Thanks to all who have been kind enough to leave me supportive comments - I honestly appreciate it and am insecure enough to actually need them to continue writing! ;-D And now, here is the end I have been promising. I envisioned one ending but I ended up with another as I just couldn't manage the great reveal at a dinner party with everyone present and Adam playing "Hercule Poirot." I wrangled with it, started writing it and abandoned it. But it is what it is and I do believe all the ends are tied together. Hope this ending makes you happy.
XV
Mrs. Fitzhugh handled the reins well, Sibella noted as they moved toward Virginia City. She decided she would make an excuse to get away once they were inside the mercantile. She would leave Fanny shopping while she went to see Sheriff Coffee or Deputy Foster if the sheriff wasn't available – and Sibella hoped he wasn't. She pulled her cape over her skirt; the wind was blustery, creeping under her cape and pushing it aside.
Sibella hadn't time to dress. Mrs. Fitzhugh said she'd wait and when Chauncey came over to help her down, Mrs. Fitzhugh plied her copious charms, telling him that Mister Cartwright had okayed their foray into Virginia City – women's business – and that she'd just wait outside there in the buggy. So, despite wearing a day dress, something along the lines of the tea dresses she had always worn to receive her friends and other visitors in Sacramento City, Sibella pulled out her light tan cloak with the braided edging; it would serve to cover her dress and go with the straw boater she had worn to Carson City the previous day.
"This is such lovely country," Fanny said as the horse trotted along. "Are you from hereabouts?"
"No - Sacramento City. It's lovely there as well but not quite so cold this time of year. And you're from…?"
Mrs. Fitzhugh looked Sibella in the eye. "Baltimore."
"Baltimore…someone else said…" Sibella tried to remember. Someone else had mentioned Baltimore. Who was it?
"How long have you and Adam been married?" Fanny asked.
"What? Oh, almost four years now. I didn't think we'd stay married a year," Sibella said, laughing lightly.
"I understand that," Fanny said, smiling. "After my first husband died, I doubted I'd ever marry again but then I met Tucker. We married and I've never regretted it. He's quite a wealthy man, quite wealthy. But then so is Adam. Seeing that he's the eldest, I suppose he inherits the whole Ponderosa."
"Actually, no. It's to be divided among the three of them. I believe they've already staked out their thirds – Adam's built our house on a section of his choice of land. Hoss calls his section 'Hoss Heaven'. I haven't seen it yet but it's supposed to be beautiful – higher up in the mountains. But I don't really depend on Adam as I have my own money, a wedding present from my parents. Well, actually, it was for Adam, but he turned it over to me…" Sibella let her voice die out and wondered how she had been maneuvered into revealing so much information. Adam would have silenced her with "the look" long before this.
"Oh, how wonderful. So, Adam Cartwright married himself a rich wife!" Fanny laughed and Sibella only smiled; she didn't know how to take the implication.
Sibella changed the topic to gardening, saying that she wanted to plant a grape arbor. Fanny launched into her garden in Baltimore, how a man came in once a week during the spring and summer to carve the shrubbery into various shapes – "topiaries", along the lines of the gardens of Versailles. Sibella listened but was dubious. After all, she had seen the famed gardens on her trip to Europe and wondered just how much hyperbole Fanny Fitzhugh employed. Fanny chatted all the way to Virginia City and once they were in view of the buildings, Fanny pulled up the buggy.
"Sibella, I have a terrible confession and I hope as another woman, you'll understand and help me."
Fanny looked truly upset so Sibella lightly touched her arm. "Of course. What can I do?"
"I do love my husband, I do! But he tends to drink too much and…" Fanny reached for a lacy handkerchief stuck up her sleeve and touched her eyes as if tears filled them. "I hate to revel such intimate details but if I expect you to help me…well, as far as our conjugal bed and his duties to me, he's often too drunk to perform, usually falls asleep downstairs and the butler helps him into the spare room. They often wake me up with Tucker's stumbling and drunken mumbling."
"I'm so sorry. That must be awful for you." Sibella found she could even forgive the woman for flirting with Adam since her married life was without any excitement, any sexual satisfaction. How desirable Adam with his "ravishing pirate smile" must be to someone like Fanny Fitzhugh.
"Yes, it is awful and I've done an awful thing." Fanny toyed with the lace handkerchief, looking down at it while she confessed. "I've had a dalliance with Archie Hancock."
