Chapter 19

nineteen

“ T hese plans look good, Hugo,” Chase said as he and Alex sipped Kentucky bourbon in Mr. Plank’s study and reviewed his updated designs. “I see you’ve made some important improvements.”

“Important enough to charm some money from your pockets?” Hugo responded, pouring another splash of amber liquid into Chase’s glass.

He offered some to Alex, but he declined. His head was already cloudy enough from the conversation he’d just shared with Trudy and his sister. He needed something to clarify his thoughts, not muddle them further.

“Possibly,” Chase replied to Hugo. “Although I’m not sure I want to spend another winter on the island. Are you still angling for a partner or is it really the cash you’re after?”

“I’m after both, but if we form a partnership you’ll have more input over what your investment is used for. I know you’ve got an excellent head for numbers, Chase, and your financial acumen would surely help put my mind at ease when it comes to tabulating those ledgers. And what about you, Alex?” Hugo said, shifting in his chair to look at him. “What do you think of these new designs?”

Alex looked down at the drawings in his lap. Drawings he had all but ignored.

“I’m afraid I find myself a little distracted this evening, Hugo. My apologies but I’m not ready to make a decision on this one way or another.”

“Fair enough. I don’t want to rush you. You can let me know tomorrow.”

Chase and Hugo laughed at the joke, and Alex smiled.

“I’m sure you’ve heard my last investment didn’t pan out,” Alex said. “I’d like to make sure my next one is successful.” Didn’t pan out was an understatement.

“Of course you would, son, and you can be certain I’ll respect your decision regardless of what it is. I do feel confident about the success of this venture, though, or I wouldn’t have shared it with the two of you. I don’t deal in alchemy or fantasy. This is pure strategy. The railroads are bringing more summer visitors north every day and they have to spend their money somewhere. I want to make sure it’s at my hotel or at any one of the new businesses I’m about to establish. But to be clear, I’m not just thinking about my ledgers. I’m thinking about my legacy. As much as I want to be considered a successful businessman, I’d rather be known as a visionary.”

“You do have humble aspirations,” Chase said, smiling at Hugo.

“Don’t we all? Why do you suppose your father named his investment company Bostwick & Sons? Why does any man name his business after himself? It’s so people remember his name long after he’s gone. They remember who he was and what he created. That’s what I’m trying to do.”

“So will you be renaming the town Plankville?” Chase asked in jest.

Hugo chuckled along with them. “I think Trillium Bay has a far more pleasing sound to it, but you can bet your last dollar that a few businesses will incorporate my name somehow.”

“And isn’t that exactly what you’re asking us to do?” Alex said, also in jest. “Bet our last dollar?”

“Not your last dollar. Just all the ones before it.”

Alex and Chase left Hugo’s office soon after, and as they reached the stairs to go up to their respective rooms, Chase asked quietly, “Is something on your mind tonight? Is Hugo’s persistence putting you off?”

“No, not at all,” Alex responded. “In fact, I’m genuinely interested but think it’s best to play my cards close to the vest.”

“You always do.” Chase’s tone was laced with affectionate sarcasm because, yes, Alex always did keep his cards close.

But … wasn’t that what Miss Watson had warned him about? Being too guarded? Not being able to trust people? Hadn’t she prodded him to try new things? And hadn’t he promised Daisy he would?

None of this meant it was time to go into business with Hugo Plank necessarily. At least not until he’d looked over the latest plans with some due diligence but given the exchange he’d just had with Trudy and Daisy out in the gazebo, perhaps it was at least time to trust his own brother.

“Are you and Jo having dinner in the dining room this evening?”

“Not this evening, no,” Chase responded. “My lovely wife is embarrassed that every time she eats a meal of any size she starts to burp.”

Alex joined in with Chase’s quiet laughter.

“It is rather like seeing a beautiful goldfinch squawk at you like a crow,” Alex agreed. “Although please assure her, I still consider her to be the most ladylike of ladies.”

“I’ve gotten used to it. I hardly notice it anymore,” Chase replied. “Nonetheless, she’s having a casual dinner with the Mahoney sisters this evening at their home. They’re sweet old biddies, those sisters, and they talk so much, her burping goes completely unnoticed.”

“And you weren’t invited?”

“Invited to dine with sweet old biddies who never stop talking? Yes, I was invited but Jo graciously made my excuses for me. I was planning to get a tray in my room and look at these plans from Hugo, but I’ll happily join you in the dining room, if you’d like.”

