The Detective's Dilemma (16 page)

“We shall find an answer that will work. I imagine that the threat of a scandal would keep Mr. Winthrop in check,” she said and grinned. “It hasn’t bothered me but he’d hate it.”

Walker rose to his feet, ready to point out that if Winthrop entered the news, she would be in the public eye, and that the taint of scandal would hurt her son more if she remained unmarried. He didn’t get the words out because Gordon bustled in the front door, cackling gleefully. He flapped a newspaper—no, several papers—and Walker froze.

“You’re both famous. Didn’t you hear the newsboys?” Gordon didn’t wait for an answer. “Breaking news, so of course I had to buy three copies.” He handed over one copy of the paper to Julianna and one to Walker. “Do you see the headlines? Apparently you’re not the only one with friends writing at the
Tribune
and
Examiner
, Walker.”

Walker ran a finger down the page, and his name appeared in the first paragraph. He didn’t much mind for himself—after all, his reputation wasn’t the best in a few circles—but he winced when he heard Julianna give a yelp as if she’d been slapped. She shook the paper. “Love nest? They say I lived in an immoral love nest with Brennan. Oh no. This claim, that I left Mr. and Mrs. Winthrop no choice but to send for the police. Good heavens.” She breathed heavily as she read. “Oh…no. They seem to imply that you were my lover as well, Mr. Walker. How horrible.”

He’d also just gotten to that bit. It was the only part of the article he liked, although really, the papers made his argument for him. “I thought scandal didn’t bother you.”

She shot him a glare but didn’t speak. Good. If she was mad at him, she’d lose that frightened, pale expression.

“Do you need water, Mrs. Winthrop?” Gordon asked Julianna, more polite than usual. “Should I find that maid? I think she went upstairs with your mother-in-law.”

“No, no.” She read in silence, then folded up the paper and thrust it back at him. “Thank goodness my mother-in-law is here with us and on my side.”

Walker considered the matter. “As long as we keep her away from her brute of a husband, she’ll be fine. I expect she’d fold as soon as he gave her arm a shake or even glared at her.”

“Oh?”

“Decades of habit versus a few nearly inarticulate confessions? I suspect the former holds more power over the poor lady.” Walker folded the paper and stuffed it into his pocket. “The story seems to be that I was jealous of Brennan and possibly murdered you and am holding your son for ransom, demanding cash from the Winthrops. I wonder who concocted this nonsense?”

“You sound so calm.”

“Well. The murder charges against me will vanish the moment you show your face in public. I promise, I’ll do whatever I can to lend you respectability. Anything, I assure you.” He gave her what he hoped was a sincere grin, not mocking. If she thought about it, she’d understand he was her best bet if she decided to make an idiotic marriage. He prayed she’d think about it.

Julianna understood the twisted smile and raised brows. The charges made about her might not be criminal, but couldn’t be resolved as easily as the ones against him. Rumors about her reputation were impossible to clear. And they were too accurate. She touched her mouth, recalling the way she’d gone after him in Mrs. Calder’s apartment. Shameless, shameless female, such a dismal realization.

She hadn’t been as full of greedy desire as that for years and had forgotten the power of her own body’s needs. And his response, so immediate and powerful, had seemed far stronger than any she’d imagined. He’d pulled her close enough she’d felt the fascinating shape and heat of him, smelled him, and was a lost woman. She would have sworn she didn’t miss that part of marriage, but she’d have been lying to herself. She’d been seized by a bolt of desire so strong, it still vibrated through her, echoing to her bones.

If they married, she’d be able to take him into her bed every night.

Her other, less lustful self, pointed out that if she married him, she’d have someone else trying to tell her how to live and how to raise her child.

A corrupt, dissolute policeman…with a beckoning smile and appealing body.

Those thoughts flashed through her mind in the instant before she spoke. “Marriage is too important to embark upon merely to save face. I promised myself I would never again marry to protect my name or any other.”

“Did you promise that to yourself before or after you had a child?” asked the horrible man who didn’t know how to fight fair. “Protecting Peter’s welfare seems to be your main goal in life.”

