With one last glance down the road to ensure he wasn’t on his way now, Charlotte nodded. “Let’s move quickly,” she said.
“Oh,thank you.” Ruby clasped her hand as if it were a rock in a stormy sea. “I promise it won’t take too long, but you must see it in order to understand.”
Charlotte tried to make sense of Ruby’s words as they walked and her friend seemed to withdraw into herself again. And she suppressed the feelings of doubt that rose the closer they got to the edge of town.
Despite her friend’s mysteriously shoddy appearance and the rumors that she and Mark had discovered, Charlotte had no reason to doubt this woman she’d known for years.
Or so she hoped.
Chapter Fifteen
THE WIND NEARLY WHIPPEDMark’s hat from his head as he approached the boarding house. Going to the church had been fruitless. No one was there, and by the time Sheriff Young suggested the note had been a hoax, they’d wasted nearly three hours.
All Mark wanted now was to see Charlotte, find a hot beverage and something to eat, and fall into bed—in that order.
Lamplight still shone from the windows in the boarding house. It was most certainly too late for visitors—again—but Mark knocked anyway. One of the young women Mark recognized as a guest answered the door. At least it wasn’t the proprietor this time. He wasn’t certain she’d let him get by her twice.
The girl at the door tilted her head as Mark said hello. “I believe Charlotte has gone upstairs for the night,” she said.
“Would you mind asking her to come down? I know she’ll want to see me.”
The lady paused, then nodded and opened the door to allow him inside. “Don’t tell Mrs. Barr,” she said with a little giggle.
He stood outside the parlor after peering inside and being met with the gazes of at least seven unmarried young women, all of them at least somewhat curious about his presence.
The woman he’d spoken with returned a few minutes later. “I’m sorry, she isn’t answering. She must be asleep.”
Mark pulled out his pocket watch. “It’s not even nine o’clock.”
The woman shrugged. “I couldn’t rouse her through the door.”
“Is it locked?” he asked.
“Her door?” When he nodded, she added, “I’m not certain.”
“I apologize for being so persistent, but it’s urgent. Would you mind trying?”
