The Housekeeper's Proposal Page 5

  Griff looked up, saw Jeremy standing there, and he aimed his next words at him. “If anything happens to my sister under your roof, I’ll kill you with my bare hands.” He kissed his sister’s forehead and left.

  Jeremy went back into his study. Things had just gone from bad to worse. He rued the day he ever met Ephraim Finch. He’d have been better off parting with his property than his personal freedom and good name.

  In the morning, everyone remained quiet. Kate served him his breakfast in silence. He ate without speaking and left for work. He had a big lumber order to put together and he hoped it would be enough to take his mind off Helen’s death.

  Kate hadn’t gotten much sleep the night before and felt depressed and morose. She served Jeremy’s breakfast, and since he wasn’t talkative, she also remained silent. He ate his breakfast and never questioned why she hadn’t given him ham. Perhaps he’d realized she had no desire to fetch it from the cellar.

  She wondered why he had appeared so withdrawn. Could it be he’d felt sad for Helen, or was he worried about being blamed?

  He couldn’t have put Helen’s body in the cellar. Helen hadn’t been there in the morning when she’d gone down to get ingredients for breakfast, and she hadn’t been there at noon when she had last visited the cellar. Helen must have been placed there between noon and six in the afternoon. Jeb, Abe, and Jake were all there, but no one else. Could one of them be the killer?

  Griff stopped in just before noon, and Kate invited him to have lunch with her. She made them sandwiches from the meatloaf she’d made for Jeremy’s dinner the night before.

  They ate and made small talk. Over their tea, Griff said, “I need to ask you a few questions.”

  Kate inhaled deeply. “All right.”

  “When was the last time you were in the cellar before the time you found Helen.”

  “Around noon, when I went down there for a bit of ham for sandwiches.”

  “Who was on the property that afternoon?”

  “Jake, Abe, Jeb, Ethel, Geraldine, and myself,” Kate said.

  “Only a man could have carried her down—Helen being dead weight.”

  “Mr. Walker doesn’t get home until six. He came home at just about that time, minutes after I found her,” Kate explained. For some reason, she didn’t want her brother to put the blame on Jeremy. He couldn’t have put her there. She didn’t want him to be guilty.

  “No, but he could have had someone do it for him,” Griff said. He emptied his cup and stood. “Are you sure you want to stay here? I can solve this case without your being here, Kate. It’s becoming dangerous.”

  “Why? Mr. Walker treats us very well,” she said. “I’m not worried. I’d like to stay. I haven’t even had a chance to do much interrogating before yesterday, but I’d like to find out what the men here know.”

  “Be careful, then,” Griff said.

  “I will,” Kate stood on her tiptoes and kissed his cheek.

  Griff scratched his head. “Do you think there really is an Otto?”

  “I don’t know,” Kate said thoughtfully, “but I’ll try to find out.”

  “Just be careful. If you ever feel the least bit threatened, come home,” Griff said.

  “Why do you think I’d be in danger?”

  “Because people who know too much often become the next victim.”

  “I’ll be careful,” she said, walking her brother to the door.

  “Oh, by the way, Griff, how are you and Aunt Bertha getting along?”

  “Don’t even ask. I couldn’t find my boots this morning. She’d decided they needed washing and scrubbed them with lye soap and hot water. I found them hanging on the clothesline,” he pointed to his feet. “Just look at them!”

  Kate saw the faded, dull boots, and stifled a laugh.

  Chapter 7

  That afternoon, Kate wandered out to the stables on the pretense of visiting the horses and feeding them some carrots. She was standing, leaning over a stall feeding a horse, when Jeb walked up to her.

  “That’s Sheba,” he said. “Looks as though she likes you.”

  “I love horses. I started riding at the age of four,” Kate said.

  “Just don’t try and pet the stallion,” he pointed to the next stall. “He’s a bit wild yet. I have to work with him a bit more. He can become ornery.”

  “I’ll throw a carrot to him then,” she said.

  “Have you worked here long, Jeb?” She really needed to do some prying.

