‘James!’ She would have darted forward if Matron released her hold. Instead, Matron held fast and, over Madeline’s shoulders, I saw the restless chop of the East River and the lights of Brooklyn winking in the twilight.
‘You have a good deal of explaining to do,’ James told Richter. ‘I thought you were using my fleet to ship beer.’
‘As we are.’ Sebastian laughed. ‘The fact that we’re sending a little more along with the beer is … how would you put it? A happy coincidence?’
‘Hardly happy.’ I shot the words at him. ‘Women are being held against their will, but not at the building where Succor has its offices. You are too clever for that, aren’t you?’
‘Actually, I wasn’t clever at all,’ Sebastian admitted. ‘I had the germ of the scheme—’
‘With Marta’s blessings?’ The words nearly choked me.
The very thought, it seemed, had the same effect on Sebastian. His mouth pulled into a thin line. ‘Marta had nothing to do with this and I will thank you not to even suggest it. When Marta was in charge, Succor was only what it was meant to be. A charity, nothing more. But after she was gone …’ For a second, his eyes clouded with memory.
‘You cannot understand, Evie, for you’ve obviously never loved anyone the way I loved my Marta. After she was gone, I realized there was nothing else that mattered in all this world except the health and welfare of my children. When the opportunity came along to provide more fully for them—’
‘By selling women into slavery?’ The words caught in my throat.
‘It is but a tiny piece of what we do. There is still the charity work, the kind-hearted women who give of their time and their talents to help those less fortunate than themselves. They, of course, have no idea that we’ve devised a scheme to make the best use of the others.’
‘The others? You mean the ones they cannot connect with family, the ones who have no one looking for them and no place to go …’ I thought of poor Lulu. ‘Those you spirit away.’
‘And no one ever misses them.’ For Sebastian, it was as simple as that.
‘But someone did miss Lulu, am I right? She was special. Because of the unique color of her hair.’
‘Lulu was something of a special order. A fiery-haired woman, that’s what the man in Argentina wanted, and he was willing to pay a princely sum for her. Once she ran off, yes, she had to be replaced, so Miss Emerson coming to us … well, that was something of a lucky coincidence. Really, Evie, you are a woman of the world – I thought you would understand. I am sure Mr Crockett does. His books tally and, to him, that is all that matters. You can thank me for that,’ Sebastian added with a little bow. ‘Don’t you see, Evie, this … it is simply business.’
‘Business that enlarges your purse. You shanghai women and send them to other countries, Spanish-speaking countries. Are they servants there?’ I demanded of Sebastian, moving to my left so that I might step closer to him. ‘Or worse?’
Sebastian’s smile was sleek. ‘You have a marvelous imagination, dear Evie. It is just one of the things I admire about you. We still might make a formidable team.’
‘You expect I will marry you? You think I will leave here and not tell the world—’
He turned ever so slightly so that the gun was aimed directly at me. ‘If you plan to stay alive, you will keep your mouth shut.’
I raised my chin. ‘You cannot make me.’
‘Then perhaps I might begin by convincing you that I am deadly serious.’ In one fluid motion, he turned and fired and a bullet that ripped into James.
Blood burst from the wound on James’s shoulder and he fell to the deck, his mouth open in a circle of surprise.
Madeline screamed. I did not have the luxury of such a reaction.
Before he could recover and aim again, I threw myself at Richter and slammed into him with enough force to knock him off his feet. The gun flew from his hand and skittered across the deck, and I didn’t dare wait for him to recover and make a grab for it. I slipped the knife from my sleeve and held it to his throat.
‘Don’t move,’ I told Sebastian. ‘And you …’ I looked briefly at Matron. ‘Let her go.’
She released Madeline, who flew to where James writhed in pain, the deck around him already slick with blood.
‘You will come with me now, Mr Richter.’ To prove I meant what I said, I nicked Sebastian’s neck with the point of the knife so that a tiny drop of blood erupted at the spot. ‘I do believe we need to see a constable.’
‘I think not.’
The voice was a woman’s and, surprised, I looked up to see Sonya at the top of the stairway. She stepped onto the deck and, in one swift move, retrieved the gun. She aimed it directly at me.
‘The knife,’ she said, and I had no choice. I dropped the blade on deck, and when Sebastian got to his feet he scooped it up and went to Sonya’s side.
‘I cannot say I am surprised that we find ourselves here,’ she said. ‘You are meddlesome, Miss Barnum. I told Sebastian as much from the start but he would not listen. He always was blind when it came to women, and you – he actually claimed to be falling in love with you. No matter!’ She twitched the gun, ordering me to stand. ‘What I couldn’t accomplish before, I might be able to achieve now. You are remarkably resilient.’
I was already on my feet when the sense of what she said slammed into me. ‘You! You are the one who shot at my carriage to frighten the horses! The one who started the fire outside my office!’
‘What?’ Sebastian’s question cut through the air like cannon shot and he turned on his cousin. ‘It isn’t possible. Sonya, tell me it isn’t possible. You know how I feel … how I felt … about Miss Barnum. How could you? Have you caused this mischief?’