“Actually, I’d prefer to have trays in your room, if you don’t mind. There’s something I’ve been wanting to discuss with you and privacy is necessary.”

“Of course. May I ask if it’s something pleasant? Or unpleasant?”

Alex shook his head. “Neither. Both. Let’s just say it’s something… peculiar.”

“Let me see if I’ve got this straight,” Chase said, staring back at Alex as their dinner trays remained untouched.

“Your dead wife…

Is somehow manipulating our sister’s maid…

To place personal items where you will find them…

Because she’s angry at you…

And the only way to make her stop…

Is to hold a séance?”

“When you say it in that manner, it sounds insane,” Alex replied with banality.

“It is insane,” Chase all but shouted, rising up from his chair. He strode over to a side table and poured himself a hearty glass of whiskey.

Alex had miscalculated.

He’d forgotten that he’d had time to ease into this situation. First he’d found a few items. And then a few more. Then Lorna had acted peculiarly at the trance speaker’s show. Then there’d been talk of spiritual mediums. Then came the suggestion of a séance. It wasn’t until today they’d considered the possibility of Isabella influencing Lorna. But to hear this all at once was, understandably, too much for his brother to comprehend.

“It’s possible that it’s not Isabella at all,” Alex added. “It’s possible someone has hypnotized someone else to do this to me. In which case, no séance would be necessary.”

Chase glared at him, then splashed more whiskey into his glass. “Oh, well, that’s a relief.”

“I understand this is a lot to take in and that it doesn’t make sense to you. It doesn’t make sense to me either, but I’ve been living with this since the day of Isabella’s funeral. And you’d be justified in thinking that I’d lost my senses, but Daisy has seen every item I’ve found.”

“Daisy, our sister who still believes in pixies and fairies?”

“She doesn’t, actually. She’s been humoring us.”

“Adorable.” Chase took a gulp from his glass.

“If it brings you any comfort, Trudy is determined to prove there are no supernatural elements at play here and that someone is taunting me for some other reason.”

Chase sighed from deep within his chest and walked back to the table, sinking down into the chair.

“And how is it that Trudy got involved?”

“You didn’t attend the trance lecturer’s show, but she was sitting next to me when Lorna became agitated on the stage. I left at that point and Trudy followed me out of concern. I’m grateful she did. She’s been a steadying force these last few weeks.”

A wave of remorse passed across Chase’s features. “I’m sorry you didn’t feel you could come to me. All this time I’ve thought you were struggling with grief at the loss of Isabella. I thought what you needed was a distracting business project …not an exorcist.”

“I don’t need an exorcist. No one is possessed. That would be absurd.”

Chase’s laughter held little humor in it. “I fail to see the distinction at this point.”

“Fair enough.”

His brother took another swig from the glass while Alex continued to sip from his.

“Who else knows?” Chase asked.

“Just the four of us,” Alex replied. “You, me, Daisy, and Trudy. If you feel compelled to share this with Jo I’d understand. I would have told you both together but with the baby, I thought it might be best to keep her far removed.”

“I’d appreciate that. She and I have promised to never keep secrets from one another, but I think this one can wait. I’ll tell her when the time is right for her own peace of mind.”

Alex nodded. And pondered. If he was going to trust his brother, he may as well trust him with everything. “There is something else I’d like to tell you that I haven’t told Daisy or Trudy. Or anyone.”

Chase’s expression turned wary. Again. “All right.”

“Do you remember Katharine Lawrence?”

“Katharine Lawrence from Chicago who jilted you for an Italian baron?”

“The same.”

“Yes, of course. I remember her well. She was your first kiss, was she not?”

“She was my first of many things.”

“And what has she to do with this?”

“She’s a wealthy widow, now, and still stunningly beautiful.”

Chase eyed him impatiently, but asked, “Are you thinking of renewing your acquaintance?”

“No. I suspect there’s a rather long line of wealthy suitors and vigorous paramours keeping her content these days.”

“Ah.” Chase nodded. “Then might you get to the crux of the issue, Alex? I’m not in the mood for riddles and have no notion of where this is headed.”

“My apologies. I’m trying not to bludgeon with you too much at once.”

“I can take it, but please make haste.”

“Very well. The week before my wedding, I attended a house party at Jackson Winslow’s country estate. It was a small, intimate gathering, but I encountered Katharine there.”

