Mystery at Glennon Hall Page 8

  “Not tonight, old man. Sorry.” Otis didn’t look sorry as he sipped from the glass.

  “Blighter! Get your own drink.” Wes crossed back to the decanter to get another glass.

  “I believe you’ll be in need of all your wits for dinner this evening.”

  It was the warning tone of Otis’s voice that gave him his first clue.

  Wes groaned. “Don’t tell me.”

  “Your sister has guests. They are in the parlor even as we speak.”

  Wes covered his eyes with his hand as thoughts of a quiet dinner followed by a pleasant evening spent in the privacy of his suite with more Pennsylvania rye disappeared in smoke.

  “She didn’t.”

  “From what I can tell, her lady friend has much to commend her.” Otis took another drink.

  Wes dropped his hand. “Well, there’s nothing I can do about it now but put on a brave face. Have you picked out my clothes?”

  “They await you in the dressing room.” Otis took a seat.

  “Don’t finish the bottle before I return,” Wes grumbled as he left the room.

  “I wouldn’t dream of it,” Otis said.

  Wes heard him laughing in the other room. When he finished dressing for dinner, he returned to find Otis standing near the door to the hall waiting for him. Wes paused in front of Otis to let him finish his inspection.

  Otis adjusted the knot on Wes’s tie. “I suppose you’ll do.”

  “Wish me luck,” Wes said as he opened the door.

  “With the lady?” Otis asked.

  “With a quick end to the meal,” Wes said under his breath as he left the room.

  He considered using the elevator to reach the first floor then opted to struggle down the stairs. He heard voices as he neared the drawing room. The sound of his sister’s laughter stopped him in his tracks just outside the door. It was a natural sound, not the well-modulated tone she adopted in front of others. He wondered when he’d last heard her genuinely happy. An image of the two of them as young children came to mind.

  “I wonder where my brother has gotten to. Oh, there he is. Wesley, come in here.” Virginia crossed over to him and looped her arm in his. “These are the two that I mentioned to you. Mrs. Araminta Whitmer and her cousin, Mr. Chester Vanderlin.”

  Wes made the appropriate greetings. When Virginia freed his arm, he stepped forward to shake hands with Chester.

  “I was hoping to give them a tour of the campus after dinner,” Virginia said with a lift of her brows at her brother.

  “I’m afraid I am to blame for that,” Araminta said with an apologetic smile. “I’ve never met anyone with a school named after them. It all sounds so very interesting.”

  “Virginia was telling us about the new officers’ training school,” Chester said as he stopped next to Virginia. He held his arm out to escort her into the dining room.

  Wes was left standing next to Araminta with a bemused look on his face. Belatedly, he held his arm out. “My apologies. I wasn’t aware that news was made public yet. I only just heard a few moments ago. I believe there’s something my sister hasn’t mentioned to me yet.”

  Araminta gave him an understanding smile. “I won’t tell tales between siblings.”

  Wes was fairly certain he knew what that meant. After helping Araminta to her seat and taking his own, he addressed his sister. “Need I assume that I have you to thank for the officers’ training school?”

  “You can serve now,” Virginia told the servant before turning back to Wes. “Perhaps we should save that discussion for after dinner?”

  Her smile was the practiced one he was used to seeing in public. He was immediately sorry he chased the other away. He nodded his agreement and applied himself to the conversation that followed. By the time the dinner was over, he was laughing along with Virginia as he helped Araminta into her coat.

  “Just a short tour,” Araminta promised. “We don’t want to keep you long. I know you must be worn out after spending your whole day there. We’ll leave directly after seeing some of the buildings up close.”

  Wes walked beside her telling Araminta and Chester as much as he could remember about the school and the buildings they passed. As promised, the two visitors didn’t keep the Glennon siblings much longer. At the end of the tour, he stood with his sister in front of Glennon House waving at the motor car as they drove away.

  “Well, what did you think?” Virginia turned to go into the house.

  Wes climbed the front steps of the veranda with her. “I must say, I don’t recall the last time I laughed like that.”

  Virginia looked surprised, then pleased.

  He opened the front door for her. “Should I thank you for the officers’ training school as well?”

  She didn’t look at him as she slid her coat off. “I may have made a phone call or two. I did it for you.”

  “I know that,” he said quietly. “And I do thank you.”

  After passing her coat to a maid, she looped her arm in his and walked beside him. “I had to think of something to tempt you to stay.”

  He felt the smile pull at his lips. “Does that explain the lovely Mrs. Araminta Whitmer as well?”

  “It is hardly a chore to suffer her presence,” Virginia pointed out.

  “Agreed,” he said amiably as they reached the drawing room. He crossed over to a tray with a decanter and held it up. At her nod, he poured them both a drink. “A widow, I presume?”

  “Of course. Like me, she lost her husband early in the war.”

  “And her cousin, Chester Vanderlin? He is also not a dullard.”

