Katie Rose (29 page)

“I’d be glad to help,” Emily said, delighted.

“I met a man,” the young woman whispered shyly. “And I thought, given your talent, perhaps you could meet him and advise me of his true character. I’ll never forget your scientific deductions on the stagecoach.”

Amelia, who’d been glaring at Emily all the while, snorted loudly. “I suppose your little stunt at the Silverdust was a result of your ‘Science,’ too. Miss Potter, I am going to be blunt, and I’m sure I speak for most of us here. I find you a disreputable person, and I must admit I am dismayed that our little club had admitted you at all.”

Stunned, Emily watched as the good humor that was just beginning to preside evaporated. More than one woman suddenly seemed to remember the rumors about Emily. The frowns of disapproval were beginning to return when Eleanor put her tea aside, then stood up next to Emily like a professor defending her protégé.

“Mrs. Merryway, I can quite understand your interpretation of Miss Potter’s actions, but I assure you that Holmes would have understood completely. Assuming the dress and character of a completely different personage enabled Holmes to obtain information he could never have known otherwise. That is precisely what Miss Potter has done. I must say,
she is a very convincing actress, for no one initially suspected anything out of the ordinary. The stage lost a great performer when you decided to turn to detecting, Miss Emily.”

Silence ensued once more. Emily felt as if she were on trial. Yet it seemed as if the verdict might be favorable. First came one shy smile, then another, until the woman beside her extended her hand in welcome.

“I am Victoria Sands. Perhaps you could come to tea on Tuesday. I am fascinated by your work, and would love to hear more about it. I also adore your bonnet. Do you have many more like it?”

“I, too, would truly like to know you,” another woman added. “I admired your hats today through the window, but I couldn’t summon the courage to come in. And I would love to see the inside of your home. I’ve often thought how beautiful that house would be, if used for other purposes.”

The woman’s implications became clear, then laughter broke out among them all at once.

“Why, Mary, you couldn’t know of any such thing! I am scandalized!”

“Miss Potter, is it truly lurid? And are the rumors of a haunting true?”

“Is it true that Rosie’s portrait hangs there?”

Emily nodded, on surer ground now. “Yes, it is true. The house is beautiful, and it
is
haunted, by a very benevolent ghost.”

“A ghost! How wonderful! You know, I belong to the Spiritualist Society. We’ve attempted seances, but never heard from the other side. My group
would be fascinated, as well as appreciative, if we could visit. And we’ve a lot of hat buyers among us.”

“And I’d like to make an appointment for your counsel,” the young woman from the stagecoach said boldly. “Is Tuesday convenient?”

Amelia Merryway scowled in disapproval, but it was entirely too late now. With Thomas’s help and Eleanor’s support, the women of Denver had decided to embrace her.

It was a wondrous feat indeed.

“You did it? You won over the dragon ladies of Denver! That’s terrific, sweetie!”

“Yes, I really think I did.” Emily grinned as the ghost slowly materialized in the mirror. “Thank God for Eleanor Hamill. She really helped me when it seemed, for a moment there, that they would attack.”

Rosie shuddered. “I can’t remember much of my time on earth anymore, but I remember them. Bunch of old biddies, that’s what they are. Why, they used to cross to the other side of the street when I approached, and wouldn’t give me or my girls the time of day.”

Emily’s smile was sad. “Did they really treat you that way? I can’t imagine anyone knowing you and thinking you any less than the most noble and kind of women.”

Emily’s voice was sincere and Rosie blushed, then wiped at her cheek. “Why, thank you, honey. That’s real sweet of you to say. It means a lot to me, and I know it would have to your pa, too. He cared quite a bit for you, sweetie.”

“I suppose.” Emily frowned thoughtfully. “You know, if he really did have that gold, wouldn’t he have wanted me to find it? There has to be a clue, something I’ve overlooked.…”

“Have you really searched this whole house? Your pa designed it himself from the ground up, and it’s a puzzle all right. There are so many rooms, secret doorways—”

“What?” Emily was completely at attention now.