“And by encountered, you mean … what, exactly?”

Alex sighed, his remorse taking hold. “Isabella and I were struggling. It was obvious to me her feelings had changed but she refused to discuss our future. I felt that, like me, she’d got caught up in the idea of love, but in our hearts, we knew our affection wasn’t strong enough to sustain a marriage. I was prepared to call the whole thing off.”

“Alex, I had no idea. I’m sorry.”

Alex took a sip from his glass. And then another. “Unfortunately, Isabella was more concerned about the humiliation of a cancelled engagement than she was about an ill-suited marriage. I could have retracted my proposal but felt the gentlemanly thing to do was to go ahead with the wedding.”

“I see. And what role does Katharine Lawrence play in all of this?”

“At the house party, I confided my troubles and doubts to her. She was offering me advice on how to best navigate my upcoming marriage, but we’d been drinking all day, emotions were running high… and she kissed me.”

“She kissed you? Did you… kiss her back?”

“I did. Only for a moment and I regretted it instantly, but that’s no excuse. And of course, someone saw us.”

“Who?”

“I have no idea, but Isabella confronted me about it on our wedding night and I chose to be honest. I didn’t want to start our marriage off with a lie, especially since she wouldn’t have believed me if I’d denied it. I assured her that such a thing would never happen again, and I meant it. Years of watching Father cheat on Mother has given me a rather puritanical view of fidelity, and I’ve always promised myself I’d be a faithful husband. I promised Izzy the same.”

“Did she believe you?”

“No, and no matter how hard I tried to make amends and prove my sincere devotion to her, she couldn’t see past my mistake.”

Chase shook his head slowly. “That’s a rocky start to a marriage.”

“In truth, there was no marriage. We were wed on paper only. It was never … physical. We agreed to keep the disastrous state of our…non-union a secret. I thought she might forgive me in time, but after a few months, I asked for an annulment. She was adamantly opposed. She didn’t want one. That’s what we were fighting about right before she fell.”

Chase’s expression was full of sympathy. “And now you think she haunting you? Out of malice?”

“ Heaven hath no rage like love turned to hatred, nor hell a fury like a woman scorned . She thought I’d been unfaithful. And for a brief moment, I had been.”

“In the strictest sense, perhaps, but Alex, half the men we know continue such encounters well after the wedding day.”

“That doesn’t make it right. Would you ever cheat on Jo?”

“No, I would not, but we’re a love match and you and Isabella were… less so.”

“You’re trying to absolve me, and I do appreciate it, but I cannot shake the sense that all of this, the ill-fated marriage, her terrible accident, these hauntings, all of it is my fault. I was the one who wanted to rush us down the aisle, I was the one dallying with Katharine Lawrence, and I was the one Isabella was arguing with when she fell down those stairs.”

Chase leaned back in his chair and actually chuckled.

“Do you really think you wield such power over the universe, big brother? That your single error, your momentary lapse in restraint, created all these ripples of mayhem?”

“It’s possible.”

“Lots of things are possible. That doesn’t make them probable. You’ve done this since we were children, you know,” Chase said quietly, his tone growing thoughtful. “You have always taken on the burden of responsibility for things over which you held no sway. Catering to Mother’s whims and trying to make her happy even while knowing that nothing would. Agonizing over a failed business venture yet refusing to acknowledge that Father and I have made plenty of investment mistakes. Just as every financier has. And now you seem intent upon wiping the slate clean of all of Isabella’s flaws, as if she played no part in the demise of your relationship. Is it true she didn’t want Jo and I at your wedding because she considered our marriage improper?”

Alex hesitated. “Yes. Did Daisy tell you that? She shouldn’t have.”

“That’s beside the point,” Chase replied. “The point is that Isabella was unkind, judgmental, and spoiled. She never would have been satisfied no matter how hard you’d tried to please her. Even without Katharine Lawrence in the picture, Izzy would have made your life a hellscape.”

“She didn’t deserve to fall down that staircase.”

“No, of course she didn’t. That was tragic, and it’s wretched that you two were arguing when it occurred, but you didn’t push her. Stop punishing yourself as if you did. Stop ruminating over things from the past that you cannot change, especially things that weren’t your fault to begin with.” Chase shook his head and sighed. “I’m no spiritualist, Alex. Not by a long shot. But even I understand that some occurrences are driven by fate. Some things are beyond our control. Just because you were born first, that doesn’t mean you’re in charge of everything.”