The Shanghai Secret: A Gilded Age Mystery (The Tidewater Chronicles Book 1) by Vanessa Lind

Author:Vanessa Lind [Lind, Vanessa]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: anonymous
Published: 2023-04-26T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Nineteen

Josephine ~ 1888

The next day, after their work at the paper was done, Jo and Amity walked up the hill to City Cemetery. Cecil’s service had been delayed as long as possible in hopes Stella might be released from jail, but Chief Bailey was drawing a hard line on the matter, holding her attendance as a bargaining chip for her confessing to Cecil’s murder.

If a confession was what he was after, Jo suspected he’d be waiting a long time. She’d been to see Stella again, to ask about what sort of service Cecil would have wanted. But Stella had withdrawn into herself, refusing even to look at Jo. The mortician got a similar reception. With no other family to consult, Jo and her father had proposed a simple graveside ceremony. After Noah’s reconciling of the newspaper’s books, there was money enough to commission a marker as well.

“Your father looks like he’s moving better than he was last week,” Amity said as she and Jo neared the top of the hill.

Jo looked over to where Noah was helping her father out of the carriage. “This gout spell has been a long one. I don’t know what he’d do without Noah here to run things.”

“Noah loves the challenge.” Amity’s eyes danced. “Not to mention his proximity to you.”

“You make too much of his supposed affections.”

“I’m only noting what I observe.”

Nearing the cluster of people gathered at the gravesite, Jo dropped the matter. Amity was a great one for throwing people together, even if only in her imagination.

They squeezed into the front row next to Lewis and Noah, who looked appropriately somber in his topcoat and hat. The pastor from the Lutheran church stood at the head of the casket, paging through a small bible.

Despite the summer sun, which warmed them even with the breeze, a chill rose up Jo’s spine. Her mother’s burial had been years ago, and Jo could now stand at the foot of her mother’s grave without waves of grief and remorse washing over her. Still, this scene unsettled her. The casket. The mound of displaced earth. The yawning hole.

She clasped her hands one over the other. Closed her eyes, steadying herself.

She felt a hand at her elbow. “Jo?” Noah asked, his voice low. “Are you all right?”

Opening her eyes, she bit her lip, then nodded.

“I’ll walk you to the carriage if you like.”

“No.” She straightened. “Thank you. But I’m fine.”

Townspeople filled in around the grave. Cecil may have made enemies with merchants like Stanley Osborne, but clearly there were many who’d respected him too. Even Randolph Jenkins, his rival at the Astoria Morning Gazette, had come to pay his respects.

If only Stella could be here to witness how beloved her husband had been in the community, despite the feathers he’d ruffled on occasion. Jo had pleaded with Jedediah Bailey to allow her to attend, even if she had to come in handcuffs. But he said Stella’s behavior was too unpredictable, though he offered no evidence other than her refusal to speak.

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