Rosie nodded. “Yes. There’s one in the hall, so we could hide out if the lawman decided to make arrests. Although he was more often one of our customers—”

Emily let that remark pass, too intrigued by this new possibility to think about it. “Maybe that’s it! If my father knew of my interest in detecting, maybe he thought I could figure it out! And if the gold is nowhere to be found …”

“That would make things a lot easier between you and Thomas, wouldn’t it?” Rosie speculated. “Speaking of the handsome preacher man, he was here earlier.”

Rosie let this bomb drop with all the subtlety of a naval tactician. Emily sat up.

“Thomas? Here?”

“Why, yes! He knocked on the door a good long spell, and when you didn’t answer, he must have
tried the knob. I don’t know if you or Darrel left it open, but I heard him swearing downstairs that you’ve got to be more careful. He seemed right upset. Even said something about taking it out on your hide.”

Emily blushed, but instantly got to her feet. “He must have learned something from Bertie that he wants to tell me. I’ve got to go to him!”

“Honey, how are you going to do that?” Rosie leaned forward, obviously amused. “He’s living at the boardinghouse, isn’t he? You can’t just go traipsing in there. We didn’t even do that.”

Emily laced up her boots, but her fingers slowed as she tied the knots. “I see what you mean. The night I went there with Thomas, the place was dark, but there’s liable to be people about now. Still, I can’t wait until morning.” She sat back on the bed, her keen mind working. Suddenly, a huge smile came to her face. “I have an idea.”

Outside, it was dark and starless, a perfect covering for her covert operation. Emily felt a grin come to her face as she thought of Thomas’s reaction. Would he be pleased, or would he resent her intrusion? And what if someone were with him, perhaps another woman?

That thought stung, but Emily forced it aside. If Thomas was romantically involved with someone else, she thought logically, it was far better to know now than to get in deeper with him. Still, the vision of the townswomen, all trying to get his attention at his “service,” haunted her.

The fire escape looked a bit rickety as she approached, but Emily tested the first step carefully, and finding that it would support her weight, ascended to the second. One by one she climbed, until thankfully she reached Thomas’s window. She peered inside.

He was in the room, and quite alone. Emily would have exhaled in relief if she hadn’t realized in the next instant that he was in a bath, just like the time she’d barged in on him at the barber. Her fantasy of joining him in the tub flashed before her eyes, and she sinfully allowed herself to entertain the thought of doing so. He was so strong, so muscular, so … sexy. His back was to her, but she devoured the sight of his half-naked body surrounded by bubbles, and she could see that his feet stuck out of the small tin tub: A cigar smoked from beneath his teeth, and a glass of whiskey lay on a table at his elbow. He appeared absolutely content with the world, and completely unaware that he was about to have a guest.

Suppressing a giggle, she made her way around the back and slipped into the hallway, making a mental thank-you note to the Lord that the door on this floor had been left ajar. As she approached Thomas’s room, a maid came up the stairs carrying a bucket of hot water.

“Is that for this room?” Emily whispered.

The girl nodded, looking tired.

“I’ll take it,” Emily replied. When the girl’s brow flew upward, Emily hastened to explain. “I’m the reverend’s sister. It’s quite all right.”

The maid was so harried she left the bucket and departed without another word.
Rosie must be rubbing off on me
, Emily realized, for six months ago, she wouldn’t have dreamed of such scandalous—surely—and immoral—no doubt—behavior. She couldn’t wait to see the look on Thomas’s face.

Tiptoeing into the room with the water, she softly closed the door behind her. Thomas lay in the tub, his eyes closed. Without looking up, he gestured to the tub.

“Just pour it in. The water’s getting cold.”

“Certainly,” Emily replied, then dumped the water over his knees.

Thomas’s eyes flew open as he recognized her voice, then howled as the hot water poured over his cooled skin. Emily stepped back, a laugh escaping from her as he half rose from the tub, gasping from the heat. A moment later, when it became bearable, he sank down into the suds again, a wry smile coming to his face.

