“And, by the way,” she added casually, “I have let go that obnoxious Henry and Mrs. Flowers. They could not maintain a proper attitude and I refuse to have them around.”
He stood looking at her quite a while before nodding his head and saying, “Very well, my dear.”
~~~
Karl had been dismayed to see his sister, and was not made happier by the news of Celeste leaving town. William had laughed and blatantly lied.
“She just went to visit a friend. Henry posted her off to Boston for a few days. It has been hard on poor Celeste since she lost her husband. I think she needs a break.”
Karl had nothing to report but William hinted there might be news coming out of Virginia soon. Karl directed that everyone continue the plan that was in place and privately told Harriet to keep a better eye on Miranda when she got back, or William might try to get out of the marriage.
“He hasn't tried anything, has he?” growled Karl.
“No, we don't even have adjoining rooms,” she said. “He knows his place.”
She didn't mention the plans for the future that William had drawn for her. He gave every indication of becoming a fond husband. But she’d deal with that detail once this caper was over.
~~~
When Harriet and William returned the following afternoon, they discovered an even emptier house than Miranda had. Someone had left her bedroom door open after all the luggage had been removed, and the stripped room was obvious.
Unfortunately, Harriet had seen the letter from Miranda and discovered where she was going. Apparently she had notified her henchmen and they had raced off after Miranda's train, thinking she had taken with her information pertaining to the missing war gold.
William had sent a runner to notify John. He’d agreed to the trip to see Karl, hopping to get Harriet away from the house long enough for Miranda to be able to leave. Unfortunately Miranda had still been at her cousin’s while all the drama had been happening in his house, and nearly missed the window of opportunity to take off. As it was, some of the gang was hot on her trail. His own family was now in danger and it was time to call an end to the farce.
Even if they couldn't get these people all arrested on federal charges, they had violated enough laws to put them away for a long time. He’d see to it that Harriet went away for bigamy, if nothing else. And then he sighed. Both sides had known the marriage wasn’t real. Her husband had hired the “preacher”! Well, some of the stolen jewels were enough to see her locked up. The thought of that woman handling his precious wife’s belongings still made him shudder. And conspiracy charges, murder charges . . . The only real “failure” was finding out who was behind Karl. He clearly couldn’t have set up the gossip chain. Someone in high circles had orchestrated that.
He had to trust his daughters knew what they were doing regarding their love lives. He had let his daughter know that she was independently wealthy and did not need to marry unless she really wanted to. Meanwhile, he had investigated the town of Green River and the people with whom they were going to be involved, and determined it was as safe a place for them as any, or had been until the gang got on their trail.
However William did have one ace up his sleeve. The local Green River sheriff, Frank McNamara, had worked with him in Washington after the war. He quickly sent a coded wire to him, letting him know what was happening and asking that he watch out for the girls.
CHAPTER 7 – Traveling WestSunny
Miranda called the porter over.
“I am so sorry to disturb you, but as you know I have been forced to travel alone. I fear I have observed an individual, whom I cannot quite characterize as a gentleman, following me and watching me. I may be overreacting but no one else has walked by this corridor six times in the past hour, while staring in at me each time.” She proceeded to describe the man’s lank, dirty yellow hair, ill-shaven, lantern-jawed face, scrawny build, and stooped posture, wearing work clothes and boots.
“Yes, ma’am, I’ve seen that character and I believe he may just be trying to avoid the conductor if he has no ticket, but I’ll keep an extra eye out for you. He certainly doesn’t appear to be a First Class passenger so has no business passing through this car in any event. I’m Peters. Just ring for me if you need anything at all.”
She smiled at him, grateful to have been taken seriously and not treated as a crank.
A few hours later Peters reported back to her, pleased as punch.
“You were right! He was trying to travel without a ticket! We put him off at the last stop—into the arms of the local sheriff who will be checking to see what other mischief he may have been getting up to besides stealing train fare.”
Well, that was one of the men Henry had described to her out of the picture. But there were at least three others in the Krause Gang who’d been described to her. She could only pray her father wasn’t in danger.
~~~
Ever practical, nonetheless Miranda did not ignore the tension she was feeling. Even after Peters had advised that her stalker had been arrested, she still felt she was being watched. Sunny have been obvious because his class had not been consistent with her car and he had
