Page 37 of The Pursuit of Elena Bradford

37

Andrew came out of a stand of trees into an open area. The grass hadn’t been clipped here. Daisies spotted the field. He stopped and stared at the flowers.

He should go back. She wouldn’t have gone this far. Not by herself. But what if she wasn’t by herself? What if someone was forcing her along? The mashed-down grass back where he found the sketchbook might be due to a struggle and not the lovers’ embrace he had imagined.

“Please, Lord, show me which way to go. Help me find her.” He whispered the words as he took a few steps out into the field. He stopped. It was useless to keep wandering without direction.

He stared down at a thick patch of flowers. Daisies. Just as he started to turn back, he noticed a broken stem and then several more that seemed bent. Some of the grass seemed disturbed too. A cow or a horse could have nibbled at the daisies. Or a woman’s long skirt and petticoats could have brushed against them.

Stem by stem he followed a faint path across the field, but then the daisies were replaced by blackberry briars and weeds. All at once, a gray cat streaked out from under a blackberry bush to run in front of him. Not any cat. The cat. The one with eyes the same blue as Vanessa’s.

The cat pounced on a grasshopper. That was what might have broken the daisies. Not Elena at all.

“Harper.”

Andrew looked back the way he’d come. Frazier was at the edge of the trees. Alone. But he might have found her and come to tell him.

“Did you find her?” Andrew yelled back.

“No. You find something?”

“I don’t know. Maybe.”

Andrew was almost sorry when Frazier ran across the field toward him. He wouldn’t understand about the cat. Andrew didn’t understand about the cat, but he couldn’t shake the feeling it was there in front of him for a reason.

When he knelt down, the cat left the grasshopper to push its head into Andrew’s hand. When Frazier came up behind Andrew, the cat skittered a few feet away before it stopped to stare at them.

With his hands propped on his knees, Frazier leaned over to catch his breath before he said, “A cat? That’s what you found.”

“Not only a cat.” Andrew explained about the trail through the daisies.

“Could have been anything walking through here.” Frazier straightened up and looked around. The cat slinked back toward them to rub against the man’s legs. He gave it a push away with his foot. “Never much liked cats. Always under your feet trying to trip you.”

When the cat came back over to Andrew, he stroked it head to tail before he stood up. “This isn’t just any cat. It came out of nowhere to find Elena in the garden yesterday morning.”

“Are you saying it’s Elena’s cat?”

“No, but it hopped right into her lap. Elena thought the cat’s eyes looked like Vanessa’s.”

“The mystery girl. The dead mystery girl.” Frazier frowned. “Now you’re sounding a little weird.”

“It does have blue eyes.”

“A cat is not going to lead us to Elena. Cats are useless except to catch mice, Harper.”

Andrew picked up the cat that settled contentedly in his arms and started purring at once. “I don’t know. It found Elena yesterday. Maybe it can find her again.”

“Out here in the middle of who knows where? This cat is hunting for something to eat.”

The cat twisted in Andrew’s arms and jumped to the ground to streak away.

Andrew sighed. “You’re probably right, but at least it’s a possibility. You can go back, but I’m going to go at least to the top of that little rise.” Andrew pointed across the field.

“The cat didn’t go that way.”

“Cats don’t always go in straight lines.” Andrew shrugged and started walking. He didn’t care whether Frazier followed him or not. “Do whatever you want. I just have a feeling.”

“A cat and a feeling.” Frazier trailed along behind Andrew. “I guess that’s more than I’ve got.”

At the top of the rise, the cat was nowhere in sight. The grass didn’t show any sign that anyone had been this way. All Andrew could see was more field with a small building down the way. Nothing to make him think his feeling was leading him toward Elena.

Andrew was glad when Frazier didn’t say anything as they stood there looking at nothing. All at once Andrew had the crazy impulse to shout Elena’s name. It was foolish, but then hadn’t he already foolishly followed a cat? A cat that had disappeared.

“Elena!” he shouted.

