d saved up over three hundred dollars, and he would have made another hundred dollars this summer in wages at the bank. Billy agreed to pay him four hundred dollars this fall once he completed work on the house.”

  “He’s probably already paid Bickers four or five hundred dollars. With Billy’s money, your brother should be able to pay off the rest of the loan,” Nate said. “If Bickers just waits a few months, he’ll get it all, so what’s the problem?”

  “According to this note,” Annie said. “Alec hasn’t paid him anything back because he’s used up all his savings gambling on the roulette wheel at the Golden Belle, so he still owes Bickers the full amount.”

  Violet cried out and started shaking her brother again. “You fool…I can’t believe you would be so stupid. Why would you do that?”

  Nate felt sick. “If it’s what Tom Campion suspected, then Bickers is indeed playing the shill for the saloon owner. He gets some sucker like Alec here in debt…then convinces them that they can win back the money they lost on the bad investment at a rigged roulette wheel, letting them win just enough at the start to make this seem feasible.”

  Annie nodded. “Bickers probably gets a cut from the saloon owner for whatever Alec and any other young man he’s brought spends there. Once again, he’s getting paid, whether Alec pays him back right away or not. But what has precipitated the crisis is that Bickers got impatient and demanded all of his money back immediately—this evening, in fact.”

  Violet whispered, “Which is why Alec wanted me to get Billy to pay him in advance. But that would only be half of what he owed.”

  “Alec said in the note that Bickers expects him to get the rest of the money from your father. Told him that both Billy and your father would be willing to come up with the money rather than face a public scandal.”

  Violet shook her head sadly. “He’s misjudged my father, then. He would see this as an opportunity to teach Alec a lesson. Probably force him to drop all his plans and come work for him in the cannery. And Billy doesn’t have the money now. Nathaniel, what will happen to Alec if he can’t pay Bickers back? Could he take him to court?”

  Nate frowned. Something just wasn’t right about this. “He could. But I don’t understand why Bickers would do that. He would look like a fool, giving a young boy an unsecured loan. Or if Annie is correct about him, he wouldn’t want to risk the information coming out about his collusion with the stock broker…or even worse with the owner of the Golden Belle. All he had to do was wait until Billy did pay your brother and continue to squeeze weekly payments out of him—who would probably still be working at the bank since he no longer has the money to pay for the university. I don’t know why your brother would decide that he needed to kill himself rather than face the consequences even if Bickers did tell people about the debt. Surely he isn’t that afraid of your father?”

  Annie said quietly, “There is a reason Bickers needs the money right away. And a reason why Alec might rather die than face the scandal. The note says that the money Bickers loaned him was money Bickers took from the bank—property tax revenue that the city treasurer will expect to withdraw from the bank in a few weeks.”

  Alec reared up from where he’d been curled up on the camp bed and growled. “Bastard forged my signature on the ledger. Showed me. Said if I didn’t come up with the money by t’morrow he’d tell everyone. Say that I ‘bezzled it myself. But he didn’t understand.” Alec shook his head slowly. “I would rather be dead than face Father.”

  Annie saw the shock on Nate and Violet’s faces as they finally understood the sheer enormity of the problems facing them. No wonder Alec had tried to take the coward’s way out. It was one thing for a family to weather the embarrassment of a family member getting into debt. Given his youth and previously unblemished reputation, Alec faced nothing worse than being seen as a young fool led astray by an older man. But to steal public funds, from his place of employment? This would send Alec to jail, ruining his life. His mother would find that women of her class would treat her as a social pariah, and men would treat his father with either pity or glee…depending on whether they saw him as an economic or political rival. And poor Violet would feel she’d shamed the Dawsons, the family that she loved so well.

  Annie asked, “Nate, can you go to Thomas Campion as district attorney and tell him what’s happened without getting Alec into trouble?”

  “Alec would need to hire me so that anything I’ve just learned would be confidential. This would give me some room to maneuver.”

  Nate stood for a few moments looking down at the inebriated young man, then shrugged. “Let me get dressed. I brought a few legal forms with me because Billy said he wanted me to draw up a will for him on this visit. Meanwhile, do what you can to get him more sobered up.”

  “I don’t understand,” Violet said as Nate left the room. “How could District Attorney Campion help?”

  Annie told her what they’d learned from Campion, about Bickers’s past and the police chief’s frustration over not having any evidence to prove that Bickers was working in cahoots with Garret Driver, the owner of the Golden Belle. “I am hoping that Nate can convince him that Alec is a victim in all this…maybe offer to get your brother to testify so they can bring Bickers and Driver to justice.”

  Violet turned to her brother and whispering urgently in his ear, begged him to stand up. He irritably pushed her away and tried to lie back down on the bed.

  Annie noticed that the quality of the light was changing, and she said, “Do you know what time it is? Does anyone know you are here?”

  “It’s after four. I’d gotten up to go to the kitchen. I wasn’t feeling well…and I saw some light coming from the porch of this house. I thought it must be Alec trying to sneak in. I wanted to see him before he slunk away again, so I came over.”

