Shooting For Justice by G. Tilman (top 100 novels txt) 📗

last thing they needed to do was invite a few people to the wedding. After much discussion, they invited the Lanes. Joe was the Wells Fargo executive whose kidnapped daughter Mattie they had recovered. Millie Pope had served for years as their housekeeper and virtually raised Mattie and her older sister, Martha. Israel came into the investigation and proved a valuable asset. He, Sarah, and Pope all liked the family except for the wife and mother. Harriett Lane was a tough person to like. Millie, who virtually ran the household, was able to moderate her disposition.

Sarah’s comment as soon as they found Millie would be marrying Israel was, “The poor family. How will they get along with such a horrible woman without Millie?” Her gracious feelings were somewhat lessened when the pretty young Mattie began to write love letters to John Pope which would have embarrassed a San Francisco Tenderloin madam. Sarah planned to smile directly at young Mattie as she said, “I do.” She only shared her plan with Millie. Millie, who had virtually raised the Lane girls did not say anything initially. Later, she cautioned Sarah against it. “Why add avarice to what should be the happiest day of your life?” she asked.

Sarah thought of the close relationship she and older sister Martha established during the kidnap investigation. Martha had come into her room and climbed into bed to talk and be assured her sister would be returned alive. Sarah realized her action would be unnecessary and hurtful to more than just young Mattie. She also realized it would be petty and beneath her.

Towards the end of the two weeks, their wedding occurred. It was quiet.

Guests included the chief deputy, Hume, Morse, the Lanes, the Kanes.

Young Mattie, now a pretty woman, cried during the ceremony. Nobody but Sarah and Millie took notice as crying at weddings was not unusual. Her mother scowled as was her habit most times. The older sister schemed on how to become one of Pope’s deputies.

Weather allowed an outside meal and reception at the cabin.

Kane took his new friend Pope aside.

“John, I have a problem which has just arisen. I may need your help. I don’t know whether your assistance will be professional or just personal. But it is highly confidential. I need to swear you to absolute secrecy and ask you follow my lead and not let any law enforcement zeal decide your efforts.”

“Michael, it’s a pretty tall order. But I will abide by your conditions to help you,” Pope promised.

They had walked away from the wedding party and were out of hearing of everyone.

“My wife is not Ogarita Booth. She is an actor who is her best friend. My ‘Rita’ is really named Sally Hemsworth. The real Rita wanted to drop out of sight and asked my Sally to assume her identity. They look enough alike to be twins. Friends of Rita never picked up on the differences. It gave Sally the opportunity to be a famous actor,” Kane said.

“What happened to the real Rita?” Pope asked.

“She is happily living with a new husband out West as Rita with a new last name. What it is does not matter.”

“So, Michael, I have not detected what’s worrying you yet.”

“Herein lies the biggest secret you will ever know but cannot share.

“A reporter in San Francisco spotted and recognized my wife. He wrote an article about Ogarita Booth and her new husband being in town.”

“How does it worry you, Michael?” Pope asked.

“Because her father saw it and realized my ‘Rita’ is not his ‘Rita’. He even looked us up and watched us without our knowing it. He knows for a fact I am not married to his real daughter.”

“Do you mean John Wilkes Booth is alive and reading San Francisco papers?” Pope asked incredulously.

“Yes. I do.”

“You must have been aware of him not being killed in Virginia after he killed Lincoln, then?”

“I was. I reckoned wandering the world, waiting for a bullet in the back or a knife across the throat was a far worse punishment than a hangman’s noose. He is virtually a man without a country or without a life.”

“If he was identified, could it come back on you?” Pope asked.

“Not if some gunsel or copper in some town identified him. If I identified him to you to arrest, it probably would prompt many questions I wish not to answer in a court of law. It would ruin me. And, ruin Sally,” Kane admitted.

“I trust you have a plan.”

“I do. I propose meeting with him alone, but with you outside the door. I will tell him the truth. His daughter and her best friend cooked up this identity switch to let Rita disappear. Yet, if the popular actress dropped out of sight, it would cause too many problems. So, with their plan, Rita could marry her beau and Sally, as Rita, could act for a year or two, then marry and drop from the public eye. The plan was better than it may seem on first reflection. Until the troubled Booth showed up. He was an unstable tool used by Lincoln’s administration.”

“Michael, Robert Todd Lincoln told me much the same. He and General Lafayette Baker believe members of the Cabinet supported Booth and facilitated his getaway and intentionally buried an imposter.”

“I am pretty sure it’s exactly what happened. Now, don’t mistake this—Booth did kill Lincoln. But I think of him as an ‘accidental assassin’. He does not have the skills to be a spy as he fancied himself. Shooting an unaware man in the back of the head from a foot away did not take any skill.

“However, in the ensuing eighteen years, he has to have developed skills to avoid being recognized and captured,” Kane said.

“What is your opinion of Booth?” Pope asked his friend.

“He is an egomaniac, he is mentally unstable, misguided politically, and has a miserable personality. I was there when he and his daughter met for the first time in her adult life. They did not seem to like each