“Brooding, afraid of heights, and angry with you for being poor. Got it.”
“Frannie Allred lied to you about me. Poisoned you against me.”
“She turned against Oliver and Lillie as soon as Oliver was a suspect.”
“And she lied to Earnest about the note I’d had sent to her house.”
“She tried to misdirect the investigation about Harriet.”
It all came back to Frannie.
Grace looked at him with a growing sense of horror.
“What else has she lied about?” she whispered.
“There’s only one way to find out,” Theo said.
He rapped on the top of the carriage.
“Change of plans, Bert,” he ordered.
The carriage turned back toward the fair.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
“IHAVE AN IDEA,” Grace said. “But we’ll need to make a stop first.”
She directed him to the location she had in mind and hopped out. Made a transaction. Safely hid it within her purse.
Then they were on their way again.
They disembarked at the Lindell turnstiles, and Theodore hired a gondola to take them the rest of the way through the fairgrounds. The teal and gold dome of Festival Hall loomed over them when they came to a stop in front of the Palace of Electricity.
There was a line forming in front of a security detail at a private entrance for the dinner.
“No safer place to confront a murderer,” Theo murmured as he helped her out of the boat. “There will be so much security there tonight.”
“That is, if I can get past it,” Grace whispered.
“We’ll invent an alias for you,” he said, drawing out his invitation. He whispered into her ear, “Think of something outlandish.”
She scoffed. “As if I would miss this opportunity.”
“Theodore Parker,” he said to the guard, flashing his invitation. “And this is my guest…” He turned to Grace.
“Mitzi Ramsbottom,” she said primly.
Theodore’s eyes widened. He choked on a cough, and she waltzed in front of him with a straight face.
They stepped inside and were thoroughly frisked for weapons. She held her breath, waiting for the guard to find the purchase she had justmade, which would lead to some uncomfortable questions, but ultimately it remained hidden in her makeup compact and he let her through.
They were escorted through the palace to the second floor, which had been transformed. Grace had been to many fancy balls at the fair, but this one surpassed them all. There were fountains where the water had been almost entirely replaced with flowers. Sharply dressed waiters with trays of appetizers that looked like crystallized candy. Candelabras studded with orchids and draped with crystals. Fizzing drinks in elegant, impossibly long-stemmed glasses. Butter that had been pressed into delicate molds to resemble swans. There were ambassadors and diplomats mingling amid famous families swathed in jewels and silks from New York, Chicago, Philadelphia. She spotted the Chinese prince Pu Lun, Thomas Edison, the vaudeville performer Will Rogers, and the Chiricahua Apache Chief Geronimo, who was both a guest and a prisoner of war, and therefore accompanied by his own guards.
“Grace!” Lillie said, parting the crowd. “You’re here!”
“I’m afraid you’re mistaken,” Grace said in a low voice, glancing over her shoulder. “It’s Mitzi tonight.”
“Well, Mitzi, it’s a pleasure to meet you. I brought the letter from Walt. Maybe you can give it to Grace when you see her,” Lillie said.