  “Naw, just three years,” he answered, leaning on the stall door.

  “Did you know old Amos Walker?”

  “Did I ever…the meanest man in town, he was.”

  “I’ve heard,” she said, trying to think of a way to find out more without seeming too meddlesome.

  “I almost quit a few times on account of his yelling all the time,” Jeb said.

  “I know how you must have felt. I almost quit yesterday when I found…Helen.”

  “It shook us all up, Miss Hammond.”

  “You can call me Kate,” she said with a smile.

  Jeb blushed. “Naw, that wouldn’t be right. I’ll call you Miss Kate—that sounds more respectful. Mr. Walker’d have my head on a block if I called you by your given name.”

  “Poor Helen. What was she like, Jeb?” she asked.

  “She acted a bit uppity, if you ask me,” Jeb said.

  “She looked down on us hired hands. She liked to boss the maids, too. Ethel detested her, and she wasn’t happy when she discovered she’d be her lady’s maid.”

  “I’m sure Mr. Walker loved her, though,” Kate said.

  “Hardly,” Jeb said with a sarcastic chuckle. “Ethel told me they didn’t even share a room and that the marriage had never been consummated. Geraldine says Helen screamed at Mr. Walker like a fishwife. She wondered how he stood it for so long.”

  “That’s sad. Poor Mr. Walker. Now everyone thinks he killed her,” she said. “I can’t picture that kind man harming anyone.”

  “Mr. Walker’s a good man. He didn’t kill her, I’d bet anything on it,” Jeb said. “Thing is, she’s been missing for weeks. I’d like to know where she’d been up until you found her.”

  “That is curious,” Kate said thoughtfully. “I also wonder where she could have been all that time.”

  “Well, I have to bring the horses back into the corral and chase the cattle to a different grazing spot,” Jeb said. “It’s been nice talking to you, Miss Kate.” He turned and walked from the barn.

  He’d brought up a good point: where had Helen been for the past few weeks?

  Kate fed the rest of the horses and decided to saddle one up and take a ride around the property when she had time.

  She hurried back to the house to start cooking dinner. She’d made a stew earlier, and it had been simmering on the stove all day. All that was left to do was make some biscuits.

  As she mixed the dough for the biscuits, she wondered about why Ethel disliked Helen so much. She supposed if the woman had looked down on the servants it would have been a good reason to dislike her, but would it have been a motive for murder?

  Geraldine came into the kitchen and sighed. “I’ve polished all the silver, like you asked, Kate. Anything else you want me to do?”

  “No, thank you,” she said. “On the next windy day, we’ll hang all the curtains and drapes outside, and maybe the rugs, too. We’ll give them a good airing out.”

  “Good idea. They haven’t been done since last spring,” Geraldine said.

  “Tell me, Geri, did you like Helen?”

  “Honestly?”

  Kate nodded.

  “No. For a gambler’s daughter having lived upstairs over a saloon, she sure had a haughty attitude. We all wondered how she’d gotten so high and mighty being reared in that atmosphere, without even a single servant,” Geraldine shook her head. “No, neither Ethel nor I liked her, but we tolerated her and pitied poor Mr. Walker.”

  “I wonder what happened to her,”
Kate said.

  “I think she ran off, thinking she could do better than Mr. Walker and hitched herself to the wrong fellow.” Geraldine shook her head. “From what I gathered from their arguments, she wanted Mr. Walker to romance her and make their marriage genuine, but he refused. He told her he’d take care of her and even give her child a name—she just couldn’t accept it.”

  “Thank you for filling me in, Geri. I have so many questions after finding her yesterday.” “And after going through what you did yesterday, you deserve to know everything,” Geraldine said. “Ethel might be able to tell you more, being her personal maid and hating every minute of it.”

  “So, if your idea is right and she picked up with someone, how do you suppose she ended up in our cellar?”

  “I really don’t know. Good question,” Geraldine said.

