Summer of the Midnight Sun (32 page)

“I think we have to put aside those kind of concerns and just focus on the future. I’m terrified for Jayce, but I know my fear will do him no good. He’ll need us now more than ever. I don’t intend to give up my husband without a fight.”

Jacob turned and smiled. “You aren’t married yet.”

“No, but my reputation is ruined just the same. After all, we spent all of that time alone . . . Well, Mrs. Wilkerson was there, but she was very sick,” Leah said with a grin.

“Did you get to see her before we left?”

“Yes. She’s doing better, but the doctor fears her heart is very damaged. She must always take it easy—lots of bed rest,” Leah recounted. “I hope to see her in Nome when we return. It was her daughter’s desire to get her back before the winter closed in.”

“Wish we could be doing the same. I’m telling you, Leah, the thought of a city like Seattle unnerves me. I don’t have any desire to go there, and we have no way of knowing what we’ll encounter or how long it will take. I’ll probably have to get some kind of job if it drags on too long.”

“With a city that size, there is bound to be plenty of work.

But don’t worry about that just yet. Like Karen said, we can stay with her sister or one of the other relatives for a while. If things look like they will go on for a lengthy time, then we can reconsider what to do.” She paused for a moment and grew thoughtful. “There’s also another possibility.”

“What’s that?”

“Once we make it to Seattle and I’m safely in the care of Karen’s family, you could return to Nome. There are more opportunities to get to Nome out of Seattle than Sitka or Ketchikan.”

“I won’t desert you. I won’t desert Jayce either. I don’t have to be happy about the circumstance to honor my commitment.”

Four days later they docked in Seattle. Leah had never been so glad to see land in all her life. She wanted to run from the ship but comported herself in a ladylike manner down the gangplank. She wore a woolen skirt and coat, compliments of Karen. It felt rather strange to wear a dress after so many years, but at least she didn’t feel too out of place.

The good thing about taking a freighter to Seattle was that they didn’t have to endure the swarming crowds of a passenger liner. This made it much easier to spot the man who was to meet them.

“You must be Timothy Rogers,” Leah said as a man approached them. He wore a stylish blue suit that complemented his tall, lean body and curly red hair.

He tipped his hat. “I am. Aunt Karen said you’d be arriving on the freighter, but I thought surely she was jesting.” He looked beyond Leah to Jacob. “It’s good to finally meet you both. My aunt has spoken of you as though you were her own children.”

“In many ways, we were,” Jacob admitted. “She has been a mother to us both.”

Leah nodded but quickly changed the subject. “Tell me, have you any news of Jayce and Mrs. Beecham? Have you found them? Are they still here?”

Timothy smiled. “Indeed they are. I put my men to work immediately, and we searched every hotel in the downtown area.

They are staying nearby, registered as Mr. and Mrs. Beecham. I’ve had them under surveillance now for days. He never leaves the hotel—the maid said he’s always in the bedroom and the door is locked. Mrs. Beecham, however, has made some interesting trips.”

“Such as?” Leah asked, casting a quick glance to Jacob before refocusing on Timothy.

“Such as wiring the Pinkerton agency in Washington, D.C.,

for a fingerprint file on Jayce Kincaid. It seems our gal is starting to doubt his guilt. She snuck him off the ship right under the noses of the agents her brother had sent to arrest Kincaid. It infuriated her brother, who sent a wire back telling her to forego this nonsense of worrying about whether or not Kincaid was the right man and that he was sending his men to arrest Jayce immediately.

To which she sent the message that if he didn’t help her and cooperate, she would disappear into the city until she had better answers.”

“She cares about whether or not he’s guilty,” Jacob murmured.

“Yes, isn’t that a change?” Leah said, catching Jacob’s gaze.

“Perhaps there’s hope for Mrs. Beecham. Maybe she’s learned that truth is more important than the letter of the law.”

“And maybe she’s finally learned what mercy is all about,” Jacob said with a hint of a smile forming on his lips.

Chapter Twenty-seven

Helaina had finally convinced Stanley to send the fingerprint files by courier. She breathed a sigh of relief and headed into the hotel. The past few days were beginning to take their toll. Jayce had been a well-behaved prisoner, but his attitude and actions only caused her more guilt and frustration.

