Chapter XIX
THE ATTENDANT APPROACHED and trained his eyes on Mae as he directed his question to Winona, “Yes, Ma’am. How can I help?”
Mae’s eyes were fixed on his moving lips as the gray mustache bobbed up and down.
“Do ye have any water?”
“I can bring some to you once the train has pulled out, Ma’am.”
His eyes never left Mae as he addressed Winona.
“Yes, that’d be wonderful.” Winona agreed, showing no sign of the tension Mae felt coursing through her body.
The older attendant nodded without breaking eye contact with Mae. The draft from the window was not enough to prevent the sweat from forming on Mae’s upper lip. As the man walked away, Mae traced his retreat with her eyes until he disappeared into the vestibule.
Once the train pulled out from the station, Winona whispered, “I need to use the loo. Can ye save me seat?”
Mae nodded, her eyes darting back to the vestibule where the man had exited.
She put her valise on Winona’s seat to prevent anyone else from sitting down.
Considering whether she should keep her suitcase there, she thought of the multitude of people she might get stuck next to.
She really wasn’t sure she wanted to be next to Winona for the next two days.
Maybe someone else would sit next to her, and she could tell Winona that the porter made her make room?
She looked around at the surrounding passengers.
A woman was trying to settle the young boy she was with.
A very heavyset man who was perspiring had squeezed himself onto a bench already occupied by a couple.
There were several young girls seated behind her, chattering away about some young men they were supposedly meeting.
Another man watched the girls intently, letting his eyes roam slowly.
Perhaps Winona was a better seatmate than the possible alternatives.
As the train gathered speed, the surrounding city thinned out and eventually it vanished completely, leaving only snow and trees flitting by.
She leaned her head against the glass and fought to keep her eyes open.
The feeling of being watched weighed heavily on her, and the time between blinks elongated.
Eventually, the burning in her eyes won out, and she closed them.
She awoke to her legs cramping and her mouth dry from the heat pipes running alongside the cars.
“That sleep musta been overdue.” Winona’s slow cadence brought Mae out of her reverie completely. Winona’s presence had replaced her valise. “Ye were out for a good bit.”
Mae glanced out the window at the darkening surroundings.
Twilight was setting in, and although the train was chasing the setting sun, it was losing its battle.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t sleep much last night.
” Mae thought back to the man outside her window and his strange reappearance at the train station.
She knew he was somewhere on the train. A small shiver crept up her back, and she straightened up to shake it off.
She needed to move—and she needed to know where the gray-haired attendant was.
“I need to stretch my legs. Do you mind letting me out? I think the observation car is one back from us.”
“I’ll come wit ye if ye don’t mind.” Winona’s smile spread from ear to ear, and straight white teeth dazzled in the dimming light of the car. “It’d probably be a bit brighter in there, and I could use a little more light.”
Mae nodded and followed Winona’s long gait toward the vestibule connecting the two cars.
The short distance did little to stretch her cramped legs, but at least it got her circulation going again.
As she passed the tired porter, she mentioned, “May I have some tea, please? We are heading to the observation car.”
“Of course, Ma’am. I will have it brought in to you,” he replied. “And your companion?”
“Yes, please,” she stated as she continued forward after Winona.
Upon entering, Mae knew that Winona was right.
The observation car was much brighter, but not much livelier than the sleeper car.
As she trailed Winona, a young hostess waved them to an open seat with her long, slender arm.
To her left, she saw two couples playing a game of euchre.
The giddy girls still grouped up directly after the couples, and each held a cup of tea, though their chatter was much more subdued and quiet.
There was no sign of the attendant or the man in the felt hat, but she knew that meant nothing.
Mae saw the hostess tuck her blonde bob behind her ear as she swayed gently to the tempo of the train’s movement.
“If you please, ladies.” She smiled professionally as Mae and Winona slid into the empty seats proffered.
The porter appeared with the tea. As Mae accepted hers, she handed the porter a coin. Winona looked to Mae and accepted her tea as well, extending a darling smile for the porter without an offered tip.
