Diane T. Ashley

by Jasmine

  “Things haven’t been the same since New Orleans. Since Petrie’s arrest.” Tabitha’s voice carried clearly through the empty theater. “There’s something odd about that David Foster, too. I’m not sure what he had to do with catching Hiram and Vance, but he was involved in it somehow. Make sure you stay clear of him.”

  “I will. I may look for work out West.” Arnold’s laugh raised the hair on Jasmine’s arm. “Maybe we can hook up in the future for another lucrative venture.”

  “Maybe. But listen, I visited two banks this morning. The best target is going to be Boatmen’s Savings Institution.” Tabitha lowered her voice, and Jasmine strained her hearing to its limits. “I wrote out most of the instructions this afternoon, but I didn’t quite finish. It won’t take me long to get it done. I’ll give it to you after dinner. And this time I want you to stay with the men until it’s done. I don’t want any more mistakes or arrests.”

  “That wasn’t my fault. Someone was waiting for us in Cairo. I never saw him, but I heard the gunshots. I almost didn’t escape in time.”

  “It was a mistake to rob a town as small as Cairo.” Tabitha’s voice sounded hesitant, reluctant. “I thought it would do because of the Fourth of July celebration, but I was wrong. The bank must have hired a guard. Here in St. Louis, it’ll be like it was before. The men will walk in, help themselves, and walk out. And we’ll all be rich.”

  Jasmine had heard enough. She knew what to do. She had to get to Tabitha’s room, find the note, and take it to David.

  Thankful the unexpected darkness had kept her from stepping past the edge of the curtain, Jasmine felt behind her for the doorknob. She had to hurry. Slipping through the door, she held her breath and closed it without a sound. Glad she’d not changed out of the slippers she wore to rehearsals, she tiptoed down the stairs and broke into a run as she reached the corridor.

  She didn’t see anyone as she turned to the left and headed for Tabitha’s suite. Opening the door, she was surprised to find it much tidier than her last visit. Was Tabitha packing in preparation for her departure?

  With a sense of urgency, she looked for a note on Tabitha’s dresser, opening each drawer to nothing but jewelry and face paint. A quick look through two trunks yielded nothing, but when Jasmine opened the top drawer in the table beside Tabitha’s bed, she found it. A note on thick vellum. Her hand shook so hard, she could barely read the words. But she knew she had the proof David needed.

  “What do we have here?” Tabitha’s voice brought her head up.

  The piece of paper drifted from her hand as Jasmine realized she was in serious trouble. Both Tabitha and her henchman stood in the door.

  Arnold pulled a gun from the waist of his pants and trained it on Jasmine. “I told you someone was upstairs.”

  “It looks like you were right for once.”

  Jasmine closed her eyes and prayed for a miracle.

  Chapter Thirty-one

  David knew he was a little early for escorting the girls to dinner, but he wanted them to see the boat about to dock next to the Ophelia. Elephants, lions, and a hippopotamus were sights one didn’t see every day. He knocked on their door and waited.

  “Who’s there?”

  He recognized Clem’s voice. “It’s me, David.”

  She opened the door a crack. “I’m almost ready. But I don’t know about Jasmine. She left several minutes ago to retrieve her script.”

  “I just came through there and didn’t see her.” He frowned. “I don’t know how I missed her.”

  “She wasn’t sure where it was. Maybe she went to see if she left it in Angelica’s room. I’m sure she’ll be right back.”

  “I hope so. I’ve got a special treat for the two of you.”

  Clem opened the door an inch wider. “What is it?”

  “You’ll have to wait and see.”

  She made a face and snapped the door shut.

  David tapped his foot on the floor and waited. Other actors passed and spoke, but Jasmine still had not appeared by the time Clem came out of the room.

  “Still no sign of her?” Clem looked down the hall as if she expected Jasmine to be hiding behind him in the corridor.

  David took her arm. “Let’s go to the dining hall and see if she went ahead of us.”

  “I doubt that.” Clem’s face wrinkled in a frown. “She hadn’t changed out of her costume. I can’t imagine where she’s gotten to. You’re sure she wasn’t in the theater?”

