Welcome, I’m Mary Louisa Locke, the author of the USA Today best-selling Victorian San Francisco Mystery series and the Caelestis Science Fiction series. In this daily newsletter, I reflect on my life as an indie author trying to age gracefully, including my struggles to maintain a balanced life, what I listen to, read, and watch for entertainment, and occasional bits of information I’ve gleaned from doing the research for my novels.
In addition, now and again I will provide some of my fiction to read, for free, on this newsletter. Everything is available to anyone who subscribes, but I am always pleased when someone shows their appreciation for the newsletter by upgrading to paid.
Daily Diary,, Day 1329:
Brief check-in: Knee still acting up yesterday, and by the time I finished second short walk before dinner, it had become quite painful, and for some reason lower back also started to hurt. So. while watching tv before bed, elevated and iced the knee, heating pad for the back, and started back on advil and tylanol. This morning I did yoga first thing, and substituted some pilates for my first walk, and will do more pilates for the second walk, see how that works. Meanwhile, I’ve already started doing some editing on chapter 6.
However, time to put up the next to last scene in the short story, and a reminder that if you go HERE, you will see the rest of the scenes published so far. This Wednesday will be the final scene for those of you who want to read the story all at once.
Dandy Detects: A Victorian San Francisco Story
By M. Louisa Locke, copyright, 2010
Scene 7:
It was Sunday afternoon, and Barbara was sitting on the front porch of the boarding house, escaping the heat of her attic room. Jamie was off with Dandy and a friend; they said they were going to the wharf to watch the ships, but she suspected they were primarily hoping that it would be cooler nearer the bay.
Mrs. Fuller came through the front door to the porch, trailed by a man, and said, "Mrs. Hewitt, I would like to introduce you to Patrick McGee."
Patrick McGee was an open-faced young man who had tried to counter his youthful freckles with a fiercely waxed mustache that was several shades darker than the copper curls on top of his head. She had heard a good deal about Patrick from Jamie. She knew that he was Mrs. O'Rourke's nephew and, as Jamie put it, that he was "sweet on Miss Kathleen" and that he was in the city police department. It turned out that it was in this latter capacity that he might be of help to Barbara.
Mrs. Fuller continued, "This morning, Kathleen mentioned your concern about Mrs. Francis' dog to him, and he thought he might have a way of setting your mind at rest."
Yesterday evening's discussion in the kitchen about what might have happened to Gordie had gone on for some time, with no resolution. Mrs. O'Rourke had been of the opinion that Barbara had heard another dog and that Gordie was happily traveling with his mistress. Kathleen, who had developed a strong antipathy to Mr. Francis from her friend Georgeanne, asserted her belief that he had taken advantage of his wife's absence to give the dog away.
She had said, “Georgeanne told me that when she is in the back yard, hanging the laundry, she's heard him yell at the dog something terrible. Can you imagine? His poor wife will come back, and that blackguard will say, ‘Oh, my dear, somehow your poor dog got out. I promise I looked every where for him!’”
Mrs. Fuller had held her own council until she had finally turned to Barbara and said, "Mrs. Hewitt, do you think he harmed Gordie? Is that why you are so upset?"
When she had said those blunt words, Barbara had realized that was exactly what she thought. She had said, "I just can't get the image out of my mind of Mr. Francis striking the dog in anger, perhaps killing him accidentally, and burying him under his new sidewalk."
She had gone on to tell them about how she had noticed last Thursday that a stack of bricks and a pile of sand that had been sitting in the Francis' back yard for a month was gone. Instead, there was a new brick walkway from the back door to around the side of the house.
"At the time, I thought how odd of Mr. Francis to do this work when it was so hot. But then later, after I thought of how upset Dandy was, sitting in front of that new walkway and howling. Well, I just couldn't help but think that poor little Gordie might be buried under those bricks."
Barbara remembered the look of horror on everyone's face when she had confessed her fear. However, after much more discussion, no one could think of how to determine if it was true. Yet here was Mrs. Fuller, the very next day, telling her she had found a way to do so. Barbara stood up and shook hands with Mr. McGee, saying, "I am so pleased to meet you. You were so kind to help Jamie get the dog license for Dandy. I would be glad to hear your ideas about how to find out what happened to Mrs. Francis' little dog."
Mr. McGee nodded shyly and said, "You see, Ma'am, when Kathleen, I mean Miss Hennessey, told me about your worrying about the neighbor's dog, I thought of my sergeant, Mr. Thompson. He has this old bloodhound that he swears can find a dead body, no matter how well hidden. There was this case some years ago, a robbery, and the two villains got off with the whole Central Pacific payroll. They took a guard with them, and it were Mr. Thompson's hound that found the man. Unfortunately, he'd been killed and buried out in the mountains, but at least his family had the satisfaction of knowing what became of him. So I got to thinking that if he could find a buried man, he should certainly be able to find a buried dog. Plus, Mr. Thompson is terrible fond of animals, can't stand the idea of them being hurt. He's instructed us patrolmen to look out for this on our rounds. Says there's a law on the books that makes it a crime to ‘willfully hurt, maim, or kill an animal.’"
Mrs. Fuller interjected, "Mrs. Hewitt, do you think Patrick should talk to the sergeant? I felt you should decide." Pausing briefly, she then continued. "There might be some unpleasantness if Mr. Francis suspected you were involved. We could just wait until Mrs. Francis comes back home. If she has the dog with her, that would be the end of it. If not, you might be able to speak to her about your fears."
Barbara felt a rise of panic, thinking, I don't want to be involved. What if Mr. Francis did find out? I don't want him angry with me or Jamie. He might do something. Even if I am wrong, how would I ever be able to befriend Mrs. Francis if she comes back?
"If she comes back," Barbara murmured. Suddenly, she realized that as long as she suspected that Mr. Francis was capable of killing Gordie, she wouldn't feel safe living across the alley from him. She had to know, one way or the other.
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Getting scary!