The Counterfeit Wife by Mally Becker

Author:Mally Becker [Mally Becker]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Level Best Books
Published: 2022-09-02T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twenty

With Daniel gone to find Jacob Preiss, Becca pulled a copy of Benjamin Franklin’s Experiments and Observations on Electricity from Mr. Barnes’s shelf, thinking that it would give her something to discuss with Sally.

She rifled through the pages, stopping at the experiment in which Mr. Franklin described placing a man on a pad of wax and having him hold an electrified wire. “As often as he touches it, he will be electrified.”

How vile. She shivered, wishing she could ask Sally’s father how many men had been willing to grab the wire more than once.

Becca slammed the book shut. She couldn’t concentrate. Was Mrs. Reed telling the truth? Had her mother met Mr. Taylor on the docks the night he was killed? Why didn’t Hannah mention that when Becca pressed for more information?

Becca didn’t need anything from Hannah but an answer to those questions. There really was no reason to wait for Daniel. “Eli,” she called. “Can you ready the carriage for me?”

* * *

Becca stood arms crossed, facing the prison warden in the dark front hall. A band of perspiration cooled along her hairline. The summer heat hadn’t penetrated the prison’s thick stone walls. Not yet, at least.

“She’s awful popular for a murderess.” John Reynolds scratched his nose thoughtfully with a dirty fingernail. A guard had called him to come when Becca refused to leave.

“Popular?” she asked.

“Popular indeed, madam. She’s got another visitor.” Reynolds jerked his head to the right, and Becca’s gaze followed his to a raw pine door set in the hallway’s long wall. The warden’s office. That was where Becca and Daniel spoke to her mother just days ago.

“Who is with her now?”

“Rightly, I shouldn’t allow any visits, her being a murderess and all. And two visits in one day….” The warden nodded pleasantly, leaving the sentence unfinished.

Of course. Mr. Reynolds had expected compensation during her last visit, too.

From the pocket tied at her waist, Becca pulled out a navy velvet pouch. Making a show of it, she lifted two coins between her thumb and index finger as slowly as possible. “For my visit.”

He pursed his lips as if considering whether to take the bribe. “Seeing as how you’re a lady and all.” Reynolds’ palm shot out, and she dropped the silver into it, thankful she didn’t have to touch him.

She plucked out another coin and held it back, watching his eyes follow. “And who is Hannah’s other visitor?”

“Not a lady.” He shrugged and raised his palm.

Becca pulled back. “A name? She must have a name.”

“You’ll see soon enough.” He plucked the last coin from her hand. “She’s with the prisoner now.” Reynolds’ smile was sly. “I should have charged you more.”

“Why?”

“The murderess said that if you came back, not to let you in.” He laughed, displaying his brownish teeth, then strode back toward the cells that stood behind another door. He stopped to whisper to a beanpole of a guard who stood in the rear, then slipped away.

Becca paced, ignoring the thin guard who watched from the far end of the room.

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