  “Unless she was hiding from me.” David was beginning to grow worried. It wasn’t like Jasmine to disappear. “Let’s go up and make sure, though. If we don’t find her there, at least I’ll be able to show you the surprise.”

  The theater was dimly lit by a small number of sconces. Clem called out her name while David went to look behind the Padua backdrop. “Jasmine, are you back here?”

  “Look, David, I found her script.” Clem held up the booklet. “She must have gone somewhere else.”

  He tried to quiet the alarm bells in his head. Jasmine had to be somewhere near. She was no longer a child with a tendency to wander off. “Let’s go on outside. Maybe she’s already discovered the surprise.”

  Clem folded the booklet and tucked it under her arm before meeting David at center stage. “I’m sure she’s fine.”

  They walked through the auditorium side by side. He could tell Clem’s unease matched his own. They would find her outside. Anything else was unthinkable.

  He couldn’t see anyone on the deck when they emerged from the stage entrance, but he could hear voices from the far side of the Ophelia, the side where the circus boat would dock.

  “What’s going on?” Clem glanced up at him, her eyes clouded with worry.

  David led her around the front of the barge to the other side without explaining anything. Several people were crowded together, pointing at the barge floating toward them, its paddlewheel tugboat slowly guiding it toward the dock.

  “I see a tiger.” Clem’s concern was temporarily shelved as she stared at the boat.

  “That’s my surprise. A floating circus.” He moved her to the rail so she could get a better view, still looking for Jasmine’s dark hair and the flowing blue costume she’d worn during the rehearsal.

  Clem pointed to the large signs ruffling in the breeze as the barge inched forward: AMAZING ANIMALS, ASTONISHING ACTS, AND ASTOUNDING ACROBATICS.

  David nodded, but his attention was still on the group of people leaning against the rail. Where was Jasmine?

  The caged tiger Clem had first noticed paced back and forth, its growls bringing shrieks and exclamations from the women on the Ophelia as well as from the onlookers who lined the dock. Had Jasmine gotten off the Ophelia for some reason? Was she watching the excitement from there? His gaze raked the crowd but could not pick her out.

  As he was about to leave the deck and return to the lower level of the barge, a man in a three-piece suit appeared on the upper deck of the floating circus. A monkey sat on his shoulder, its tail wrapped around his neck. “Come closer and be amazed. Watch in horror as one of our most experienced entertainers places his own head in the mouth of a man-eater. Hold your breath as a beautiful Egyptian princess lays her tender tresses beneath the huge paw of a ten thousand pound African pachyderm. Watch vicious hippopotamuses battle against prehistoric armored crocodiles, brought directly to you from the bloody waters of the Zambezi River in the dangerous wilds of darkest Africa.”

  Clem backed up closer to David. At first he thought it was because of the horrific description of the barker. But then he realized she was pointing in a different direction. Had she spotted Jasmine? “What is it?”

  She gave a little hop. “Isn’t that boat coming too close to us?”

  David centered his attention on the tugboat guiding the floating circus. Something was wrong. He could see the men running back and forth, pointing toward the dock.

  When he realized the problem, David’s breath caught. Nothing was holding the two vessels together
. Without the guidance of the tug, the barge would be completely at the mercy of the river current.

  When he looked back at the floating circus, his heart climbed into his throat. “Get back! It’s going to ram us.”

  Screams and shouts erupted all around them. David grabbed Clem’s arm, but before he could get her to safety, a horrific crash sounded and the deck beneath his feet lifted into the air. He felt himself falling, his body rolling toward the opposite rail. His fingers scrabbled for anything to stop his momentum. The door to the theater slammed open, and he grabbed for it, nearly tearing his arm out of its socket in the process.

  The squeal of grinding metal hulls drowned out the screams of the others. David dragged himself to his feet and staggered toward Clem, who had fetched up against the rail. He squatted next to her and helped her sit up. “Are you okay?”

  She put her hands over her ears to shut out the noise and nodded.

