The Savage Heart (19 page)

“Why else would I have asked Old Man Deer to marry us?” he whispered, touching her cheek with a gentle hand. “And denied myself women for twelve years?”

“Denied yourself?” She did gasp out loud then. “But you said…!”

“I said that I'd had encounters with sophisticated women,” he replied pleasantly. “And I have. I've held them and kissed them, and caressed them.” He grinned. “But I never slept with them. I was a married man, for God's sake!”

She hit his chest and shook him and groaned furiously, and he pulled her into his arms right there in the middle of the sidewalk and kissed her breathless.

When he let her go, they were getting pointed stares from passersby, not all of whom were outraged. Some were frankly amused.

“Now, let's go and see what we can do for Mrs. Greene. We can wait. Nan can't.”

He took her arm and drew her along with him. Seconds later his fingers locked firmly into her own, and she wondered if it wasn't to hold her down to the sidewalk. She surely would have floated, in her state of utter euphoria, if he'd let go of her hand.

 

M
RS
. G
REENE INVITED THEM
into her house with a curious expression and led them to the sitting room. She
offered coffee and they accepted, passing the time of day with a courteous but very puzzled Officer Greene, who'd arrived home from work only minutes before.

When Mrs. Greene brought the coffee tray, Matt got up to take it from her. Her hands were shaking. She smiled perfunctorily and sat down next to her husband as Matt placed the tray on the side table.

“Would you pour, Miss Meredith?” Edith Greene asked in a tight voice. “My nerves are unsettled today—I can't think why!” She laughed nervously.

Tess obliged her, passing cups of coffee to everyone before she settled her cup and saucer gingerly on her lap.

“This is a strange time to come calling, if you'll forgive me saying so,” Officer Greene said.

“I'm afraid it isn't a social call,” Matt replied solemnly. “We've done some investigating, and we have a suspect in the Collier murder case. In fact,” he added with studied carelessness, “we know who did it.”

“For God's sake, girl!” Greene exclaimed as his wife spilled coffee all over herself.

Her hand was scalded, and she covered it with her napkin for just an instant before she looked at Matt with haunted eyes. “How did you find out?” she asked in a strained tone.

“A neighbor saw you run out of the apartment.”

“That's a lie!” Greene exploded, but Matt silenced him with a lean hand and a quick glare. “Let me say at once that I don't believe you capable of cold-blooded murder, Mrs. Greene,” he added quickly. “And I know an attorney
who will represent you at trial. He'll get you off. Collier was a rat and everyone knew it, and enough people could swear that he was beating your sister frequently to convince a jury of his character.”

Mrs. Greene could barely get her breath through sobs and tears. She put the napkin to her eyes and leaned forward over her lap while her husband sat and gaped at her with pure horror.

“I would have told, rather than let her go to the gallows. You must believe that.” She wept harshly. “I was afraid, so afraid!”

“There's no reason to be so afraid,” Tess broke in. “Please tell us what happened.”

She dabbed at her eyes and fought for control, glancing nervously and apologetically at her husband before she began.

“Nan had come to that meeting looking like death warmed over and with bruises on her pretty face. She said that Dennis had sworn to come after her and kill her, and she didn't even want to go home with us because she was so afraid that he might hurt us.” She smiled dully. “We persuaded her. But he—” she nodded toward her husband “—had to go back to work. And he'd no sooner left than Nan got really scared.”

She paused for breath. “I went to see him and told him I'd send Nan home if he'd promise not to hit her again. I didn't mean it, of course. I just wanted to put him off. He seemed to me to be dangerously drunk. Well, he said if she didn't show up, he'd bring his pistol over and kill her.
And the way he was talking, I didn't doubt for an instant that he might actually do it.

“I was scared to death, but I thought that maybe I could talk him out of doing anything stupid. I thought I could scare him into backing off and leaving her be. You can reason with most people if you really try, can't you?” she added plaintively.

“Not with a drunk man, you can't, and you shouldn't have tried, you crazy woman!” Greene groaned, catching her hand tightly in his.

