Chapter 21
Twenty-One
The very idea that Charlie and Howard—men who spent their lives hunting poor, defenseless birds—were now threatening a monkey who’d seen more than her fair share of abuse had Annaliese reaching for her pistol.
Racing after the men who were now standing underneath the tree Harriet had scampered up, Annaliese’s heart skipped a beat when Charlie fired his pistol into the tree.
To her relief, Harriet immediately began chattering, but the terror mixed in with the chattering sent fury coursing through Annaliese’s veins.
Not wanting to give Charlie an opportunity to take another shot at Harriet, Annaliese raised her pistol toward the sky and pulled the trigger, the blast leaving Charlie and Howard freezing on the spot, until Charlie turned ever so slowly around.
“Lose the pistol,” she snapped as she aimed hers at Charlie, who dropped the pistol to the ground before raising his hands into the air.
“Pippin, guard it,” she said, an order that left Pippin climbing down Annaliese’s arm and gamboling over to the pistol, crouching down once she reached it where she immediately bared her little ferret teeth at Charlie.
“Ain’t never seen a ferret take commands before,” Charlie muttered, taking a step backward when Pippin sent a growl his way.
“Ferrets are incredibly intelligent, quite like many animals, including birds,” Annaliese said.
“Perhaps if either of you ever took the time to view them as anything other than a way to earn an income, you’d understand their true value and abandon the plume trade, as well as realize it was beyond unacceptable to take a shot at Harriet. ”
Charlie frowned. “I told you why I’m in the trade, and I wasn’t shooting to hit, ah, Harriet. I just wanted the monkey to return the cross she snatched from around my neck.”
“And you thought Harriet would, what? Climb out of that tree when a man was shooting at her?”
“It was worth a try, but how do you suggest we get my cross back?”
“Before you shot at her, I would have simply asked her to hand it over. Now, though, since you’ve terrified her, I’m not feeling inclined to ask her to do anything.”
“You’re just gonna let her keep it?”
“For now, yes, although I’ll eventually get it back for you. Perhaps when you’re holding your cross again, you’ll take a moment to contemplate what it represents and rethink the path you’re currently walking.”
“There’s nothing wrong with my path.”
Annaliese lifted her chin. “You said you had four mouths to feed at home which I assume means you have children. Your children, years from now, might very well disagree with your stance when the skies are empty of pretty birds, all of them murdered so that ladies can have pretty feathers on their hats.”
Charlie shot a look to Howard. “She really does sounds just like that Otter woman, tryin’ to give us a sermon we didn’t ask for.”
“She sure enough does,” Howard muttered.
Annaliese rolled her eyes. “I’m not giving you a sermon. If I’d been doing that, I would have quoted from Proverbs 12:10, which says, ‘A righteous man regardeth the life of his beast: but the tender mercies of the wicked are cruel.’”
“You can quote Scripture all you want, but I ain’t never understood Bible verses and have no idea what that means,” Charlie said.
“Perfectly understandable as I’ve often become a little confused when reading the Bible, which is why I rely on a good minister to explain those confusing matters to me.
” She caught Charlie’s eye. “What my favorite minister said about that verse was this—God expects us to treat all creatures with respect and not abuse them. That means that killing birds not for food but for feathers is cruelty at its finest.”
Howard turned to Charlie. “Is it just me or does it seem that this little gal and the loony island lady were sitting beside each other at the same church service since they both brought up the same Bible verse?”
“I was thinkin’ the same thing,” Charlie muttered.
A thread of hope began to wind its way through Annaliese. “If the loony lady turns out to be my aunt Ottilie, know that she was sitting right beside me in Grace Church when Reverend Nichols gave that particular sermon.”
Howard’s brows drew together. “You think that woman might be your aunt?”
“It’s a distinct possibility, which is why I need the two of you to give me the location of that island she was on.”
A look Annaliese had seen far too often of late flickered through Howard’s eyes. “Seems to me that you want that information real desperate-like.”
“Indeed, but if you’re thinking you can now demand a small ransom in return for that information, you might want to remember that I’m the one holding a pistol.”
“Can’t very well get information if you shoot us.”
“She could always just shoot one of you,” Norma Jean said as she strolled up to join Annaliese, her interview with the police evidently over. “I’m sure that would encourage some disclosures.”
