Before five o’clock in the morning, Frank Butler once again arrived at the Coates House Hotel. The train to Sedalia would pull out at six. He had but a few minutes to convince Buffalo Bill to hire more Pinkertons. The colonel had refused the night before, but things had changed.
He pinned his hopes on Mrs. Cody’s surprise visit. Maybe Lulu’s appearance softened the old man up. Perhaps having Lulu pop in at a decidedly inopportune time would convince the colonel he needed added security to protect Annie in the arena—and to protect himself from the slings and arrows of an outraged Mrs. Cody. He crossed his fingers in hopes Lulu had thrown a tantrum so spectacular Colonel Cody would be eager to hire more detectives.
Frank would not have been surprised to see the door to the colonel’s room hanging lopsided on a single hinge, but nothing seemed amiss. He looked both ways down the corridor as he stepped off the elevator. The entire floor slumbered in heedless morning repose.
The colonel answered the knock on his door with a hearty, “Frank. I’m glad you’re here. I want you to tell Johnny to take over for me. I’m not going to Sedalia. Tell the folks I’m sick.”
“She got to you, then.”
“Katherine is none of your business.”
“I wasn’t talking about Katherine.”
“Who then?”
“Your wife—Mrs. Cody. You remember Lulu.”
The colonel looked both ways down the hall before he pulled Frank inside. He shut the door and spoke in a low murmur. “What’s this about Lulu?”
The question puzzled Frank. “Haven’t you seen her? She was riding up in the elevator when I left late last night.”
“You mean she’s here in this hotel—right now?”
“I thought she would have pounded down your door along about midnight.”
Colonel Cody heaved a sigh. “I don’t know which one of those two females is more trouble. I had rather manage a million Indians than one soubrette like Katherine. And they’d cost less. She told me she didn’t think a lady could dress properly on less than forty thousand a year. I’ve been helping her prove it ever since.”
The colonel closed one eye. “And Lulu. I understand my wife perfectly. She wants to find Katherine in my room in the morning after spending the night here. Heaven knows what this scandal will cost me if she succeeds.”
“Perhaps she wants to divorce you.”
Cody rubbed the middle of his forehead with two fingers. “I only wish she did. She flat refuses. Says good Catholics don’t get divorces. Truth be told, she thinks to bring me to heel by turning me into a pauper. That would be her justice and her sweet revenge.”
He stood up straight as a pin oak. “My wife refuses to learn this one simple fact: no woman will ever keep William Frederick Cody down on the ranch.”
The colonel shook Frank’s hand and patted his shoulder. “Thank you for giving me time to conjure up a way out of this mess.”
He raised his voice and pitched it toward the door to the necessary. “Katherine. Get dressed, please, and don’t take all day about it. Lulu’s here.” He pointed an index finger at the floor. “Right here. In this hotel.”
Katherine appeared in the bathroom doorway holding a hairbrush. With her hair in loose curls and her uncorseted body in peach-colored silk, she shimmered—appetizing as orange ice on a hot day. In a contest with Lulu, whether beauty or charm, Katherine would win hands down. Frank admitted to himself the actress came close to competing with Annie—not that any other female, no matter how fetching, could claim his heart.
The colonel strode to the window and stuck his head outside. He bent over at the waist to scout left and right, then closed the window part way as he said, “No balcony. The ledge is about four inches wide though.”
Katherine paled. “You’re not getting me out on any ledge. I’m not some circus tightrope walker.”
“Of course not. If she turns up, stay put in the bathroom. Lock the door and don’t make a spitch of noise. Frank and I will manage.”
Katherine hissed out a warning, though she sounded more frightened than angry, “See to it. One thing is certain. This time, I’m not letting her get close enough to yank out my hair. I had to cover my bald spot with a hairpiece for months.”
“Then get moving. If you’re gone from here before she makes her grand appearance, your golden tresses will remain on your scalp where they belong.”
Katherine returned to the necessary.
Colonel Cody scowled at the clutter of jars and jewelry and perfume bottles on the dressing table. He placed one hand on his hip and sang out, “Katherine. Do you need any of these whatnots on the vanity?”
“Only if you want me to have a beautiful hairdo.”
“We’d best make sure you have beautiful hair to do.”
Katherine appeared in the doorway. “Not romantic, but sensible. Put them in my small portmanteau, the one that opens in two parts with special compartments. It’s a fitted case, so you’ll have to figure out what goes where.”
