by Carol Buhler
“Not even you,” she said softly.
He choked, then pulled himself together. “Not even me. He is not violent. He should live here—be cared for by you all. He will be your purpose in life.”
He challenged them with his glare, then backed off as he saw them looking at him with sympathy. What had Ludo told them? No matter. Get on with it.
“If you want to stay, get with Ludo and work out what you need to maintain the place. I will make sure you are always funded but you won’t see much of me, ever again.” He turned to Ludo. “Take care of things. I’ll let you know when Byron is coming.”
He strode to the door.
“But Master Laird!” Ludo called.
Pepper spun on his heel, his face ferocious. “I am not Master Laird. He died many years ago. Deal with it.” He raced out of the dining room and out the front door, slamming it behind him so no one could call to him again.
Chapter 14
Dear Bonami,
I read in the paper that you are getting married and moving your firm to Pith. I wish you the best of luck there.
It turns out that Byron’s grandfather, and mine, of course, was Sir Reginald von Straus of Western Bonn. He has recently died and I have inherited the estate and fortune. I ask you to escort Byron to the estate where the head man, named Ludo, and all the servants will care for him until he dies. I’ve put the money into a trust fund for him which Ludo can access. Don’t be concerned about my trusting the man. Believe me, I will keep a close eye on the place.
You can reach Ludo via the village of Straton. Everyone there knows him.
I am taking employment with a man who will be traveling all over the continent so you will not see me again. Know that the Laird you knew is gone. Forget what you can of him.
Your friend
**
After he knew that Byron was settled—he’d watched a limousine deliver his brother and Bonami to the estate, Pepper went to join Remé Firth in Fell. The man introduced his new aide to his beautiful wife, Dara, and the pair of them took Pepper on a tour of their properties in Fell. Firth had let the younger man know he thought he’d been extremely foolish to leave his estate in the hands of a mere butler, but since Pepper had agreed to work for him, he didn’t harp on the subject.
Most of what Firth owned was bare land, or lots in the city, and they went over the plans he’d drawn up for developing each property for maximum financial advantage. Although Dara had started life the daughter of a pair of actors, and had become an actress herself, Pepper soon learned that she was brilliant with numbers and helped tremendously in the evaluation of plans and land. And, despite her sketchy background, as he thought of it, she was absolutely devoted to Firth and his goals. What their intimate relationship was, he never asked nor knew. She was definitely off bounds for any male they came near; he spent quite a bit of time as her bodyguard and never really needed his extensive skills in that capacity.
The three of them spent a full year in the city-state of Fell and started a number of projects: a power dam on the main river, a steel mill in the capital city, a major shipping concern on the coast, and other similar businesses. Pepper spent his time that first year gathering information about land and business ownership, deeds, family skeletons, and scandals. He often wondered what Firth thought he needed a man of his skills so badly for, but he enjoyed the work and learned a great deal about the city-state and how Firth developed businesses, as well as how the man thought.
At the end of a particularly trying week, Firth called him into his office at the top of their recently completed office building in downtown Fell, motioned for him to take a seat, and then stared at him. Pepper had learned to control any fidgets he felt many years earlier, so he just sat, erect but not tense, waiting for his boss to start the conversation. Firth often seemed as if he was trying to shock his aide or get some sort of angry reaction out of him. Pepper didn’t know why, but he never fell for the older man’s intimidation tactics.
Finally, Firth smiled as if delighted. “Nothing gets you, does it?”
Pepper didn’t answer and his boss shook his head, then picked up some papers. “I want you to go to Delt and look into the ownership of properties in the areas delineated on these papers. I’m looking for people struggling to pay their taxes, or other bills, who are willing to sell at a major discount. You’ve learned this last year what types of investments I want.”
Pepper rose and took the papers Firth was holding out. As he made to return to his chair, Firth said, “Wait. Here’s your expense account. Let me know if you need more.” He dug into a drawer and pulled out a thick pouch, then handed it over. Pepper didn’t look inside, sure it held more money than he’d ever seen in one packet.