Sibella sat upright, feeling smug. See, Adam! Fanny Fitzhugh was having an affair with Archie Hancock. You never listen to me, and about this I was right! And she would have been just as willing to roll on her back for you! In the future, Adam would listen to her, pay heed to her insights, her woman's intuition.
"Oh, Fanny, that makes for a terrible situation."
"Oh, I know, Sibella, but I want to tell him it's over; I can't tell him at dinner tonight with everyone there – we'd never be able to get away - and I just…well, if I go alone to his hotel room, I might be persuaded to continue the relationship. He is handsome, don't you think?"
"Well, yes, he is a handsome man…but once you leave for San Francisco…oh, now I remember. It was Mr. Hancock who said he was from Baltimore. Now I understand why you need to break it off here and now."
"Yes. Mr. Hancock will be transferred to New Orleans but not for a while. I need to end this. If you would come with me, Sibella, he'd know I couldn't stay, that we're shopping, and I would be safe. We could go up the back stairs of the hotel, the ones the staff uses. No one would see us so you don't have to worry about gossip and I could break it off with him – neatly without a scene. Please, Sibella, please!" Fanny looked piteous, grasping Sibella's gloved hands in hers. Sibella's curiosity was piqued; she would be a witness to the whole scandalous story.
"All right, Fanny. I'll go with you but you must promise to keep it brief. Go down that street," Sibella said pointing, "and it'll take us behind the hotel."
~ 0 ~
Fanny took Sibella's arm and entwined it with hers. "Thank you so much for coming with me. It gives me the extra courage I need to do this."
Sibella tried to smile but her face was frozen; Fanny seemed to clamp her arm next to her and Sibella wondered if she could pull away should she desire. Adam's voice ran through her head warning her about getting involved in things that weren't her business. Stay out of it, he would tell her. But they were inside the hotel and cautiously climbing the stairs the help used to reach the rooms. Sibella could hear the sounds from the kitchen and the laundry fade away until they were on the top floor and outside room 312.
"This is it," Fanny said, raising her hand to knock.
"Maybe I should stay outside," Sibella said. Suddenly she had regrets.
"Oh, but you said…well, if you promise to wait right here. I want Archie to know I can't stay, that I have you waiting for me."
Fanny released Sibella's arm and rapped on the door. They waited only a second or two and the door opened. Archie was handsome, Sibella thought as she saw him again. No wonder Fanny Fitzhugh carried on with him.
"Come in," Archie said and Fanny entered. Archie waited. "Would you like to come in, Mrs. Cartwright?"
"No, thank you. I'll wait for Mrs. Fitzhugh out here." She smiled and Archie slowly closed the door. Sibella paced in the hall. A minute passed and Sibella became more anxious. Then the door of 312 opened and Archie opened it, obviously upset.
"Mrs. Cartwright – it's Mrs. Fitzhugh – please…" Archie stepped aside, motioning for her to enter.
Sibella stepped into the room and saw Fanny standing by the window; she looked fine, was even smiling. But before Sibella could say anything, she heard the door close and a hand clamp across her mouth. Archie had also put a strong arm about her waist.
"Okay, Mother," Archie said, "tie her hands."
Fear made Sibella's mind freeze but she tried to think what to do. Mother. Archie had called Fanny Fitzhugh, Mother. Sibella tried to pull the hand from her mouth so she could scream. She could already feel the fear bubble up in her throat, ready to release itself in one high-pitched, primal scream. But the hand was too constricting across her mouth. So instead of pulling it away, she tried to wriggle out from under it while Fanny grabbed one of her arms. Sibella tried again and the hand was partly over her mouth but she was able to get the fleshy part of Archie's hand between her teeth and bit as viciously as she could until she could taste his blood. Archie, with a yelp, released her and stepped back. But before Sibella could scream, Fanny pulled back her arm and then punched Sibella.
Sibella had never been struck before and, therefore, had no idea what damage a well-placed punch in the jaw could do. She lost her balance and fell backwards, her head snapping to the side. Archie caught her and through the haze of pain that shot through her face and body, basically paralyzing her, Sibella heard him say, "The damn bitch bit me! I ought to kick her teeth out! Look, I'm bleeding."
A scarf Fanny Fitzhugh pulled from her reticule was tied across Sibella's mouth, forcing her teeth apart and rendering her tongue useless in forming any words. She tried to resist having her ankles and wrists tied but her head was spinning and although the initial pain had somewhat dulled, her head throbbed and her neck felt too pained to hold up her head. She wondered if her jaw was broken. They put her on the floor while they talked over her fate.