Her laugh was shrill. ‘Mischief! How simple and childish you make it sound. I did not wish to cause mischief; I wished to get rid of Miss Barnum once and for all.’
‘You stabbed me,’ I said. ‘And you killed …’ It was not the realization that I was staring down the barrel of a gun that caught in my throat but the memory of Jeffrey’s bravery. ‘When he tried to protect me, you killed Jeffrey Hollister. Did you kill Andrew Emerson, too?’
It was the first Madeline had heard of her brother’s death and, at James’s side, her head came up and her breath caught just as Sonya responded. ‘He knew things he shouldn’t have,’ she told Sebastian. ‘Things that would have ruined Succor.’
‘You mean things that would have ruined Sebastian’s scheme of selling women like cattle.’ Though I knew I didn’t stand a chance against the weapon she held, I dared to move a step closer to Sonya. ‘Each time Andrew was in New York, he wrote dispatches for The Intelligencer, stories about his visits to the city. He was looking for Madeline when he was here. It was only natural that he would stumble upon the truth. And then …’
‘And then I had no choice.’ There was high color in Sonya’s cheeks. ‘I had to protect you, Sebastian. I followed Andrew Emerson that night he went to the museum. There was no one around and a weapon close at hand. It was the perfect place.’ She cocked her head and the feather at the side of her jaunty bonnet bobbed in the breeze. ‘He was there to see you, wasn’t he?’ she asked me. ‘Was he another of your lovers?’
‘Andrew was a true friend,’ I told her. ‘He was a good man who wanted nothing more than to help his sister.’
Sonya’s shoulders shot back. ‘He had learned the truth of your dealings with South America, Sebastian. I don’t know how. Andrew Emerson would have ruined everything for you. Just as Miss Barnum here would have ruined our chances at happiness together.’
‘Our chances?’ Sebastian’s face twisted with confusion. ‘But Sonya, we are nothing but business partners. I thought you understood that from the first day I took you into my confidence about our dealings with South America. It is Miss Barnum I love. Not as I did Marta, but perhaps, someday, my union with Evie would be as happy. Are you saying—’
‘What you have always been too blind to see. I am
the only one who could ever stand at your side. This woman will tell what you’ve done. No matter what she might promise to your face. She would never help you in this matter, not as I have. You can be sure of that. And if you let her leave now, she will surely report you to the authorities and then what will happen to you, Sebastian? What will happen to us? God help us, what will happen to dear Frida and Otto?’
When he looked at me, Sebastian’s eyes misted. ‘I thought you could be a mother to them and now …’ It took him little time to make up his mind. Sebastian called Matron over. ‘Bind her, and the other woman, too. We will see how much Miss Barnum has to say once she is in Argentina.’
I am not at all sure what made me angrier – Sebastian’s pronouncement or the look of triumph on Sonya’s face. My anger fueled my determination, and when Matron approached carrying a sturdy rope, I scuttled across the deck.
‘Go ahead,’ I challenged Sonya, ‘shoot me, for I will not keep my peace about this, and I will not go quietly to Argentina or anywhere else.’
She leveled the pistol and aimed her sights down the barrel and, though I refused to look away from her, I darted a glance around to see what I might use as cover. There were barrels – empty now – nearby and I had just judged the distance between them and myself and the chances that I could get behind them alive when a voice called out from the dock.
‘Stop! You there! Stop now!’ Constable Slater raced up the gangway as fast as a man of his age and size was able and, somehow, I wasn’t surprised to see Phin right behind him.
‘You there!’ He landed on deck with a thud of sturdy brogans and pointed a walking stick at Sonya. ‘Drop that gun. Right now!’
She did, and the fellows who’d raced onto the ship behind Slater and Phin surrounded Sonya and Sebastian.
‘What is happening here? What is going on?’ my brother wanted to know, but I silenced him with the wave of one hand.
‘Sonya killed Andrew Emerson and Jeffrey Hollister,’ I told the constable. ‘As for Sebastian Richter … Send your men below deck. There you will find women who have been kidnapped by Mr Richter.’
I had never thought Slater to be especially bright, and I half expected him to question me but he did not. He did as he was told and, within fifteen minutes, Sebastian, Sonya and Matron had been shuffled off the boat and into a waiting carriage, their hands tied with the same sturdy rope Matron had thought to use to bind me for the journey to South America. Just a minute later, there was a commotion on the stairway and the first of the women walked up to the fresh air of the deck and freedom.
There were seven of them, all drugged enough to be glassy-eyed and confused, but none so dosed as to be insensible to what had nearly happened to them and how they had been saved.
‘But how?’ I asked Phin once the women were settled along the deck so that Slater might speak to them. ‘How did you get here and how did you know—’
He pointed toward the dock where Frederick Withnower and Lulu waited.
‘He’s a good man,’ Phin said. ‘And bright enough to know there was something odd going on when that wagon appeared in the middle of the night at the home where the women were kept. He followed it, of course.’
