Chapter 4
Four
Silence settled over the interior of the tent directly after Flick’s concerning proclamation, until Annaliese quirked a brow Seth’s way.
“Dare I hope you brought one of your inventions today that could possibly assist us with discouraging anyone who might try their hand at extortion?”
Seth frowned. “I don’t recall packing anything specifically designed for evasive extortion situations, but one never knows what I might find on me.” He stuck his hand into a pocket and fished out a small object he’d been tinkering with for his hard-of-hearing aunt.
“And that would be?” Annaliese asked.
“Artificial eardrum. You stick this small tube into the ear, anchor it with the wire that wraps around the outer ear, and hopefully hear better.”
A small crease appeared on her forehead. “We might need something a little more lethal.”
“I still have a few pockets left to check.”
Before Seth had an opportunity to empty another pocket, though, a muffled clearing of a throat drew his attention to the box Norma Jean was squished into.
“Forgive me for interrupting what will surely be more detailed explanations of everything you discover in your pockets,” Norma Jean began, “but you might just want to ask Miss Merriweather for one of her hairpins and then pick the lock. That would get us out of the boxes before Marvel arrives with help.”
Seth stilled. “What a brilliant idea.”
“And one that’s simplistic, which is why you didn’t come up with it,” Norma Jean called back.
“I do have the tendency to overthink things at times,” he admitted.
“I know,” Norma Jean replied. “I also know that if anyone threatens us with extortion at any point, the simplest response will be for you to pull out your Colt pocket pistol. It’s in your right-hand lower pocket and would definitely fit the bill of that something lethal Miss Merriweather mentioned. ”
Seth stuck his hand in his right-hand pocket, his fingers touching cold metal a blink of an eye later. “I don’t recall putting this pistol in my pocket, but . . .” He frowned. “How did you know it was in here?”
For the briefest of seconds, Norma Jean’s only response was a wiggle of feet that were still sticking out of the box. “I put it in there yesterday when you stopped by the house.”
“But why did you have my pistol to begin with?”
“You let me borrow it.”
“I don’t recall telling you that you could borrow my pistol.”
Another wiggle of feet immediately commenced. “Well, you did, and to refresh your memory, I asked you last Saturday if I could borrow it, and you said, and I quote, ‘Uh-huh.’”
“Last Saturday I was reconfiguring my flame thrower.”
“I know, and you were just about to light it up when I asked if I could borrow your pistol.”
Seth’s brows drew together. “Was I paying attention to you when you asked me, or did you wait until I couldn’t hear you over the roar of the flame thrower?”
“That almost sounds as if you don’t pay attention to what I’m saying at times, which explains why you didn’t know your pistol was in your pocket because you obviously weren’t paying attention when I told you I returned it there.”
A dull ache began settling in at the very base of his neck. “Why didn’t you just hand the pistol back to me?”
“I was sparing you a lecture from Mother because you know she doesn’t exactly approve of me going off to do any target practice on my own.”
He opened his mouth—to say what, he wasn’t sure—but was spared a response when Annaliese plucked a pin from her hair.
“What say the two of you agree to discuss how you should engage in more meaningful conversations at a more opportune time since, clearly, there are more important matters to attend to right now.”
“That’s an excellent idea, Miss Merriweather,” Norma Jean called, earning a twitch of the lips from Annaliese, who handed him the hairpin and nodded to Velma.
“I’d start with Velma first as she’s looking more than a little flushed.”
“I’m sure I’m looking flushed as well,” Norma Jean called.
“I’ll have you out in a minute,” Seth said before he moved next to Velma, bent over, and began manipulating the lock, a satisfying click sounding twenty seconds later.
After opening the lid, he lifted a very rumpled Velma out and steadied her when she began wobbling.
Then, once she seemed as if she wouldn’t crumple to the floor if he released her, he moved to Norma Jean’s box.
It took him almost a minute to pick that lock as it was old and rusty, but thankfully, the unlocking mechanism finally slipped into place. Tugging Norma Jean out, he released a grunt after picking her up, the grunt a direct result of his sister going completely limp, turning her into a dead weight.
“You could at least put your arms around my neck to help me out,” he muttered.
