The Girl Underground

Chapter 20: A Home by Any Other Name

Chapter 20: A Home by Any Other Name

Mrs. Boatwright paced their foyer, waiting impatiently for news on Malia. Brandon Dorsey had returned home, shaken but well, and was offered a reprieve numerous times, but he refused. He then dove himself into his daily chores and spoke of the horrendous events of the other night only when asked.

Malia, on the other hand, they had not heard from at all since. One of the deputies had arrived the other day stating that she was the sole witness to a murder, and had to be taken into protection until the case was closed. Mrs. Boatwright wanted to argue that Malia was safe enough at home, but the deputy said that the Magistrate had ordered it, and it was out of the question.

"What makes that man think that she is any safer at his home than she would be here?" Mrs. Boatwright had pressed her husband that very day. "Really, George, we must argue this!"

But Mr. Boatwright seemed almost blasé on the subject. "If the Magistrate ordered it, than it must be done, Mary."

"God, listen to you!" She shook her head in disgust. "It's as if you want her to be gone! She is the daughter of the man that saved your life, or have you forgotten?"

"I have not, and that is precisely the reason why I am for her protection. You heard the man, she witnessed a murder. She is not safe here if the killer knows where she works."

"What was she doing out at such hours at all?" Mrs. Boatwright thought out loud. "And for how long has she been sneaking out? Why?"

"We kept her in closed quarters for so long, it is only natural that she would want to see the world she was denied, especially after you told her to deliver the Magistrate's invitation all those months ago."

Mrs. Boatwright turned on him. "I thought I was doing the girl a well deserved favor, letting her out!"

"Have you not noticed that she has not been the same since?" Mr. Boatwright asked her. "Malia's entire demeanor changed the moment she returned home from that house. And I've seen myself that lately, she's been almost... Troubled.... But happy too."

Mrs. Boatwright snorted. "Perhaps she saw a handsome footman in the Quincy home."

"Perhaps," Mr. Boatwright mumbled. "But then there was the curios way she acted around the Magistrate when he came a few days past, do you recall?"

"The man has me weak at the knees, George, and every other woman in Lanfore," Mrs. Boatwright waved a nonchalant hand. "Forgive Malia for being a woman."

"So you are denying any oddities that you may have seen between them that day?"

Mrs. Boatwright paused, then sighed. "Well, if you must know, I did see Malia standing outside the study door with the tea right before I walked in. That was why we walked into together. But I am sure it was nothing."

"But did you not see how John looked at her when she walked in?"

"Again, forgive the man for admiring her!" Mrs. Boatwright said. "Malia is a beautiful young woman, George. I am sure you have noticed. Young men here and all of Lanfore practically drool over her, despite who she is. You pit two such handsome people in one room and they are bound to stare at one another."

"Mary, there is more to is, this all cannot be coincidence."

"What do you mean?"

"How is it that after that exchange, Malia runs into this murder, and the Magistrate orders her to remain with him until the close of the case?"

"George Boatwright if you are for one moment insinuating that Malia had something to do with this-"

"Of course not!" He assured his wife hastily. "I love Malia very dearly, as do you, and I would never assume such things of her, but she must be connected to this case somehow."