"You sure this'll work?" Archie asked. He kept glancing at Sibella on the rug.
"Yes. Listen, they'll be so busy looking for her that everything else will be shunted aside. You arrive at the Ponderosa with Mr. Philpot, ready for dinner and then, when you find out that Mrs. Cartwright is missing, you volunteer to join in the search. I doubt they'll want you. Then head back to town. If they do want you to join, come back to the hotel room and dispatch of her quickly.
"In the morning, Tucker and I will leave for San Francisco. You tell Ben Cartwright that you're sorry about his daughter-in-law being missing and that under the circumstances, you won't press to see the mine."
"But, Mother, it's a good investment."
"Archie, when Tucker dies, they'll be enough money for all, now that we've taken care of things. Now, once more, what are you going to do when you return tonight? Tell me again. The timing has to be perfect."
"I stab her with a hatpin…" Archie looked at Sibella lying helpless on the floor and Fanny swooped down, pulling the hatpin out of the straw boater Sibella wore, it's brim now bent and crushed. Fanny held the silver, enameled-pansy hatpin, Sibella's favorite.
"Use this. Stab her through the heart and then…what is it you are supposed to do next?"
"I toss her from the window, go out the front door and tell the desk clerk I'll be back for dinner in a few minutes, that I'm going to buy cigars. Then I carry Mrs. Cartwright a-ways off and leave her to be discovered and go buy some cigars, offering the desk clerk one when I come back. The 'Milliner's Murderer' has struck again. I'll have to read the headlines."
"That's right. Actually…" Fanny mused, looking at Sibella, "maybe we should do away with her now. You know, so the doctor can say she died about noon. Then you take care of the body after dark." Fanny held the hatpin in one hand and ran the fingers of the other hand along the lengthy pin. "I heard they think a woman killed Harriet Griffith because of the choice of weapon. Maybe a woman should kill Sibella; at least this time they'd be right."
"I don't know about this whole thing, Mother. I mean a few people know she came to town with you. What are you going to say when she doesn't arrive home?"
"That she decided to shop longer and said she would rent a buggy from the livery."
"You think Adam Cartwright will buy that?"
"I don't care. Just take care of business. Make sure she's dead – and far from the hotel. Let's kill her now. Then we won't have to worry about her maybe working her way loose."
"She won't; I made sure of that…" Archie looked at Sibella and then back at his mother. "I didn't like killing that other woman, even though she was a blackmailer. And as for Mrs. Cartwright, if we kill her now and then stuff her into the closet, well, when rigor sets in, she'll be in that position, bent like a jackknife. She sure is lovely although she took a hunk of flesh out of my hand." Archie held his handkerchief against the heel of his hand.
Fanny chuckled. "Her last meal." Archie smiled weakly. "You go take care of your hand. Tell the doctor you were petting a dog and it suddenly snapped at you."
"He'll think it was hydrophobic."
"Tell him, no. Tell him…tell him it had a sore ear. You saw it after you scratched its ear and it bit you. Now I have to go. Put her in the closet. She can stew in her own juices."
~ 0 ~
Sibella sat with her knees drawn up, her hands tied behind her at the wrists, her ankles bound and the gag aggravating her already pulsating cheek and jaw. She rested her head against the wall and tears ran down her cheeks until the cloth gag absorbed them; it was a wet mess anyway, as her saliva had already soaked it a great deal. She kept trying to close her lips over it so she could swallow better and was almost to that point. A sliver of daylight shone under the door and that was the only thing that kept Sibella from going into a full panic. Keep calm. They'll find you before it's dark, before Archie comes back. Adam will look for you. He'll find you…but what if he doesn't find me in time? My baby! Noah! He'll cry for me! And my parents – oh, my mother will collapse and my father will weep! And Adam! What will he do? Cry? No, Adam won't cry. He'll swear revenge and I hope he achieves it!
Sibella tried, by calming her breathing, to keep the full-fledged horror of her predicament from being realized. She wanted to scream, to pound her fists against the door but was basically stuck in what was becoming a horrible position. Her shoulders ached and the corners of her mouth were raw and burning. Her face radiated pain into her neck. And once it became dark, not only would she be in the equivalent of a casket, but she would meet her demise with her own hatpin. And Sibella sobbed anew, the tears causing her nose to run. She knew she would be a very unattractive corpse.
