Secrets In Savannah (Phantom Knights)

by Amalie Vantana

  Slaves from the plantations made up most of the sellers and the women, to get the attention of the passerby, sang jaunty tunes to try to draw attention to their stands. The men, not to be outdone, raised their voices trying to be heard over the melodious calls.

  I joined Guinevere at one of the stands where a dark woman was walking around singing the praises of her wares. She showed special interest in me, coming in close, but Guinevere’s possessive hold on my arm made her laugh. She winked at me as she went on with her song. The truly terrible thing about it all was that there was more to be had in the market than food and handmade goods.

  When Guinevere asked me what that woman was about, and I told her, it angered her. I could tell that she was prepared to do battle on the woman’s behalf. It strengthened my love for her, but I knew something that she did not seem to grasp.

  “Do not show that you feel pity, they would not look upon it kindly.”

  “What can we do?” she whispered back.

  I smiled as I looked down at the makeshift table and selected a bracelet made of dark blue beads. After I had paid the woman for it, I held it out to Guinevere. She smiled as she held up her wrist so I could slip the bracelet onto her arm.

  “Buy something,” I whispered in her ear.

  We walked on, arm in arm, looking over the different stands. We stopped at a stand where an elderly man was seated on a crate trying to sell apples from a basket.

  “How much?” Guinevere asked, pointing at the apples.

  He smiled fondly at her, a toothless grin, and said a penny an apple.

  “No, how much for the lot?”

  His sunken eyes widened, and he leaned forward, his back nearly hunched over his walking stick. He quoted her a price that could not be right but to correct him would be to shame him so instead she opened her reticule and removed a half dollar.

  “Here,” she said, pressing the coin into his palm.

  Holding the coin back out to her, he told her that he did not have change.

  “I do not require change as I am sure that the price you quoted did not include the basket. What I have given you I believe is fair considering the fine craftsmanship of this basket.”

  The man stared at her as if she had lost all sense, but my wife smiled at him and picked up the basket.

  She plucked an apple from the basket and bit into it. Juice dripped down her chin, and the man chortled as she wiped her mouth with the edge of her sleeve. She chuckled in reply, looking at me.

  The conviction struck me that I was seeing my wife truly for the first time this day. She was not the white phantom, nor the servant of the Holy Order, or even Guinevere. She was Constance, and she was remarkable.

  A movement beyond Guinevere drew my gaze. A man with dark hair was tossing an apple in the air and catching it as he walked past the stands. The back of his head was all I could see as he disappeared into a clock shop, but his stride. I knew that stride.

  Taking the basket of apples from Guinevere, we strolled toward the clock shop. When I held open the door to her, she looked at me curiously, but entered.

  Inside, every wall was covered in all imaginable shapes and sizes of clocks, but the only other person in the shop was the merchant.

  Disappointed and feeling rather foolish, I realized how ridiculous it was to hope that Levi had returned to us, but hope I did. Levi would have called me a clodpole if he knew that I was searching a clock shop for him because the back of a stranger’s head looked similar to his.

  While the merchant followed Guinevere about the shop in the hope that she would make a purchase, I glanced in the back room. It was empty, nor did there appear to be a second door.

  “Jack, what are you doing?” Guinevere was smiling as she approached me.

  “I thought I saw Levi come in here. Ridiculous, I know.”

  Guinevere’s face had gone pale for a moment before she spun around, examining all four walls of the shop. She closed her eyes; her brows furrowed. Spinning in a slow circle, she halted when she was facing me again.

  Guinevere asked the merchant to give us a moment alone to discuss which clock to purchase. He moved behind his desk and began polishing a set of pocket watches.

  “Block him with your back,” she whispered to me and I obeyed without question.

  The clock that Guinevere began examining had a glass pane so you could see the inner workings. She turned the key in the lock and stuck three fingers into the back of the clock.

  When she removed her hand, she held a small folded paper.

  “How did you know where to look?”