  “I dreaded going down there today, but I had to. It gets a bit easier each time. I don’t think I’ll ever forget finding her there, though.”

  When Jeremy walked in, he greeted them somberly and went to the laundry room to wash up. When he sat down at the table, she brought him a steaming bowl of stew.

  “Thank you, Kate.” As she pulled her hand from the bowl, he grabbed it gently. “I’m so sorry for what you had to go through yesterday.”

  “It’s not your fault, Mr. Walker.”

  Jeremy gave her an odd look that she couldn’t interpret. It looked to her like a mixture of sorrow and guilt.

  “I’ll get you some hot biscuits,” she said pulling her hand away. His hand had felt warm and gentle even though it was hard and calloused from hard work. She knew, deep inside, that he couldn’t hurt a fly.

  When Kate brought him the biscuits he asked, “Will you take tea with me after dinner? I’d like to talk to you about things. I don’t think either of us was in the mood this morning.”

  “Of course. I’ll just join the maids in the back of the kitchen to eat our dinner, and I’ll meet you in the sitting room with a tea tray.”

  “Perfect,” he said. “Oh, and this stew is out of this world. May I have seconds?”

  “Of course.” Kate filled his bowl. If you want more, it will be on the stove.” She walked back to the old wooden table where she and the maids ate.

  Jeremy found it hard to believe Kate could be such a fabulous cook, seeing that she was so young. He wondered just how affected she was having found Helen the way she had. She’d forgotten his dessert—he’d have to do without. Having more stew would just have to satisfy him.

  He wondered what Kate thought of him. He didn’t know why he should care, but he did. He liked Kate. It felt so domestic having her cook and care for him as if—well, he wouldn’t go there with his thoughts, but he loved having her around and hoped she’d stay for a long time. He knew, being so pretty, sooner or later some fellow was bound to snatch her up and—why did the thought bother him so much? Surely, he’d be able to find another cook and housekeeper.

  Jeremy made himself comfortable on the sofa in the sitting room and awaited Kate with the tea tray.

  When she walked in, his heart shifted a few degrees in his chest. She was wearing her hair pushed back with combs again, and he loved the sight of her long brown curls. Her big blue eyes shielded by her long thick lashes did nothing to stop his shifting heart, either.

  When she set the tray down, he noticed she hadn’t forgotten desert. There were two plates on the tea tray with a frosted cinnamon bun on each. She poured the tea.

  “I bet you thought I’d forgotten your dessert,” she said with a stunning smile.

  “I did,” he said, taking his cup of tea from her. “I thought, perhaps, your mind would still be a bit foggy after your shock yesterday.”

  “It is.” She passed him the honey. “I can honestly claim it as the few moments in my life I’ll never forget.”

  After spooning in a large scoop of honey, Jeremy stirred his tea. “That’s what I want to talk about. Do you mind?”

  “No, It’s fine. Griff questioned me thoroughly at lunch,” she said.

  “I figured as much.”

  He took a sip of his tea and asked, “When you went down into the cellar at noon, everything down there appeared normal?”

  “Yes.” She held out the plate with his bun. “Eat it. While it’s still warm.”

  Jeremy took the bun. The intoxicating aroma mesmerized him, and he bit into it eagerly. “Mmm.” He smacked his lips. “Heavenly.”

  Kate smiled proudly, and again, his heart lurched. Good grief, she was beautiful.

  Between bites, he tried to concentrate on his questions. He asked, “And you saw no one unusual or strange on the property yesterday?”

  She shook her head, also enjoying her cinnamon bun. When she licked the frosting from her lips, Jeremy felt his heart move in his chest once more. It suddenly became more than he could handle. He cast his eyes from her and decided to finish the talk before he grabbed her and licked that frosting off her lips himself.

  “May I ask you a question?” Kate said coyly.

  “Of course. Don’t ever hesitate to ask me anything,” he said with as warm a smile as he could muster.

  “I know that your relationship with Helen wasn’t a romantic one. Did you plan on living the rest of your life without love or affection yourself, as well?”

