Josiah's Treasure Read Online Free PDF Page B

he?”
    “Absolutely.”
    “Maybe he’s not the same Josiah Cady.”
    Sarah’s pulse tripped. If only that were true. “You should sit, Mr. Cady.”
    “Actually, I don’t think I will.” He crossed the room, joined her in the center of it. “I want to tell you about the Josiah Cady I knew.”
    “He never spoke much about his past.”
    The corner of his mouth twitched. “Small wonder.”
    He folded his arms and stared down at her. “Nine years ago he took off to pan for gold, ending up in the Black Hills, bound and determined to become a wealthy man. Not the first time he had abandoned his children and my mother in order to scratch that particular itch. He prospected in the Sierra in 1850 before they married and went to Colorado in ’61. Stayed with us for a while after he returned from there.” He was still looking at Sarah, but his focus had gone someplace else entirely. “When he went to the Black Hills, though, he never came back. Never even contacted us again. The scandal just about killed my mother.
Did
kill my mother.” Daniel’s gaze sharpened. “Nice, caring fellow.”
    Sarah wished she had complete faith that Daniel Cady was misleading her. But Josiah, for all his kindness, had always kept secrets.
    Just as she had.
    “Josiah told me that his wife and children perished during an influenza epidemic. Their deaths were the reason he moved toSan Francisco and never returned to Chicago.” That’s what he’d told her and she had believed him. She had to; she wouldn’t permit Josiah to be so horribly flawed. All the same, she felt queasy. “He loved them dearly and settled here to distract himself from his loss.”
    Daniel appeared unmoved. “That’s a nice tale.”
    “Listen, Mr. Cady,” she responded, “you’ve told me an interesting and sad story, but it still doesn’t prove you’re who you say you are.”
    He tipped his head to one side, understanding lighting his eyes. “You’ve inherited this place, haven’t you? That’s why you’re so interested in getting me to prove who I am. My existence means you could lose this house.”
    Rufus meowed and leaped onto the table at her side, bumping his head against her elbow, sensing her anxiety. “I am the owner as far as the probate judge is concerned. I’m not the only one who would need more conclusive proof of your identity than an interesting story.”
    “What else did Josiah leave you?”
    You can’t have it.
“He spent a lot of his wealth on this house. There is some property northeast of here, in Placerville, but much of the rest, I spent on doctors and specialists.”
    His eyebrow rose again, just like Josiah’s might have with the same skeptical expression. “And on setting up an art studio?”
    Anger flared, burning her cheeks. She should never have let him step foot in the house. Pity him. What had she been thinking? “Anyone could come here and claim to be Josiah’s long-lost son, eager to snatch up an inheritance. Thousands of people in this town are looking to make a quick dollar by any means possible.”
    “Including you, Miss Whittier?”
    “You have overstayed your welcome, Mr. Cady.” Sarah swept out of the parlor and yanked open the front door.
    Daniel strolled across the entry hall. “I’ll get that proof. You’d better prepare yourself. Packing might be a good place to start.”He tapped his hat onto his head. “Farewell, Miss Whittier. For now.”
    The second he crossed the threshold, Sarah banged shut the door, clattering glass for the second time today. She collapsed against the doorframe, the smell of his lime shaving lotion lingering in the air, taunting her.
    “Miss Sarah, here’s the tea . . . what’s happened?” The tea service clinked as Mrs. McGinnis clasped the japanned tray tight to her chest.
    “Before Lottie and the girls get here, Mrs. McGinnis, I need you to tell me all you know about Josiah’s life before he came to San Francisco.”
    “Now, didn’t he tell you all his stories,