Bedford Street Brigade 01 - Where the Lady Belongs by Laura Landon Read Free Book Online

frustration grow every day. He left early each morning and came home late each afternoon. Their days and nights took on a routine. Cora got up early and took breakfast out to the men who’d stood guard all night. Then she helped Mrs. Ramesdale cook and bake for the day ahead. She and Harper took out a meal at lunchtime; then each evening she and Mack ate a late dinner. Usually two or more of the investigators joined them. That’s when Mack and the other investigators discussed the results from the day’s work and made plans for the next day.
    After they left, Mack and she would walk through the garden. They would sit together beneath the beechnut tree where they’d first stopped, and they would talk. Sometimes their topics were insignificant, and other times Cora considered their subjects filled with meaningful information that provided her with greater insight as to what made Mack the man he was.
    The most relevant information she gathered was that Mack Wallace was a remarkably unique individual. She’d given up on love long ago, but Mack Wallace had awakened emotions she thought were long dead. In fact, she was afraid she’d already given him a significant portion of her heart that she would never get back.
    It had been fourteen days since the murder, and tonight Mack was consumed in thought. Cora was sure the day hadn’t been as productive as he’d wanted it to be, and she overheard him tell his fellow investigators that he felt as if they were wasting their time. That unless they came up with something soon, they were going to have to try a different approach.
    Cora wasn’t sure what that different approach might be, and she didn’t want to ask.
    After the brigade left, she walked with him through the garden in relative silence.
    “Are you sure you want to sit out here, Cora? I think it’s going to rain.”
    Cora looked up as the first raindrop hit her face. “Yes, maybe we should go in.”
    They walked toward the house but had to run the last few steps when the rain fell in earnest.
    “Oh, that was close,” Cora said, brushing off a few drops of rain from the sleeve of her dress. “Did you get wet?” she asked him.
    “No, we made it in time.”
    “Do you want me to get some tea? It won’t take long.”
    “No,” he said, sitting on a sofa. “Just come and sit with me.”
    Cora moved toward him, but his voice stopped her.
    “Do you have another sketch?”
    Cora nodded, then went for one of the copies she’d made in case they needed extras. When she reached the sofa, she handed it to him, then sat down beside him.
    For several minutes he studied the sketch as if he’d never seen it before, then he dropped his hand to his lap and let the drawing lie there.
    “Do you see anything new?” she asked, taking the drawing from his fingers and holding it up in front of her.
    Mack shook his head. “No, it’s the same as before. The same face. The same scar on his cheek. The same inexpensive suit. The same hand holding the same pistol. Everything’s the same, and there’s nothing there to give us a clue as to who he is.”
    “Don’t worry,” she said. “Eventually you’ll show it to someone who will recognize him.”
    “Yes, but how long will it take before that happens?”
    “Patience, Mack.” She lifted the sketch up before her again. Maybe there was something she’d forgotten to put in.
    She studied it but found nothing missing.
    “What’s that?” Mack said, pointing to the very bottom of the sketch.
    “That’s the gunman’s suit pocket,” she answered.
    “What’s that in his pocket?”
    “It was a folded newspaper. It was wrinkled and smudged and looked to be months old,” Cora said. “I only remember it because I couldn’t help but wonder why the man had a newspaper that was so out of date.”
    Mack grabbed the sketch from her hand and sat forward. “Do you remember anything about the paper? Which paper was it? The Times ?”
    “No. It wasn’t any paper I’d ever heard of