Page 24 of The Pursuit of Elena Bradford

24

Kirby had to tamp down his temper when Dr. Graham ordered him around as though he were a servant. He wanted to tell him to clear his own room, but instead he started ushering people away from the group around the doctor and toward the stairway. What choice did he have? As yet, he hadn’t accomplished what he came to Graham Springs to do.

Now wasn’t the time to think about that. Whatever was happening across the room looked serious.

Elena was there. So was General Dawson. Kirby still couldn’t imagine the old man trying to court Elena, even if he had heard gossip about him looking for a bride.

Kirby didn’t want any gossip like that about him, but he was doing the same. Looking for a bride. A bride like Elena Bradford. She intrigued him. Not that he was falling in love with her. He had no intention of being caught in a net of love.

Elena appeared to be trying to comfort her sister, who had sunk to the floor beside her. Whatever could be wrong? And why was that Andrew Harper hovering around them? From the talk going around, Harper was suffering from melancholy, the result of a broken engagement. Too bad about that. The man needed to pull himself together and stay out of Kirby’s way. He wasn’t about to let anybody rob him of his chance with Elena.

He moved over behind her. “Are you ladies all right?”

Ivy scrambled up off the floor to grab his arms. “Oh, Mr. Frazier. It’s awful. Terrible. Vanessa.” She choked on the name and didn’t seem able to go on.

He saw the body in front of them then. The woman’s upper body was covered, but enough of the silvery pink dress showed below the cloth to let him know it was Vanessa Hasting.

Before Kirby could put his arms around Ivy to comfort her, Elena stood and turned her away from him.

“Take a deep breath, Ivy, and get control of your emotions.” Elena grabbed the girl’s hands.

Ivy sniffed and pulled away from Elena to rub her wet cheeks. “I need a handkerchief.”

That Harper guy had his handkerchief to her before Kirby could reach for his pocket. What was he doing here anyway? Why hadn’t he been cleared out with the others?

“Thank you, Andrew,” Elena said.

Andrew. That didn’t sound good. She not only used his first name, but she did it without hesitation. Hadn’t she still called him Mr. Frazier today when she brought her friend to pose for a portrait? The friend who lay on the floor with her body covered now.

He reached for Elena’s hand, but she didn’t appear to notice. She sat down with her back to him. Harper was there almost at once with another chair for Ivy. He seemed to be one step ahead with whatever was needed.

Elena put an arm around Ivy and didn’t even glance back at Kirby. He supposed that was to be expected in this kind of situation. It had to be a shock to be sitting by a friend’s body, but the same as when the stagecoach horses had run away, she wasn’t falling apart.

It was a shock to all of them. General Dawson looked stunned. Kirby wouldn’t be surprised if the old man fell out of his chair to join the poor girl on the floor. Oddly enough for a man suffering from melancholy, Harper looked composed. Then again, he, the same as Elena, had kept his composure on the stagecoach.

Near an outside door, Dr. Graham talked with one of his men before he came back to where they waited as if they were on trial. Harper was there with a chair for him too.

Dr. Graham frowned at Kirby. “Why are you still here, Frazier? I told everyone to clear the room other than Miss Bradford, Andrew, and the general.” He spared a glance at Ivy. “I can see that young Miss Bradford is in need of her sister’s support.”

“Thank you, Doctor,” Elena said softly as Ivy dabbed her eyes with Harper’s handkerchief.

“Frazier?” The doctor stared at him.

General Dawson spoke up. “You best let him stay, C.C. He was with the deceased as much as any of us, except perhaps Miss Elena.”

“Very well.” The doctor looked down at his hands.

“Have you sent for the sheriff?” General Dawson asked.

“I have, even though I have no reason to think it necessary. The poor girl appears to have perhaps danced too energetically, such as to make her heart give out.”

“Is such a thing possible?” Ivy’s eyes were wide.

“No worry, miss. While possible, it is very, very rare. Miss Hasting must have had a weakness of the heart muscle.” The doctor gave her a comforting look before he turned his gaze to Elena. “Now, tell me, Miss Bradford, what you know about this lady.”

“I just met her today. Ivy”—she nodded toward her sister—“she met Vanessa early this morning after she arrived by coach.”

The doctor’s eyes went back to Ivy. “I see. Who was with her?”

“I didn’t see anyone else. She looked so terribly alone. That’s why I spoke to her. Of course, I would have spoken to her anyway since I was there in the hallway when she came up the steps. I always speak to everyone.”

“The two of you talked?”

“A little.”

“What did she say?”

Ivy looked thoughtful. “She told me her name, and I told her mine. She wanted to know what I was doing, and I said I was watching for my sister to come back from the gardens, where I thought she might have been doing some sketching.”

“Dr. Graham only needs to know about Vanessa, Ivy,” Elena said.