“I know that now, dear, but I was afraid to let you know because he might have killed you if you'd gone instead of me.” She drew another breath, and her complexion paled. “I left. Then I decided to go back. It was dark in the front hall of the apartment. He came into the foyer. It was so dark that he didn't recognize me. He said ‘Nan?' real loud, so loud that you could have heard him on the landing. I closed the door and leaned back against it. My knees were shaking, and my mouth was so dry, I couldn't do much more than say his name. And then he moved, and I saw it.”

“Saw what?” Matt prompted.

“The pistol,” she continued. “He had a pistol. It was lying on the table beside him. He laughed real softly and said he was going to take care of me once and for all, but first he was going to make me give him what I was giving that rich mobster I was going around with. He still thought I was Nan. He was drunk. Staggering drunk.”

“Go on,” Tess said.

Mrs. Greene's eyes looked haunted. “He came toward me. He started cursing me, and he raised his fist. I knew he was going to hit me, and if he did, I wouldn't have a chance. Nan's sewing basket was sitting on top of her treadle machine, where she always kept it. I fumbled in the basket and felt for her scissors. He came at me and I ducked so that his fist hit the door instead. He screamed and I just…” She had to swallow down nausea. Her eyes closed as she shuddered. “I stabbed out wildly. He staggered backward, still screaming, and fell. I didn't even wait to see where I'd stabbed him—I just jerked open the door and ran.” She bit her lip, sobbing. “I never meant to kill him. As God is my witness, I was just trying to keep him from killing my poor sister!”

Tess went to sit beside her on the rosewood sofa and put her arms around the older woman. She began to rock her gently.

“I should have said all this right away, the very minute they arrested Nan.” She wept piteously. “But I was so afraid of the shame I'd bring on my husband and my little children! It just tormented me. I'm glad it's over,” she added in a defeated tone. “I don't care if they hang me. I killed a man. I have to be punished.”

“You killed a snake,” Matt said. “They ought to give you a medal. Don't worry,” he told Greene with a confident smile. “I'll cable Jared Dunn in Fort Worth and ask him to defend you. He'll come, even though he and his wife spend most of their time watching their baby son grow,” he added amusedly.

“You think this Dunn fellow can save my wife?” Greene asked huskily.

“I know it,” Matt told him. “It was a clear case of self-defense, and I can dig up twenty witnesses who'll swear to Collier's low character and your wife's sterling one.” And he could, because Kilgallen would provide them—after all, Edith was soon to be his sister-in-law.

Greene was still powerfully worried, but his face cleared a little. “Well, my darlin',” he said, “I guess we'd better make a trip down to the station house.”

She nodded, wiping her eyes. She gave Tess a watery smile. “I'm sorry. I've never even hurt an animal.”

“Collier was worse than an animal,” Matt said coldly. “He got what he deserved. I'm only sorry that you and your sister were caught in the middle.”

“You're very kind, Mr. Davis,” she said.

“You'll cable this Mr. Dunn, then?” Greene asked him.

“At first light,” Matt promised. He got to his feet along with Tess. “We'll go with you to the station and take Mrs. Collier to a hotel…”

“You'll do no such thing,” Greene said gruffly. “She'll come to us, where she belongs.”

“You're a kind soul yourself, Officer Greene,” Tess said gently.

He almost blushed. “Well, Nan's a good girl, even if it might seem to be a different story. What with the child and all,” he said uncomfortably.

“I think you've got a few surprises coming about Nan
and that baby,” Matt murmured. “But I'll let you find them out yourself. One shock in a night is enough.”

 

N
AN WAS RELEASED
, to her joy and sorrow, because her sister had to take her place in the cell. She thanked Tess and Matt profusely and then went home with her dejected brother-in-law.

She could help him with the children, she said, and smiled at the thought of her own expected child.

“What will Kilgallen do, do you think?” Tess asked when they were outside the station house in the biting cold wind.

“I think he'll marry her out of hand without waiting anywhere near a decent period of mourning,” he chuckled. “That's what I'd do.”

