The Fall Of White City (Gilded Age Mysteries Book 1) by N. S. Wikarski Page A

appearance flashed through Evangeline’s mind. With spectacles, a receding hairline and a chin to match, he was hardly any girl’s romantic ideal. “Well, maybe I’ll talk to him to see if he can recall any other little details about Elsa. Is there anything else you can think of?”
    Mary concentrated for a moment. “Well, there was just that one time.”
    “Yes?” Evangeline was all attention.
    “I think Mr. Sidley had a special pass for the Fair that he couldn’t use, and I’m pretty sure he gave it to Elsa. Yes, I believe she said so. It was sometime way back in the spring.”
    Evangeline frowned, trying to digest this new bit of information. “Did he accompany her there?”
    “I don’t know, miss, because Elsa never talked about it again, and after that I never saw her talking to him again either. I’m sorry, but that’s all I remember.”
    “That’s all right. You’ve been very helpful. One never knows what bit of information might be of use. Perhaps you should be going before it gets too late.” Evangeline watched the girl rise to go. “Mary, remember what I said.”
    “About keeping this a secret?”
    “Yes, exactly,” Evangeline said in a dramatic whisper. “You must swear it.”
    The girl looked alarmed again, but Evangeline wanted to gain that reaction. “Yes, miss. I swear it! On my mother’s grave, I’ll never tell.” She put her hand over her heart for further emphasis as her eyes took on the appearance of large, blue glass marbles.
    Satisfied with this display, Evangeline smiled and told her to run along home. After the girl left, she sat for a while lost in thought. For the first time in her review of possible suspects she considered the accountant. Not realizing that she was thinking out loud to the empty classroom, she said, “Sidley? But he’s so very common... What an absurd notion!”
    As she was collecting her papers to go, she happened to glance down at the volume still lying open on her desk. The class had been studying Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Purloined Letter.” Her eyes gravitated to the words, “... These, like the overlargely lettered signs and placards of the street, escape observation by dint of being excessively obvious; and here the physical oversight is precisely analogous with the moral inapprehension by which the intellect suffers to pass unnoticed those considerations which are too obtrusively and too palpably self-evident.”
    Evangeline smiled grimly. “Well, Mr. Poe, perhaps I should heed your observation. We shall see if you’re right. In due course, we shall see.” She closed the book, collected the rest of her papers, and went downstairs where Jack was waiting with her carriage.

Chapter 7—The Accountant’s Lair
    “Ahem!” Evangeline stood in the doorway of the resident accountant’s office on Tuesday afternoon.
    Jacob Sidley failed to notice her. He was seated at a desk, huddled over a mound of ledger books. Adding-machine paper littered the desk and snaked its way to the floor, apparently in the hope of eventually making an escape through the door when the list of numbers grew long enough. Sidley seemed to be lost in the mathematical impossibility of reconciling the settlement’s funds against its too plentiful expenses. Evangeline heard him muttering to himself. “But that can’t be. I told them not to present that bill until next week! Now what’s to be done?”
    “Ah-hem!” Evangeline coughed again to make her presence known. Sidley jerked his head up and stared at her blankly. His mind was apparently still so focused on debits and credits that he hadn’t made the mental connection to the person standing in front of him. After a few more seconds, a look of surprise replaced the scowl on his face. He jumped up from his seat, knocking over a pile of bills in the process.
    “Oh, my g... goodness. It’s M... Miss LeClair!” Evangeline watched in amusement as the accountant faced a new mathematical problem, that of dividing himself