He began cramming items in the case higgledy-piggledy. “Frank, round up all her bits and pieces and shove them in the trunk—the one in the closet there.”
Frank smacked his kid gloves against his hand to get Cody’s attention. “I came here for a purpose. Will you listen to me?”
“Here’s what you do, Frank. If Lulu shows up, you tell her this is your room. It was just booked in my name to cover up your own little peccadillo.”
“I can’t believe you expect me to be party to your shenanigans. You want me to pretend Katherine and I . . . I won’t do it.”
“I can make it worth your while.”
Frank tromped toward the door. “You’ve got to be crazy. You know I’d never do anything to jeopardize Annie’s trust in me.”
The colonel offered an apology, at least as much of an apology as he could manage. “Hold on, now. I was wrong to suggest it.”
“You got yourself into this. You can jolly well get yourself out. I’m leaving.” Frank yanked on a glove.
“Wait, don’t go. I was way off the mark. We’ll think of something else.”
Frank hesitated with his hand on the knob. He turned back to face the colonel’s pleading eyes.
Colonel Cody put his hands together in a gesture of prayer. “Lulu could be here any second. I promise to listen to every word you say the minute Katherine is safely gone. Now help me get her packed.”
Even though Cody hadn’t actually promised to hire more Pinkertons, Frank felt hopeful enough to stick around. He folded sundry articles and tucked them away in Katherine’s trunk while the colonel tried to fit each silver-backed mirror, comb, jar, and vial into its own special place in her portmanteau.
Frank picked up one ice-blue silk stocking with bluebells embroidered at the heels. He was searching under the bed for the mate when a knock came at the door. Both stopped, looked at each other, and began a frantic rush to stash away all feminine furbelows.
Frank closed the trunk in the armoire. The colonel gave up finding a place for Katherine’s gewgaws in her ladylike portmanteau. He slammed the two halves together with such force that her silver nameplate popped off and tinkled to the floor. Frank picked it up and stuck it in his pocket. He bit his lip to contain his laughter.
Cody shoved the portmanteau under the bed then dragged it out again. “That’s the first place Lu would look.” He finally thrust the case inside the bedclothes and piled pillows on top.
He feigned a smile and opened the door. The smile became a sigh of relief as he stepped back. With a gracious wave of his hand, he motioned a waiter in a white jacket to push a wheeled cart into the room.
On the cart, a single purple dahlia basked in a crystal vase between two silver food domes. The waiter hastened to clear the dishes from the day before and stow them on the bottom shelf of the breakfast cart. With easy efficiency, he replaced the tablecloth with fresh linen and set the table for two. In less than five minutes, he was gone.
As he dropped coins into the man’s palm, the colonel heaved another sigh. “That was a close call. I was so busy with the vanity case I forgot the dirty dishes from last night’s champagne dinner. I also forgot I ordered breakfast for five o’clock this morning.”
Katherine appeared in the doorway, fully dressed and self-possessed until she scanned the room in search of her belongings. “Where is my hat? What have you done with my gloves and the handkerchief I laid out?”
The colonel’s expression turned blank. Frank spoke up. “If you mean a yellow hat with a canary on it and long tails of stuff you could see through, I put it in your trunk. The gloves and the hanky, too.”
Katherine rolled her eyes at Frank. “Have you never heard of a hat box?” As she marched to the armoire, she huffed under her breath. “Leave it to a man to flatten my new hat. I had it custom-made at Annette’s Millinery in St. Louis.” She retrieved the hat and set to poking it back into shape.
Before she could finish, another knock came. Katherine snatched up hat and gloves and retreated to the necessary. The colonel assumed his feigned smile and opened the door. “Lulu, what a surprise.”
The minute Lulu sauntered into the room, she spied the table with its silver domes and dahlia. “Breakfast for two? You always had a big appetite, but I thought old age might have forced you into more temperate habits. You’re past fifty, you know. I’d say it’s time to go on a diet.”
“I don’t plan to eat both. I have a breakfast companion. Frank Butler.”
Lulu lost her composure when the colonel closed the door to reveal Butler standing behind it. It was Frank’s turn to feign a smile. He nodded, “Pleased to see you, Mrs. Cody. You’re looking well.”
“I’m not looking well, Mr. Butler. I look like what I am—a harridan.” She walked to the center of the room. “An old hag. Just ask my husband.”
Frank had no reply.
The colonel said, “Frank and I must leave for Sedalia in a few minutes. I hope you’ll forgive us for eating in your presence. Would you like me to send down for another breakfast? You can stay as long as you like.”