  “The ticks were off,” she said as she rehung the clock on the wall. “Close your eyes and listen to the ticks.”

  Doing as she said, I could hear the ticks of the clocks. They were all working in rhythm until something moved, and one of them began to tick different from the rest. It was doing two ticks for every one tock.

  Guinevere moved to the desk, and pointed to something. Opening her reticule, she dropped some money into the merchant’s hand.

  “There is no need to wrap it.” She picked up the item and turned toward me, smiling enchantingly.

  “For you.” She held out a gold pocket watch with an engraving of a circle of feathers carved on the top.

  Accepting it, I ran my finger over the engraving. “I will treasure it.”

  She took my arm, and we left the shop. It was not until we were two roads away from the marketplace that she unfolded the paper.

  S. A. W. C. 12.

  “Are you going to tell me what it means or am I to guess?”

  “It is a code to meet at midnight,” she replied, folding the note and placing it in her reticule.

  “Who would dare to request a meeting with my wife at such an hour?”

  “Levi works for me, Jack, not for the Holy Order.”

  That struck me like a punch to the gut. Why would Levi do that to Bess and me? To our family? I knew he made the pretense of joining the Holy Order, but that he worked with my wife instead of coming back to our family filled me with an unavoidable anger.

  “We developed a code that when we needed to meet we would set a clock off its ticks.”

  “How long has my brother worked for you?”

  Guinevere bit her bottom lip. “Since he rescued me from an attacker in Charleston.”

  My body stiffened, and Guinevere took my arm, patting it. “The brute did not harm me as Levi found us in time.”

  If she told me his name, I would have taken the first boat to Charleston and destroyed him, but she wisely refrained.

  “When I discovered that Lucas had sent guards to Philadelphia, I needed someone to go there and guard my sister.” Guinevere halted before my mother’s house. “If Levi is here, then he knows where my sister is being held. Tonight we can finally discover where they are hiding. Tonight, Levi will be coming to the house.”

  CHAPTER 27

  GUINEVERE

  Something was tapping in my chamber. It was a click that came every few seconds or so.

  “My love,” I said with a sleep filled groan, “if you wish to wake me there are more ingenious ways than tapping.”

  “I am not tapping. It is coming from the window,” Jack said with no hint of sleep in his voice.

  Sitting up, I realized that I had fallen asleep on Jack in the parlor while we were waiting for Levi to arrive.

  Rising and snatching a dagger from the side table, I tiptoed to the parlor window.

  As the moonlight illuminated Levi Martin on the street before the house, my stomach tightened. What I had neglected to inform Jack was that if Levi was coming to the house then something had happened to Edith.

  “It is Levi,” I said, and Jack was striding into the foyer before I had a chance to turn around.

  Jack pulled back the bolts on the door, but as he opened it, Levi was not there. Jack went outside, whispering Levi’s name.

  “Guinevere,” Levi said my name from behind me a moment later, and spinning around, he
was leaning against the wall beside the dining parlor door.

  “What are you doing here, and where is Edith?”

  “She’s safe for the moment, but I wanted you to know that George is not pleased about Lucas’s death.” Levi broke off as Jack came back into the house.

  Levi smirked at his brother. “Have you missed me, Jack?”

  “More than I can say,” Jack replied with what I knew was complete honesty.

  Looking between the two, I could see the resemblance. They had the same square jaw, the same air of unconcern and boyish charm, but there the resemblance ended. Jack’s eyes were blue while Levi’s were green, and there was something about Levi that made him appear younger than Jack.

  “Does Harvey know you are working with him?” Levi asked.

  “Harvey and I have had a falling out so I did not tell him my plans, though he would not be surprised.”

  Levi laughed. “You always were a little too fond of the enemy. It will be your demise, you know.”

  I knew, but I would fight it with my last breath if that is what it took.

  “Did she tell you that she kissed me?” Levi’s grin grew as Jack’s shoulders tensed as my cheeks burned with heat.

