Twenty-One
Given how his day was unfolding, Harrison couldn’t claim to be surprised by the arrival of Miss Henrietta Huxley and her sister, Mabel, although why Edwina was accompanying those ladies, he couldn’t begin to hazard a guess.
Rising to his feet, he stepped out of the pew, contemplating how best to go about the tricky business of intervening in the argument that was now in full bloom between Miss Henrietta and Mrs. Davenport. Before he could get much further than that, he was distracted by the sight of Agent McParland, who was now also standing, looking somewhat dazed as he stared at Edwina, his mouth slightly agape.
To Harrison’s concern, his sister was looking somewhat dazed as well as she stared back at the Pinkerton detective, but then she smiled and took a step forward.
“I don’t believe I’ve been introduced to your friend, Harrison,” she all but purred, the purring taking Harrison so aback that he felthismouth drop open as he simply stood there at a complete loss for words.
Thankfully, Mrs. Davenport did not seem to be suffering from a loss of words as she discontinued her argument with Miss Henrietta and spun around, her attention immediately settling on Edwina.
“Goodness, Edwina, how delightful to see you, although I’m sure I have no idea how it came to be that you and the ever-troublesome Huxley sisters are at Grace Church at this particular moment in time.”
“Miss Henrietta and Miss Mabel plucked me right off the sidewalk in front of Rutherford & Company as I was leaving that fine store after doing a bit of shopping for our Newport trip.” Edwina shook her head. “They then proceeded to tell me the most outlandish tale, one that centered around the rumor that Gertrude was seen being escorted off to jail.” She scratched her nose. “I have yet to understand all the particulars of that story, but as we were tooling past Grace Church, I spotted Rupert tied to the back of a hansom cab, so on a hunch, we decided to stop and investigate why Harrison was visiting a church our family doesn’t belong to, and ... well, here we are.”
“Who, pray tell, is Rupert?” Mrs. Davenport asked.
“Harrison’s horse,” Edwina returned as she sent a frown Harrison’s way. “I should mention that Rupert was giving the hansom cab driver a difficult time and might have been trying to relieve the man of his arm, although—” she held up her hand when Harrison took a step toward the door—“no need to worry about that now. I gave the driver an apple from my reticule, and that settled Rupert right down.”
“I forgot all about poor Rupert,” Harrison said.
Edwina smiled. “I’m not surprised considering the unlikely events you’ve apparently experienced today. But ... getting back to that introduction I requested...?” She directed her smile to Agent McParland, who immediately returned that smile, one that held entirely too much warmth in it, at least in Harrison’s humble opinion.
“On my word, Edwina,” Mrs. Davenport began, stepping right up to Edwina and taking her by the arm. “This gentleman is not what I had in mind for you when I agreed to sponsor you within society. And he’s not a friend of your brother, but a member of the Pinkerton detectives.”
Edwina’s eyes sparkled. “Oh, I’ve always longed to meet a Pinkerton man.”
“No, you haven’t,” Mrs. Davenport argued. “Pinkerton agents, as everyone knows, are overly suspicious sorts. And they’re notorious for accusing completely innocent ladies of illegal activities, even when those ladies, such as myself and Gertrude, have absolutely no idea how such nasty accusations came to be leveled at our good names.”
Edwina wrinkled her nose. “I’m afraid you have me at a disadvantage, Mrs. Davenport.”
“Agent McParland seems to be unusually keen on seeing me and darling Gertrude arrested for crimes perpetuated at the Manhattan Beach Hotel.”
“I didn’t realize you were paying attention to all that,” Agent McParland said, reaching into his pocket and extracting his notebook. “But since you evidently heard far more than I thought you did, tell me this ... what do you know about the theft of various pieces of jewelry from the Manhattan Beach Hotel, specifically, one tiara worn by a woman who clearly recalls you being overly interested in it before it went missing?”
Mrs. Davenport drew herself up, but before she could voice what was certainly going to be her displeasure with Agent McParland, Edwina untwined her arm from Mrs. Davenport, stepped around Harrison, and moved to stand in front of Agent McParland.
“Do not tell me that you truly believe Mrs. Davenport, along with Gertrude from the sound of it, tried to make off with a tiara the night we attended an engagement celebration at the Manhattan Beach Hotel.”
Agent McParland, even though he was obviously still a little dazed by Edwina’s beautiful face, managed to finally give a nod before he cleared his throat. “Mrs. Davenport and Miss Cadwalader were identified as persons of interest by the lady now missing her prized tiara.”
Edwina waved that aside. “That’s ridiculous. I was with Mrs. Davenport almost the entire evening, and I assure you, sir, I would have noticed if she’d snatched a tiara straight off some lady’s head.”
Agent McParland cleared his throat again. “I never said Mrs. Davenport snatched the tiara from this lady’s head. It went missing later that night from the lady’s room.”
“Which proves Mrs. Davenport isn’t the culprit since, again, she was with me for most of the night,” Edwina argued. “We had much to discuss between us, so there was not time for her to slip away undetected to perpetuate one theft, let alone numerous thefts from numerous victims.”
Agent McParland consulted his notepad, frowned, then raised his head. “Can you provide an alibi for Miss Cadwalader as well?”
“Miss Cadwalader spent a good majority of her night in the company of Mr. Harrison Sinclair,” Miss Henrietta said, stepping forward. “And when she wasn’t on Mr. Sinclair’s arm, she was graciously keeping me and my sister company.” She let out a sniff. “Young ladies who choose to spend their time with members of the more elderly set are not the type of ladies to pull off swindles.”
“Miss Cadwalader admitted she frequently returns items Mrs. Davenport helps herself to,” Agent McParland argued.
Miss Henrietta sent Gertrude a fond smile. “Because she’s obviously been trying to please Mrs. Davenport, a woman I’ve come to believe is somewhat of a mother figure for Gertrude. The good Lord knows Gertrude’s true mother did not fulfill her responsibilities of caring for Gertrude as a child, and that right there explains much about why Gertrude is so very loyal to a woman who took advantage of that loyalty, although...” Miss Henrietta turned a knowing look on Mrs. Davenport. “Do know that my sister and I are fully aware you’ve been misbehaving over the years. You clearly do not believe you’re worthy of any affection a person may want to give you. That, my dear Mrs. Davenport, is exactly why you’ve done everything in your power to push Gertrude away, even attaching a birdcage to her behind that you clearly should have known was not meant to be used as a bustle in the first place.”
Mrs. Davenport raised a hand to her throat. “On my word but you do seem overly familiar with personal information pertaining to delicate matters. Forgive me, but am I mistaken in believing you and your sister spent the last several decades as little more than hermits?”
Miss Henrietta gave an airy wave of her hand. “It’s always been a misconception, in my opinion, that hermits are believed to be oblivious to matters in the world outside their habitats. My sister and I, while unwilling to mingle with people who snubbed us most assiduously throughout the years, were perfectly willing to perfect our proficiency in observation by turning that proficiency toward the very society set that neglected us.”