“Yes, sorry.” Ivy looked at Elena, then back at Dr. Graham. “I don’t really know anything else. I went on toward the stairs. She went into the room next to ours. When Elena and I returned to our room, the hallway was empty, but I told Elena about Vanessa and how she’d like to meet her.”

“Which I assume you did, Miss Elena.” The doctor turned his attention to Elena.

“Not then, but later. When I went back out, I knocked on her door to introduce myself.”

“Was anyone in the room with her?”

“I wouldn’t know. She slipped out into the hall without opening the door wide enough to see past her.”

“Didn’t that seem odd to you?” Dr. Graham asked.

“Not really. I assumed she was on the verge of leaving her room when I knocked.”

“I see. And then what did you do?”

“When we started down the stairs together, she asked if I could do her portrait. That morning Ivy had told her I had been out early to do some sketching.” A little blush rose up in Elena’s cheeks as if she was embarrassed by the admission. “I told her I lacked that ability, but since she seemed especially excited about having her portrait done, I took her to see Mr. Frazier.”

She did finally glance back at him.

“And so, Mr. Frazier, you painted her portrait.” Dr. Graham looked at Kirby.

“I did.”

“Did she seem ill? Her hands shaking? Anything at all out of the ordinary?”

“Nothing to make me think she wasn’t well, even though she did have a dizzy moment when she stood up after sitting for the portrait. Nothing too unusual about that after one has been still for so long.” Kirby said. “She was very excited about having her portrait done.”

“Yes.” General Dawson spoke up. “She acted thrilled to be here as though she had never before experienced anything like things here at the Springs. I saw the two ladies, Miss Elena and Miss Vanessa, at the lake with Mr. Frazier, and since he had finished painting her likeness, I invited them to go with me to the dining room. After we ate, I showed them how to lawn bowl until time for dinner and the dance.”

“The dance.” Dr. Graham stared down at his hands spread out on his knees for a moment before he looked up at General Dawson. “You were dancing with her.”

“I was. She had sweetly promised me dances and allowed me to be her first partner when she came to the ballroom.”

“I saw that.” Dr. Graham smiled. “You still have the old charm, Clive.” His smile faded. “And she was well then?”

“She seemed so.”

Dr. Graham looked at Kirby, then Harper. “The two of you danced with her?”

Kirby answered first. “I did. A quadrille.”

“And did she talk about anything while you danced?”

“She had to concentrate on the moves. The dance seemed to be one she wasn’t as familiar with.” Kirby didn’t know what the doctor was trying to prove, but whatever it was, he didn’t want any blame to cast a shadow on him. “She did say she liked the portrait I’d sent to her room.”

“Still there, I guess.” Dr. Graham looked at Harper. “And you, Andrew?”

“I did.” Harper seemed a little uneasy. “But the music had hardly begun when she claimed to not be feeling well, and I escorted her off the dance floor. There she had a fast recovery since a moment later she was dancing with someone else.”

The doctor raised his eyebrows at Harper. “Did you do something to upset her?”

“I might have.” Harper shifted on his feet and sent a quick glance toward Elena. “Miss Bradford told me that the lady’s father was a judge in Louisville. I think the fact that I was acquainted with Judge Hasting made her uncomfortable.”

“Why would that be?” Dr. Graham’s eyes narrowed on Harper.

“Judge Hasting has no daughters.”

“You are sure of that?”

“I am.” Harper sounded very sure.

“Perhaps there are other judges by the same name.” Dr. Graham looked thoughtful.

“That could be, but before I could ask the lady about that possibility, she claimed to feel faint.”

“You say ‘claimed.’ Did you not believe her?”

Harper looked even more bothered. “I don’t want to speak unkindly about the lady.”

The doctor cut into his answer. “It’s past time to worry about that. We need to know more about this woman and why she fell dead on my dance floor.”

“Then I will say I think she pretended to be ill so I wouldn’t ask her more about her father. I don’t think she wanted her subterfuge to be found out.”

“Subterfuge. An interesting choice of words.” The doctor let out a long sigh as he stood up. “Whether you are right or not, Andrew, I will have to contact Judge Hasting. Perhaps you are wrong about him having no daughters. Or she could be some other relation to him and simply claimed him as her father for some unknown reason.” He looked at Elena. “Miss Bradford, is there anything more you can tell us about her? Perhaps whether she showed any sign of illness while you were together today.”

“Like Mr. Frazier said, she did get dizzy when she stood up after sitting for her portrait, but she waved it off as nothing. She hadn’t eaten, and with the excitement and the midday heat and...”

When Elena’s voice trailed away, the doctor nodded. “Such can cause difficulties for ladies.”

“Yes, but she seemed fine while we were lawn bowling this afternoon,” Elena said. “She was bothered by the heat tonight and complained about the warmth of the room while we drank some punch before the music started again.”

“You were all drinking punch?” the doctor asked. When both Elena and Ivy nodded, he went on. “Where did you get the punch?”