  “Levi Martin! That is a gross falsehood, and you know it,” I exclaimed, prepared to slap some sense into him. What was he thinking baiting Jack?

  Levi laughed before he lunged forward and wrapped Jack in a fond hug. After a moment passed, Jack returned the embrace.

  “You are incorrigible, brother,” Jack said, but he was laughing.

  “True enough,” Levi said as he released Jack. “How is Bess? I heard about her capture.”

  “Married.”

  Levi whistled. “Sam? I thought he’d be the one from the moment I first saw them bandy words.” Levi looked at my hand as I placed it on Jack’s arm. His dark brows rose. “From the ring on your finger I’d guess that you are my sister now?” When I nodded, he shook his head. “I go away for a few months and everyone gets married.” His expression became serious. “If you tell me Leo is leg-shackled, I’ll eat my hat.”

  Jack laughed. “No, he’s as he ever was.”

  “What of Edith?” I demanded, turning the conversation to what was important.

  A scowl transformed Levi’s face. “When I heard what George was planning, I went to him, told him of my displeasure with the Phantoms, and acquired a job from him. I also left Silas to take care of Bess.”

  “Silas is Silence?” Jack asked, and I nodded, remembering with fondness the man who had been one of Harvey’s guards, but one of my followers.

  “Turns out that your wife here is a double threat, brother. She may have had to work for the Holy Order, but she worked for herself more.”

  “That’s quite enough of that,” I said sternly, feeling acutely uncomfortable. Levi knew some things about me that I did not want Jack discovering. “Tell us about George’s plans.”

  Levi’s face darkened. “George has gone off the hilt. Quite lost his senses. He planned to turn Edith over to Marx for a fortune, but now that he’s dead George has said he has another buyer.”

  He might as well have punched me. I lost my breath and leaned down, resting my hands on my knees.

  Jack knelt down beside me. “We will not allow that to happen. We will get her out this night.” Jack helped me to stand. “Allow me a few minutes to prepare and to fetch Leo.”

  Jack ran up the stairs, and I had a few minutes alone with Levi to ask how my sister was. Levi’s face softened as he told me about her. She was frightened but safe. No one had accosted her, and Levi had been made her personal guard.

  “I am going with you.” I turned toward the stairs, but Levi grabbed my wrist.

  “Afraid we have more pressing matters, m’dear.” Levi pointed toward the top of the stairs where Charlotte was standing, holding two large pistols.

  I stepped back beside Levi as Charlotte came down, dressed for travel.

  “Charlotte Mason, put down those weapons before you hurt yourself, or me!” Levi chastised, but Charlotte raised them higher.

  “I never thought it of you, Levi, to be involved in such sordid affairs, and with your own brother’s wife, too.” She clicked her tongue, then smiled. “From her, I expect such doings, but to be honest I thought Leo was her paramour.”

  Weapons or no, I would knock some sense into her head!

  Lunging for her, Levi caught my waist as Charlotte jumped back.

  “Control your vixen, Levi, or I will be forced to take matters in hand.” Charlotte walked around us, keeping her back to the wall. “Now, I am going to Lucas, and I am going to tell him every secret that I know about you.”

  “Stop being a little fool, Char, just because Jack chose her over you. They were betrothed long before he ever met you. He thinks of you as a little sister, and nothing more,” Levi said.

  “You are the fool, Levi Martin,” Charlotte snapped. “This is the only way, and when it is finished your eyes will be opened to the truth.”

  “Charlotte,” I implored, taking a step toward her, “if you will but listen to me, I will tell you the whole truth. More than your feelings for Lucas are in jeopardy. If you go to Lucas, you will be endangering my home country.” Not that there was any danger in her finding Lucas, but there was great danger in what the impulsive girl would do when she discovered that Lucas was dead.

  “You are like the fox that found a way into the hen house. ‘No, little chicken, I will not eat you.’ Well, Miss Fox, I am no chicken to be taken in by your lies.”