  “Maybe you need to go and get Billy. He’ll be up soon anyway. He can help us get Alec sobered up.”

  “No, please. I can’t tell him about this, not yet. You must promise to keep it a secret—at least until we know what to do.”

  “Oh Violet, we can’t hide this from Billy. What happens next affects him as well as you. Besides, he’s your husband and you need his support through this. Anyway, as soon as he gets up, he’s going to come looking for you.”

  “Actually, he won’t,” Nate’s mother, who stood at the doorway to the room, said matter of factly. “He and Charles just rode out to the northern high pasture. One of the boys came to tell them that some steers got spooked by a band of coyotes and took off, so they needed help rounding them back up. Billy assumed you were in the nursery with Frankie, so he left without saying good bye. Now, why don’t you tell me what is going on?”

  It was just after the mid-day meal when Annie, who was standing at the ranch house kitchen sink, pointed out the window and said, “Look, Nate just rode in. I hope he has some good news.”

  She and Abigail were finishing up the dishes, Violet was in the nursery changing her son’s diapers in preparation for putting him down for a nap, and Alec was sl
umped over the kitchen table with his fourth cup of strong coffee cupped in his hands.

  Nate’s father and brother weren’t back yet, and Abigail thought it would be highly unlikely that they would return before evening. Since Alec said that Bickers expected to meet him in the back room of the bank at six with the money, it was possible that whatever was going to happen would be all over before they arrived home. But Annie certainly hoped her sister-in-law would be ready to confide everything to Billy by that time.

  Violet’s reaction to Abigail’s arrival on the scene this morning had been dramatic. She’d thrown herself into her mother-in-law’s arms and dissolved in tears, leaving it up to Annie to explain as best she could what was going on. Annie’s respect for her mother-in-law grew even greater as she watched her quickly calm Violet down and dispatch her back to the ranch house to take care of her son. She asked a few pointed questions of Nate before he took off and then helped Annie cover the now-snoring Alec with a blanket. She’d suggested that a few hours sleep might do him good. So it was only after they’d completed the morning chores that they tried to sober him up.

  Rosa, who’d been with the Dawsons for seventeen years and had raised three sons of her own, helped Abigail strip him and get him washed up and into clean clothes, while Violet hovered around outside the room scolding and cajoling him to cooperate. Down the hall, Annie played with Frankie and tried to think how best to rescue the sorry young man.

  “Is that ham I see, Mother? And potato salad? Dish it up…I’m famished.” Nate strode into the kitchen, tossing his hat on the hook by the back door and coming over to give Annie a quick hug.

  Annie said quietly to him, “Were you able to work anything out?”

  “Maybe. Depends a good deal on how much backbone he has.” He nodded at Alec, who’d registered Nate’s arrival with a baleful stare.

  Giving his mother an affectionate kiss on her cheek, he said, “Father and Billy not back yet?”

  “No. But you go wash up while I get your lunch on the table. Annie, the rolls are warming. Could you get them out of the oven?”

  A few minutes later, they all watched Nate wolf down his food, waiting for him to tell them what he’d learned from his trip to town. Violet had joined them, with a sleepy Frankie in her arms, to sit in the rocking chair in the corner. Annie told Nate that she’d explained to Alec what they’d learned the other evening from Thomas Campion about Bickers and his past history with the Golden Belle. Told him that he probably wasn’t the first young man to be duped into spending all his cash at a rigged game.

  Alec spoke up, saying bitterly, “Your wife explained to me I was just one fool among many. As if that will impress Father. Did you have to tell Campion about the missing bank money?”

  “Yes, hypothetically. I explained I had a client that Bickers had loaned money to so he could buy mining certificates, which turned out to be worthless. That he then convinced my client he could win the money back at the roulette wheel at the Golden Belle. Only later did my hypothetical client find out that the money for the original loan might have been taken illegally from a certain bank and that Bickers was essentially blackmailing my client to pay him back immediately or he would accuse him of stealing that money.”

  “Do you think he knew it was me you were talking about?”

  “Of course he did. But since I am your lawyer, nothing I said can be used against you.”

  Nate went on to tell them that Tom Campion immediately went to Bicker’s uncle, George Eagan, to inform him that he’d gotten a confidential tip that the property tax funds in his bank might be missing. Nate added, “Campion wanted to check to see if Bickers was lying to you, Alec, see if the funds are really missing.”

  Annie said, “I’ve been thinking about that. Surely at some point Bickers and the saloon owner, Driver, must have expected that someone they’ve fleeced will complain to the local authorities. Even if the police don’t have enough evidence to charge them with a crime, wouldn’t the publicity put an end to the success of their confidence games?”

  Nate smiled at her and said, “I asked Tom the same thing. He said gamblers and their confederates like Bickers move around a lot because six months or a year is about as long as they can keep the wool pulled over locals’ eyes. They move on when they run out of young pigeons to pluck, or some girl’s father threatens breach of promise, or the local sheriff, if they aren’t being bought off, start to make life difficult.”

