| |
* * *
Leonard was shocked when day turned to night and he, Lucille, and Effie all remained inside the jail cell. He’d understood what he was doing when he’d tried to take the blame for Lucille’s crimes, but in the back of his head, he’d thought that somehow everything would work out before the day was over. The trouble was that he’d acted without thinking, a direct response to Lucille’s own actions, which had also stemmed from not thinking things through.
Amos had brought in an extra cot for them, and Lucy and Effie had pushed them together to make a sort of bed. Leonard had taken some extra blankets and spread them on the floor, making that his bed for the night.
As he woke the next morning, he attempted to stretch out only to find that his back had gone stiff as a board during the night and his muscles were so sore he could almost not stand. He would never have thought one night on a hard floor could have affected him in such a way, yet it had.
He sat carefully up, trying to stop the different parts of his back from crackling and popping as he began to move. But then he realized the crackling and popping helped, and he began to move some more, hoping to make himself feel better.
He glanced at the cots and saw that Effie was awake, but Lucille was still sleeping. From the way she was lying, he’d have thought her perfectly comfortable, though he knew the cots were only little better than the floor.
“Good morning,” he said to Effie.
She shrugged. “I guess.”
He turned to see who else was in the room and found Amos back at his desk, which was just where he’d last seen him. The sheriff had stayed until well past midnight trying to get either him or Lucille to admit they were lying and failing on both counts.
Decker had returned around two in the morning and woken everyone up, demanding answers to his ill thought out questions.
“Which one of you is the real bandit?” he’d shouted.
Lucille and Leonard had both pointed to the other. Effie had just sat there.
“Maybe it’s both of you,” Decker said and gave a loud belch. “Hell, maybe it’s all three of you.” He pressed his head against the bars as if using them for support and looked at Effie. “There are three beauty bandits, and there’s three of you. Maybe I’ll just bring you all up to Jefferson City. Or is Jefferson City down from here? Either way, we are going there. All three of us. Right now.”
Curt’s bottom lip had jutted out. “Uh, marshal? I don’t think you can do that, sir.”
Decker head turned around, wobbling on his feet, and said, “I can do anything I want. I’m a marshal.” Then he had staggered out of the station, presumably to go to bed.
Leonard was relieved to see that Decker had not yet returned this morning. Amos let out a yawn. “Want coffee?” he asked, looking at the cell. “All three of you,” he said, clarifying who he was talking to.
Effie nodded and looked at Lucille, who had begun to stir. She nudged her with her elbow. “Want coffee?” Effie asked Lucille.
Lucille muttered something that sounded like, “Yes, mudda,” which they all took to mean she wanted some. Amos sent Curt out to bring some back and gave another yawn.
“Well,” Amos said looking at them. “Maybe today one of you will have come to your senses and retract some of the things you said yesterday.”
Leonard looked at him. “Not me,” he said.
Amos let out a groan, and Lucille set up. She blinked and looked around, wiping the sleep from her eyes. “Where am I?” she asked, then seemed to remember. “Oh, right.”
“Curt is getting coffee,” Effie said.
“Good,” Lucille said. “If my brain doesn’t get some soon, I’m not sure it will continue to work.”
There was a rumble of footsteps just outside the station doors and a moment later Irene, Betty, Belle, and Francis emerged. The sight of the four women took everyone by surprise. Suddenly, Lucy seemed wide awake. She jumped up off the cot and held onto the bars of the cell door, her knuckles turning white as she looked out at her friends.
“What are you doing here?” Lucille asked. It came out sounding more like a demand though. Amos was watching her with interest.
“I heard what happened,” Irene said, stepping forward. Her face was slightly pale. “We all did.”
Francis, Georgianna Lemberton’s housemaid, who was known for being painfully shy, stepped forward next. “I was down at the general store when I ran into Betty, who told me what happened. I... I...” Her face flared red and she seemed to stumble over her words. “I just wanted to see if there was anything I could do to help.”
“Me too,” said Betty. Belle echoed their sentiments.
“You shouldn’t be here,” Lucille hissed, staring hard at Irene. “I’ve confessed to being a Beauty Bandit. Me. Do you understand?”
Leonard cleared his throat. Amos was watching them, his face drawn. If Lucy thought she could convey some sort of cryptic message to Irene without Amos catching on, she was wrong. Besides, her messages were quite obvious. If Amos wasn’t sure whether or not Irene was involved with any of this, he would be in another minute or two.
“I can’t let you sit in a jail cell,” Irene said quietly and turned to Amos. “Sheriff, I’ve got something to tell you.”
“Irene, no!” Lucille shouted and stuck her hand through the bars now, making a grab for her, but Irene took a step back and stayed easily out of her reach.
Leonard, who’d always liked Irene as well as her husband, didn’t want to see anyone else get dragged into this mess.
“Irene,” Leonard said, “think slowly before you say anything.”
She gave them all a soft smile. “It’s all right,” she told them. “I spoke with Theodore about this before coming down here.”
The three other women seemed to huddle together. Betty took one step back towards the door as if ready to run.
Irene drew in a deep breath. “Amos, some of what you’ve heard recently is a lie.”