“Dara and I will join you in about a month,” Firth continued as Pepper sat. “If you happen to see something especially promising that can’t wait, buy it. I expect you to have a quantity of prospects for us to inspect.”
He tossed a set of keys that Pepper snatched out of the air even though they’d been lobbed towards his right. “You take the Peters—that’s why I wanted you to get your driver’s license. We’ll bring the Wagoner with Dara’s luggage. I know you’ll travel light. The manager at the Hotel Bayou on River Drive has this name, Taylor Patterson, and your description. We’ll be staying in the Palatial Suite.” The older man stood. “Keep in touch.”
Assuming that he’d been dismissed, Pepper rose and strode out the door. In the parking garage under the office tower, he located the Peters, a sleek black sedan that looked ordinary but held much power under wraps. It would be the first time he’d driven it and he looked forward to this perk of his job. Fast cars and luxurious hotel rooms couldn’t be topped, although he avoided the expensive alcohol Firth always tried to ply him with. What he would want with a drunken bodyguard, I’ll never know. Especially after his experience with my former instructor.
He unlocked the door, slid into the driver’s seat, and ran his hands over the leather-covered steering wheel. A brief picture of Byron lusting after this car flashed through his head and he decided to pass by the manor on his way to Delt. It can’t be much out of the way. HE didn’t say when I had to be there, but he won’t be happy if I dally.
He pulled out of the parking garage and drove sedately across town to the apartment Firth had leased for him. He personally dealt with none of the financial arrangements so once he had a modest bag packed, had gathered all his weapons into their appropriate cases and stowed them in the car’s trunk, he left town without a worry.
**
The drive to the manor took longer than he’d expected, even with the Peters’ speed. Three days and nights after leaving Fell City, he parked wearily near the manor gates and locked the car. Slipping silently through the dark, he used his key to open the small door in the main gates and made his way to the servant’s quarters of the building. He’d called Ludo from twenty miles away so the man was waiting for him in the kitchen.
“Any problems I need to handle?” he asked after he shook Ludo’s hand. The man never seemed quite willing to accept Pepper as other than his Master Laird, but he’d finally agreed to treat him as just another laborer.
“No, sir. Your brother is doing fine. And so is everyone else. We had a great crop from the kitchen garden and sold enough at the town market to supplement everyone’s salary. So folks are happy.” He looked down and Pepper wondered what Ludo was fretting about.
“Out with it, Ludo. You can’t hide anything from me. What’s got you worried?”
“I’m not precisely worried, your...I mean, sir. But your brother has taken a fancy to a young lady from a manor down toward Everin. She and her parents came to visit once word got around that Byron was here.” He looked up and smiled. “Well, the truth is a lot of folks have come by to see the young sir, many with girls in tow for him to meet.” His faced went serious and his eyes conveyed conviction. “This girl is very sweet and caring. I don’t really think they’re up to no good.” He mumbled so
mething and looked away.
“What’s Mamie Maude say?”
“She likes the girl, too. And there’s no doubt in my mind that she would be good for Byron, who is real lonely, you know. But, how do we ken what’s goin’ on in those folks’ minds?”
“Others have warned you against them?”
Ludo blushed. “Yes. Other visitors say things that make me wonder at their motives. Oh, they don’t talk to me, but I can’t help but overhear their chatter. Of course, anyone in the vicinity with a daughter would love to see their gal married to The von Straus and be grandparent of the eventual heir.” He paused. “There can be an heir, yes?”
“As far as I know, yes, there can. Give me the girl’s name and where to find her. I’ll look into it and let you know.” Pepper studied the old retainer. “Does she understand he is...well...not right mentally?”
“She does, my...I mean, sir. She’s not all that brainy herself. But she treats him right, and she’s real pretty.”