‘And went to you for assistance.’ The sigh of relief I breathed shivered through my body. ‘If it had not been for that—’
Phin put an arm around my shoulder and pulled me into a fierce hug. ‘You are safe, as are these other young women. As for James Crockett …’ His gaze traveled to where James was now propped against a stack of packing crates. His face was pale and his forehead would have been ringed with perspiration were it not for the fact that Madeline carefully dabbed it with her sleeve.
‘It is his ship,’ I told Phin. ‘But I believe him when he says he knew nothing of the scheme. He needs a doctor.’
‘Yes.’ Phin bustled off. ‘Mercer is here with me. I’ll send him off to find a physician.’
I would just as well have waited there for Phin’s return, where Constable Slater was speaking to the other women, but James held out a hand.
‘Evie!’ My name was punctuated by a stab of pain that clutched at his throat and twisted his handsome features. ‘Evie, you’re safe.’ Something very much like a smile touched his lips. ‘Come and tell me what’s happening.’
I should have known better than to listen, but as always, James was lodestone and I nothing but a helpless piece of iron, powerless in his presence. I told myself it wasn’t wise, but I went to him nonetheless.
He glanced at Madeline. ‘Water, please,’ he said, and she rose to her feet and went in search of it.
I took her place, kneeling at James’s side.
‘You’ve gotten yourself mixed up in some nonsense and that’s sure enough.’ The look he gave me carried the gleam of admiration. ‘You were very brave.’
‘And you should not be talking. There is a doctor coming to assist you.’
‘Thank you, Evie.’ I did not expect it so I hardly could have moved when he snatched up my hand in his. ‘I do believe you saved the lives of all these women.’
‘And my own,’ I reminded him.
‘And …’ Another wave of anguish crossed his face and, this time, I knew it had nothing to do with the wound on his shoulder. ‘What of our child, Evie? What has become of our child?’
It was a discussion I’d hoped to never have with him.
I coughed away my discomfort but I could not erase the pain of the words. ‘Given up at birth. He is well and healthy.’ His look was as gentle as the twilight quickly gathering around us. I sat back on my heels. ‘You have no right to ask me any more.’
‘I have …’ He pressed his lips together. ‘There is so much you don’t know, so much I was never able to tell you. You think me a monster.’
Could I be strong in the face of the torment that wracked his soul?
I untangled my hand from his. ‘I have seen your character with my own eyes. I know the kind of man you are.’
‘But not the kind of man I would like to be. One who would treasure you and care for you, if only …’
My head was still too muzzy, my soul too deflated from all I’d seen. Exhaustion blanketed me, pressing against my shoulders and, in spite of it, I made to stand. ‘I need none of your excuses and certainly none of your pity, sir. The doctor will be here soon and—’
He caught my hand in his. ‘But I love you, Evie. I always have. There never has been another woman in my heart except you.’
I did not have a chance to be surprised at whatever words might have popped out of my mouth because from behind me came the sounds of breaking glass. I whirled and saw Madeline standing there, the glass of water she’d been carrying shattered around her feet.
‘You told me …’ Tears streamed down her cheeks. ‘James, you said—’
‘I never did,’ he insisted. ‘Madeline, you knew that from the start. You are lovely and charming and we had some good times together, did we not? But you are not—’
‘Not Evie.’ I knew she’d made a decision but I could not imagine what it might be. That is, until she turned and raced to the side of the ship. Too late, I saw her clutch the railing. Too late, I saw her lift a leg so that she might climb over.
‘Madeline!’ Too late, I screamed her name and was convinced she never would have stopped anyway.
Madeline Emerson took one last look at James and flung herself into the water.
Slater was nearby and he raced to the railing and called for help but, even so, we both knew it was already too late. The East River is vicious, the current bruising. It tugged Madeline under, then spit her up again, and she did not thrash and flail as so many would. She looked up to where James had dragged himself to the side of the ship, her hair around her shoulders like fire, and she smiled.
The current surged, the ship moaned and Madeline went under again.
The last we saw of her, her skirts were plastered against her hips and thighs yet flowing freely around her feet.
Like the ta
il of a mermaid.
TWENTY-ONE
It was long past dark by the time we got home. My bonnet and cloak were long gone, back at the ship, I imagined, or perhaps left at the house with the green door, and though Portman looked at me in wonder for not having them, he never said a word.
‘Sherry?’ my brother asked. ‘We have much to discuss.’
Yes, Sebastian Richter’s vile and ugly scheme, Sonya’s anger, Madeline’s terrible, sad end. We might even discuss James who we’d left in the care of a physician on Nassau Street.
‘I will be back down,’ I assured my brother. My legs felt as if they were made of lead and my heart was just as heavy, but I knew what I had to do. I must unburden my heart and console my spirit, and there was only one way to do that. ‘I’m going up to say goodnight to the children.’
‘It’s late.’ Charity’s voice called out from the parlor. ‘The children are long in bed.’
Yes, I was sure of it.
I climbed the stairs, nevertheless, and went to the nursery to kiss my son goodnight.
Smoke and Mirrors Page 24
