Promise Me Forever

by Janelle Taylor

  Dan didn’t get to thank him, because Rachel murmured, “Five hundred thousand dollars for your end of the deal? With Harry’s share added to it, that’s a huge amount of money. How are the companies supposed to be paid? When? If anything happened to stop the order after it’s made, we’d have a terrible loss.”

  The gray-haired man nodded agreement. “The balance is to be paid on delivery by Phillip’s ship, to Phillip himself. He assures us nothing can go wrong. I hope he’s right. I’m working on borrowed money to fill this size order. You’re right, we could be ruined if the deal fell through. Who else would take such a load off our hands?”

  “You said balance, George. What does that mean?”

  “Phillip already has an advance of half the money owed to both companies. He’s to collect the other half on delivery.”

  Rachel speculated that with Phillip dead, George and Harry stood to earn a great deal of money. They could pretend the deal didn’t exist or fell through, then keep and divide the large payment. But if George was telling the truth about not knowing who the buyer was, how could she discover his identity? Unless Harry lied about knowing. What if Harry had received the advance already, perhaps when he visited Phillip last week, but her delirious husband didn’t recall that fact? Worse, what if something had happened to it while in Phillip’s keeping? Whoever it belonged to would demand it or the merchandise. Unless George and Harry were paid, it was doubtful they would honor “Phillip’s” deal. That would leave her responsible for what had to be a… million-dollar-at-least trap! “You say it’s to be delivered to Phillip in Savannah on May fourteenth?”

  “That’s right; then he’s supposed to come straight here to settle the account. He did promise to send half of the money for working capital by now; that’s what I was concerned about the other day. With him gone until the deadline, I’ll have to borrow more money to work with until his return.”

  “What about my payment and order, George? Won’t that help out?”

  “It will help some, Dan, but supplies and salaries are expensive. What caliber do you want?”

  Dan gave the size for the rifles he planned to order in Athens.

  “Rim or center fire? We can make them either way.”

  “Centerfire gives less trouble on the battlefield.”

  “I have some in storage that size. I can have the others ready and send them on the same day I rail down Phillip’s contract. Is that all right?”

  “That’s perfect timing, George,” Dan said. “Thanks.”

  Before they retired to their rooms to dress for the theater and dinner with George and Molly Sue Leathers, Dan remarked to Rachel, “That’s a big contract Phillip worked out with somebody. Seems he’s bringing more orders and profits into the companies than his partners are. He’d probably earn more if he was in business by himself.”

  Rachel recalled her fabricated tale to Dan and felt she must defend it to prevent suspicions at this vital point. She could only come up with one idea, a rather strong one. “This doesn’t make sense, Dan. If the companies are on the verge of such large profits that Phillip knows about and can’t be cheated out of, why would he be thinking of selling them? Why would he be concerned about secret deals by his partners when he’s made two himself? I’m utterly baffled.”

  Dan perceived her ruse. “You’ll have to let him explain when he either contacts you or you both return home. That deal is large enough to supply an army somewhere. If a soldier fired fifty bullets a day every day, it would keep ten thousand men in shells for months of fighting. He surely became lucky; it’s even better than my deal. That’s a big shipment of questionable cargo to clear customs. I wonder how he plans to get it past them. I have a letter of clearance for my arms,” he alleged, knowing he could get one from a friend before he left Savannah. “It seems strange he would take off like this when both his partners are waiting for partial payments from him and he was expecting my arrival and business. That doesn’t sound like the Phillip McCandless I know; he’s always dependable. It will be interesting to see what Harry has to say about all of this when we reach Athens.”

  Rachel hadn’t thought about clearing the shipment through customs, but Dan’s mention aided her ruse. “Yes, it certainly will. Perhaps that’s where Phillip’s really gone, to work out a problem with customs— and he didn’t want to worry his partners. He might have sent me here just to distract them during his absence. I’m afraid I’m confused and annoyed, so I’ll excuse myself before I say something I shouldn’t. I’ll be ready to answer your summons at my door at six-thirty.”