“My arms are asleep, as are my legs, so have a care when you set me down.”
“I wouldn’t have to have a care if you hadn’t gotten yourself into yet another pickle to begin with,” Seth said before he lowered Norma Jean to her feet, stepping back when she began stomping one foot and then the other against the dirt floor.
“I feel like there are a thousand needles sticking into my legs,” Norma Jean complained as she began jumping up and down, grimacing with every jump.
“Perhaps you’ll remember this type of discomfort the next time you feel the urge to slip away from a school group and allow a complete stranger to lock you in a box,” he told her, eliciting a huff from Norma Jean in the process.
“And perhaps the next time I decide to pursue an intriguing opportunity to enhance a plot point and become trapped, you’ll choose the most logical and easiest solution to get me free instead of trying to find one of your inventions that might do the trick,” Norma Jean shot back.
A smile tugged his lips. “A sound rebuttal as your hairpin suggestion was practicality at its finest.”
“A trait I inherited from Mother, along with her vivid imagination, of course.”
“Mother has a vivid imagination?”
“I would think her deciding she’d come down with scurvy would answer that for you,” Norma Jean said before her brow furrowed. “But didn’t she used to tell you stories when you were little about Pierre the Pirate and all the adventures that lady pirate experienced?”
“Pierre the Pirate was a lady?”
Norma Jean frowned. “Of course.”
Seth returned the frown. “And Pierre, the lady pirate, came from Mother’s imagination, not from a story she was merely passing on to us?”
“I don’t know of any true pirate stories that have a pirate named Pierre—a name Mother has always adored and actually wanted to name you, until Father put up a fuss, saying Pierre McCormick would sound downright peculiar.”
Before Seth could think of anything to say to that, the tent flap snapped against the side of the tent, heralding the arrival of a man Seth assumed was Marvel the Magician, given the swirling black cape he was wearing.
Unfortunately, strolling behind Marvel were two rough-looking men, one of whom was presumably Alfred the Monkey Man, since he had a monkey wearing a dress at his side.
Following Alfred was a man whose muscles rivaled Flick’s and had a parrot perched on his shoulder.
The odd thought sprang to mind that the men’s arrival wasn’t as bad as it could have been, since Flick had mentioned four threatening men and Marvel had arrived with only two.
Before he could do more than move closer to Norma Jean, though, Annaliese was stalking forward, her gaze on the monkey man, or rather, on the stick the man was carrying.
“I thought I told you to get rid of the stick,” she snapped.
“I don’t take orders from some snooty girl who fancies herself an animal expert,” Alfred scoffed.
Annaliese’s eyes flashed. “You don’t need to be an expert on animals to understand that forcing an animal to perform by using pain as an incentive is inhumane.”
“Don’t know what inhumane means, but I do know that the monkey cooperates better whenever it sees the stick.”
“Perhaps the monkey would cooperate without needing a stick if you’d call her by her name instead of addressing her as it.”
“Alfred’s monkey ain’t got no name,” the man with the parrot on his shoulder said. “And I ain’t got time to stand around gabbin’ about names. Marvel told us we’d get paid iffin’ we got some fool-headed young’uns unlocked from one of his malfunctioning magic boxes.”
Marvel gathered his cloak around him. “My magic boxes didn’t malfunction, Thurman. I simply misplaced the keys.”
“If you was a real magician, you wouldn’t need no key,” Thurman countered.
As the magician and Thurman began bickering, Annaliese crossed her arms over her chest and leveled a look on the men that suggested she was almost out of patience.
“Forgive me for interrupting your squabble, gentlemen, but if it’s escaped your notice, the locks are no longer an issue as the girls are, thankfully, free. That means your assistance in this troubling matter is no longer required.”
The back of Seth’s neck began to tingle when Thurman stopped mid-bicker and took to flexing his imposing muscles Marvel’s way.
“Them girls being unlocked ain’t gonna be good for you since you told me that dollar you owe me would be paid, plus more, and told Alfred the same.
Seems to me you’re not gonna be able to repay your debt now. ”
Marvel gave his paper collar a tug before he shot a glare at Flick, who was standing in front of Coraline, Phoebe, and Mabel.