  There was now no doubt in my mind. Charlotte was mad.

  Charlotte reached the open door, and backed out. “If you follow me, I will shoot you.” She slammed the door, and Levi and I bolted into action.

  “Follow her, Levi. Do not allow her out of your sight. I will wake her brother.”

  Levi was out the door before I reached the stairs. As I went up, Hannah came out of her chamber, wrapping her dressing gown around her.

  “What is amiss?”

  “Charlotte has run away again. Please wake Samuel and Bess while I dress.”

  In my chamber, Jack was pulling on his weapons belt by the light of a single candle.

  “I heard you. Sam, Leo, and I will follow her, but I want you to remain here with Bess and Hannah.” Jack pulled me against him, and held my face in his hands. “All that matters to me is keeping you safe from harm. Give me your word that you will not follow us. I will not be able to focus otherwise.”

  “You have my word,” I told him, loving the way he held me. His lips met mine, and I rose up on my toes as I wrapped my arms around his neck. “Be safe, Jack.”

  We found Sam and Leo awaiting Jack in the entryway and the three set out across the square with Leo leading them toward Lucas’s house.

  Bess closed the door, then blew out a long breath. “I will make us some coffee. It is going to be a long night.”

  An hour after Jack left, Dudley sent a message. His valet was still watching the house and had followed Charlotte mistakenly thinking she was me. She had gone to Lucas’s house and not five minutes later, a carriage arrived. Charlotte and George Crawford left, along with a girl of Edith’s description.

  “I am going to ride for Frederick,” I said over my shoulder as I ran up the stairs.

  As I was dressing, Hannah and Bess entered my chamber. Hannah was dressed, and carrying her riding crop. “Dudley’s man brought our horses to the door.”

  Knowing better than to argue with her, I pulled on my boots, strapped on my belt, and picked up my dagger pistol.

  “Let us make haste. Bess, if Jack should return before I do, please assure him that I will return soon, and that I did not break my promise to him.”

  Bess agreed, and watched us from the door as we mounted our horses and set off down the road.

  Our only light was that of the moon, and I thought I would lose Hannah several times, but she made a good show of keeping pace with me.

  When we reached the
temple, all was silent, but the door was unlocked, which caused both of us to pull out our weapons.

  Pushing open the door, we stepped into the dark throne room. Frederick’s sleeping quarters would be through the antechamber.

  Moving with long strides across the throne room, I made it a few steps when I heard a sound like the scraping of a boot against the floor. There was someone in the room with us.

  Inhaling a silent calming breath, I took a step forward. Something moved past me, swift enough to make a gush of air caress my face.

  My eyes beginning to see in the dark, I swung at a form, my body prepared for a fight. While I had been the white phantom, I had grown accustomed to fighting in the dark, but my reaction came a moment too late.

  Two large hands grabbed me, lifting me up while another form knocked my pistol away. A shot went off, and I cringed at the loud report as I kicked out before me, searching for the second form.

  The antechamber door opened, and light filled the room, forcing me to close my eyes against the painful brightness. Blinking away the pain, I found myself staring straight at Frederick.

  “How obliging of you to come. He said that you would.”

  The man holding me set my feet on the floor, but he maintained his hold on my arms.

  “He?” I asked, dread sinking into my heart.

  “I give you good evening, Guinevere,” George Crawford said as he stepped into the room.

  Fear and loathing mixed together, churning in my body, and I leapt toward him, ready to strangle him.

  A large hand pulled me back and pain shot through my arm, but I tried to ignore it as I glowered at George.

  “Where is my sister?”

  “She is well, and awaiting transport. Now that we have you, I am hopeful that we can make a speedy exchange.”

  “Exchange?” I asked, looking from George to Frederick.

  Frederick was smiling, and I wanted to knock it from his head, the turncoat. “You see, my dear, I am not a fool. I knew you would never surrender Harvey. There is too much loyalty in you. When George arrived, we made plans for your capture, and I must say it worked better than I anticipated.”