Twenty-Seven

Where’s Col. Selig?” Whitbread asked after Alonzo Swift and Babe Greer left us.

“I don’t know, he was here earlier,” I said. “He was with Broncho Billy, which seemed surprising.” I tried to hide the fact that I was reeling from the news that Alonzo Swift apparently had not killed Hyde and Leeder. Just as I feared, the trail seemed to be returning to Alden, and I still had not told Whitbread about his lie. I couldn’t bring myself to do it now. It was too late. I found reprieve when Whitbread decided that I should take the children and leave.

“Mr. Fitzgibbons, you’ll be so good as to transport Mrs. Chapman and the girls back to Hyde Park.” It wasn’t a question, it was an order. Fitz knew it and he frowned, but he graciously agreed, nonetheless. “I’ll follow up here with Selig and the others,” Whitbread said. “And I must speak to Broncho Billy…Gil Anderson.”

Lizzie and Penny were sufficiently repentant and grateful for the time they’d spent at the studios to not make a fuss when I found them. I shepherded them down to Fitz’s automobile where they fell into a funk, no doubt anticipating the trouble they would be in when we reached home. I sat with Fitz in the back seat. The girls faced us on little stools that folded down. As we began to pull out of the drive I saw a very long white saloon car parked off to the side. Fitz noticed it as well.

“That’ll be Senator Clark,” Fitz said. He kept an eye on the girls as he whispered in my ear. “The famous ‘Copper King’ of Montana I was telling you about.”

I twisted around to try to get a look but there was nothing to see. It seemed Kathlyn Williams was still seeing her wealthy patron…in secret. This was the woman Alden was leaving Clara for? I was already very worried about him. What had he done with Clara’s check that night? Why would he give it to Mr. Leeder? Was Leeder really a blackmailer? Had he been blackmailing Alden about his liaison with Kathlyn Williams? Or something else? Perhaps it wasn’t Clara’s check at all. Or perhaps Alden had given it to Col. Selig and he, in turn, had given it to Leeder. Was the colonel the one Leeder had been blackmailing? My head spun with the possibilities.

Fitz gazed at Lizzie and Penny with quiet admiration. “Your children have grown up,” he said.

To me, they represented yet another problem. What to do about them when we got home? I was unsure, but I trusted that Stephen and I, between us, could come up with a suitable punishment that would teach Lizzie a lesson. As for Penny, I knew she was a warmhearted girl who was already repentant and that she felt the hurt she’d caused her mother deeply. I only wished some of her sensibility would wear off on my daughter. But I knew Lizzie sat there fearing for herself rather than thinking of how she’d injured others. I shook my head. “Mr. Fitzgibbons, is it true what Alonzo Swift said? Is there really a settlement with his wife?”

“Yes, there is. Selig told me about it yesterday. Of course, some people will still object.”

“I should think so. He has four children!” I was outraged even if no one else was.

“Yes, but most people aren’t aware of that. Most people only know him from the films and they think of him as Babe Greer’s lover. They won’t be surprised by the engagement. Most of his fans have been waiting for it anxiously.”

How unfair it seemed that people like Alonzo Swift could discard a family at will and suffer no consequences, while Alden and Clara were facing disgrace among their friends, family, and colleagues. Unlike the film star, even their professions would be damaged, as such actions were just not deemed acceptable. I supposed it might be different for Alden if he really planned to leave the newspapers behind. Perhaps in the film world he, too, could escape condemnation.

But he would face far worse if he was charged with two murders.

“You’re very fortunate,” Fitz said.

His comment shook me from my reverie. I wasn’t feeling fortunate, but I supposed he meant my family as he observed the girls. Poor Penny. There was a rough road ahead for her but I didn’t dare to say so. “Family is both a blessing and a burden,” I said. “Do you regret never marrying? Perhaps it’s not too late for you. At least, unlike Alonzo Swift, you don’t need to rid yourself of an unwanted wife and children if you find your true love.”

“No. But I’ve always feared my fate, if I tried my luck, would be more like poor Mr. Hyde’s than your Dr. Chapman’s,” he said.

Hyde, whose wife had run away. I wondered what Fitz would think of the fate of Alden and Clara. I knew he suspected. “Kathlyn Williams seems also to suffer the consequences of an ill-fated match,” I said. “I only wish she’d had a happier conclusion to her marriage, so as not to endanger anyone else’s.” I was looking at Penny, who stared out the window with a sad face.

Fitz sighed. “We cannot always be blamed for our feelings. We cannot always have control of them. Things happen that must be lived through and accepted.”

I remembered years before, when Fitz confided in me that the wedding picture in his office was of his brother’s wedding…to a young woman Fitz himself had loved first. He felt that pain he spoke of, but I was unwilling to concede the point. I was thinking of Clara, not Fitz. “I don’t believe it’s right to condone a breach with the excuse of strong feelings. To see a family torn apart, to allow a past life together to be ripped to shreds merely to satisfy a new flame of emotion is wrong, Mr. Fitzgibbons, and it is something I would never forgive.”

At that moment, we reached Clara’s house, where Penny was greeted with tears. Clara looked so pale I insisted we leave all explanations and planning to the next day, and Fitz delivered Lizzie and me safely to our own door. I had lost heart for punishing my daughter by the time we sat down to a makeshift supper. Stephen was exhausted, so we all went to bed early, putting off decisions about the future—when we would leave for Woods Hole and other matters—to the next day.

In the morning, we were still at breakfast when a policeman came to the door. He informed me that Detective Whitbread demanded my presence downtown immediately. The tone of the request was so different from what I was used to from my friend and mentor that I was surprised. I was even more taken aback when I hurried out to the official motorcar and found Clara already seated inside. I knew something was seriously amiss.