Fine, that settled the matter—she certainly didn’t want to marry a man who hit below the belt.

“You don’t need to worry about my influence on my son.”

“Not your influence. Gossip—” he began.

She interrupted, “You don’t even know Peter. He’s a strong, happy boy, and once he’s old enough to understand, he won’t believe the lies told about me.”

She waited for his next words, probably something about
once he’s older your son’s friends will bully him because of your tarnished reputation
. Another home truth she didn’t want to hear.

Instead, Caleb touched her shoulder. “I’m sorry. You’re having a day from Hades.”

Not all of it was bad
, that internal voice pointed out and provided her with a picture of his torso.

A lovely interlude
, the voice reminded her.

He said, “And you don’t need any more guff from anyone.”

She clenched her fist rather than let any sympathy fill her eyes with tears. They’d had more than enough waterworks from the other Mrs. Winthrop. She did allow herself a deep sigh. “I think the best answer is to move to a small town at least one hundred miles from Manhattan.”

“Assuming we can at least stop him from seeking you out, wouldn’t you miss the city?”

She shrugged. “I have always loved New York, but for most of my life, I had money and a fine home.”

“You should be wealthy again,” Caleb said. “Your father-in-law or his money will support you after this. Or I will, as your husband.”

She forced herself to ignore that last comment. “I don’t want anything to do with him or his money.”

“Your late husband’s inheritance ought to go to your son,” he argued.

“There wasn’t really any money left. Never mind. At the moment, it’s hardly worth discussing. I must find a way to get Mr. Winthrop to leave me alone.” She twisted her wedding ring, which she still wore. “I hate how a widow must face this sort of suspicion when a widower would only find sympathy.”

She glared at Mr. Walker. No doubt he’d make a comment about Brennan’s presence in her home, but he only nodded. “It isn’t fair.”

Someone banged on the door.

Mr. Gordon, who’d been shamelessly eavesdropping, tipped her a wink and walked toward the front.

“Go hide,” Julianna squeaked at Walker. “Go, go! Upstairs. You mustn’t be discovered.”

“You come too.”

“Why?”

Mrs. Winthrop had returned from Mr. Gordon’s apartment and now lingered nearby. Caleb leaned close and whispered in Julianna’s ear, “I don’t trust my employers, and I especially don’t trust Winthrop. He has to be the one who brought up the idea that you’d been murdered. From what I read in your husband’s journal and what you’ve told me, Mr. Winthrop might be so bold as to kill you to stop you and get his grandson permanently.”

Caleb’s whispering breath felt warm against her skin—but not so warm his words didn’t send a chill through her. Julianna felt her stomach lurch as she recalled the violence she’d seen and heard from Mr. Winthrop in the past—the day he’d threatened Brennan and his own son, the day she became betrothed. Add the story Mrs. Winthrop had told, that killing his own brother hadn’t bothered the man who apparently had ice for blood.

The pounding came again. Sawyer raised his eyebrows and strolled to the back of the store and the small room that held the scientific tomes. Caleb grabbed her hand and pulled her into the storage room behind the bookstore. At least he hadn’t dragged her upstairs where she’d be unable to hear anything.

Her breath stopped when she heard a familiar voice. “Good afternoon, I’m Mr. Springfield.” Yes, it was still afternoon. Hard to believe since this day would not end. “Please tell Mrs. Winthrop I am here.”

Chapter Nine

In the store room, Julianna leaned against the wall next to the door. “Springfield is Mr. Winthrop’s assistant,” she whispered to Caleb.

In the dim light, she had trouble seeing his face but she fancied he wore a scowl. “He must be the ‘S’ in your husband’s journal. Not a good man.”

“No, indeed, he’s terrible. I wish we’d thought to tell Mrs. Winthrop and Harriet to hide as well.”

“Mrs. Winthrop shouldn’t be a target,” he whispered, but that was hardly reassuring. Julianna shouldn’t be a target either, but apparently she had a bull’s-eye on her.