I never would have worried about any of this before. Jacob Barringer has been a thorn in my side with his talk of mercy and compassion. Now I have Stanley angry and have jeopardized an important case . . . all in the name of mercy
.

She made her way upstairs to the shared suite. For days she’d been sleeping on the sofa, and it had proved to be most inadequate. She longed for a bed but knew that it was better to keep Jayce imprisoned in the bedroom, rather than allow him free-range of the suite.

Unlocking the door to her room, she had nothing on her mind but to rest and rethink the information she’d gathered over the summer. But a roomful of people caused her to realize her plans were for naught.

“Mrs. Beecham.”

Jacob stood by the windows and watched, as if waiting for her to do something dramatic. Beside him stood a tall, redheaded man. Jayce sat on the sofa along with Leah, while a fourth man sat at the writing desk.

“What’s going on?” Helaina asked.

“We might ask you the same thing,” Jacob retorted. “You kidnap a man in the dead of night and have the nerve to ask
us
what’s going on?”

Helaina squared her shoulders. “I have a warrant for his arrest.”

“So why isn’t he in a jail, Mrs. Beecham?” the man at the desk questioned. He stood and came to where she stood.

“And who are you, sir?”

“Magnus Carlson, attorney-at-law. I now represent Mr. Kincaid.”

Helaina eyed the man for a moment. He wasn’t all that tall, and he carried an extra fifty pounds or more, but there was a certain presence to him. His pudgy face sported gold-rimmed glasses, from behind which icy blue eyes watched her every move.

“I see.” She looked to Jayce. “I thought we had an agreement.”

“I didn’t bring them here,” Jayce replied. “They found me.”

“Might I inquire as to how you located us?” Helaina posed the question to Jacob.

“A private detective was hired by cable the night you left,” Jacob replied. “He’s been on the case ever since and brought us here to set Jayce free.”

“I’m sorry, but that isn’t possible,” Helaina stated. She opened her purse. “I have the papers right here that entitle me to capture and arrest Mr. Kincaid.”

“Then why hasn’t he been properly remanded to the local authorities?” Carlson asked.

Helaina looked to Jayce. “Haven’t you already told them this?”

“He has given his side of it,” Carlson replied, “but we’d like to hear yours. This man’s rights have been violated. Whether you have a warrant or not, he has constitutional rights.”

“Yes,” Helaina replied. “I’m very aware of that.” She drew a deep breath. “There have been many discrepancies in this case. I chose this path to save Mr. Kincaid the drudgery of a jail cell while I researched and received the information I felt would help either convict or clear him.”

“What exactly are the charges against Mr. Kincaid?”

Helaina looked around the room. “Why don’t we sit down? This will take a while.” She took her place in a wing-backed chair and smoothed the skirt of her new plum-colored traveling suit. Taking off her gloves, Helaina draped them across her lap while the others took their places.

Jacob joined Leah and Jayce on the sofa, while the other two men took up the remaining chairs. Helaina felt almost relieved to finally be able to explain to Jacob, but at the same time she could see the anger in his expression. He would never believe her. There would never be anything she could say to win his approval.

“Earlier this year my brother, Stanley, a Pinkerton man in Washington, D.C., captured a man calling himself Jayce Kincaid. The man was responsible for the death of two Pinkerton agents, as well as a theft of goods at the British Museum in London.

There were other charges of thefts and assaults as well. Stanley took the man into custody and boarded a train for Washington, D.C. On the way, Mr. Kincaid managed to free himself from his handcuffs. When Stanley realized what had happened, they fought.

Eventually, the fight took them out on the open platform of this private car. Mr. Kincaid was a powerful man whose larger size gave him advantage against my brother. After throwing several punches that nearly rendered my brother unconscious, Mr. Kincaid threw Stanley from the train. This resulted in Stanley being severely injured.”

“I’m quite sorry for your brother, Mrs. Beecham, but how could he be certain that this man was the responsible party?”

Helaina opened her purse and pulled out the folded sketch. “Stanley had this drawing made.” She handed it to Carlson and waited while he passed it along to the others. “Kincaid had never been photographed by the authorities, and this was the only thing we had to identify him. This and a set of fingerprints taken from the train car.”

“Fingerprints?” Leah questioned.

“Each person has a unique design of swirls and ridges on their fingers,” Helaina explained. “No two are alike.” She looked at Jayce. “Even in the case of twins—although I have heard of twins having prints that were alike, but reversed in order.”