Pepper stood and prepared to leave. “I’ll send you word. Let me know when the wedding is. I’ll try to be here...” He held up a hand. “...not in any sort of official fashion, but I’d like to see Byron happy.”
The detour through Everin took only a couple of hours and by the time Pepper left that village, he’d sent Ludo instructions to wish his brother happiness. The girl and her family were everything he would want to help better Byron’s life.
Since he’d driven straight through from Fell, he stopped to sleep the night just outside the Delt border with Bonn, crashing in a small inn that had no other business. The room was small but clean—he’d slept in worse—and the meal was truly delicious. He felt strong and well rested the next morning, and after a hearty breakfast of steak, eggs, and potatoes, set off for Delt with a contented mind.
**
Delt was totally different from Bonn or Fell. And Delt City was even more different than the seedy town and rice paddies he’d wasted a year in. Although it had a vast shoreline as did both Bonn and Fell, the temperature and humidity levels were much higher, and since he’d just spent the last year in pleasantly warm, dry Fell, Pepper felt suffocated from the first. Whereas Bonn had a more rocky shoreline with sandy beaches and deep bays, Delt City was just plain swampy and muggy. And buggy. At least the Hotel Bayou, aptly named as it looked out over what they called Delt Bay but appeared to be just swamp land, had adequate air conditioning and the suite was truly magnificent.
He settled into his smaller room and slept for two days, ordering in room service whenever he woke.
In no time, he decided he couldn’t work from the hotel. Too many people were always around, asking if they could get something for him, trying to call him a taxi, bringing him newspapers, or simply greeting him and wishing him well. He couldn’t come and go without garnering too much attention and that wouldn’t suit. He gathered that although the hotel manager didn’t personally know the Firth’s, he’d heard about their wealth and was anxious to ingratiate himself into Pepper’s—or rather Taylor Patterson’s—good will.
Claiming to the manager to be setting off on a several-day reconnaissance tour of Delt agricultural production, Pepper took his belongings, found an apartment in a seedier location, and stayed away from the hotel. Thankful the car didn’t look like what it truly was, he took it with him. He found, to his delight, that even the less affluent parts of Delt City had air conditioning—not that it helped out on the streets, but at least most of the buildings on Firth’s list were cool inside. Using a map of the city, he portioned out his investigation to always end in a cooled building, or even a trendy pub somewhere, where he could anonymously relax from sweltering days.
Two weeks went by before Firth called to say they were on the way. Pepper was ready for him. Many of the properties had been so run-down, and their owners wanted too much for the location, that Pepper had crossed them off the list. However, he had a good number, he felt, ready for the Firth’s to investigate.
He was waiting in the Hotel Bayou lobby when the deep maroon Wagoner pulled up out front. The bellboy, Timothy, helped Dara out of the car and began loading her luggage on a cart while Remé strode inside, smiling and gracious. Pepper, stiff and proper without any expression on his face, stood to the side as the manager greeted his employer effusively. Firth returned the manager’s welcome appropriately, then waved Pepper to follow him into the elevator. They didn’t wait for Dara and Timothy, with the bags. Firth’s smile vanished as soon as the door closed.
“Let me see your list,” he barked as he wiped the sweat off his forehead. “Nasty place here. How’d you put up with it?”
Pepper didn’t answer. Firth ran his eyes down the page, then looked up. His eyes were back to the cold steel of the day they’d first met. “Why are these crossed off?”
“Run-down. Want too much,” Pepper said brusquely.
“Well, go and change their minds. That’s your job here in Delt.”
“I’m not staying at the hotel.”
”Why not?”
“Too many eyes.”
“Right. Keep me informed. Dara and I’ll see you tomorrow. Get rid of some of these cross-outs.”
The sliding door opened and Firth strode to the double doors of the suite. Pepper stayed in the elevator, greeted Dara briefly when it returned him to the ground floor, then walked quickly out the front door before the manager could corner him to ask questions. Dara is more than capable of handling the fool.