  David stood. “Good girl. You’re going to have to get up and help the rest of the people out here get off the Ophelia.”

  The squealing stopped, and the deck leveled out once more. But David could hear an ominous sound of rushing water. The other barge must have torn a hole in the side of the Ophelia. A sizeable hole by the sound of it.

  Clem put her hands down, terror visible in her wide eyes. “What are you going to do?”

  “I’m going to find Jasmine.” He helped her stand and gave Clem a little push. “We’ll be out in a few minutes.”

  “Why?” Jasmine asked the question uppermost in her mind. “Why would you do this when you have so much, Tabitha?”

  Tabitha’s right eyebrow rose. “You can ask me that? You, the sweet young ingenue who is already being groomed to take my place?”

  “You’re wrong about that.” Jasmine shook her head. “I’m leaving the Ophelia after this stop.”

  “Don’t argue with her.” Arnold looked much more formidable with a gun in his hand. She’d not paid much attention to him since getting a position on the Ophelia. Arnold Garth was just one of the background actors—easily forgotten. Effortlessly overlooked. Making him the perfect criminal. He was a little taller than Tabitha, with a wiry build and a hard face. “We’ve got work to do.”

  “Whether it’s you or someone else doesn’t really matter.” Tabitha’s sneer distorted her features as she continued talking to Jasmine. “You weren’t there the first time an oafish theater manager relegated me to a smaller part because a younger actress needed a chance to shine. I can read the handwriting on the wall. I knew what was happening. There’s no work for washed-up actresses. At least no decent work.”

  Jasmine’s heart thumped so loudly it sounded like a bass drum in her ears. She wondered if she might be having a fit of apoplexy. Wouldn’t it be ironic if she fell dead at Arnold and Tabitha’s feet?

  Tabitha moved to her dressing table, sitting and gazing at her reflection in the mirror. “You know, it only seems like yesterday that I was the starry-eyed girl who dreamed of seeing her name featured on a marquee.”

  Arnold shifted his weight from one foot to the other, a longsuffering expression on his face. Had he heard her story before? How long had the two been working together? How had they managed to carry out their plans under everyone’s noses? What would they do with her now that she knew their secret?

  “Hand me that note.” Arnold gestured with the gun in his hand.

  Jasmine bent to pick it up and moved toward him. Could she hold the slip of paper out far enough that he would have to reach for it? Grab his weapon when his attention was diverted? Her heart stuttered before resuming its hard thumps, twice as fast this time. She wasn’t a Pinkerton detective. It would take him only a second to shoot her. Jasmine sought a safer solution.

  “You said it yourself when you first came aboard the Ophelia.” Tabitha’s gaze locked onto hers through the mirror. “I’ve been in the theater since you were a child. Do you have any idea what kind of things I had to do to get the parts you’re so eager to perform?”

  Wishing she had never been so thoughtless, Jasmine looked toward the older woman. She wanted to put her arms around Tabitha and reassure her. Tell her that God loved her no matter how old she was or what she had done. But she was already so lightheaded, she didn’t know if she could say what was needed before losing consciousness.

  Tabitha balled up her fist and shook it at Jasmine’s reflection. “My fame and glory tarnish a little more with each sunset, while you or girls like you swarm the theater, eager to grab my triumphs for yourselves.”

  Jasmine couldn’t believe she had ever wanted to be like the pitiful woman sitting amid her tawdry finery. She understood that all the store-bought goods crowded into the suite were Tabitha’s attempts to bolster her self-confidence. David’s warning about replacing God with the sound of applause returned to her as Jasmine realized Tabitha was using jewelry, clothing, and money to bolster her fear of failure. She thought material wealth could fill the void in her heart, stave off the emptiness threatening to consume her. “I never meant to hurt you.”

  “Hurt me?” Tabitha pushed herself up and turned to face Jasmine. “You can’t hurt me. Your name may one day replace mine on a playbill, although that remains to be seen. But I’ve made provisions already. I’m smarter than all the people on this boat. While you memorized your lines and offered pat answers for every situation, I’ve put together a profitable business.”