  “If necessary, yes,” he answered. “But deep inside, I knew she’d never last in a platonic relationship, and that I could endure it indefinitely—I’ve done without it this long. In fact, the last conversation we had she threatened to get the marriage annulled.”

  “Some may consider that a strong motive for murder,” she said, softly.

  “And they’d be right. It is a very strong motive—if I were the type who could harm another human being. When she went missing, I’d assumed she’d met up with her Otto, or went into town to arrange for an annulment.”

  “Do you have any idea where she stayed those weeks after she left?” she asked.

  Jeremy chuckled to himself. She’d completely taken over his interrogation, and he didn’t mind at all. Any time spent with her was a delight. It also gave him a chance to tell her his side of things. He didn’t want her, especially, to believe he’d killed Helen.

  “I know, to some, it might sound cruel that I married a woman and didn’t consummate the marriage or try to make it real, but I just couldn’t do it. First of all, it wouldn’t have been fair to her to believe I cared when I didn’t, and secondly, I never gave up the hope she’d leave and I’d be able to find the love of my life someday.”

  Kate seemed to be studying him, and then she said softly, “I believe you.”

  He couldn’t stop the automatic smile that must have lit up his face. It meant a lot to him that she believed him. If no one else ever believed him innocent, at least Kate had.

  “Thank you,” he said. “Any more of these cinnamon buns?” he asked.

  “Yes. Would you like for me to get you another?”

  “No, but they would surely make a great breakfast in the morning instead of a ham-less egg.”

  She gave him a guilty smile. “I wasn’t ready to go down into the cellar, yet”

  “I figured that might have been the reason. I’d lost my appetite anyway.”

  “I’ll warm the buns and serve you some for breakfast,” she said.

  He set his empty cup down and Kate quickly poured him more tea. Could that be a signal she wanted to prolong the tea party as much as he did? He had to spoil it by asking something he guessed would upset her, but it had been the main reason he’d called the meeting in the first place.

  “I have another question for you,” Jeremy said. “I hope this question doesn’t offend you or cause you to leave because you’re doing a fantastic job.” He hesitated until she nodded. “Did you take this job to prove me guilty? Was it your brother’s idea to plant you here as a spy?”

  Chapter 8

  Kate nearly choked on her tea when he’d asked if her brother had planted her in his employ to find him
guilty. He’d been so honest with her, she could do no less for him.

  “No. The idea to come and unravel the mystery was my own, and I wanted…to find you guilty.” She kept her eyes down at her tea as she spoke. “Griff all but forbid me to come here.” She didn’t want to see the disappointment in his eyes.

  “Your father was indirectly instrumental in killing our father. Were you aware of that?” she asked him.

  He sat back, noticeably surprised. “Excuse me?”

  “Your father refused to allow my father’s sheep access to his creek, and my father lost everything and had a heart seizure resulting from the stress of it,” she said.

  “How long ago was this?”

  “I’d just turned twelve.”

  Jeremy shook his head. “I suppose I’m to forever cover my father’s debts. All I can do now is apologize. I can’t blame you for wanting to find me guilty under those circumstances.”

  “I did come here to investigate, and while I believe you’re innocent, I’d still like to stay and help you solve the mystery and clear your name,” she said, looking up at him in time to see his smile.

  “Thank you, Kate. I’d welcome the help. I’m sure people will talk more freely around you than they would around me. And I get to keep the best housekeeper I’ve ever had.”

  “Tomorrow, I plan to saddle a horse, if that’s all right, and tour the property to look for anything suspicious,” she said. “I also spoke to Geraldine and Jeb at length and both were helpful in reassuring me you were innocent.”

  “I think Ethel might have something you haven’t heard yet. It’s just a feeling, but with her being Helen’s personal maid and all, she must know something,” Jeremy said.

  “She isn’t as forthcoming as Jeb and Geraldine,” Kate said, “but I’ll certainly try.”

  “So are we partners now, rather than just boss and servant?” Jeremy asked, hope evident in his voice.