Love in Disguise by Carol Cox Read Free Book Online Page B

cross the street and make her way back toward Union Depot. With every step, her pace grew slower, and her eyes blurred. An angry shout brought her to her senses, and she realized she had stopped in the middle of Pershing Road, right in the path of a smart-looking carriage. Appalled at her lack of attention, Ellie hastened to the other side of the street and heaved herself up onto the boardwalk in front of the telegraph office.
    The sight of the Western Union sign reminded her of her promise to wire the home office with news of Norma’s sudden marriage. She might be on the brink of ruin, but she took pride in being a woman of her word. Lifting her chin and trying to stifle her tears, she marched into the brick building.
    “I want to send a wire to Chicago.”
    The bored-looking clerk pushed a form and a pencil across the counter to her.
    Ellie rolled the pencil between her fingers, trying to decide how to word the message that would mean the end of her short-lived career. Was there a way she could phrase it that would make the Pinkertons more likely to keep her on? After all, they still needed to send someone to take up the investigation in Arizona, and she had already been briefed on the situation.
    As she pondered the possibilities, a daring idea entered her mind. What if she went ahead as Lavinia Stewart? Gates and Fleming had given her the basic details of the case. How hard could it be for a well-to-do widow to pose a few questions here and there without raising suspicion? Maybe Jessie wasn’t as necessary as they thought.
    Before she could change her mind, she gripped the pencil and scribbled a brief message to the code name and address Gates and Fleming had given her:
Henry Jeffers
112 Elm Street
Chicago, Illinois
Met Jessie. Leaving for Arizona as planned.
Lavinia
    Ellie reviewed the words quickly. Maybe they didn’t spell out the whole truth, but they weren’t an out-and-out lie, either. She had met Norma, and she was leaving as planned. In a day or two, Norma would surely send them a wire of her own, but by then she hoped it would be too late to summon Ellie back.
    She read the words once more and slid the paper back across the counter to the telegraph clerk.

6
    P ickford. All out!” The hoarse cry jarred Ellie out of her light doze, and she pushed the canvas window covering aside to verify that the stagecoach had, indeed, reached journey’s end. Outside, the sun shone warm from a deliciously clear blue sky, throwing the dusty streets and buildings of Pickford, Arizona Territory, into sharp relief.
    The driver swung open the door and moved a wooden block into place, then held out a hand to his gray-haired passenger. “Here you are, ma’am, safe and sound. You watch your step now.”
    Ellie found his caution more than an empty courtesy the moment she started to get to her feet and discovered that her limbs refused to move. She felt the heat rise in her cheeks as she scooted forward on the seat and tried once again to force her travel-stiffened legs to hold her upright.
    The driver offered a look of sympathy. “Just take your time, ma’am. All that jostling along the way can take its toll on anybody. Give yourself a minute or two to loosen up.”
    Jostling was far too mild a term to describe the unending jarring she had suffered in the six hours since leaving the train in Benson and boarding this infernal contraption. It was a wonder every bit of Lavinia’s padding hadn’t shaken loose and fallen onto the stagecoach floor. Trying not to let her mortification show, Ellie nodded and mentally counted to three, then reached for the driver with one hand and shoved herself off the seat with the other. The driver tightened his hold and stepped back, using Ellie’s momentum to pull her to her feet.
    Ellie stood doubled over in the tight confines of the coach’s interior and commanded her legs to bear her weight, wishing the other passengers had disembarked first so as not to witness her awkward exit. After a