Leonard watched Amos’ face, trying to discern what the man was thinking. Would he arrest Irene immediately if she confessed, or would he give her the chance to go home and rethink things? Looking at Lucille, he thought she looked as if she might pass out.
“Irene, no...” Lucy whimpered.
Irene ignored her and carried on with what she wanted to say. “My husband made up all that nonsense about Effie’s disease the other day. Lucy and I talked to him, and he agreed that it wasn’t right to send her to Jefferson City and try her for crimes which she couldn’t possibly have committed. He’s very sorry and hopes that you won’t bring him up on charges. He’d have come himself, but he has several patients this morning including the Newton boy.”
She expelled her breath, and Leonard expelled one along with her.
Amos chuckled slightly. “For a minute,” he said, “I thought you were going to confess to robbing the trains too.” He looked at the rest of the women. “In fact, I thought you were all going to confess. Lord knows we’ve had an awful lot of confessions around here in the last twenty-four hours. Yours would have fit right in.”
He laughed and stood up, running a hand through his hair. “Why are you telling me this now, Irene?” he asked.
“Because I was hoping it might somehow help Lucille and Leonard. Effie too. You know perfectly well Lucy was nowhere near those last two trains that were robbed, the ones where those men were killed. She was here in town. Leonard too. So they couldn’t possibly be a part of the Beauty Bandits.”
“That’s just what I’ve been thinking,” Amos said. “The problem is that they both confessed. And Marshal Decker has just a little more authority than me. He’s convinced one or both of them are in on some sort of scheme. If you’re not careful, he’s liable to think the rest of you are in on it too.”
Betty, Francis, and Belle laughed nervously.
“Now if I were you,” Amos continued, “I’d get out of here. All of you. Before Decker shows up and decides to throw you in there with your friend. As for that phony disease the doctor came up with, well, I knew it was fake all along.”
“You did?” Leonard asked, only somewhat surprised.
Amos looked sharply at him. “Of course I did,” he said. “I’m no fool. I saw right through that phony business. The only reason I didn’t put a stop to it was because I saw what you were doing, and I agreed with you. If Effie goes down to Jefferson City, she’s never getting out of her cell, and I don’t think Decker’s got the right woman.”
“So what do we do now then?” Irene asked.
“Now you go home, just like I said,” he replied. “And take the rest of your group with you. Don’t come back here thinking to confess and help out Lucille, either. I won’t hear any more confessions, understood?”
The women nodded.
“As for Decker, well... I think maybe that disease Dr. Harcourt talked about is spreading to Lucille and Leonard. They look a little pale to me, don’t you think?” The women all agreed they looked very, very pale. “That ought to buy us a few more days, and hopefully I can sort out this... mess.” Amos glared at Lucille and Leonard, but particularly Leonard.
“Oh, I almost forgot,” said Irene before leaving the station. She hurried back over to the cell and started to hand something to Lucille.
“What’s that?” Amos asked, quickly crossing the room.
“Just a recipe,” Irene said.
Amos snatched what looked to be a small, square piece of paper from Irene’s hand. He unfolded it and looked it over, then looked at Irene. “Roast beef?” he asked.
Irene nodded, smiling. “It’s a new recipe I tried last night. The girls helped me come up with it.” She indicated the three other women standing behind her.
Leonard tried to get a look at the slip of paper but couldn’t make anything out. “Why would you want to give Lucille a recipe now? Think she could cook in her cell?” He chuckled lightly at his joke as he handed the paper to Lucille.
Irene shrugged. “I just wanted her to have it before I forgot about it. Lucy loves to cook and I thought the idea of it might give her something to take her mind off of things.”
Leonard stepped over to Lucy and read it over her shoulder. It looked like a recipe all right, only no recipe he’d ever seen before. “Two cups of fat?” he asked, looking at Irene.
Irene pressed her lips together. “Fat makes things taste good,” she said with a shrug.
“You can use lard or butter if you have enough of it,” said Betty from the back of the room.
He looked at it again. “Cream? Salt? Sugar?” His eyes bulged from his head as he made a face. This didn’t sound like any roast beef he’d want to eat.
“That’s mostly for the gravy,” Irene said.
“It must be a very rich gravy,” Amos said from his chair.
“That’s right,” said Irene. “Extremely rich.” She gave Lucille a look.
Lucille pressed her lips together. “I don’t think this recipe looks very good,” she said.
“It’s the perfect recipe,” Irene said.
Lucille shook her head and tried to hand it back. “No. I won’t use it. Ever.”
Irene shrugged. “You don’t have to. Belle, Betty, Francis, and I are more than capable of using it ourselves.”
Amos was starting to give them strange looks now.
“We’d better go,” Belle said. “Talking about all this food is making me hungry.”
“Irene,” Lucille said through clenched teeth. “Don’t make that beef. It’s a bad recipe.”
Irene just smiled as she turned away. “I’ve already made it,” she said and left with the other women.
Leonard looked at her trembling hands and drew her into a hug. He ignored the burning warmth he felt where their bodies pressed together. In her ear, he whispered, “What was all that about?”
She only shook her head. Whatever Irene and those others had planned, he just hoped it wasn’t something that would get them locked up in here with them.
* * *