“Very funny. Miss Potter, I believe you have a tub fascination. You are continually invading my bath. How did you get in here?”

“The fire escape,” Emily said blithely, rewarded with the look of incredulity on his face. “I heard you were at Shangri-La earlier, so I came right away. What happened?”

“The fire escape? You mean you climbed …” He turned toward the window in disbelief, then glanced back at her. “You heard I was at the house? How—”

Emily started to respond when he cut her off.

“No, I don’t want to hear about your ghost again.
But yes, however you found out, I did come by tonight to tell you what happened.”

“Then you found her?”

Thomas reached for his drink, took a long swig, then nodded, extinguishing his cigar. “Yes, Bertie Evans was in Greeley under an assumed name.”

“Thomas, that’s wonderful! And so clever of you!” Emily said, truly impressed. She pulled up a chair, heedless of Thomas’s nudity, then leaned forward with her hands on her knees. “Now I want to hear everything. Did you question her the way I instructed? Does she remember anything helpful? Does she know Emmet Colter is after her, and does she know why?”

Thomas grinned, his white teeth a roguish flash against his grizzled chin. “Patience, my dear. I’ll tell you everything. You do realize, Miss Potter, that it is extremely immoral of you to break into my room like this, and converse with me in my tub? The women of the town would be scandalized.”

“No one has to know,” Emily said practically. “Besides, this was too important. I just couldn’t wait.”

“Well, next time you’ll have to.” Thomas assumed his preacher tone again. “Emily, we’re both working to build up your name in this town. One indiscreet act like this could ruin it all.”

“Oh, Thomas, I can’t be concerned about that now! Stop teasing and tell me.”

Thomas’s eyes rolled in mock disgust, but he related the story of his meeting with Bertie Evans, giving Emily every possible detail he could remember. Her gaze shone with interest as he told her about
Sung He, and she nodded slowly, as if mentally committing the facts to some secret vault.

“Then someone did see the murders! I knew it! Now if we can just find Sung He.…”

“That, unfortunately, is easier said than done. I’ve already tried.”

“What?” Emily’s jaw dropped. “When?” Thomas told her about his previous visit to the encampment at the edge of town, and the secretiveness of its Chinese inhabitants.

“No one would tell me a thing. They are suspicious of strangers to begin with, but it’s little wonder they hide China Blue—they must know the danger she’s in.”

“There has to be a way. I seem to recall Holmes partaking of opium once, to enter one of the Chinese dens in London. Perhaps …”

“Oh, no,” Thomas said sternly. “For a woman of your brains, you sometimes have very little sense. You aren’t going into any opium den, not even in the interest of science. Furthermore, you have to start locking your door and taking some precautions. I was going to talk to you about this tomorrow, but since you decided you were lonely for my company tonight, we may as well talk about it now.”

Emily sighed, then looked at him doubtfully. “I detect a sermon coming on.”

“You are correct. Emily, I believe you should take lodging in town, at least temporarily. I still think the safest place for you is at home in Boston, but if you are too stubborn to listen to common sense, then we’ll have to go for the next best thing.”

“No!” Emily looked at him as if he were an imbecile. “I can’t do that! If Shangri-La is unprotected, someone else could find the gold! Also, if Emmet or one of his crowd is after me, no hotel door will stop them. You know that.”

Thomas gritted his teeth in frustration. “Emily, why can’t you make things easy? I’m trying to protect you!”

“I think you’re trying to get rid of me!” The words came out before Emily could stop them, the pain apparent in her voice. Thomas looked as stunned as if she had slapped him. The hurt that Emily had been suppressing came to the surface, and she blurted out everything.

“Ever since our night together, you keep suggesting that I leave town. Well, if you think just because you had the milk, you no longer need the cow, you are very much mistaken. I appreciate your help, Thomas, but I can manage on my own, if need be, and I’m not going anywhere.”