Page 40 of A Lesson in Propriety (Merriweather Academy for Young Ladies #1)
Forty
It was difficult to resist the inclination to give Fenna a bit of a shake, but after realizing it would hardly be appropriate to shake a woman who had her hands tied behind her back, Drusilla settled for quirking a brow Fenna’s way instead.
“You want me to pay you for information that might lead to Ottilie’s whereabouts—a woman you’ve told me numerous times was one of your dearest friends, even though Norbert seems to think otherwise?”
“Ottilie was a dear friend of mine. If she wasn’t, why would she have shown me that miniature of you, or told me about Annaliese and plume hunters, or also told me that her sister-in-law’s name is Irma?”
“I would imagine she told you information about my family while the two of you traveled to Egypt together, as well as showed you a miniature of us during that time, but ...” Drusilla narrowed her eyes. “I have a feeling it’s far more likely that after you and Sneaky Pete got rid of the staff at the castle, and then you continued haunting the place, probably at the direction of Loughlin MacSherry, you made a point of looking through Aunt Ottilie’s personal effects. If I’m right, you would have undoubtedly run across some of the letters I, along with Annaliese, sent to our aunt over the years, as she was notorious for saving our every scribble.”
Norbert made a bit of a process out of clearing his throat, drawing everyone’s attention. “Fenna wouldn’t have had to look hard for your miniatures as Miss Ottilie never took her charm bracelets with her. They were what she considered special treasures, so she kept them in a jewelry box that’s probably still on her dresser.” He settled a scowl on Fenna. “And while it doesn’t surprise me to learn that you’ve been riffling through Miss Ottilie’s belongings for months, and don’t think I haven’t figured out that it was you leaving all those messages on the mirrors because you had access to Miss Ottilie’s handwriting and could have easily copied her distinctive S , what I haven’t figured out is how you’ve been able to access the castle.”
“There’s no secret to how we got into the castle,” Sneaky Pete said. “We just used the tunnel.”
Fenna immediately leveled a glare on Pete. “There is absolutely no reason for you to admit anything we might have done, especially when doing that is the same as handing the Pinkertons a confession of guilt on our part.”
Sneaky Pete glared right back at Fenna. “I’m not admitting anything that’s considered a crime except that we had access to the castle because of the tunnel, which Norbert undoubtedly knows about. Besides that, it might benefit us to cooperate because you know the Pinkertons are going to find out about the tunnel anyway since we showed Sanford how to access it so he could get to his boat without scaling down the cliffside. He’ll most likely tell them all about how we got away from the castle once the Pinkertons start questioning him.”
“Except that Sanford’s clearly taken leave of most of his senses so the Pinkertons probably wouldn’t have put much stock in anything he’d tell them,” Fenna snapped.
As Sneaky Pete took to looking like he might not have considered that, Norbert took a step closer to him. “While it’s true I know about the tunnel, I’m not sure how you could have used it when Captain Harvey had the entrance sealed off right after he decided to retire.”
“Just because the entrance was sealed off doesn’t mean the person who was sent to do that sealing did a credible job,” Sneaky Pete muttered.
“You were the one responsible for carrying out Captain Harvey’s order?” Norbert demanded.
“Sure was, and I decided to make sure it wasn’t sealed off properly because I thought the new owner might appreciate my foresight in keeping the tunnel accessible, and would, of course, reward me for that foresight.” He shook his head. “That almost worked to my advantage after Loughlin MacSherry approached me, telling me to let him know when the captain was going to sell because he knew all about Captain Harvey being a smuggler. MacSherry also knew the castle was perfect for clandestine activities and wanted to be the first in line to buy it.”
“If that’s true, why isn’t he the owner of the castle now?” Drusilla asked.
“He was out of town when the captain decided to sell.” Sneaky Pete shook his head. “That was a bone of contention with MacSherry for certain, and believe you me, he was really upset that I hadn’t been aware of what the captain was planning in advance.
“MacSherry eventually stopped holding me responsible and decided he’d just bide his time and wait for another opportunity to gain ownership of the castle. He thought that time had come after Ottilie didn’t return on schedule, which is when he reached out to me again, telling me he’d pay me a handsome fee if I could provide him with a list of Ottilie’s heirs before that became public knowledge.”