Mr. Gordon’s voice reached them. He sounded grouchy as always. “What makes you think there’s a Mrs. Winthrop here?”

Springfield must have walked farther into the store, because his voice seemed close. “Because she told a maid in her service that if she didn’t return within two hours, she was arranging to meet someone here, and she was afraid the meeting wouldn’t go well. That was a direct quote, said the maid, anyway, from Mrs. Winthrop’s own lips. Allow me to ask you again. Where is Mrs. Winthrop? Her husband is quite worried about her.”

I just bet he is
, Julianna thought, and half smiled at the way her thought echoed Caleb’s casual way of speaking.

“I am here.” Mrs. Winthrop’s voice just outside the door, startled Julianna.

“Ma’am. I’m so relieved you’re safe.” His voice sounded heavy, probably something like disappointment. Did he hope Mrs. Winthrop would end up dead? Didn’t he know anyone could hear his dismay? “Let’s go, then,” he said.

“Oh. No, ah, no. I can’t accompany you,” she squeaked.

“Of course you can. You’re not actually shopping for books, are you?”

“I’m—I’m staying here to meet with my daughter-in-law. To, ah, celebrate.”

Julianna sank onto the floor. What was her mother-in-law thinking? Caleb lowered himself to sit next to her. In the dark, he gave her shoulder a reassuring pat. Or maybe it was a warning touch. Stay quiet.

“I beg your pardon?” Springfield’s voice lost some of its icy calm. “Is this the meeting you arranged? Without Mr. Winthrop’s knowledge? You do know she is being sought by the police for kidnapping your grandchild?”

Or being sought as a murder victim, she thought. So many stories in such a short time.

Mrs. Winthrop gave a weak laugh. “Fiddle. She is hardly a criminal.”

“Her son might be safe, but she is not the sort of person you’d want your own grandchild to be near. Let’s not forget the woman has been living in sin with her parents’ old servant.”

Peter was safe? That didn’t sound good coming from him. She wished Mrs. Winthrop would ask about that, but she was only murmuring something about, “Oh no. Not at all. No sin at all.”

Mother Winthrop, do try to sound more convincing
, Julianna silently pleaded.

“You’re meeting her here. I guess we can wait a bit. Say, what do you mean you’re going to celebrate? Celebrate what, exactly?”

There was a long silence, then Mrs. Winthrop said, with unconvincing jolly manner, “She’s, ah, married again. Didn’t my husband tell you? Oh, perhaps he didn’t hear? She’s married. Yes, oh, yes. It was all a silly mix-up. The story my husband told me that she was being held prisoner by that detective was all wrong. Or I mean he’d put her in a-a different sort of prison.” She laughed nervously.

The hand on Julianna’s shoulder tightened.

“What are you talking about?”

“Oh dear. I’m so muddled. I’m not making sense. We heard that strange report about how she’d been hurt by Mr. Walker. He’s the man with the police department when, ah, she, ah, actually married him.”

Oh good God
. Julianna covered her face with her hands. The hand on her shoulder shook. Obviously the man hadn’t burst into silent tears—he was laughing.

It had been a silly joke on Mr. Sawyer’s part, and now her mother-in-law had grabbed on.

Springfield spoke in a sneering voice. “And where and when did they get married?”

“Recently? I wasn’t on good terms with them when the marriage took place. I don’t know. I doubt it was a big wedding.” She had obviously sorted her thoughts and warmed up to the lie. She sounded as vague and petulant as usual as she continued, “Quite a surprise. Dear Julianna might have told us about the event, don’t you think? After all, it does affect our grandson to have a new papa. Do you suppose… Yes, that must be why John has been so eager to see our grandson. He has been worried. You can assure him that even if the wedding was far too secret for my taste, Mr. Walker is a good provider and a sober gentleman. We know his family, after all.”

She sounded convincing at last. In all the years Julianna had known her mother-in-law, she’d never suspected the woman would be good at lying. But living with that horrible man might bring out the skill in anyone for self-defense.