Annaliese smiled. “What a brilliant idea, Norma Jean, and one that would certainly speed matters along nicely.”
Norma Jean returned the smile before she nodded to Howard. “I’d shoot him if I were you because he seemed a little too anxious to extort money from you.”
Howard’s face paled as his gaze shot to Annaliese’s pistol before he glanced at Pippin, who was still baring her little ferret teeth. He gave a shudder, then leaned closer to Charlie and began whispering in Charlie’s ear.
Charlie finally nodded and returned his attention to Annaliese. “Me and Howard think a hundred dollars would be fair for the information, plus the three hundred you said you’d pay us for the birds.”
Even though, considering the extent of the Merriweather fortune, Annaliese was perfectly capable of giving the men the amount requested, she shook her head.
“I’ll counter with three hundred for the birds, and nothing for the information, since the two of you did leave a woman, along with an older man, marooned on an island.
” She glanced up into the tree, where Harriet was still chattering away.
“You also terrified my monkey, stuffed far too many birds into a cage without a thought for their welfare, and you wanted my parrot so you could divest her of her feathers. Behavior like that does not deserve to be rewarded.”
“We’re just trying to make an honest buck with the birds,” Charlie argued.
“It may be, in your minds, honest, but it certainly isn’t ethical, although . . .” She tilted her head when a thought sprang to mind. “I may have a proposal for you that would allow you an honest as well as ethical way to earn a buck.”
“What do you have in mind?” Howard asked.
“You’ll have to give me the information I need first, plus turn over the birds, and then I’ll tell you.”
“Don’t see that we have any other choices,” Howard grumbled.
“Wonderful,” Annaliese exclaimed before she turned to Seth, who’d moved off to the side and was currently aiming his pistol in Charlie and Howard’s direction. “I’m thinking it’s prudent for you to keep that trained on them until I have the birds and map in my possession.”
After Seth sent her a nod, he moved to scoop Charlie’s pistol from the ground, Pippin sending him a chirp before she scurried back to Annaliese and was wrapped around Annaliese’s neck a moment later.
Smoothing a hand over Pippin’s fur, she nodded to Charlie.
“Shall we repair to your wagon to complete our business?”
“You gonna let me keep my cage?” Charlie asked.
“Probably not since there’s the very real chance that you’ll put it back into use again if you don’t agree to that proposal I just mentioned.
However, before we discuss any particulars of that proposal .
. .” She set her sights on the tree Harriet was in.
“I have a monkey to get down.” She nodded to Charlie and Howard.
“You might want to move away from the tree because I have no idea what Harriet might decide to do to you once she climbs down.”
As Charlie and Howard began edging closer to Seth, even though he was training a gun on them, Annaliese moved to the trunk of the tree and looked up, spotting Harriet’s tail hanging from a limb.
“It’s alright, Harriet. You can come down now. It’s safe.”
A rapid burst of monkey chatter was Harriet’s only response to that, something that suggested she wasn’t coming down anytime soon.
Annaliese eyed the tree and decided she was more than capable of climbing it, but before she could begin doing exactly that, Seth cleared his throat behind her.
“How about you take over watching Charlie and Howard and I’ll fetch Harriet,” he suggested. “It’ll be far easier for me to climb the tree since I’m not encumbered by a skirt.”
Annaliese’s pulse began going all jittery once again, undoubtedly because this was the second time Seth had offered to scale a tree for her, an offer that was certainly chivalrous as well as sweet, and left her, unsurprisingly, thinking about kissing the man again.
In all honesty, it was odd how often she’d been thinking about kissing of late since she’d never spent much time thinking about kissing at all—not until Seth McCormick had shown up.
Now, however, kissing seemed to be at the forefront of her thoughts, springing to mind at the most unusual times, and . . .
“There wouldn’t be a need for either of you to scale the tree if someone has something sparkly to entice Harriet with,” Norma Jean said, leaving all thoughts of kissing disappearing in a flash, or almost all thoughts, since the next thought that sprang to Annaliese’s mind was that she’d been contemplating kissing a man while surrounded by people and in the middle of what Louisa would certainly deem an unromantic setting.
She gave herself a shake. “Another brilliant idea, Norma Jean. Does anyone have something sparkly?”
“I have a paste necklace.”