“You told me you’d watch the girls while I was gone,” Marvel all but hissed as he began dabbing at a forehead that was now perspiring.
“That’s what I was doing,” Flick argued. “And then I watched that man over there pick the locks and then watched him get the girls out of the boxes.”
“Why didn’t you stop him?”
“I wasn’t going to leave the poor girls locked up when help arrived from out of the blue.”
Marvel dabbed at his forehead again and opened his mouth, but didn’t get an opportunity to say anything else because the monkey took that moment to dart forward.
It then scrambled up to Annaliese, snatched hold of the reticule that was looped around her wrist and began tugging on it, dragging Annaliese a few feet forward in the process.
Instead of tugging her reticule back, Annaliese kept a firm grip on it as she crouched down and settled one of her symmetrical smiles on the monkey, something that left the monkey freezing on the spot.
“This does not belong to you, darling,” Annaliese said in a tone that was completely opposite of the one she’d been using a moment before. “It’s mine, and you’re now going to let go of it.”
The monkey shot a look to Alfred, who gave a shake of the stick, which left the monkey chattering something in monkey language, seemingly as if she was trying to plead her case or perhaps apologize for what she’d been tasked to do.
She then resumed her tugging, causing Annaliese to lose her balance and land on her backside after the monkey found success with relieving Annaliese of her bag.
Annaliese was on her feet and stalking Alfred’s way before Seth had time to do more than tighten his grip on the pistol Norma Jean had stashed in his pocket.
“Tell your monkey to give my reticule back,” she snapped.
“I ain’t got no control over what that monkey does,” Alfred said. “She’s got a mind of her own. Why, I’m just as surprised as you are that she nicked that bag straight out of your hands.”
“Spare me the innocent act,” Annaliese returned.
“I saw you flick your stick in my direction right before your darling monkey scrambled over to me.” She glanced at the monkey, who was backing her way toward the tent flap, clearly preparing for a speedy escape.
“I’m sure if you’d tell her to drop my bag, she would, but know that there’s no need to steal it as I’m perfectly willing to give the two of you a courtesy fee for showing up to help my students.
That will spare you the bother of getting arrested for attempted theft, which will certainly earn you a stint behind bars. ”
“Aren’t you going to give me a fee?” Marvel asked before Alfred could respond, although Alfred had taken to squinting at Annaliese quite as if he were weighing her offer of a fee against simply helping himself to the contents of her reticule.
Annaliese leveled a glacial look on the magician. “You’ve already been compensated today as you charged my students money to participate in a magic trick that went awry.” She turned to Alfred. “But to return to our conversation, how much of a fee do you believe you and your friend deserve?”
Alfred gave his chin a rub. “Should be at least a dollar ’cuz that’s how much my monkey could have made during the time we’ve been standing around, jawin’ about nonsense.”
“I’d be more than happy to give the two of you a dollar, although . . .” Something interesting flickered through her eyes. “I would be willing to pay more than a dollar if you’d sell me your monkey.”
Calculation immediately clouded Alfred’s eyes. “My monkey’s real special to me. Talented too, so I wouldn’t be willing to part with her for anything less than a hundred.”
“Done,” Annaliese didn’t hesitate to say.
Thurman released a snort. “There ain’t no way some schoolteacher would have an extra hundred dollars lying about.”
“How do you know this lady’s a schoolteacher?” Marvel asked.
“She said those girls were her students.”
“Ah,” Marvel said. “She did say that, but you’re right. There’s no possible way she has that kind of money.” Marvel sent Alfred a knowing look. “Take it from a magician. She’s trying to trick you.”
Velma took that moment to clear her throat, drawing everyone’s attention.
“Miss Merriweather isn’t trying to trick anyone because she’s not just a teacher but is a member of what the fancy call the New York Four Hundred in New York City, and .
. .” Whatever else Velma continued to say became unintelligible when Norma Jean stepped behind her and placed a hand over Velma’s mouth.
“Did you not learn anything from my abduction attempt?” Seth heard Norma Jean mutter.
Velma’s eyes went wide right as Thurman stepped forward, rubbing his hands together, something that suggested the situation was about to turn trickier than it already was.