The Black Widow's Prey by N. S. Wikarski

Author:N. S. Wikarski
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: history, mystery, thriller, series, amateur sleuth, traditional detective, women's studies, Chicago, Gilded Age, Victorian
Publisher: Northgate Press
Published: 2024-01-25T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 20—Alienation of Affection

ONCE MRS. VANGILDER and her daughter arrived back at their hotel suite, Perdita dreaded a wrathful lecture about her desire to postpone the wedding. Instead, her mother did something quite unaccountable.

“I need to lie down,” she said in a small, listless voice. “Have the maid bring me a cold compress for my forehead.” Those were her only words as she drifted into her bedroom and closed the door emphatically behind her.

Perdita spent a tense afternoon waiting for her mother to arise and vent her fury. That moment never came. Instead, at around two o’clock, Mrs. Vangilder emerged, fully dressed, and announced, “I’m going out.”

“Shall I go with you?” Perdita asked anxiously.

“No,” was the curt reply.

Leaving her daughter to fend for herself, Mrs. Vangilder exited the hotel for an unknown destination.

Perdita bit her lip and then bit her nails. She was used to explicit orders about how she should spend her time and what she should do in her mother’s absence. Cassius was out as well, so there was no one to direct her activities.

The young lady sighed and wandered back into her own room. She sat down at the secretary desk and began to compose two letters. The first was to Freddie. She hadn’t seen him since the day Cassius warned her to break off the friendship. Fearing for the reporter’s safety, she now penned her regrets that social obligations and preparations for the wedding were taking up every available moment. She would have no more time to ride and thanked Freddie for his kindness during her brief stay in his city. The note implied that they would never meet again or correspond in the future. Perdita impatiently dashed away a tear as she addressed the envelope in care of the Tribune.

The second letter was just as difficult to write. It was meant for Evangeline, who had opened Perdita’s eyes to freedoms that she didn’t know were possible for a young lady of good family. Those freedoms were merely a daydream, she now told herself, even though Evangeline had recently written to urge Perdita to break off her engagement. Apparently, the duke was rumored to have caused the deaths of his two former wives. While this news troubled Perdita, she trusted her mother enough to believe that Hettie Vangilder would never allow her daughter to wed a murderer.

Mrs. Vangilder set great store by the impending alliance. So much so, that both she and Cassius were perfectly capable of harming anyone who interfered with it. Freddie’s life had already been threatened because he dared to associate with Perdita. The duchess-to-be imagined that Evangeline was at risk too. Perdita couldn’t have it on her conscience that danger might befall either one. Not after their sole crime had been to show her kindness. She took a deep breath and wrote another set of excuses much like those contained in her first note. Although she knew Evangeline was wise enough to read between the lines, she would also be tactful enough not to force future contact against a friend’s wishes.

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