“So the fingerprints will prove that Jayce wasn’t the one on the train,” Leah stated, her voice sounding quite excited.

“That is my hope,” Helaina said honestly. “I’ve had a hard time convincing my brother to send a courier with the file, but I believe he is finally willing to do this.”

“You cannot just hold this man against his will in the meantime,” Carlson said. “You do realize I could have you before a judge on this matter.”

Helaina swallowed hard. This whole case had caused her nothing but problems from the beginning, and now it threatened to cause her grief with the law. The law that she so thoroughly respected. “I suppose I do, but I hope you will also see the problem in my turning Mr. Kincaid over to the police. If I do that, the Pinkerton men my brother sent here will simply take him into custody and put him on the first train back to the Capitol. He won’t have a chance to prove his case before they throw him into jail to await a trail. I had hoped to have the proof needed, by obtaining the print files, prior to acting further on this matter.”

“But why, Mrs. Beecham? If you had a job to do, why did you delay in doing it?”

“Yes, please tell us about that, Helaina,” Jacob said rather snidely. “You were trying to find ways to force Jayce back to Seattle from the first day we met you.”

She grew uncomfortable under his scrutiny. “It is true that I had a job to do. I thought the evidence against Jayce Kincaid was strong enough to prove his guilt. But that changed. Other things came to light . . . situations developed that I couldn’t just ignore.”

“For example?” Carlson asked.

Helaina thought back to all that had transpired and began to list off the events that gave her cause to doubt. “I suppose it all culminated for me when I read a letter to Jacob from the captain of the
Homestead
.” She glanced briefly at Jacob. “He mentioned how helpful Jayce had been on their short-lived expedition north. I knew Jayce was in Ketchikan with Leah. But, at the same time, here was a reputable man praising Mr. Kincaid’s help with the dogs in the Arctic. I knew something had to be wrong.”

“You must release this man until you have solid proof that allows you to arrest him. You cannot expect to keep him locked here in this hotel like some sort of animal.”

“But if I release him, he will probably escape,” Helaina replied. She was already convinced for herself that Jayce was innocent. But she had to, for the sake of Stanley’s reputation and her own, prove that the fingerprints were not a match. “If Jayce leaves before I can check his fingerprints against the recorded prints, I will face serious problems.”

“I won’t leave, Helaina. I want to be proven innocent. As much as you want to know the truth, I want it more,” Jayce said, his expression quite serious. “I have no reason to flee. I know what those prints will tell you.”

“I don’t know what should be done,” Helaina finally admitted. “The file won’t arrive by courier for a week or more.”

“I have a suggestion,” the redheaded man spoke up. He smiled at Helaina. “I’m Timothy Rogers, the private investigator who helped the Barringers—actually we’re family.” He turned and smiled at Leah. This caused her to nod.

“Anyway, I have a suggestion that might help all parties concerned. I can see that Mrs. Beecham has actually, out of the goodness of her heart, not imposed jail or the possibility of being sent east on Mr. Kincaid. She is trying to learn the truth in the hopes of knowing one way or the other if Jayce Kincaid was responsible for the deaths of other people. This is a critical issue. We cannot expect her to simply feel at ease in setting a possible killer free.”

“Granted, Mr. Rogers, but there are laws to abide by. The law makes it very clear how these things are to be handled,” Carlson said.

“And the law is the law,” Jacob muttered, staring at Helaina with an unyielding gaze.

“That aside,” Timothy continued, “I believe I have a solution. Since this should take no more than a week or two, I would like to offer my home. I have a large house with plenty of space for everyone. There is no Mrs. Rogers to be put off by my bringing home unplanned house guests, although my housekeeper might fret a bit.”

“That is a very generous offer, Mr. Rogers,” Helaina said. “But I’m not sure how that solves the situation.”

“My thought, Mrs. Beecham, is that with everyone under the same roof, all parties may find the situation more agreeable. Mr. Kincaid will feel less like a prisoner. He has given his word that he has no plans to flee and desires the same thing you do. The Barringers are obviously interested in helping see Mr. Kincaid set free, so they are not planning to go until this thing is settled. And for you, the benefit would not only be peace of mind, but less strain on your budget. This hotel is quite expensive and my house is free.”