But Adam was correct; she had been unable to defend herself. Even if she had kept her small derringer in her reticule, it wouldn't have served her. Archie would have easily wrested it from her hand just as Adam had. Pride goeth before a fall and she had been proud. Proud, arrogant, all those unpleasant attributes. If she lived through this, Sibella swore she'd never get involved in matters she shouldn't. And she would listen to Adam. And she prayed desperately: Oh, God, let me live to see my son grow to a man. Please let me see my husband Adam again – please! Just to see his face and his eyes and to feel his kiss. And if your plan is that I should die here, keep my child safe!
Finally, Sibella fell asleep although it was more akin to dropping into exhaustion. She didn't know how long she had been in the closet when she opened her eyes to blackness and her heart raced; she could see nothing and the closet was stifling. Then she realized she had been wakened by voices and heavy bootheels. And the voices of Sheriff Coffee, Hoss and Adam.
The closet door was pulled open and in the waning light from the window, she saw a shadowy figure, a man's figure. And then Adam's voice: "Sibella - oh, thank God!"
Sibella felt herself pulled up and then light filled the room as a lamp was lit. Adam lifted Sibella in his arms and placed her on the bed, pushing her hair aside.
"Sibella, who did this to your face?"
"You all right, Mrs. Cartwright?" Sheriff Coffee asked and she knew, although she couldn't really see, that Hoss was cutting the bathrobe sash that had been used to tie her ankles while Adam unknotted the gag and then gently rolled her over, using Hoss' knife to slice the binding on her wrists. And then Adam pulled her to him, being careful to avoid her cheek and chin which had swelled and were bruised.
"Oh, Adam…" Sibella managed to say. Her jaw throbbed whenever she talked, and she began to sob again, clinging to Adam. She forced herself to speak through the pain. "They were going to kill me, stab me like they did Madam Adair – with my own hatpin! Oh, Adam…" Sibella felt her nose run again and wiped it on Adam's sleeve. Unladylike, she knew, but at the moment she didn't care. "Adam," Sibella said looking up at him, his eyes soft, loving and comforting, "I need to relieve myself – now!"
Epilogue
Sibella lay in bed holding a cold compress to her jaw and cheek, taking in the familiar surroundings. Earlier, she had looked in the vanity mirror and was shocked at her appearance. Her mouth looked like a red slash as the rawness at the corners of her mouth was as red as her lips, extending them, and the left side of her face was swollen and an ugly dark purple in color; she even had a black eye. But worst of all, was the caked, dried mucus about her nostrils, "Just like Noah when he has a runny nose!" She flushed with embarrassment that all those people, including the desk clerk, had seen her in such a state; she washed away the crust. Mrs. George had fussed over her, giving her a chamomile salve for her mouth, brushing out her hair and rubbing liniment into her shoulders to relieve the soreness from her having rested against them in an unnatural position for so long. Then she helped Sibella into a clean linen gown and went to make some broth. Sibella could barely talk so much as chew.
Sibella lay against the cool pillows, her eyes closed. She was saved, Adam had found her. Hoss had brought her home after Dr. Martin had examined her and declared her basically unhurt, while Adam, Deputy Foster and Sheriff Coffee pulled together all the loose ends by making certain the guilty were in custody – Archie Hancock and Fanny Fitzhugh. And on the ride home in Sheriff Coffee's borrowed buggy, Hoss explained to Sibella that he and Adam had stopped by the Ponderosa after Fort Churchill and Adam had presented the Colonel with the evidence they had found about selling government issued supplies. The Colonel had confessed and Adam said that Sheriff Coffee had letters from Mrs. Fitzhugh showing that Harriet Griffith had been attempting to blackmail him. He claimed to have no knowledge of any blackmail or of any Madam Adair and poured himself another brandy. Adam asked Mrs. Fitzhugh about Archie Hancock and her first marriage, "but all she done was tell Adam he could go ta hell."
Hoss said that he and Adam stopped by their house after leaving the Ponderosa on their way to Virginia City and Mrs. George said, "…you done went shoppin' with a lady from the Ponderosa. We knew that was Mrs. Fitzhugh but she was already at the Ponderosa so's we went to Sheriff Coffee and he said he didn't see you in town none, so's we went lookin' for you and since Archie was involved in all this, well, we found 'im in the saloon and I swear, I thought Adam was gonna kill 'im. Guess Archie did too 'cause he finally blurted out ever'thin'. And that's how we found you locked in that closet. And iffen it makes you feel any better, Archie looks ten times worse'n you do now that Adam's done with 'im."