“You? The very conservative Mr. Davis?”

He looked down his long nose at her. “I don't feel as conservative as I've been in past years,” he confessed, smiling. “Perhaps I'm about to break out of my own mold.”

“My heart shivers at the thought,” she teased.

He caught her gloved fingers in his and took them to his mouth. “I'll escort you back to Ellen's house. Then I have a few things to tend to. It may be a week or more before I see you again.” He was solemn all at once. “Don't lose faith in me, Tess. I won't let you down.”

“I never thought that you would,” she said quizzically. She smiled. “I love you.”

He sighed. “And I love you. I hope that we have a hundred years to enjoy each other.”

“And a son and daughter to keep us company,” she said with dogged optimism, expecting him to argue.

He didn't. He just smiled. The conversation on the way to Ellen's was pleasant but not intimate, and he left her at the door with only a soft kiss for comfort.

 

A
WEEK LATER
M
ATT SENT
the society section of the
Chicago Daily Times
to her at the hospital by messenger.

She waited to read about a wild west troupe and studied first the accompanying large photograph that covered most of the top of the page. Pictured were several Oglala Sioux men who were appearing with Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show in a special Chicago performance before they traveled on to New York City. Among the Sioux dignitaries were two minor chiefs, a medicine man named Old Man Deer and right there, in the middle of them all, Matt Davis, local detective, in full regalia right down to the warbonnet, looking every inch a credit to the tribe.

The article read “Famous Chicago detective Matt Davis poses with comrades from the Oglala tribe in South Dakota. Mr. Davis was known by the name Raven Following when he fought the white soldiers during skirmishes in the Indian Wars until the bitter defeat of the Sioux at Wounded Knee on December 30, 1890. Mr. Davis spoke with pride of his heritage and passed several hours speaking in his native tongue with the members of his tribe and with Bill Cody. The next appearance of the Wild West Show, which Mr. Cody calls an educational spectacle rather than a sideshow, will be in New York City.”

It went on to detail the movements of Cody's troupe, including plans for a European tour. Tess stared at the photograph with mingled pride and delight. Underneath it, written in bold ink, was a question: “Would you marry this man?”

It was the middle of a workday. Tess didn't even take time to think that she might be fired outright for what she did next. She took time only to find her purse, then ran out of the hospital, in the cap that was never supposed to be worn more than a hundred yards from the front door, her apron flying as she hailed a passing carriage, the newspaper held tight in her fingers.

Christmas was on the way, and everything was gaily decorated, from streetlights to front doors. She barely took note of the gay garlands adorning the streets as she stared impatiently out the window on the way to Matt's office. It was a dream come true, she thought, a miracle. Whatever had caused him to reveal his heritage so publicly? She was so proud of him that she could have burst.

The carriage finally got through the noon traffic and deposited her on the sidewalk in front of Matt's office. She handed the driver all her change and ran into the building and up the staircase.

Stanley was in the hall, looking at some papers, when she came tearing up the steps.

He grinned like the Cheshire cat when he saw the newspaper in her hand. “Isn't it swell?” he exclaimed. “I knew, or at least I suspected, but I had too much respect for Mr. Davis to pry into his private affairs. Imagine that, he led a
war party! And he told me that the Oglalas have a proud heritage. Crazy Horse was Oglala, and so was Red Cloud, who fought the whites to a standstill back in the 1870s!”

“Yes, it is a very proud heritage,” she agreed.

Matt had heard her voice. He came to the door of his office. He was hatless, and his glorious black hair was loosened for the first time in public—and in daylight, she thought with a scarlet blush. He looked magnificent.

“What do you think?” he asked her in Sioux.

“Wachia ka cha i bedush kien che,”
she replied. “I am happy when I see you.”

“And I am happy when I see you,” he returned in English.

“My go-gosh, you speak Sioux?” Stanley stared in fascination at Tess.

“Indeed she does,” Matt told him. “And she can shoot a bow and skin a deer and ride a pony bareback. I taught her those things, back in Montana.”