Frazier surprised him by saying, “It’ll be louder if we shout together.”

“Elena!”

The name seemed to hang in the air.

The cat came out of the shadows from the back of the shed again. Elena was glad it wasn’t carrying another mouse.

“Back again, Princess?” She squatted down to stroke the cat. “I wish you’d bring help. Something besides a mouse.”

The cat pushed its head against Elena’s hand and purred louder.

Elena jerked her head up. She thought she heard her name. She must have been imagining things. She stood and went to peer out one of the cracks. Nothing, the same as every time she’d looked. But then, she heard it again. Her name. Not close but somewhere.

“Help.” That wasn’t loud enough. She yelled the word again. Still not loud enough. She stood up straight, clenched her fists and screamed. Not a word. Just a desperate screech.

The cat yowled and ran for its hole out of the shed. Elena screamed again.

Kirby put his hand on Harper’s shoulder. The man looked ready to fall apart. He really did love Elena. But so did he. They might be rivals for her affection, but they were united in wanting to find her. Perhaps Dr. Graham was right and Elena was fine.

That didn’t explain why she dropped the sketchbook and left it. Not something an artist would do, but there could be a reason. She could have run from a snake or spider. In her fright, she might have strayed off the path and taken the wrong direction. But she wouldn’t have ended up way out here. She might be at the hotel by now while the two of them were wandering around on a fool’s errand. Following a cat.

Without speaking, they turned back toward the Springs. Suddenly Harper threw up his head and stopped. “Did you hear something?”

“I didn’t—” Kirby started but Harper stopped him.

“Listen.”

“What?”

Harper held up his hand for silence. A scream split the air. They both turned and ran toward the sound as another scream sounded. From the shed.

The cat raced across the field away from the shed. Kirby was going to have to change his opinion of cats.

“Elena,” Harper yelled.

They could be wrong. It might be some kind of bird. A guinea hen could scream like that, but it sounded like a woman. He got to the shed a step before Harper and lifted the bar holding the door. There was Elena, her face dirty, her hair down and in disarray, something like he had painted it in her portrait.

She walked out the door straight to Harper, who held his arms out toward her. “Elena.” The man breathed her name like it was a prayer. An answered prayer.

For a long moment, she stayed in Harper’s arms as if there was no place she’d rather be. But then she pushed away from him and reached a hand toward Kirby. A hand. Not her arms.

“Kirby. Andrew. How did you find me?”

Kirby looked at her. He didn’t try to pull her into an embrace. “I think it was a cat.” He squeezed her hand slightly. “And love.”

She turned toward Harper. “You saw Princess?”

“Cinderella.”

Kirby had no idea what they were talking about, but she had plainly chosen Harper over him, as hard as that was to believe.

“What about Gloria?” she said.

“She’s not important.” Harper reached to stroke Elena’s face. “Are you hurt?”

“I don’t think so. Not badly. A few bruises, but I am so thirsty.”

“What happened? Who put you here?” Kirby asked.

She looked back at him. “I heard two men arguing. About what happened to Vanessa and about Ivy. I tried to sneak away, but I fell over the cat.”

“The cat,” Kirby echoed.

“It didn’t mean to trip me, but then the man in the hat told the other man—one of the servants, I think—to get rid of me. He gave him money. The man said he wasn’t a killer. That he hadn’t poisoned Vanessa. He just put something in the drink to make her sick. He locked me in here to give him time to get away. He said someone would find me.” Her face crumpled. “But I didn’t think anyone would. I thought I’d die here.”

“Shh.” Harper smoothed some of her tears away with his fingers as a few tears wet his face as well.

Kirby gave Elena his handkerchief. Harper was going to need his himself.

“Thank you.” She turned from Harper toward Kirby. “Thank you both.”

When he reached toward her then, she let him embrace her. He didn’t look at Harper as he held her close for a moment before he gently kissed her forehead and let her go. Back to Harper. His heart felt heavy, but it was for the best. He could travel better alone. The west would heal his heartache.