As the evening turned to night, the passengers slowly stood and exited toward their respective cars. Some retreated to the sleeper cars, while some of the less fortunate returned to the hard benches of the day coaches.
The train rocked. Mae watched the last passengers file out and thought of Henry. Of the last real conversation they had had in the office. Two days before she found him.
* * *
Before The Note
“Mae, you will never guess what I found today,” he gushed.
Mae dumped her bags onto the first client chair and collapsed into the second one.
“It seems Winona’s case may be linked to a few others.
” Mae noted his use of their client’s first name, and a seed of irritation niggled its way into her chest. “Namely, Mrs. Jones and Mrs. MacDuffy,” he continued, his voice becoming more excited.
“In each case, there was an absent parent when the order was entered. And the Foundling lists the parents as ‘Unknown’ in Mrs. Jones’s and Mrs. MacDuffy’s cases. ” He looked at her expectantly.
Mae sat unmoved in the client chair, keeping her face neutral.
She wanted to discuss their son—not these cases at the moment.
She knew that Winona Kerr’s also said ‘Parent Unknown,’ but didn’t want to encourage this line of discussion.
When he got onto a trail, there was no diverting his attention.
She clenched her jaw and reached for her notebook, flipping through the pages.
“Okay, that isn’t unusual, Henry. A lot of the parents of these children are absent when the child is committed.
You know as well as I do that the law doesn’t require parental presence at initial commitment. ”
Henry’s eyes dimmed slightly, but his exuberance continued, “True, but don’t you find it odd that these children are all from the same ward and go to the same institution upon commitment?
I mean, really… All three of these children are from practically the same block.
And all of the mothers are negligent?” He flattened his lips as he tilted his head.
“All of the mothers are recently widowed? Magically, there is always ‘room’ at the same institution?” He shook his head.
Mae followed his line of thinking, but couldn’t seem to get as excited.
“I see what you are thinking… But, Henry, following a corruption scheme won’t get Winona Kerr her daughter back.
We have less than two days to file. I really don’t think that can be proved in that amount of time.
Do you really see any officers hovering over mothers, waiting for them to make a misstep?
They are much too busy catching actual criminals.
Just like we should be busy filing procedural motions. ”
“Yes, but Mae… Think! Each child was sent to the Foundling House. I just can’t put my finger on how they would benefit in this.”
“My point exactly. It wasn’t a specific corrupt person or institution that benefited.
It was the children who were removed who benefited.
It would take years to bring any corruption to light.
Think of all the children who need our help right now.
Tomorrow we have to win on procedure—not motive and conspiracy.
Once we file Winona Kerr’s motion and she gets her daughter back, we can work on piecing together your information. ”
Through gritted teeth, he spat, “I think you are being a little na?ve here. Those are the children I am thinking of! You don’t think each kid removed doesn’t come with a nicely wrapped payday?
Whether given directly to the institution to be ‘redistributed’ or to the actual culprits?
Stopping the scheme will protect all the children, not only the ones we are trying to help now. ”
“I think you are stretching the facts to fit your narrative. I went to the Foundling just this morning. I didn’t see anyone living high on the hog there.
Quite the contrary, to be honest.” Mae waved her hands and her voice raised an octave as she thought back to the austerity of the institution and the monotone children present there.
Then the young girl, who was likely being prostituted, popped into her mind.
The image of her bruised face resurfaced from her memory, and she continued her tirade of defense, “Just this morning, there was a young girl—she couldn’t have been more than thirteen.
Bruised and beaten. Obviously turned out.
You don’t think the system is working when it gives her some stability?
A safe place to stay? That’s what it costs when there is no system.
The system may need reform, but not total upheaval. ”
Henry's jaw dropped at Mae’s vivid description, and color crept up his neck and settled above his freshly shaven cheeks. “I’m not saying that it doesn’t help anyone, Mae. I’m saying that it seems to discount morality and nuance when deciding the future of unwitting children!”