  As she turned to enter her room, she halted and faced him again. “Dan, if you have so much money with you, please be careful. Don’t let anyone overhear you talk about it; that could provoke a robbery.”

  Dan had mentioned the money with hopes this rumored seductress would think him rich and would come closer to him as choice for her next victim. Yet she appeared genuinely worried about his safety. That was odd… “Don’t fret, Rachel. I’ve taken care of myself since I was a boy.”

  “I’ve taken care of myself since I was a girl, but sometimes things come up one can’t control or handle alone. Just be careful, will you?”

  “I promise, and I’ll take care of you, too. Get dressed, so we can have a great time and forget our troubles,” he urged, his hands nudging into her room before he rashly yanked her into his arms and kissed her.

  “I’ll be prompt and shipshape on time, Captain sir.” She gave him a mock salute and closed her door.

  She had obtained a few clues, and they frightened her. With Phillip’s protection gone and perils confronting her from two directions, the temptation to entice Daniel Slade became overwhelming. She asked herself if she should resist it or surrender to it. Perhaps tonight would provide an answer… First, she had to bathe and dress.

  Dan surmised Rachel hadn’t shown him the clever note she had written to herself because she realized he would recognize her handwriting. Too, the reckless contents would reveal her Black Widow past, which she surely hoped was unknown to him.

  She almost always caught her slips before they could damage her! Perhaps she had wanted to use it to make him jealous, to entice him to pursue her faster. Perhaps she had hoped to use it later as an alleged threat against Phillip to make her appear innocent of his murder.

  Dan wondered how she would react when she received a real note in a few minutes. He had taken the precaution of having Luke Conner pen it for him before leaving Savannah. He had sent a message with the flowers so she could compare his script to that of his deceitful note; the difference should dupe her into not suspecting him. He wanted to make her nervous and afraid so she would make mistakes or would turn to him for protector and confidant. He slid the note under the water-closet door while she was bathing and left in a hurry before he was sighted by anyone.

  Rachel heard a noise and glanced in that direction. Her eyes widened as a paper was shoved under the door. She froze for a moment, then leapt from the tub. She wrapped a bath sheet around her, crept to the door, then unlocked and opened it. She peeked into the hall, but it was empty, so she rebolted the door. The wary woman lifted and unfolded this second note. It was not on hotel stationery and was not a forgery of her script.

  “Weave me an enchanted web, my beautiful love. Capture me with your magical strands. I will gladly risk my life to spend only one blissful night in your silken arms. I must have you or perish. I will give you any amount of money and all the jewels you desire to become my mistress or my wife. I am a rich and handsome man, and a skilled lover who will pleasure you as you have never known before. I will never harm you and I will never allow others to hurt you. I will take you anywhere you wish to go, far away from your past troubles and sufferings. I will make you happy. If your answer is yes, wear silk flowers in your hair tomorrow as a sign. If it is no, I will keep craving you from afar until you change your mind and need me.”

  Rachel trembled. The words were meant to sound romantic, but they were intimidat
ing. Was it from the same person? If so, what did the sneaky man really want from her? She dreaded to imagine. She had torn up the first note, then discarded it and the poison in the chamber pot. This one she would keep, to see if she could discover whose handwriting it was. It did not look familiar. And its tone was not menacing like the first note…

  Rachel finished her bath and returned to her room. She compared the script to Dan’s card. As hoped, they had bold differences. Yet she couldn’t show it to him and reveal her predicament; it would expose her past at a delicate time. At least this proved that the threats weren’t coming from Daniel Slade. Didn’t it?

  She couldn’t contemplate the matter further, as she had to hurry to prepare for dinner and the theater with the Leathers and Dan. But the next day she would do her best to unmask her wicked spy.

  Chapter 6

  Rachel had told Dan she would skip breakfast this morning, sleep late to rest up for the night’s activities, and meet him for lunch and a long stroll.