“A servant came around with trays of drinks,” Elena said.

“But that’s not where Vanessa got hers.” Ivy spoke up. “A man brought her a drink. I assumed it was her last dancing partner. A couple of the gentlemen have done that for me.”

The doctor’s eyes sharpened on Ivy. “Who was the man?”

Ivy shrank back in her chair. “I didn’t pay that much attention. Everyone was milling around, and then the band announced it was the last dance. We were talking with Vanessa, and General Dawson was coming over. I left to find a partner. I didn’t want to miss the last dance.”

“I see.” Dr. Graham turned toward Elena. “Is that the way you remember it as well, Miss Bradford?”

“Yes, except I didn’t see Vanessa get her drink. After Ivy left, Vanessa drank the rest of her punch. That’s when she complained about the heat. Her face was flushed, and when General Dawson came up to us, he asked if she felt all right.” Elena glanced at the general, who nodded. “But she brushed aside his concerns and took his arm to go out on the dance floor.”

“Did you see where she put the glass when she finished her drink?”

“She gave it to one of the servants.”

When the doctor’s eyes tightened in thought, General Dawson spoke up. “You don’t think someone poisoned her, do you, C.C.?”

“No, no, of course not. We don’t have those sorts of guests here. The poor girl’s heart must have simply given out from too much exertion. A dreadful shame, but such things can happen.” He shook his head sadly.

Kirby suddenly remembered the argument he had heard that morning before he went to the rifle range and the threats Sanderson made about the other man’s daughter. But that could have nothing to do with this woman. She wasn’t even at the Springs until today. He couldn’t see any reason to mention it now. Especially since Sanderson was the doctor’s nephew.

Dr. Graham went on. “I’m sure more answers will surface on the morrow. Until then, please try to get some sleep. We will think of her in heaven and at peace.”

Kirby moved to offer to see Ivy and Elena to their room, but before he could, General Dawson grabbed his arm. “Sorry, Mr. Frazier, but I seem to be a little unsteady on my feet.”

“That’s to be expected.” Dr. Graham looked at Kirby. “Frazier, accompany the general to his room.”

“I had thought to escort the two ladies to theirs,” Kirby said.

“Andrew can do that. You see to the general,” the doctor ordered.

“I would be most grateful for your help, young man.” The general tightened his grip on Kirby’s arm.

In the general’s look at Kirby was the memory of the money he’d stuffed in his pocket earlier. There was also something more. Perhaps an intentional block of his chance to talk to Elena.

“Of course, General. Whatever you need me to do.” Kirby had no other choice.

At least he got a smile from Elena, although a wan one, before she turned to go with Harper.

“Such a tragedy,” General Dawson said.

“It must have been a shock to you when she collapsed as you were dancing.”

“Very much so.” The man didn’t seem all that unsteady on his feet now.

“I am sure. Odd, don’t you think, that she would pretend to be someone she was not?”

“We don’t know that for sure.”

“That Harper fellow seemed sure.”

“That will easily be determined as true or not, but I can’t imagine why she would have come under a false name.”

“She could have been running away from something. A demanding father or husband, perhaps. Do you think they could have tracked her down here to give her a drink of poison?”

“The doctor would know about that if it were so. I’m sure it’s just as he says and that the unfortunate lady had a weak heart. I am sorry to have been her last dance.” The old man was quiet a moment before he went on. “But I suppose we all have a last dance at some time.”

“I’m not ready to dance my last one just yet.”

“I’m sure Miss Vanessa was thinking the same and yet...” The man’s voice faded away.

“She did.” Kirby finished the thought for him.

“None of us are promised tomorrow,” the general said.

Kirby didn’t say anything as the words echoed in his head. His mother had said that after Rosie died. It had been no comfort to Kirby then, and he couldn’t imagine it being a comfort to this woman’s family either. Whoever that family was.

The man went on. “But we all expect to see the sun come up on another day. Even an old codger like me. Tonight we can hope that sunrise in a few hours will bring us a better day.”

Kirby left him in front of his door. As he headed to his own room, he thought again of the cup of punch someone gave the woman before that last dance and then the argument he’d heard that morning. This woman was not that unknown man’s daughter, but then it appeared she wasn’t the daughter of the man she claimed was her father either. Not if Harper knew what he was talking about.

He tightened his fists as he went in his room. The smell of paint and the sight of the canvas of the morning’s shooting contest on his easel helped him focus. Melancholy Andrew Harper was no more of a challenge to him than the old general.

But even if he were, other women were here at the Springs. Kirby didn’t have to capture Elena’s favor. He opened up his blue and green paints and took out a dab of each to mix on his palette. He found a small canvas, only five by five, and with fast strokes had two eyes in a face’s shape. He carefully dotted the mixed blue and green in the eyes.

Still not right. Would he never get everything right?