  Arnold chuckled. “You mean we have.”

  “I hope you’re not trying to imply that you could have set up all of this without me.” Tabitha turned on the man, exposing him to a full measure of fury.

  The mask that Tabitha wore every day melted away, leaving her exposed in that moment. Jasmine wondered if the woman had ever been an innocent, decent girl. If so, the choices she had made in pursuing her goals had changed her into a cold, vicious liar. Someone who had to be more important than anyone else around her. Someone who would sacrifice everything, every decent impulse, to her god of fame and success.

  Driving, relentless ambition had engulfed her soul. It was a high price, one that Jasmine knew she could not pay. If she lived through this, she would quit. She closed her eyes. Lord, I choose You. I’m sorry, and I hope it’s not too late. If You’re listening, please believe me. I never should have tried to serve both my ambition and You.

  “What should we do with her?” Arnold shifted the focus off himself, apparently realizing how unstable Tabitha was at this moment.

  Tabitha tilted her head, her eyes dangerously empty. “I like you, Jasmine. You’re a bright girl. I could use someone like you. What do you say to throwing in your lot with me? I can promise you furs and jewels, excitement and recognition. You could be the distraction we need to keep our little group together.”

  Jasmine shook her head. She had already made her choice. God was the only One she would follow. Her heart slowed down and peace filled her. No matter what happened now, she knew He was in control.

  “No?” Tabitha’s voice held a note of disappointment. “I suppose it was a bad idea.”

  The older woman returned her attention to Arnold. “It’s almost time for dinner. You get her off the boat while I go make an excuse for Jasmine’s absence. We don’t want anyone to suspect what’s going on. Once we finish this job, we’ll decide what to do with her.”

  A look passed between them. Jasmine translated it without any trouble. She knew they were going to kill her. They couldn’t afford to leave her alive. She needed help if she was going to escape. She needed David to come to her rescue. A laugh tried to erupt, making Jasmine wonder if she would give in to hysteria after all. David had told her she would need him someday and he wouldn’t be there. How right he’d been.

  Lord, I know I don’t deserve it, but I’m asking You to save my life if that is Your will. Please send David to rescue me, or show me a way to get free. And if I’m to die here—

  The feel of the cold muzzle in her back cut off her thoughts. “Have a seat, Jasmine.” Arnold’s v
oice whispered the command in her ear. “We’ve got a little time before we leave.”

  Tabitha’s lips twisted into a tight smile as she grabbed a black lace shawl. “Make sure you don’t forget to deliver the message to—” She stopped speaking as the boat rocked under their feet. “What’s going on?”

  Their barge was safely tied to the dock so it couldn’t be a problem with the Miss Polly again. Maybe a paddlewheeler had come too close to their berth before slowing.

  Tabitha opened her mouth to say something, but the words were drowned out by a tremendous crash—like a volley of cannon fire—followed by the unearthly squeal of metal against metal.

  Jasmine covered her ears, looking around for the source of the terrible sound. The word formed in her mind. Collision! Something large had crashed into the Ophelia.

  Chapter Thirty-two

  David ran through the dark theater and pushed through the door leading to the living area of the barge. “Jasmine. Jasmine, are you down here?”

  A cry answered him. Weak, terrified. His mind refused to consider what might have happened to her. He just knew he had to reach Jasmine. He had to get her off of the barge before it sank.

  He stood still a moment and listened intently. Where had the cry come from? The only thing he could hear now was the hiss of water. Brown and muddy, an inch of water pooled at the base of the stairs. It didn’t look too bad. Maybe the Ophelia wouldn’t sink.

  Down the hallway to his right, a door banged in time with the rocking motion of the barge. Without hesitation, David ran in that direction, entering the room without pause. At first glance he thought the room was empty, but then he heard a weeping sound and looked again at the bed. “Angelica.”

  The blond actress was huddled in the center of the bed. Pillows, cushions, and a blanket bunched around her. She put an arm around her stomach in a protective gesture.

  David held out a hand to her. “Come on. You need to go upstairs.”