In the dim light from the lowered bedroom lamp, Sibella's mind swirled about the events, and faces loomed in and out of her drowsing. Then she heard Adam's voice break through her fogginess and she fought to open her eyes to see him as he was calling her name, "Sibella. Darling. Can you wake up a moment?"
Sibella managed to wake and she saw Adam's concerned face. She smiled as best she could.
"The doctor told me to wake you up every few hours just to see if you were all right."
Sibella tried to smile wider but the pain stopped her. But she managed to say, "What happened? Why did they kill Madam Adair?"
"I'll tell you all about it tomorrow. Now get some sleep." Adam leaned over to kiss Sibella's forehead but she stopped him, grabbing his shirt.
"No. Tell me now! Please!"
"All right," Adam sighed, "If that's what you want. It seems that Madam Adair was in reality, Harriet Griffith and Harriet Griffith was Tucker Fitzhugh's lover when he was at Fort Churchill. When it was discovered – not only was he fraternizing with a civilian but with a civilian who was also a Confederate sympathizer - he was formally reprimanded; we found the record of it at Fort Churchill. But that wasn't all. Apparently, from the letters Roy Coffee found in the living quarters in the milliner's shop that were from Fanny Fitzhugh, Harriet was blackmailing Tucker – but it seems the Colonel never knew; Fanny intercepted all the mail.
"Seems that when Harriet and the Colonel were lovers, during their 'pillow talk', Harriet pumped him for information about what he knew about the Union maneuvers, where were they, what did he know? Seems he must have told her and she wrote her brother who passed on the information. But Fitzhugh wasn't a traitor, just a drunk and a avaricious, lustful man, and what he told Harriet, the information she passed on to her brother, was all lies – the exact opposite of what was actually going to happen. So, on that information, Corporal Declan Griffith's detachment was practically decimated. He was hanged as a traitor and although it took a while for her to track down the Colonel, once she did, she threatened to expose him – not for being her lover, but for selling arms to the Indians and diverting military supplies and selling them to trading posts and to passing wagon trains at exorbitant prices." Adam shook his head with a small chuckle. "Imagine that. Selling army issued rifles to the Indians. What a convoluted plan that must have been - falsifying records, intentionally losing bills of lading – couldn't have been any too easy for him to manage but he apparently made a small fortune doing it.
"Anyway, from one of the wires I sent, I found out that Fanny Fitzhugh, at a very young age, had been married to one William Archibald Hancock. Archie is her son and Tucker knew nothing about him, even with his living in Baltimore. Her daughter Rosalind is from her second marriage to a man by the name of Grange. When Archie, who kept in touch with his mother all these years – hence her intercepting all the mail – said he was coming to Virginia City on railroad business and since Harriet Griffith received mail under the name Madame Adair, care of the Parisian Style in Virginia City, what better time for the Fitzhughs to visit the Ponderosa? Everyone would be here at the same time and Harriet could be taken care of one way or another.
"Anyway, Archie killed Harriet Griffith although he claims he never intended to, said that she was going to stab him with the hatpin and that he turned her hand onto herself, said she actually stabbed herself – with his hand forcing her, of course. So that's about it."
Adam sat looking at Sibella. She was a mess but she still made him smile; as miserable as she must feel, as exhausted as she must be, she couldn't put off her curiosity until tomorrow. And the thought that he had come so close to losing her…Adam's breath caught in his throat.
"I love you, Sibella, but if you'd just listened to me…I told you to stay out of it."
"Adam," Sibella closed her eyes and sank down further into her pillows, her jaw still throbbing. "I'm so very tired. Can you lecture me tomorrow?"
"All right. Tomorrow I'll talk and you'll listen. Now get some sleep; Roy wants to interview you tomorrow as well and you may have to testify in court." Adam stood by the bed and leaned down to kiss her dark hair.
Sibella opened her eyes. "I hope not for a while; I can't cover these bruises with powder until they fade a bit."
"Vanity. I swear, Sibella," but Adam chuckled as he leaned on the headboard. "But even with your face all battered, you're still the prettiest thing I've ever seen. Why you're prettier than a spotted pup."
"Oh, Adam, such a silver-tongued flatterer. I love you." Sibella reached up and touched his cheek while gazing into his face. Then her eyes opened wide, suddenly remembering. "Did anyone ever tell Miss Pear dinner was canceled?"
~ Finis ~