Frank held his breath. Colonel Cody was taking a mighty risk. What if Lulu took him up on his offer? What if she decided to stay? He breathed easier when Lulu waved off the suggestion. She commenced circling the room like a turkey buzzard soaring overhead intent on spying something rotten.
As he took his place at the table, the colonel said, “Butler, eat. Don’t stand on ceremony.”
Frank removed the dome from a steaming bowl of oatmeal. He envied the colonel’s platter of hotcakes with syrup and link sausages. He sought something sweet—jelly, sugar, honey—anything to make palatable the oatmeal—a dish he abhorred above all foods. He saw nothing but cream, salt, and pepper. “Where’s the sugar for the coffee?”
“Sorry, I thought you took it plain. Well, dig in—though I don’t know why you ordered oatmeal even if it is the latest word in health. Oats are proper food for horses. Can’t imagine why people want to eat them.”
Frank stuck in a spoon. It stood upright in the cereal. He gagged as he pulled it out and put it to his lips.
Lulu peeked in the armoire as she asked, “Mr. Butler, what brings you here so early on a travel day?”
“I came in hopes of persuading the colonel to hire additional Pinkertons.” Frank cast a meaningful glance in the colonel’s direction. “In fact, he was about to agree to hire several more when you knocked on the door.”
“Hire Pinkertons? Do you need more security?” She pulled at the lock on the trunk in the closet.
Frank was glad he had remembered to close the lock. “We do. I am certain of it.”
“Indeed. Has something happened to make you think so?”
Despite the colonel’s warning glare, Frank played his trump card. “Someone has been shooting at people in the show. One of the Indians, a man named Little Elk, was wounded day before yesterday. There have been other incidents, too.”
Lulu sounded interested but detached, as if she were making small talk with a male acquaintance by asking about his mother’s bunions. “Really? Do you suppose anyone could be trying to do away with Mr. Cody?”
“Possibly. Little Elk was shot while riding directly behind the colonel.”
“Whom do you suspect of wishing evil on the Wild West?”
“Any number of people might want to bring the colonel down. He has competitors, you know. Pawnee Bill and Mae, the Sells brothers. Gun people like Doc Carver, Captain Bogardus’s son Ed, Ira Paine, and Ad Toepperwein are the main ones. That doesn’t even count people outside of show business. There are a number of women like—”
The colonel cut him off. “Enough. You’re frightening Lulu.”
Frank saw more mistrust than fear on Lulu’s face. She let her handkerchief flutter to the floor with an “Oh my. How clumsy of me.”
She stooped down on the far side of the bed and pulled up the counterpane. She kept her head down and shuffled forward on her haunches. Frank could see her back bobbing as she inched toward the head of the bed. At length, she held up her handkerchief and waved it toward the men. “Dropped my hanky.”
Lulu stared at the bed.
Frank held his breath.
The colonel stopped chewing. The sausage on his fork quivered in midair like a fat worm on a fishing hook.
Lulu peered at the jumble of bedclothes and pillows. She reached a hand toward it, then stopped. A sound of breaking glass from the necessary brought all heads to attention. Lulu’s face twisted in a grimace of triumph as she made a beeline in that direction. The door opened before she could turn the knob.
Katherine sailed in like a majestic yacht floating over choppy seas. “Colonel, you must ring for housekeeping before you use the facilities. I’m afraid I broke your only drinking glass.”
She turned smoothly toward Lulu. “Mrs. Cody, don’t you look the picture of health. I was under the impression your ailments prevented you from leaving Nebraska. I am glad to see you looking strong as a horse.”
Frank could barely stifle a grin.
Lulu rose to the challenge. “Bill, I’m ashamed of you and Mr. Butler. How could you two be so churlish as to eat in the presence of Miss Clemmons? I doubt you’ve offered her so much as a cup of coffee.”
Katherine tossed the room a dazzling smile. “I abhor coffee, Mrs. Cody. Indeed, the thought of eating anything at this unholy hour is completely alien to my notion of how a lady should begin her day.”
Lulu smiled in return. “Then, I wonder why you are here at this unholy hour. What could be so important as to deprive you of your beauty sleep?”
Without a playwright to supply dialogue, Katherine had no answer.
Frank leaped into the breach. “I brought Miss Clemmons along in hopes that her pleas added to mine would convince the colonel to hire more Pinkertons. Last night, I tried on my own with no success.”
