“or...?”
“Oh, Ben is Colin’s closest friend in the world, has been for years. I was surprised at first when the two of them hit it off so well. Ben is from a family of Maryland tobacco planters, very wealthy and well-connected. He’s worth a fortune, but you’d never guess it.”
To Nell, Will said, “We can stop at City Hall on our way back from Mass General and see if Mr. Shute will speak to us.”
“It might help,” Nell told Chloe, “if you could write us a brief letter of introduction so that Mr. Shute knows he can speak to us in confidence.”
“Of course.” Shaking her head, Chloe said, “I just wish Colin had taken Ben’s advice and set himself up as a private detective when the bureau was disbanded. Ben said he’d recommend Colin to friends—you know, send business his way. There wouldn’t have been much money in it, not at first, anyway, but he would have been his own man, answering only to himself. Colin really took to the idea—me, too.”
“Why didn’t he do it, then?” Nell asked.
“It was Major Jones, the fellow who’s in charge of the state constabulary. He offered Colin a position, told him he was just the type of solid, upright man they needed. Colin turned it down. Jones increased the salary by quite a bit. Colin was fixing to turn it down again, but then we found out I was expecting. He said he wanted to give us the kind of life we deserved, the baby and me. We had a nice little house a few blocks away, in the South End, but he didn’t think it was big enough anymore. I told him we could make do, but he said didn’t want his child to grow up just making do, as he had. He wanted us to have nice furniture and clothes, a shiny new carriage, playthings for the baby. I’ve never cared about all that. I just wanted
him.
I wanted him safe. And now—” Her voice cracked; she looked away.
“Mrs. Cook.” Nell leaned across the table to touch Chloe’s arm. “I’m sorry this is so difficult, truly I am. But the more we can find out—”
“It’s fine,” Chloe said as she raised her teacup. “I’m fine. I’m very grateful to you for wanting to help. God knows what will happen to Colin if his fate is left in the hands of Constable Skinner.” Smiling at Nell, she said, “Colin thinks very highly of you, you know, says you’ve got a whipcrack mind, and a certain way with people, with making them open up to you.”
“She does, indeed,” Will said, with a fleeting smile in Nell’s direction. “Mrs. Cook, I must ask you this, and I beg you to be completely truthful and candid for your husband’s sake. Have you had any contact with him at all since Tuesday? A note, perhaps—anything?”
“You can tell us in complete confidence,” Nell assured her. “We would never—”
“If I knew where he was,” Chloe said, “I wouldn’t be half as wrought up about all this. He just...never came home. It’s so unlike him to do something like that with no word to me. We haven’t been apart this long since we were married.”
“When was that?” Nell asked.
“The twenty-ninth of October, eighteen sixty-four. Colin had mustered out of the Army in September. We were married as soon as he was sure the police department would take him back.”
“I take it you’d known him before the war, then,” Nell said.
“Um, yes. Yes. Not well, but... I, er, wrote to him when I found out he’d enlisted. He wrote back. We established a correspondence that became...more affectionate, shall I say, than we had anticipated. It was in his final letter to me that he asked me to marry him, because he didn’t know if he’d have the nerve to do it in person. Of course I accepted. Colin was...” Chloe gazed off in the direction of the overgrown, weed-choked garden. “He was unlike any man I’d ever known. So big, you know, with that commanding way about him, and those rough edges, but his heart...” She pressed her fist to her chest, her eyes shimmering. “It was his heart I got to
“Oh, Ben is Colin’s closest friend in the world, has been for years. I was surprised at first when the two of them hit it off so well. Ben is from a family of Maryland tobacco planters, very wealthy and well-connected. He’s worth a fortune, but you’d never guess it.”
To Nell, Will said, “We can stop at City Hall on our way back from Mass General and see if Mr. Shute will speak to us.”
“It might help,” Nell told Chloe, “if you could write us a brief letter of introduction so that Mr. Shute knows he can speak to us in confidence.”
“Of course.” Shaking her head, Chloe said, “I just wish Colin had taken Ben’s advice and set himself up as a private detective when the bureau was disbanded. Ben said he’d recommend Colin to friends—you know, send business his way. There wouldn’t have been much money in it, not at first, anyway, but he would have been his own man, answering only to himself. Colin really took to the idea—me, too.”
“Why didn’t he do it, then?” Nell asked.
“It was Major Jones, the fellow who’s in charge of the state constabulary. He offered Colin a position, told him he was just the type of solid, upright man they needed. Colin turned it down. Jones increased the salary by quite a bit. Colin was fixing to turn it down again, but then we found out I was expecting. He said he wanted to give us the kind of life we deserved, the baby and me. We had a nice little house a few blocks away, in the South End, but he didn’t think it was big enough anymore. I told him we could make do, but he said didn’t want his child to grow up just making do, as he had. He wanted us to have nice furniture and clothes, a shiny new carriage, playthings for the baby. I’ve never cared about all that. I just wanted
him.
I wanted him safe. And now—” Her voice cracked; she looked away.
“Mrs. Cook.” Nell leaned across the table to touch Chloe’s arm. “I’m sorry this is so difficult, truly I am. But the more we can find out—”
“It’s fine,” Chloe said as she raised her teacup. “I’m fine. I’m very grateful to you for wanting to help. God knows what will happen to Colin if his fate is left in the hands of Constable Skinner.” Smiling at Nell, she said, “Colin thinks very highly of you, you know, says you’ve got a whipcrack mind, and a certain way with people, with making them open up to you.”
“She does, indeed,” Will said, with a fleeting smile in Nell’s direction. “Mrs. Cook, I must ask you this, and I beg you to be completely truthful and candid for your husband’s sake. Have you had any contact with him at all since Tuesday? A note, perhaps—anything?”
“You can tell us in complete confidence,” Nell assured her. “We would never—”
“If I knew where he was,” Chloe said, “I wouldn’t be half as wrought up about all this. He just...never came home. It’s so unlike him to do something like that with no word to me. We haven’t been apart this long since we were married.”
“When was that?” Nell asked.
“The twenty-ninth of October, eighteen sixty-four. Colin had mustered out of the Army in September. We were married as soon as he was sure the police department would take him back.”
“I take it you’d known him before the war, then,” Nell said.
“Um, yes. Yes. Not well, but... I, er, wrote to him when I found out he’d enlisted. He wrote back. We established a correspondence that became...more affectionate, shall I say, than we had anticipated. It was in his final letter to me that he asked me to marry him, because he didn’t know if he’d have the nerve to do it in person. Of course I accepted. Colin was...” Chloe gazed off in the direction of the overgrown, weed-choked garden. “He was unlike any man I’d ever known. So big, you know, with that commanding way about him, and those rough edges, but his heart...” She pressed her fist to her chest, her eyes shimmering. “It was his heart I got to
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