Hometown Redemption - Book Three of the Western Girls Trilogy

Chapter 3

It took nearly until lunchtime for Morgan to relay everything that had happened since she had left the orphanage to Mrs. Lowry. She helped serve lunch, greeting all of the girls who came through the line and recognized her. There were a few new faces, but even those girls had heard of her and said hello.

Some of the older girls began cleaning up after lunch as they had always done, even when Morgan had lived there, which gave Mrs. Lowry a chance to speak with Mr. Bishop in the office. Morgan went with her.

Nathanial asked if Ms. Desmond had ever paid her a bonus or any of her wages in cash. He asked if any of her wages had ever varied from the amount she expected, if she'd ever been overpaid or underpaid. She hadn't.

"Mrs. Lowry," Morgan asked before the woman headed back to the kitchen. "You've been here a long time. Do you know who the director was before Ms. Desmond?"

"Oh yes, it was Mrs. Calvin," she replied.

"Thank you." Morgan began pacing the room. "I've heard or seen that name before." she muttered.

"I haven't seen anything here in the office with that name on it," Miss Banfield said with a weary sigh.

"Can I borrow your lantern there?" Morgan suddenly stopped pacing.

"Well, yes. But what for?"

"Come with me." Morgan said. Mr. Bishop had stood up and lit the lantern for her and the two of them followed her down the hall to the basement door. "Be careful, it's really dark and there may be mice."

"Oh dear," Miss Banfield murmured. Mr. Bishop offered her a hand down the steep, dark stairwell.

Morgan hung the lantern from a hook in the low ceiling, something she hadn't noticed the last time she'd been down there. It certainly would have been helpful so she could have seen what she was doing a little easier. The boxes were just as she'd left them and she began to open them and sort through the files inside.

Not sure what she was looking for, Mr. Bishop and Miss Banfield stood back and watched, but he did begin looking around when it seemed like it was taking her some time to find it. He glanced down into one of the barrels and reached in, pulling out what appeared to be human hair.

Miss Banfield gasped and Morgan glanced over. "Oh. Sorry, that's my hair." she said. "I didn't have time to do anything but hide it when I left."

"What exactly were the circumstances you left under?" Miss Banfield asked. "I saw in your file that Ms. Desmond had a marriage contract but it was only signed with a man's signature so you obviously left before she could coerce you."

Morgan froze. "I didn't realize she already had someone in mind," she finally said. "I joined the cattle drive last year and worked my way to San Fransisco, hoping I could find my great aunt."

"You weren't able to find her?" She asked.

"I found her. She had passed away a few years ago."

"I'm so sorry,"

"It was a long shot," Morgan gave up on the box she was currently rifling through. She knew she had seen that name, but she also knew she hadn't dug too deeply into any of the boxes down there. She set that box aside and opened the box underneath it. "Here it is!" she found a very thick folder that had Mrs. Calvin's name written in bold letters across the front of it. "I knew I'd seen it before."

"Why don't we take it up to the office where there's more light," Miss Banfield found herself standing far too close to Mr. Bishop for her own comfort, but she wasn't about to go up the dark stairs by herself.