**
The crumbling building was dark in the fading sunlight when the owner arrived, panting with fear and sweating like a pig. “I’m here,” he called. “I have the transfer papers.”
Pepper stepped from behind a pillar, his hand forcing the ten-year-old forward to his father. Dressed in black, with a hood over his face that only allowed his eyes to show, he lowered his voice. “Smart of you. And thank you. Here’s your payment.” He handed over a wrapped bunch of bills, considerably less than what the owner had priced his building at on the open market. “No word to anyone about what happened here tonight. Remember.”
“I know. I promise. Just let us leave.”
A black gloved hand motioned toward the door. “Go ahead.”
One down, two to go.
Way across town, night had completely fallen when another warehouse building owner stepped inside and accepted his fifteen-year-old daughter and a small wad of bills in exchange for the deed to his property. And again, at midnight near the wharf, a third turned over his title in exchange for his ailing mother and some money—but nowhere near what he’d wanted to sell for.
Pepper had been prepared, although he’d hoped he wouldn’t have to force the deals; hoped those he hadn’t crossed off the list would suffice. But, what else would a man like Firth want with a man with Pepper’s skills? He returned to his apartment, stripped off his clothes, and lay atop the bed to cool off.
**
The Firths purchased over fifteen properties in Delt City alone and then moved on to explore other parts of the city-state. After six months, and the accumulation of five large estates, they returned to Hotel Bayou, hired contractors, and started similar constructions to those they’d done in Mont. Pepper drove to Kavv with the same instructions as before.
He’d only been in Kavv for two weeks when Ludo called his personal cell phone with the date of Byron’s wedding. The butler and Remé Firth were the only two people on Garador who had that number; Pepper silently laughed at the dichotomy.
When asked for a week’s leave, Firth sounded rather jovial and granted Pepper time off to see his brother get married. He’d heard Dara in the background urging her husband with words of what a thorough job Pepper had done for them in Delt, so he didn’t attach any significance to his employer’s expansive mood. He told the woman he’d taken into his apartment to clean, cook, and do other things for him, that he’d be back in a week, and left her lounging on the bed.
The drive from Kavv to the manor was shorter than the one from Mont had
been. Also, he stopped overnight along the way to have his hair cut very short and dyed blond. He altered his eyebrows, bought colored contacts, bleached his face, neck, and hands, padded his belly, and added other touches to disguise himself for the ceremony. Although he knew Byron wouldn’t know him, the servants might and he didn’t want them to realize he was there.
Once he arrived, he was very glad he had taken the precaution. Bonami and his wife—what was her name? He decided he didn’t remember, if he ever had known—were just entering the main gate as he drove past looking for a parking spot along the lane. He planned to stay well away from that couple. He hadn’t designed his disguise to fool his sharp lawyer friend.
Byron looked good, and although his bride was considerably shorter, plump, and not all that good-looking, Pepper thought, she had an engaging smile and sparkling eyes, which she trained on Byron with so much love, Pepper grew jealous of his brother’s future happiness.
The unassuming blond man made his way out of the manor’s chapel with other guests, filled a plate with ham, cheese and other products he knew came from the land around them, and braced his slumped shoulders against a tree to watch the festivities. A big man came to stand next to him, his hands also holding a plate.
“Don’t draw attention to me,” Pepper said out of the side of his mouth.
“No one’s interested in you,” Ludo mumbled around a mouth full of ham. “I recognized you because you are the only one I know who moves like a cat tracking a mouse. And I knew you were here, so I watched for you.” He chewed contentedly. Then, he asked, “What do you think?”
“I think they’ll live happily ever after like the fairy tales Mother used to tell us.”
“But not you?”
“No, not me...On that subject, if you don’t hear from me for a month’s time, assume I won’t be coming back. What have you planned after your retirement? Who will take care of Byron and this place until his eventual son can take over?”