  “Hardly,” she agreed as she took the glass from him. A small furrow appeared momentarily between her brows as she studied the glass in her hand. “You were right, you know. I didn’t marry my husband for love. I did it because our parents wanted me to. I would do it again.” Her voice held conviction. “He may have died in the war before his time, but he left me very well off when he did it. My children are cared for.”

  Wes didn’t argue with her. “But now you’re thinking you might want to try a different kind of relationship?”

  “I confess, I was always a little jealous of the one you had with Barbara, before her death. Though you’ve never said if you were happy together. At the end, I began to wonder.” Her eyes went to his. “I do not yet know if the man in question is worthy.”

  “But you are intrigued enough to find out?” he guessed. He saw the answer in her eyes. “Then I shall make the effort to know him better.”

  Chapter Sixteen

  After donning her typical wardrobe to go out at night, Delia added a jacket over a dark wool sweater for warmth. As she fastened on her service boots, she wished for the soft work cap worn by the groundskeeper to complete her outfit. She stole away from the house quietly. If there was one thing she had learned over the past several outings it was that the nightlife around the campus was fairly active.

  As she navigated her way slowly along the trail from Hazel’s house to the school orchard, she reached into her pocket to feel the comforting form of the flashlight Euphemia had sent to her. At a little over six inches long, it fit perfectly in her pocket.

  When she reached the first row of fruit trees, she blended in between a row rather than following the main trail. As silently as possible, she continued her way closer to her destination across the grass. She knew that the thieves were taking the food from one or more of the many areas in Glennon Hall. She assumed they were temporarily storing it in the spring house until they could move it again.

  Her guess was that the thieves might be living in one of the dormitories on campus. That would offer one explanation for why they needed the temporary storage area. They couldn’t bring the food back to their rooms without risking exposure. Because off-campus thieves could also have need for such a storage area, she hadn’t completely ruled them out as suspects.

  The sound of crickets in the orchard was nearly overwhelming. She relied on it to help cover any sound
s she might make. After leaving the safety of the fruit trees and the sound of their night songs lessened as she left many of them behind, Delia paused to listen. She could hear the sound of footsteps on the walkway. In the distance, she saw the night watchman walking away from her toward the dormitories.

  She turned and went the opposite direction toward the general area of Glennon Hall. She took an indirect route to get there stopping first at the spring house to listen again. Although she didn’t hear anything, she sensed that she wasn’t alone.

  Her suspicions were confirmed when a hand reached from behind her and clamped over her mouth. A strong arm circled around her. Delia immediately folded her arm and swung the point of her elbow toward her captor.

  “Ouch! What did you do that for?”

  She turned to face Arch Keaton.

  “Why did you sneak up on me?” she demanded as quietly as she could.

  “I was afraid you would scream.” He rubbed his side.

  “Why would I scream? I was the one who told you to meet me here.” She shook her head in the darkness. “Never mind. We need to find the thieves.”

  “I still say you’re crazy for doing this.” He stepped closer to the spring house to use it as cover.

  “You are welcome to your opinion,” she whispered back.

  “It isn’t safe for you to be about at night,” he continued.

  “You have my permission to leave,” she hissed back.

  “If something happened to you, Hazel would never forgive me.”

  There was that. It was something she had counted on when she asked him for the favor. “Then let’s do what we need to do.”

  She took his silence for agreement and started to say something else. His hand on her arm stopped her. They stood side-by-side in silence for several moments. At first, Delia couldn’t hear anything above the night sounds. Then there was a soft scuffing noise. After several more moments, muffled footsteps could be heard.

  Eventually, two figures emerged from the darkness. Delia hugged the spring house next to Arch and held her breath. The figures continued moving toward the direction of Glennon Hall. She waited for several moments after they passed before speaking again. When she did, she whispered her idea to Arch. He vehemently disagreed with her plan.

  “I cannot force you to help me,” Delia said before slipping away to follow the two figures in the night.

  She kept outside the range of the lamp lights and moved as quietly as possible toward Glennon Hall. When she had the hall in view, she found cover behind some hedgerows and waited. Arch joined her a moment later. Together they watched as a light shone near the side entrance to Glennon Hall. It was as Delia had suspected. A supply truck had arrived earlier in the day to restock the many storage areas inside. The thieves were planning to take some of the new stock.

  “They must have a flashlight,” Arch said.

  The comment gave her an idea. “Once they have the food from the storage areas, they’ll need to store it in the spring house.”

  “Yeah. So?”

  “You said you didn’t want me to help you catch them,” she reminded him.

  “Now you’re finally talking sense,” he muttered.

  “That means we need help.” She told him her idea.

  “It’s an improvement over you getting into a tussle with them.” He still didn’t sound convinced.

  She chose to accept his comment as agreement. “You go now. I’ll stay and watch them.”

  “That’s the part I don’t like.”

  She wasn’t going to argue with him. She doubted they had much time. The thieves must surely know the routine of the night watchman just as well as she did. Their window of opportunity was closing. The thieves had to make their move now.

  She reached up and pushed against his arm. He took the hint. One moment he was there. The next he was gone. Delia remained where she was and watched for the slivers of light to reappear near the entrance to Glennon Hall. It seemed to take forever.

