Shaking his head, Fred met Carl’s eyes. “You can’t say anything. Seems that woman you named is real interested in whether you got your memory back. Expect she’d have you killed if she thought you weren’t an idiot.”
“Why don’t you just arrest her? After all, the Pinkertons hauled Halderson away last summer. And I told you what I heard.”
Fred stiffened. “I told you it doesn’t work like that. I have to have more evidence, not just the word of a drunkard who suffered a terrible head wound. No one confessed in front of you that night. You only think those people were part of this prostitution scheme.”
Pushing a hand roughly through his hair, Fred sighed heavily. “Besides, the prosecutor won’t go along with that, sorry son of a gun that he is. Remember, he’s the one who pushed for Ram Strong to go free, even after the man tried to rape Zelly Fuller.”
Disgust thickened Fred’s words, causing Carl to more closely study his brother’s face. Dark smudges betrayed the late hours his brother worked. The set to Fred’s lips hinted at cynicism. “You think the Pinkerton agents caught everyone who was involved with the white slavery scheme? After what they almost did to Carlene Strong when she arrived, I’d like every one of them punished.”
Fred raised an eyebrow. “What about what they did to you that night? They beat you and killed Ralph Stinson.”
Carl’s lips thinned. “Somehow murder and a beating don’t seem as evil as promising a girl work in the hotel but imprisoning her in a brothel.” His friend Carlene’s story and also what he’d read in the paper about poor Minnie Pine, the girl who escaped to tell the world about a white slavery ring in Iron Mountain, Michigan, had convinced Carl. He believed with all his heart that what was done to those girls was much worse than a beating or murder. It had to be stopped.
At a shake to his shoulder, Carl’s wandering mind returned to the conversation at hand. He watched Fred drop his hand away from him and shake his head. “You’ll have to step up your game. Maybe act as if you are remembering things. See if you can get any other names from her or that gossip of a husband.”
Carl nodded. He’d take the risk. “But what about that wife they’re bringing me?”
Fred punched his shoulder playfully, lightening the mood. “Maybe no woman will come. After all, who would be desperate enough to marry you?”
A Keeper for Christmas is Available on Amazon.
Books by Marisa Masterson
Find these titles at https://www.amazon.com//e/B07PRCNS49.
Belles of Wyoming:
Grace for a Drifter
The Teacher’s Star
Lockets and Lace: Ginger Snap
North and South:
The Massachusetts Bride
The Maine Bride (coming January 2021)
The Proxy Brides: A Bride for Darrell
A Bride for Bode
Secrets in Idyll Wood Series:
Hart’s Longing
Manny’s Triumph
A Farmer for Christmas (Spinster Mail-Order Brides series)
A Keeper for Christmas (Spinster Mail-Order Brides series)
Wistful in Wisconsin (Yours Truly: The Lovelorn)
Spinster Mail-Order Brides:
A Shadowed Groom for Christmas
Westward Home and Hearts Series:
Ruby’s Risk
About Marisa Masterson
Marisa Masterson and her husband of thirty-one years reside in Saginaw, Michigan. They have two grown children, one son-in-law, a precious new granddaughter, and one old and lazy dog.
She is a retired high school English teacher and oversaw a high school writing center in partnership with the local university. In addition, she is a National Writing Project fellow and a regular contributor to the Sweet Americana Sweethearts and Sweethearts of the West blogs.
Focusing on her home state of Wisconsin, she writes sweet historical romance. Growing up, she loved hearing stories about her family pioneering in that state. Those stories, in part, are what inspired her to begin writing.
If you like this book, please take a few minutes to leave a review now! Marisa appreciates it and you may help a reader find their next favorite book!