Pete inclined his head in Fenna’s direction. “Since Fenna had been Ottilie’s assistant, I got MacSherry’s permission to bring her into the job as well. But it didn’t turn into the easy money we thought it would because Mr. Baumgartner wouldn’t tell her who Ottilie’s heirs were. He then left town, and Norbert wouldn’t let her back into the castle. That’s when we decided our only hope was to continue making it appear as if the castle was haunted, something that would allow me and Fenna to snoop around at our leisure.” He shrugged. “It wasn’t difficult to unseal the entrance to the tunnel, and Fenna and I have been using it ever since.”
Fenna released a hiss. “Be quiet, you fool. There’s no need to keep telling them things they haven’t asked to be told.”
Sneaky Pete hissed right back at her. “It’s called leverage. I’m sure the Pinkertons would rather take a man like Loughlin MacSherry into custody over the two of us, as we’re only guilty of breaking into a castle, scaring a few people, and looking through some papers, as well as trying to find a copy of a treasure map. None of which are exactly crimes we’d spend much time for in jail.”
“Why were you interested in finding a copy of that map?” Drusilla asked.
Fenna shot a look of clear warning to Pete before smiling Drusilla’s way a second later. “We weren’t actually looking for the map. I’m sure Pete simply meant to say we were trying to find more of Ottilie’s journals.”
“Sure enough that’s what I meant to say,” Pete said with a bob of his head. “And just so everyone knows, it wasn’t a crime for my sister to help herself to Ottilie’s journals since Ottilie had already given her a few of them to use for research.”
Fenna settled another glare on Pete. “We weren’t going to let anyone know we’re brother and sister.”
“It’s not a crime for us to be related,” Pete shot back. “Nor was it much of a crime for us to continue to haunt the castle in the hopes that, when Ottilie was declared dead, whoever her heirs were would hear about the hauntings and not hesitate to take Loughlin MacSherry’s money and head directly out of town. Questionable behavior like that is known as criminal mischief, and given all the concerning crimes that happen in Chicago these days, criminal mischief doesn’t get a person more than a slap on the wrist.”
“Unless that criminal mischief might lead to a felony offense if something you and your sister did led to the death of my aunt,” Drusilla said as she narrowed her eyes on Fenna. “I’m now wondering why you and your brother seemed so certain Ottilie was dead, which might have been exactly why you started asking Mr. Baumgartner questions and perhaps also had you searching for a copy of that treasure map. If I’m guessing correctly, you might have wanted to start looking for that treasure on your own—especially if you had reason to believe Ottilie was no longer capable of looking for it herself.”
“That’s ridiculous,” Fenna snapped. “Ottilie was always running off chasing treasure, but she never found anything.”
“But I doubt she’d ever been sent treasure maps that had been the property of a pirate before, something you mentioned while you and I were speaking at the church.”
Drusilla turned her attention to Agent Pearson. “Do you think there might be enough circumstantial evidence to take Fenna and Sneaky Pete in to question them further about their part in my aunt’s disappearance?”
Agent Pearson inclined his head. “Given that they’ve admitted they were working for this Loughlin MacSherry, it’s not a stretch to think he would have asked them to make arrangements to have your aunt disappear once she left on her trip. The question of the hour would be exactly how they made that happen.”
“That almost sounds as if you’re accusing Pete and me of Ottilie’s ... murder,” Fenna all but sputtered.
“Since you and your brother obviously had some malicious intent in mind toward Ottilie Merriweather, and she has, unfortunately, disappeared, I can guarantee a judge will agree to have you held for attempted murder until we can get to the bottom of exactly what happened to Ottilie,” Agent Pearson said.
“There is absolutely no reason to hold me or my brother as I have no qualms telling you that, if you want answers, all you need to do is track down Captain Harvey’s men,” Fenna rushed to say, obviously not as reluctant to provide some answers now that she might be facing a murder charge. “If anyone knows what happened to Ottilie, they do because MacSherry paid them a very handsome fee to take care of his Ottilie problem, although ...” She shot a glance to Pete, paired with the barest hint of a nod. “Know that Pete and I don’t know any of the details, nor did we have anything to do with her disappearance.”
Agent Pearson blinked before he cleared his throat. “You can be certain we’ll be tracking Captain Harvey’s crew down, but know this, if Ottilie Merriweather is dead, you and your brother will be considered accomplices in her death and will, of course, be charged accordingly.”