  The meeting in George’s office yesterday kept racing through her mind and troubling it deeper. When Phillip had mumbled about money, never had she imagined it was at least a million dollars! That was more than enough to provoke an evil man to recover it at any cost or to seek lethal revenge. When Phillip didn’t deliver the shipment on schedule, the client would be forced to come and check on it. She dreaded to imagine what would happen in six weeks when he arrived and challenged her.

  Rachel thought she must contact Milton when she returned home to see if Phillip reserved a ship. To solve this mystery before the deadline, she needed a destination and client’s name. If the deal was legal, maybe something could be worked out to everyone’s satisfaction. But then she realized she was fooling herself; no one—especially that client—was going to believe she didn’t have the money or know what was going on. If only she could ask Dan to help her solve this mystery, but she couldn’t because he might learn the truth about her. He’d never understand or accept what she’d done, not after she reported Phillip’s death. But at least after that’s handled, you can… she thought.

  Rachel frowned, and spoke aloud to the empty room. “You can what, you stupid fool? Let him deceive you like Craig and Phillip did? You can’t trust him. Phillip rants all those crazy things on his deathbed, then his supposedly old friend shows up the same day. You sense you’re being spied on, then someone shoots at you. Your room is searched, then you receive two intimidating notes. No doubt someone thought you’d be fool enough to keep that vial of poison and get caught with it when you returned home. That would certainly get you blamed for Phillip’s death, just like all the others. He’s so clever and evil that he forged your handwriting so you couldn’t show his first note to anybody. Every time, Daniel Slade had the opportunity to be behind those sinister deeds. I’ll wear the flowers in my hair today and see who responds to that message. If only you are who and what you claim, Daniel Slade…”

  As Dan sat on the floor and listened through the secret entryway between the two rooms, these were not the words he had expected to overhear. He asked himself if he could be wrong about Rachel, if she could be innocent of all four deaths. He wondered if cruel fate could be to blame or if a jealous rival could be framing her. If she was innocent, he couldn’t harm his brother’s widow, his sister-in-law. Maybe his curious doubts were nothing more than the results of having not seen Phillip in so long, or seen him dead, or known her in the past. What he had been confronted with was a beautiful woman who was charming, tantalizing, and genteel appearing.

  He had observed Rachel’s proper, but cheerful and relaxed, behavior during the last few days at Octavia Levert’s home and at the theater last night. With her cloudy past, and this hazardous mystery hanging over her, how she could be so poised and so lighthearted? Once in a while, he glimpsed moments of panic, sadness, and confusion in her face. If only he knew the real Rachel, knew the whole truth. But he didn’t. How would he feel and behave if she weren’t guilty of those crimes? Being attracted to him didn’t make her a bad person. Nor did marriage to Phillip mean she had loved his brother. For certain, there was more to the puzzling situation than Rachel McCandless being a Black Widow. There were the curious arms deal, an enormous amount of missing money, and Phillip’s involvement with them. If only she weren’t so skilled with her pretenses!

  He was responsible for the spying, room search, and the second note, but not the other incidents. But if Rachel wasn’t, then who was? Dan recalled that he hadn’t seen the first note and vial when he examined her room on Tuesday, a search she hadn’t mentioned to him. Either someone had put the items there during dinner or she had them with her in the water closet.

  Don’t be tricked, old boy, Dan warned himself. She’s putting on a superb performance for you in there. She knows about the secret passageway and she hopes you’re listening so she can be certain you’re duped and duped good. I doubt she knows you’re Phillip’s brother, but thinks you’re an enemy. You’ll just have to convince her you aren’t. Get your sly romance sailing faster, old boy.

  “I set up an appointment for us with the photographer George suggested,” Dan told her as they ate lunch. “We’re to be in his studio at six, dressed in our finest. He says we’ll be finished in thirty to forty-five minutes, and can make our seven o’clock party on time. He isn’t far away.”

  “You’ve been out this morning?” she inquired. Doing what else?

  Miffed I didn’t overhear your little ruse? he mentally scoffed, but smiled and jested, “Of course, sleepyhead. I’m unaccustomed to lying abed late. I walked down to the riverfront and enjoyed the fresh air and exercise. I ate breakfast, too, but I was ready to eat again.”