  When she finally saw them, the two figures were moving more slowly and no longer looked like men. They now held bulky shapes over their backs and moved more awkwardly. She had no trouble following them back toward the spring house. They stopped often to shift their burdens in the darkness. They kept to the edge of the light as they moved.

  Not wanting to be seen, she moved deeper into the darkness. It meant taking more care to avoid tripping but the slow movement of the thieves made it possible to keep pace with them. As they neared the spring house, she hoped that Arch had managed to find the night watchman. Discovering the two figures out at night in the general vicinity of the stolen goods would be cause for suspicion. Apprehending the thieves with the stolen goods was more incriminating.

  Shortly before they reached the spring house, Delia positioned herself and slid the flashlight from her pocket. She switched on the flashlight aiming it toward the entrance to the spring house just as the figures reached it. The two men were illuminated in the light. Both froze in place.

  She heard a man’s voice shout out. “You there! Stop!”

  She kept her flashlight aimed toward the two figures and waited until two more figures join them. It didn’t take long before the thieves were subdued. Delia slipped away before the night watchman had a chance to go looking for the origin of the light she held in her hand.

  She was finishing a cup of tea in Hazel’s kitchen a short time later when she heard a soft tapping on the door. It opened a moment later and Arch stepped inside.

  “You were right. It was two of the students,” he said quietly. “We questioned them pretty thoroughly. They were selling it for the money. They said they needed the income to help support their families and remain in school.”

  Delia wrapped her hands around the empty teacup. “I’m sorry to hear that.”

  “Good night, miss.”

  As she rinsed the teacup in the sink, Delia wondered if the news of the students stealing for necessity would make it easier or harder for Hazel to accept.

  Chapter Seventeen

  Wesley lowered the newspaper and eyed the coffee pot on the sideboard across the dining room of Glennon House at breakfast. He debated getting up to refill his cup.

  “It won’t grow legs and come to you,” Otis said from the other side of the table. He lowered his newspaper enough to peer over the top. “Would you like me to get it for you?”

  “That would be uncommonly kind of you,” Wes said as his newspaper went back up. He read another page before lowering it again. Otis hadn’t moved. Wes set his section of the newspaper on the table and pushed himself up from his chair.

  “Are you done with that?” Otis asked from behind his newspaper.

  Wes snatched his section of the newspaper up and tossed it at Otis before crossing over to the coffee pot. He stopped next to Otis first to fill his cup.

  “I believe I need a new manservant,” Wes said.

  Otis grunted an agreement.

  Wes moved to the other side of the table. “There’s always that young man that works for the school.”

  “Sam,” Otis supplied.

  “Exactly. He appears to be full of energy. Something you and I obviously lack. Though I’m not certain he’s entirely stable.” Wes filled his cup then set the coffee pot down on the table and took his seat. “I saw him yesterday, late in the afternoon. He was eating his meal in between his chores.”

  Otis lowered his newspaper and reached for his coffee cup as he listened to Wes.

  Wes dropped his eyes to the coffee cup in front of him. “I suggested that he drink a glass of milk with his food because it was good for him. The boy acted like I was trying to poison him.”

  “No doubt.” Otis set his newspaper on the table. “His mother died of milk sickness. Lost his siblings from it also. Young Sam was sick but recovered. His father was so distraught, he left the area. No one has heard from him since. That’s why the boy lives here.”

  “Well, that would explain it.” Wes picked up his coffee cup.
“I take it this tidbit was gleaned from one of the women in the kitchen?”

  “They are a fountain of knowledge,” Otis agreed amiably.

  “In your never-ending quest to divest them of their many secrets, were you able to learn anything else about the faculty and staff here?”

  “Getting to know the women here is but one of the many sacrifices I make on your behalf.” Otis’s face turned thoughtful. “There was something interesting about the female Yeoman Second Class of the Naval Reserve Force.”

  “Oh? Do tell.”

  “Mind you, it’s only rumor.” Otis checked the doorway to see if any of the servants were about. “I have yet to confirm it unconditionally.”

  “I trust your ability to ferret out even the best-kept secrets,” Wes said.

  “Perhaps not in this case,” Otis warned. “I was able to gather only the smallest part of the story and it wasn’t from anyone here. I had to make several phone calls to our friends in Washington even for this small morsel.”

  “You have my attention.”

  “It’s regarding the incident that ended her military career.”

  Wes chuckled as he set his coffee cup down. “Don’t tell me it was because she was tired of the uniform. Didn’t like the color, eh?”

  Otis put an abrupt end to Wes’s amusement. “From what I’ve been told, the woman was stabbed with a knife.”

  ***

  Delia descended the steps from her classroom to the first floor of Glennon Hall. She was early for her committee meeting but her class had ended several minutes ago. As she reached the bottom of the grand staircase, she debated stepping outside for some fresh air.

  “Miss Markham.”

  She turned toward the voice. A small group of students were gathered around the sitting area near the fireplace. Delia crossed over to join them.

  “Have you heard?” Gladys asked.