  “So wouldn’t it be better for Bickers to use the money he’s made from plucking those pigeons in town to replace the money he stole? To avoid any publicity?”

  “He can’t because he’s tapped out himself,” Alec groaned. “When I begged him to do just that, he laughed at me and said he’d made some very bad bets on the horse races this past month, so that wasn’t an option.”

  Nate nodded. “That fits with what Tom found out this morning. Eagan did indeed find that funds were missing from the box that held the property tax funds. In fact, $2000 was missing, not the $1000 Alec said Bickers loaned him.”

  Everyone looked at Alec, whose bloodshot eyes and scruffy unshaven demeanor did not inspire confidence, and he shook his head vehemently. “I swear…all he loaned me was the thousand. But that explains why he said I needed to pay him $2000, for his troubles, like it was my fault he decided to rob his uncle.”

  Annie looked at Nate and said, “Well, this explains why Bickers put so much pressure on Alec. He probably thought when he took the money he’d be able to replace it in plenty of time and still have money to spare from the kick-backs from Driver and the stock swindle scheme—if he pulled it on more men than Alec. Was Eagan willing to believe that it was his nephew, not Alec, who was responsible for the theft?”

  “Not at first. But Tom convinced him to talk to Chief Haskell, who showed him the report he’d gotten on Garret Driver and Bickers from Denver. He also told Eagan that one of his constables had a quiet word with the clerk at Gladstone Hotel. It appears Bickers is three weeks in arrears paying his bill, which fits in with what he told Alec about needing money. But Eagan’s really in a bad spot. He can blame his own flesh and blood (and upset his recently widowed sister who adores her son), blame Alec, who is the son of one of the more prominent men in town, or sweep the whole thing under the rug and replace the money himself.”

  Alec sat up straighter. “Would Eagan do that? I mean…cover the loss himself and keep the information from becoming known?”

  “Quite possibly,” Nate said, “since it wouldn’t be good for the reputation of the bank for it to get out that one of his cashiers couldn’t be trusted. Problem is, Chief Haskell wants to use these missing bank funds as leverage against Bickers. His primary goal is to rid San Jose of this new influx of crooked gamblers and stop the crime wave they have sparked. He sees accusing Bickers of embezzlement as the best way to pressure him to turn on Driver and testify against him.”

  “But won’t Bickers just blame Alec if he’s confronted?” Annie asked. “And then wouldn’t Eagan have to back his nephew? I mean…with the forged ledger, and the stock certificates, and Alec’s gambling losses…”

  Nate nodded gravely. “In all honesty, if the news of the embezzlement becomes public and there is no concrete evidence against Geoffrey Bickers, it would be hard for Haskell to avoid charging Alec.”

  Annie heard a gasp from Violet, who’d been sitting quietly rocking her son during this conversation. Nate’s mother got up and went over to take little Frankie, now fast asleep on his mother’s shoulder, whispering that she would put him down for his nap. She also gave Violet a soft kiss on the top of her head, telling her not to worry…that all would be well.

  Annie, hoping to reassure Violet, said, “Nate, isn’t there some way you can talk Eagan into not cooperating with Haskell on this? I mean, if he replaces the funds and doesn’t report it as a crime, can the authorities really do anything?”

  “I am afraid that when Eagan saw how serious Haskell was about pushing forward, he started to wa
ver…say he had his doubts about it being his nephew who was at fault. But Tom came up with a strategy that might solve all our problems.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “He got the idea from the story I told him the other night about how you trapped the San Francisco poison pen writer. He suggested that Alec go to the meeting with Bickers tonight and say his father withdrew the funds for him. Luckily, his father banks with a different bank––so Bickers won’t know if that is true or not. By the way, Alec, Eagan said when he went to the bank this morning, his nephew told him you hadn’t shown up and that he didn’t know why.”

  Alec muttered a curse under his breath. “Geoffrey said he’d cover for me today while I gathered the funds. Just one more lie. I can’t believe I didn’t see through him.”

  “In any event,” Nate continued, “in Tom’s plan, you will insist on checking to see that the box in the vault holding the tax funds is empty before you hand over the money. Once in the vault room, you are to try to get him to admit his role in the stock scam and that he’s been a shill for the Golden Belle. Haskell and Eagan will have slipped into the storeroom next to the vault so they can hear the two of you talking. Once they hear enough incriminating statements from Bickers, they will rush in and try to scare him into agreeing to cooperate with them––in return for not pursuing the case of embezzlement.”

  Annie could think of so many ways this plan could go wrong…despite the success she’d had with a similar tactic.

  But before she could voice any of her concerns, Nate looked sternly at Alec and said, “All this would depend on whether or not you can pull yourself together in the next few hours. Bickers has to believe you have the money but that you won’t hand it over without seeing inside the vault, and you have to figure out a way to get him to brag about how the whole scheme worked. But it’s a gamble. If he doesn’t say anything incriminating…or doesn’t roll over on Driver…you could be left holding the bag. Are you willing to risk it?”