  “I shouldn’t have skipped it; I’m starved. This is delicious,” she remarked of the chicken and dumplings.

  “For certain Buelly isn’t this talented. Do you cook, Rachel?”

  “I can, but don’t do much of it; Lula Mae gets her feathers ruffled if I try. You don’t know Lula Mae Morris. The kitchen and housework are her domains, her prides and joys. She doesn’t believe in a lady, the mistress of the house, doing menial chores. She doesn’t accept the death of the Old South. I’m supposed to be a pampered and spoiled southern belle who doesn’t lift a finger.”

  “I can tell by the laughter in your eyes that you’re teasing me.”

  Rachel grinned and nodded. “You’re learning me too well, Dan.”

  “I hope so; I’m trying,” he admitted. “You’re a fascinating woman.”

  “The truth is, I help her with some of the chores, but cooking and ironing are two things she prefers to do alone. I plan the menus, set the table, and help with the dishes. She likes for me to spend my time reading, sewing, and taking care of my appearance. It makes her happy to wait on me, so I try to let her do so as long as possible. But when I get bored or annoyed, I put my foot down and dig into work. When I’m in that kind of mood, she ignores me and lets me have my way.”

  Dan reflected on the heavyset nanny and housekeeper who had raised him and Phillip. Maw-maw had been a kind, intelligent, and gentle black woman. She had been like a protective aunt—no, a mother—to him, one of the few people who could and would stand up to Stephen McCandless about his ill treatment of his youngest son. She had come with his mother from their cotton plantation when she married Stephen McCandless, a woman freed as soon as she was purchased, a woman who had loved them and been loved and deeply respected by them. Her death couldn’t have hurt him more than if she had been his mother. She had died shortly before his last quarrel with his father. That loss had pained him deeply. Perhaps suffering from it was why he had bedded Helen and—

  Rachel witnessed the unknown memories that evoked a pleasant, then tormented, look on Dan’s face. She wondered what he was thinking about. “Tell me more about you and Phillip in Charleston,” she encouraged, then realized she had broken into his thoughts when his eyes rushed to her as if he’d been caught doing something he shouldn’t have.

  Dan could
not tell her about Maw-maw in case Phillip had mentioned the woman who had raised him. “Curious about those devilish things we did?” he teased as he obtained control of himself.

  “Yes. I haven’t learned much about Phillip’s past, so it’s about time I do, don’t you think?” What she wanted to learn more about was Dan.

  “We men are protective and defensive about our mischievous years and deeds, but I’ll tell you, if you promise not to tell Phillip I exposed us.” He waited for her to nod. “We got into the regular boyish pranks and troubles. You had brothers, so you know how they are, always into something they shouldn’t be.” When he saw the reaction his last statement inspired, he hurried on to get her mind off her own tormented past. “One of our favorite pastimes was playing hideand-seek in the McCandless warehouse near the wharf. We especially liked the fall when it was filled to capacity with cotton bales. We’d jump from one to another all around the building until we were covered in dust and had white fuzz in our hair and stuck to our clothes. It’d take an hour to get cleaned up to go home so the evidence wouldn’t expose us. We weren’t allowed to play games like that because they were dangerous; a fall that far could break a neck or limb.”

  Reared on a plantation, Rachel had similar memories of picking and playing in cotton—but piles of unginned, unbaled, and dusty clouds of white. She didn’t want to distract Dan by mentioning that fact. “You love dangers and challenges, don’t you?”

  “Guilty as charged, Mrs. McCandless,” he confessed with a broad grin. “I remember one time when we sneaked aboard this ship and vowed we were going to stow away to conquer the world together. We even had food and water with us. But Phillip turned coward at the last minute and sneaked off the vessel. I wound up in Alexandria, and in big trouble. Was my father angry with me! But Phillip came to my rescue; he took the blame, said we were only playing hideand-seek and the ship took sail.”