Katherine took the cue. “Yes, Mr. Butler convinced me the colonel was in peril. Naturally, I wanted to add my voice to his. I could never forgive myself if I had left undone anything that might save the colonel’s life.”
Lulu looked dubious. She spoke to her husband with mock concern. “And have they persuaded you to hire more Pinkertons, dearest? How we would all mourn if anything tragic should happen to you.”
“Yes, dearest. As soon as we have finished breakfast, I am going down to the lobby to call Nate. He can take care of the details.”
“Dearest, Nate Salisbury retired last year.”
“Of course he did. Thanks for reminding me, dearest. I’m becoming more and more forgetful.”
“You’ve always been forgetful, dearest—in some ways.”
Frank choked down another speck of oatmeal. “Well, Miss Clemmons, we have succeeded in our errand. I think we’d best be on our way. I have much to do before the train leaves.”
“Of course, Mr. Butler.” She slipped a kid glove on one soft, white hand.
On the way out, Frank shook the colonel’s hand to seal the deal. “I’m deeply grateful you’ve decided to hire a bigger protection group for the show. I’m confident you’ll never regret my turning up this morning to persuade you.”
The colonel shook Frank’s hand and exchanged meaningful glances with Katherine as he closed the door behind them.
In the hall, Katherine and Frank grinned with relief over the close call.
“When you said this was too early in the day for breakfast, I thought the whole house of cards would fall.”
Katherine giggled at Frank’s words. “The minute I said it, I realized how absurd it sounded. If getting up early is against my constitution, why on earth would I be up and dressed and in the colonel’s room? I owe you a debt for rescuing me.”
“I’m sorry about your hat. Your fitted case didn’t fare any better.” He handed her the silver nameplate with its fancy scrollwork. “I’m still amazed Lulu didn’t throw a conniption fit.”
“The whole business may not be over yet. What will happen if she finds out the truth?”
He shrugged. “Murder, probably. She might kill him. He might kill her.”
“Don’t joke about it, Mr. Butler. I don’t find it humorous in the least.”
“I was only partly joking, Miss Clemmons. The colonel said Lulu once tried to poison him. I think she might be behind the incidents at the Wild West.”
Katherine put her hand to her throat. “Tell me you’re still joking. If that woman could kill her own husband, the father of her children, what would she do to me?”
“Calm yourself. I shouldn’t have said anything. The colonel swears all she really wants is to keep him home on the ranch. I feel certain that’s the truth.”
“My clothes are still in the room. Do you think she will find them?”
“I don’t know. She may try, but the colonel keeps getting craftier as he gets older. We’ll have to wait and see.”
“Even if Louisa Cody hasn’t marked me for murder, I have other reasons for wanting these events to be kept confidential.”
Frank looked blank.
She pulled him into an alcove by the elevator and leaned toward him. Her French perfume wrapped his nose in a field of sweet lilies. The heady scent made him weak in the knees.
“You’ll help me, won’t you, Mr. Butler? I couldn’t bear to have any of this come out.”
“Let’s understand each other, Miss Clemmons. The only reason I went along with any subterfuge was my desire to have more Pinkertons working at the show. I believe Annie’s life is in danger. I’d do anything to protect her. As for you—”
“Oh, but you must help me. I beg you.”
“Save your begging.”
“What if I promise not to see him again, not ever.”
“I hesitate to call a lovely lady a liar, but I wouldn’t believe you.”
“Trust me, Mr. Butler. I never plan to see him again. This meeting was in the nature of a farewell.”
“I believe you’re telling me what you think I want to hear.”
“I assure you I’m most sincere. The last thing I would want is for Harold to hear about last night.”
“Harold?”
“Yes, Harold Gould, Jay Gould’s son.”
“The financier? The rich Jay Gould?”
“Yes, the very same Jay Gould. The man who caused the panic of sixty-nine. The man who singlehandedly caused the Black Friday stock market crash.”
Frank blinked his eyes in astonishment.
A smile played around Katherine’s lips. “My prospective father-in-law made millions in his attempt to corner the market on gold. I find that audacity to be an extremely attractive family trait. That along with the vast family fortune make the Gould heir well nigh impossible to resist.”
Katherine arched her hands together to push her gloves between her fingers. Frank had no doubt she relished her intended’s potential millions and didn’t mind in the least how the infamous robber baron father had grabbed them up.
When Frank shook his head in disgust, she dimpled and leaned toward him. “Yes. I’m marrying his son in two weeks. On October twelfth, eighteen ninety-eight, Katherine Clemmons will become Mrs. Harold Gould.”