Read Online The Spook Lights Affair by Bill Pronzini, Marcia Muller - Free Book Online
Authors: Bill Pronzini, Marcia Muller
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meeting at Coppa’s Restaurant last week?”
“Yes. She said she couldn’t go against her father’s wishes, that he would disown her if she did. I was more upset than she was, at least outwardly.”
At the breakup itself, Sabina wondered, or at the end of his chances of marrying into a considerable fortune?
Lucas said, “But she must have been depressed, deeply depressed about something else to do what she did. I can’t imagine that it had anything to do with me.”
“She gave no indication of what it might have been?”
“None. I would have questioned her if she had.”
“Did you have any contact with her after that day?”
“No. I kept hoping she would change her mind, try to get in touch with me, but she didn’t.”
“Do you know if she was seeing anyone else?”
He shook his head. “If she was, it was at the forceful urging of her parents. But I don’t believe she was. At least not during the time we were together.”
“And how long was that?”
“Three months.”
“How did you and she meet?”
“She came in one morning to view our new line of bicycles. Our conversation was friendly enough so that I was encouraged to invite her to a noon-hour stroll through Union Square, and she agreed. I bought her a corsage at old Giovanni’s stand—pansies, her favorites.”
“How often did you meet after that?”
“Whenever my job and her busy schedule permitted. Public places. The little tea room in Maiden Lane, restaurants where it’s permitted for young women of her station to dine alone with gentlemen. The Chutes Amusement Park on one occasion, Golden Gate Park on another.”
“Always just the two of you? Or did you share some of these outings with others of your acquaintance or hers?”
“Just the two of us. I was never introduced to anyone in her circle, but that was not because she was in any way ashamed of me.” Lucas said this defensively. “The opportunity simply never arose.”
“Did you spend an entire day, well into the evening, in her company?”
“No. Our outings lasted no more than two or three hours.”
“Were you ever alone together in private circumstances?”
“Private circumstances? No, never. Why would you ask that?”
“I’m sure you realize one possible reason for Virginia’s despondent state is that she found herself caught in a shameful situation—”
Color came into Lucas’s cheeks; he drew himself up angrily. “Are you suggesting that she might have been with child and I the father? That is an insulting and completely false notion, Mrs. Carpenter. Virginia and I were never intimate, never exchanged more than a chaste kiss.”
The truth? Or was he protesting too much? “Pregnancy by another man might still be the cause.”
“I refuse to believe that. Virginia could be gay and impulsive at times, but underneath she was an extremely virtuous young lady. I don’t care how many beaux she had, she would have remained pure until her wedding night.”
Sabina wasn’t so sure, but she saw no reason to argue the point. It would not have done her any good to try; Lucas ended the interview abruptly, saying that he didn’t feel well and needed a breath of air, and leaving her to find her own way out through the front of the store.
A curious young man, Lucas Whiffing. His answers to her questions had seemed honest enough, and yet Sabina was left with the feeling that he hadn’t been completely straightforward with her. Either he was an habitual liar, or he knew and was hiding something for reasons of his own. Or both.
* * *
Virginia St. Ives had many friends her age, but evidently only one close enough to have been a confidante—Grace DeBrett, the girl whom Sabina had met at the St. Ives home and who had been at the mayor’s party last night. Miss DeBrett lived with her family in a Nob Hill mansion, Sabina’s destination by hansom cab after leaving F. W. Ellerby’s.
Grace was home, and the maid who answered the door took Sabina’s card
“Yes. She said she couldn’t go against her father’s wishes, that he would disown her if she did. I was more upset than she was, at least outwardly.”
At the breakup itself, Sabina wondered, or at the end of his chances of marrying into a considerable fortune?
Lucas said, “But she must have been depressed, deeply depressed about something else to do what she did. I can’t imagine that it had anything to do with me.”
“She gave no indication of what it might have been?”
“None. I would have questioned her if she had.”
“Did you have any contact with her after that day?”
“No. I kept hoping she would change her mind, try to get in touch with me, but she didn’t.”
“Do you know if she was seeing anyone else?”
He shook his head. “If she was, it was at the forceful urging of her parents. But I don’t believe she was. At least not during the time we were together.”
“And how long was that?”
“Three months.”
“How did you and she meet?”
“She came in one morning to view our new line of bicycles. Our conversation was friendly enough so that I was encouraged to invite her to a noon-hour stroll through Union Square, and she agreed. I bought her a corsage at old Giovanni’s stand—pansies, her favorites.”
“How often did you meet after that?”
“Whenever my job and her busy schedule permitted. Public places. The little tea room in Maiden Lane, restaurants where it’s permitted for young women of her station to dine alone with gentlemen. The Chutes Amusement Park on one occasion, Golden Gate Park on another.”
“Always just the two of you? Or did you share some of these outings with others of your acquaintance or hers?”
“Just the two of us. I was never introduced to anyone in her circle, but that was not because she was in any way ashamed of me.” Lucas said this defensively. “The opportunity simply never arose.”
“Did you spend an entire day, well into the evening, in her company?”
“No. Our outings lasted no more than two or three hours.”
“Were you ever alone together in private circumstances?”
“Private circumstances? No, never. Why would you ask that?”
“I’m sure you realize one possible reason for Virginia’s despondent state is that she found herself caught in a shameful situation—”
Color came into Lucas’s cheeks; he drew himself up angrily. “Are you suggesting that she might have been with child and I the father? That is an insulting and completely false notion, Mrs. Carpenter. Virginia and I were never intimate, never exchanged more than a chaste kiss.”
The truth? Or was he protesting too much? “Pregnancy by another man might still be the cause.”
“I refuse to believe that. Virginia could be gay and impulsive at times, but underneath she was an extremely virtuous young lady. I don’t care how many beaux she had, she would have remained pure until her wedding night.”
Sabina wasn’t so sure, but she saw no reason to argue the point. It would not have done her any good to try; Lucas ended the interview abruptly, saying that he didn’t feel well and needed a breath of air, and leaving her to find her own way out through the front of the store.
A curious young man, Lucas Whiffing. His answers to her questions had seemed honest enough, and yet Sabina was left with the feeling that he hadn’t been completely straightforward with her. Either he was an habitual liar, or he knew and was hiding something for reasons of his own. Or both.
* * *
Virginia St. Ives had many friends her age, but evidently only one close enough to have been a confidante—Grace DeBrett, the girl whom Sabina had met at the St. Ives home and who had been at the mayor’s party last night. Miss DeBrett lived with her family in a Nob Hill mansion, Sabina’s destination by hansom cab after leaving F. W. Ellerby’s.
Grace was home, and the maid who answered the door took Sabina’s card
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