Week 5, Instructor Calendar
March 1898
“Miss Adams! Er, I mean, Mrs. Capshaw—it’s so nice to see you back,” the girl at the front desk said eagerly. “I know Martha will be glad. Did you have a nice trip?”
“Can you get Martha for me? And Eli, too?” Sophia said, urgency in her voice. There wasn’t time for pleasantries.
The puzzled girl hesitated, then hurried down the corridor.
It seemed an agony of waiting before the girl located Martha, who greeted Sophia with an enthusiastic hug. “Welcome back!” She turned to Concordia. “So good to see you, too, dear. Now we can take care of that little problem—”
“Unfortunately, Martha, Mrs. Tooey is dead,” Concordia interrupted. “We went to the boarding house to speak with her about Eli, but found her…strangled.”
Martha paled and put her hands to her bosom. “Dear heaven.”
“Here, sit down.” Concordia helped Martha onto a hall bench.
“I’m all right,” Martha said, taking a deep breath. “But how horrible. Do they know who did it?”
“It’s early yet,” Sophia said. “Aaron’s investigating now.”
“That poor woman,” Martha murmured to herself. “I suppose we should tell Eli. As distressing as the death might be to the child, at least he’ll have some peace of mind in knowing he isn’t going away with her.” She stood and gestured to the girl at the desk. “Can you fetch Eli?” She checked her lapel watch. “Let me think...he should be in carpentry class. We’ll wait in my office.” She nodded to the girl, who took off.
“We’ll be more comfortable—and private—in here,” Martha said, with a quick glance at the cleaning woman who had just entered the hall with mop and bucket.
Once they were settled, Concordia asked, “Had Eli seen Florence at all this week?”
Martha’s brow puckered in thought. “I don’t believe so,” she said, “but that boy comes and goes at will, more than I’m happy with. Even after a year of our care—and our rules—he can’t seem to shake his harum-scarum habit of just going where the mood strikes. He hears about a job delivering extra papers, or taking over a shoelace stand for a sick boy, and he’s on it like a flash. Not that I don’t admire his hard-working, entrepreneurial spirit, but his studies are erratic, and he seems quite restless. Lately, I’ve attributed that to the stress of having a mother he never knew come back to fetch him.” She sighed.
Concordia sympathized. Managing wayward children and unstable families on a thin budget was no easy task. Funds, room, and time were all out of favor in such an endeavor.
The girl came back. “Master Bernard says Eli never showed up, miss.”
Concordia sucked in a sharp breath. “Has anyone seen him today? It’s very important we find him.”
The girl pursed her lips and thought. “I can ask Madge. She was at the front desk early this morning, and might a’ seen him.”
“Ask everyone,” Sophia urged. She had paled again. Concordia wished she had smelling salts.
“Yes, miss,” the girl said, and ran out the door.
The three women looked at each other. What could they do now?
Their unspoken thought was answered when there was a brief knock and Capshaw walked in, red-faced. “I thought I told you both to stay put,” he growled at Sophia and Concordia. “I don’t need to walk all over creation to find you.”
“But we left word as to where we would be,” Sophia said in mock-meekness, earning her a sharp glance from her husband.
Maloney came in and stood by the door, waiting.
“What did you learn?” Sophia asked.
Capshaw shook his head. “Not much. She was strangled with a garroting wire.” He ran a distracted hand over his head, making tufts of red hair stand on end. Concordia was reminded of a Pomeranian with its hackles raised. He turned to Martha. “Where’s Eli?”
“We’re looking for him,” Martha said.
“The presence of his cat in the room can only mean that he was there recently,” Capshaw said. “More worrisome is that he left without the animal.”
“What does it mean? Do you think he witnessed the murder?” Concordia asked. She stood, too restless to sit.
“I don’t know, but I want to find Eli and be assured he’s safe.” Capshaw fingered his mustache. “I have a bad feeling about this. Whatever this woman’s past, her attempt to take Eli with her seems to have spurred someone to act.”
“So Eli could have been taken by whoever killed Florence,” Sophia said in despair.
The girl from the front desk came in at that moment.
“Ma’am,” the girl said nervously, “no one’s seen ’im since this morning. And no one knows where he was going. Should I keep asking?”
“Yes, dear,” Martha said. “It’s urgent that we find him.”
Capshaw turned to Maloney. “Check the grocer’s, the women’s college, and the newspaper stand on Main and Church. Those are his usual places to earn a nickel. Take a couple of patrolmen to help you search. Also check the infirmaries nearby, just in case. The boy is about so high—” he held his hand up to chest-level “—black curly hair, pale complexion, freckles. Thin.” He turned to Martha. “Do you know what clothes he was wearing this morning?”
Martha mutely shook her head.
“Ah, well, that should be enough to start. Find him, sergeant,” he said to Mahoney. “I’m personally counting upon you.”
With a quick nod, Maloney left.